The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12 that he “learned the secret of being content no matter what circumstance he found himself in”.
I feel incredibly blessed to be able to say, like Paul, that through my meditation on God, I have also “learned the secret” to finding true and lasting peace and happiness in life.
Not just moments of peace or moments of happiness but a continuous contentment of joy and peace in my spirit all day, every day, no matter the circumstance.
There is only one way to experience pure joy and peace in this life and that is when you get to the point where nothing else matters but God.
The more I focus on God, to the point where nothing else matters, the more joy and peace I have.
When my cares for the things of this life go up, my joy and peace go down.
It’s a bit like a seesaw (or teeter-totter) the more I focus on God, the more my peace and joy goes up and the more the cares of life go down. But if I take my focus off God and I let the cares of life creep up, the more my joy and peace go down.
There is a direct correlation between the level of worry, stress and cares you have and the level of peace and joy you experience.
The more worry, the less peace. The more peace the less worry.
So what is the secret to keeping the worries and stress of life down and the peace and joy up? Is it even possible?
The answer to this is, yes! When Jesus lives in you, it is possible to live in a state of constant peace and happiness regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.
The secret is to be so focused on God and his incredible love and goodness that the things of this life pale into insignificance.
This is not necessarily a natural feeling or always easy to achieve but it is possible.
When you take the time to meditate on him and with him in his presence and you get a taste of his incredible love and goodness, and your soul begins to long for more of him, then you begin to find that nothing else compares to him and the things that caused you stress and worry no longer seem as important.
You might find this hard to understand until you have this experience, until you encounter him.
I remember one of the many things that impacted me in the aftermath of 9/11 was seeing what-must-have-been millions of pieces of paper strewn about the streets, floating through the air, being blown about in the wind.
Just one day before, these pieces of paper were everything. They were people’s life. They represented contracts and projects and documents that people would have spent hours and hours of their life working on. They were everything but then in one moment all of that changed. In the perspective of what happened those pieces of paper did not matter anymore. In an instant it all changed.
A beautiful friend of mine has stage 4 cancer. This beautiful lady has one of the most gentle, peaceful, sweet spirits that you would ever find. I was deeply impacted when she told me recently that “in a way she felt blessed to have had cancer because it brought her closer to God”
Wow! How does someone with stage 4 cancer say that?
An encounter with God changes everything. In an instant all of the things that concern us in life don’t matter anymore. When you have had such a deep encounter with the One who is so wonderful, our perspective changes and nothing else matters or compares.
In this sense, my friend is truly blessed to have experienced God so deeply.
Have you experienced God this deeply? Where nothing else matters? Where everything else in life pales into insignificance in comparison to him?
If you haven’t or if it’s been a while since you’ve experienced God like this, I urge you today to seek after an encounter with God this deep.
Take some time to meditate on him and with him today and every day. Find a quiet place free from the distractions and cares of life and seek to encounter him in this profound way and your life will be truly changed.
The more you seek him, the deeper you go, the more wonderful you discover he is and the more contentment, peace and joy you will have.
God is with me, God is for me, God is in me
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