Be a Mountain Mover!

Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I find it telling that Paul here connects having peace so closely with the act of rejoicing in the Lord. Note that he tells the Philippian church first to rejoice - to find joy and celebrate something that is happening in their midst. And not just to rejoice or find joy - but to rejoice in the Lord - in other words - find the joy in what God is doing in their community.

So often, we find ourselves despairing over something in our lives because we can't see a way out of difficult circumstances. We feel boxed-in thinking that what we're going through right now is what we must go through for the forseable future. And at the time, the thought of experiencing on-going pain and suffering is enough to bring on a dark cloud of negativity and hopelessness through which no light can seem to break through.

But Paul's antidote to that is an act of celebration. Rejoice, he says. Instead of focusing your attention on what you don't have or what is coming against you - focus instead on the good gifts that you have been given by God and how God is working presently in your life for good. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Ro 8:28) And "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Ro 8:31-32)

If God has chosen us for his service then He is not going to abandon us to suffer alone. God stands beside us in facing life's troubles. He uses them to create in us an even larger capacity to love and serve and minister. In the power of his Holy Spirit, we can wake up each morning and instead of dwelling on the things we believe won't go our way, we can actively engage the day looking for the ways we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to make God's kingdom happen.

That, by itself, is a cause of rejoicing. Simply knowing that my life, my words, and my behaviors contribute in some small part to the overarching plan and purposes of God helps me to see past momentary difficulties. In fact, those difficulties become nothing more than opportunities for me to grow stronger in my faith and service to the Lord. When I face hard times, if I am oriented toward God with "eyes to see and ears to hear" then I won't be able to help increasing my dependence upon the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Do that often enough, and you'll be moving mountains with the faith of a mustard seed! (Mt 17:20)

God is calling us in these times to grow into "mountain-movers" for the kingdom. When so much around us seems to run counter to the spirit of God's kingdom - the church is needed - everyone praying, loving, and serving together - to move huge mountains of poverty, despair, depression and darkness, violence, injustice, division, ignorance, and sin!

Are you a mountain-mover? Are you praying in the Spirit daily for bulwarks of God's kingdom to replace the high places - the mountains - of wordly value? Find an opportunity each day to rejoice in all of the ways you see God's kingdom overtaking the mountains. As Paul says, "Rejoice... and let the peace of Christ guard your hearts."