By Jon Liles
Editor’s Note: Jon and his wife Becky serve as missionaries to Italy. Sonrise has the privilege to be their sending church. This past Wednesday evening, Jon and Becky participated in our Mid-Week Prayer and Praise service. He shared with us some of the following material.
COVID-19 and Italy
In the recent days in Italy, things have been quite amazing. The shut-down lasted for over 60 days where we could not go out past 200 meters away from the house without papers. All food shopping had to be within your own village or town. Ministry has been limited to regular Zoom meetings in small groups and just talking to a neighbor or two. We have had daily Bible studies with small groups over Zoom since this started.
The real struggle for our family has been with our sweet daughter who developed COVID-19. She suffered from it for over 30 days. We are grateful for God’s protection of her throughout and that she is doing much better.
Prayer as an Encouragement
Throughout this pandemic here in Italy, we have depended upon prayer as much as ever. The Apostle Paul has been especially helpful to our thinking in Philippians 4.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:6-9)
In these verses, we learn five basic principles related to our prayer. Let me give them to you as a reminder for you as well.
Prayer Reminders
- We are cautioned not to worry, but instead, we are to pray.
God desires for our lives to be filled with prayer – not anxiety or worry. God wants us to enjoy talking with him about our problems rather than talking to ourselves about our problems. Talking to ourselves only makes the problems worse. The more we focus on the problem, the more the problem gets burdensome, complicated, and wear on us. - When we pray, we are to pray with gratitude.
As we pray, we need to consider all the ways God is active in our lives – whether that is from the past, the present, or even His future promises. The story of David and Goliath helps us here. When David went to face Goliath, he did not pray in that moment with a fresh slate per se. Instead, he remembered God was with him with the lion and the bear. God’s faithfulness and David’s gratitude in the past fueled his prayer in the present. That should be so true for us as well. Fill your prayer with gratitude. - God’s peace floods our soul.
When we pray and include a great deal of gratitude, God’s peace rules our hearts. When Paul refers to peace here, he is not talking about the confidence that it will turn out just as we prayed for it or just as we desire. Instead, peace refers to the absolute confidence we have that just as in the past God took care of everything and is covenant faithful, He will be again in this situation. We can rest in God’s faithfulness. - Keep your thoughts fixed on Christ and truth.
After and while you pray, you must keep your thoughts fixed on what is true, right, honest, pure, etc. This requires major discipline. It is hard to keep our thoughts on truth when we have our concerns right in front of us in our hearts and all around us in relationship to our circumstances. However, that is what must be done to enjoy the peace God promises us. We think on these things. - Live consistent with what you know is right.
After we pray, we choose to do what is right. Paul says to do those things. This is an important last step because the payoff is big.
What is the Result?
The result is the peace of God rules your heart, floods your life, and keeps you from anxiety. Whether it is our two sons in college in the states – half a world apart from us – or our daughter here with COVID-19 or our ministry here to the people in Italy or either of the two of us, we can trust God. We may be a world apart, but this works. God provided us the way forward toward peace and calm even in the mist of a troubled and pressure-filled world.
So what do we do?
We choose not to worry but pray. Ask exactly what we need. Thank God for His character and faithfulness and power. Demonstrate gratitude to Him. Think what is right. Do what is right. And, watch peace flood our lives as God handles the situation.
Image Credit Sincerely Media
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