Not getting in here

Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds. (Philippians 4:5-7)

God's peace - do you feel it? If you have invited Christ into your life, it is standing guard over all your thoughts and feelings. Does it always feel like your thought life and feelings have his protection? Probably not. Why is that? We can still 'override' his peace when we allow our worries and frustrations to take us down 'thought pathways' that negatively impact our peace. We have to 'take captive' those thoughts as they arise, and even those feelings that lead to those thoughts, giving them over to him for his control. We play an active part in exercising wisdom over what we allow our minds to dwell upon. 

As a member of the military, I had to stand guard duty on occasion. It was my responsibility to monitor who came and went from whatever facility or property I was guarding. If those intent on entering wanted to enter, they had to heed my warning to stop, show me their credentials, and then they could gain access. God's peace is a little bit like that - those unruly thoughts and emotions have to actually be given access to the 'guarded area' of our mind and emotions. When we allow them in, they can create havoc just as the one who should not have gained access to that property I was guarding could do. 

We don't use this 'filter' well enough at times. We kind of let our emotions get the 'upper hand' and then we wonder why our thought life is all messed up, seemingly twirling out of control at times. Whenever we ask the Holy Spirit to 'stand guard', we are saying that our minds and emotions are 'protected areas' and that we want him to 'restrict' the entrance of stuff that doesn't belong in there. As you have probably heard me say before - garbage in, garbage out. If we allow the wrong stuff inside our minds, it will begin to affect our emotions. If we let our thoughts be guided by whatever emotion is the loudest, we will find ourselves in a twit about a lot of stuff.

God's peace will stand guard over all our thoughts and feelings - but it is possible to bypass even the best of 'sentries' standing guard. Trust me on this one, the enemy of our souls isn't content to just turn around and go the other way when he encounters God's peace at work. He wants to gain access, so he will look for any means possible to gain it. The more we ask God to take control, the more we stand a chance of not allowing his 'bypass maneuvers'. Just sayin!