“He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

I have helped my kids to learn how to drive. I remind them at the early stages of learning how to drive that the car will go where you’re looking. So if you’re focused on the curb, the car will go toward the curb. In the same way, if you’re focused on the car next to you, the car will start getting even closer to the car next to you. I remind my kids to look where they want the car to go.

What’s true for cars is also true for life. Our life will go where you are focused on.

The devil thrives in the past. The devil loves to remind us of all our failures and stupidity. And when he does, it’s astonishing how quickly and accurately we remember our failures and stupidity.

All those other times of success, joy, and good fade away in our memory. But the moments of failure and stupidity, we remember vividly every detail of how we messed up, how we felt, how it impacted others.

The devil thrives in the past. The devil thrives in the past because the devil already knows that the future belongs to God. The devil already knows that God has won and that he is defeated.

God beckons us to remember our future. God beckons us to remember who he has made us to be in his Son, Jesus Christ.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

He’s right. There is nothing we can do about our past failures and stupidity. However, what I can tell you with absolute certainty is that God didn’t save us for our past. God saved us for his glorious future. AND, our past, if you’ve repented and confessed your sin, is no longer remembered. The only one who keeps a record of our past failures and stupidity is the devil. The chain that bound us to our failures are broken in Christ.

God is at work in you. And, God will continue to work in you to bring you to completion. That’s God’s promise.

Focus on God’s promises. God has already won the victory. God is currently at work in you to complete the work he has started in you. Focus on God’s promises. And, when you do, your life will go where you’re focused on.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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 minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

A peace that transcends all understanding.

I like the sound of that. I want that. I want that – a peace that transcends all understanding – to be my reality.

It’s a good thing that the Apostle Paul tells us the three steps to living in God’s peace:

• “Do not be anxious about anything.”
  • Chill out. Take a few deep breaths. God’s got this. Don’t worry.
  • When we bring our worries to God, God’s got out back.
• “But in every situation…pray.”
  • Burdens aren’t our’s to carry. Bring and lay your burdens, concerns, worries, joys, praises to God.
  • God loves to hear and answer our prayers.
• “But in every situation…with thanksgiving…”
  • Since God loves to hear and answer our prayers, you can know with certainty that God is at work in and through us.
  • Since God is at work, give thanks.
  • Give thanks in all circumstances because God is at work to bring to completion the work he has started in you.

Don’t worry.

Pray.

Give Thanks.

This is God’s plan.

As with all plans, plans work when we work the plan.

So get to work. Put God’s peace plan to work in your life today. In fact, put it to work everyday!

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).

Troubles…
Under great pressure…
Not sure if I can endure this anymore…
Despair…
Not even sure I want to live anymore…
I’m dying…

Ever been there?

If you’ve lived long enough, almost every single human being will be able to relate.

But what is surprising…No. Not just surprising, but shocking about these words are that they were penned by the Apostle Paul.

You know, the guy who wrote a third of the New Testament.

• The guy who wrote the letter to the Philippians – the letter of Joy – while he was imprisoned!
• This is the same guy who wrote in Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18),
• And “No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

Then, what’s the deal? How can someone who writes about praising God in all circumstances write what he did in our verse of the day?

Perhaps, when we are dealing with the human being who wrote a third of the New Testament and not the idealized “Super, Duper, Apostle Paul,” we come to realize that Paul had issues just like you and me. And, not only did he have troubles like you and me, but he processed them in a way similar to us.

You see, it is quite possible to have a faith that praises God for all God’s promises, AND be tormented and broken by hardship, weariness, exhaustion, and suffering.

It is quite possible for you to be absolutely certain about God’s promises – that’s faith.

AND…

It is perfectly normal for human beings to go through moments of torment and doubt, and be shaken to the core – that’s what it means to be human.

And, the most beautiful thing, is that our doubts and uncertainties do not and cannot cancel out God’s amazing promises.

That’s good news! That’s gospel.