Shalom

Isn't that what Jews say to each other? Did you know that shalom means "peace". Sounds a little like the 70's when people made a "V" with their fingers and said, "Peace dude."

Well, God showed me so many awesome things this weekend at our church from a semon about peace. Check out the sermon on podcast at C3.org.

One of the first points was: Stress robs us of peace.

Did you know that 40% of the things we worry about never happen? 30% are about the past. 12% are about health issues. Therefore leaving only 8% of things to truly worry about. Of course if you are a believer those are ruled out also. So where does that leave us?

Well I actually heard this sermon twice. I went to church both Saturday night and Sunday morning and I think I need to start doing this as a habit. Some of us need to be told things many times until we get it... sort of like my kids. I'm sure you and your kids are not like that.

Anyway this morning I really started pouring over the scripture in the worship outline and God blew me away with one scripture I have read a million times, taught it, encouraged people with it, and memorized it.

It was Phillipians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything , but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

God showed me that in this verse their is a command, an action, and a promise. It's very simple, yet we seem to make it very complicated to have peace. God says (through Paul), "Do not be anxious about anything..." period, end of command, that's it. Sort of like, "Do not kill"... or "commit adultry". It is a command.

But he does not just leave us hanging. He tells us how to do this (our action). Pray, petition, give thanks, present. How simple. It's sort of like us telling our kids, "Don't touch the hot stove." Why is it so hard for them to follow that command. If they do follow that command, what happens? They don't get burned. See where I'm going with this?

God is saying when you are stressed: pray, petition (the root of the word "petition" is petere meaning "to seek, request"), give thanks, and present your requests. Easy enough, right? so why do we make it so hard. Our order of things is usually: think about your problem over and over; try to figure out how you are going to handle it; talk to a friend about it; lose sleep over it; think about it some more; talk to another friend; obsess over it; exercise to relieve the stress; have a girls night out to forget your stress; watch T.V.or a movie (especially a chick flick); take your frustration out on your spouse and kids ; and then when nothing else has taken the stress away, and we don't know what else to do, go to God. So why are our fingers so scarred from the stove?

The promise is, if you can do these few very simple things, "...the peace of God which transcends all understanding (think about those words "transcends all understanding") will guard (whick means "protect from danger") your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." How simple!! So why can't we do it? What is wrong with us? Why does our human nature say I think I'll try it my way just one more time. Maybe it will work this time. When will we learn? How many more times do we have to be burned until we obey?