Finding The Connections In God's Word

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in my, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9

If you meditate on a passage of Scripture instead of reading through it just to mark it off your to-do list, you'll find so many interesting things. We're all familiar with this portion of Philippians 4, and it's easy to read over it without giving it much thought. Let's break it down today and really look at what Paul was writing.

Rejoice - the joy in our hearts comes flowing out.
In the Lord - because He has given us reasons to rejoice.
Always - in all things and in all circumstances.
Repeat the rejoicing - because there's never enough.
Moderation - gentleness and reasonableness.
Known unto all men - seen by all because there's always someone watching.
The Lord at hand - He is presence 
Peace of God - so there's no excuse for anxiety.
Pray for everything - leave nothing out.
Thanksgiving - show your appreciation for all He's done, what He's doing now and what He's going to do.
More prayer - should be our first course of action, or, in this case, our continued action.
Relinquish control - making our requests known to God takes the issue out of our hands.
Peace is the result - because we're no longer burdened.
Passes all understanding - we can't understand the depth of His peace.
Heart and mind - not just one or the other, but our whole being.
Continues with the mind - we need a little more encouragement in our thought life.
Knows the challenges - concentrate on this list of God-inspired thoughts.
Think on those - meditate on them day and night.
Focus - camp out there for a while until your inner man is renewed.
Both - things happening to you and things you see in other Christians.
Learned and received - the things we've personally been blessed with.
Heard and seen - the lessons we witness through other people.
Do - do it and apply it!
The God of peace - just in case you've forgotten in the past two verses.
Shall be with you - His presence is promised.

And this is just a handful of well-known verses. I encourage you this week to try this Bible study style, add in some verse mapping and journaling, and then meditate on everything the Holy Spirit illuminates for you.

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