Let Peace Guard Your Heart

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (NIV)

If you lived in a frontier town constantly harassed by raiding parties from an enemy, one option for your military would be to send troops to actually live beside you. These troops would be garrisoned to your town, and their presence would not only provide protection during an attack; they, hopefully, would dissuade the enemy from even launching any more attacks.

This is the implication of Paul’s language in this passage; that the peace of God will be garrisoned within your heart and mind, providing an ever-present protection from within as opposed to the need to stressfully search the horizon for the Calvary to arrive just in the nick of time.

God’s peace and presence is closer than a brother, not a mental state reached by working yourself into it. Jesus became flesh and garrisoned among us (John 1:1–14), and now the Holy Spirit garrisons within us.

It’s a garrison of peace that mingles and indwells your heart and mind, protecting you even as it heals the wounds of worry and fear that once invaded your life.

The peace that garrisons within you is a peace that passes all understanding because it is God-powered and Spirit-connected: “. . . we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” Romans 5:1–2 (NIV).

Source: Grace Creates. Photo by Karen Long.