God’s Mighty Promise Of Peace – Philippians 4:9

God’s Mighty Promise Of Peace

God's Mighty Promise Of Peace - Philippians 4:9

God has a mighty promise of peace, a promise that joy will overtake the world and it will be given to the Overcomer through a relationship with God.

Written about the time Nero began feeding Christians to the lions and burning them alive as torches for his garden at night, Philippians is a letter written by Paul about having joy in the dark times. Paul was probably nearing the end of his two year house arrest in Rome when he wrote this letter and was most likely expecting to be released after court.

Philippi was the first city Paul visited when he went to Europe on his second tour, a city that did not have many Jews, so Paul did not face much Jewish opposition and he was able to work with a congregation made up mostly of people who loved Paul for bringing them to the Lord. The Philippians had no prejudice about Christianity and they were true baby Christians, hungry for the Word of God.

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 4:9) Philippians 4:9 is a promise, a promise from Paul to the Philippians that the God of peace will be with them if they do the things they learned, received, heard and saw Paul do. What are these things Christians can do to ensure the God of peace will be with us?

These things we can do are found in verse 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.

Whatever things are true, like in Ephesians 4:25, do not gossip. Speak the truth about other members of the Church because we are all part of the Body of Christ and most gossip comes from partial truth at best and is usually one sided with the person being talked about never having a chance to know what is being said, unless the Holy Spirit tells the person.

Whatever things are noble means never take revenge on another person, look to Jesus not the world, practice humility and we must not think too highly of ourselves. Whatever gifts God has given us for the glory of His Kingdom, we should use those gifts to the best of our ability, with as much faith as we have within ourselves. 

Whatever things are just is not living like the devil, not cheating people in any way and being a fair person without having to be forced to be a different person than the person really is at heart. Justice will never be seen by those who look for justice anywhere except Jesus, the only thing that will be seen is unrest around every corner.

Whatever things are pure is everything that is not evil. When Jesus returns to get His people, whether their bodies are alive or dead, Jesus is coming back to get His pure saints, those who fell asleep in Christ, those who Jesus knows. No amount of works will ever help a person achieve what is coming next, the way a person is going to make it is a pure heart that practices obedience to Jesus without having to be told how to act.

Whatever things are lovely reflects how we respond to the world around us. Do we rejoice at another person’s victory or are we jealous, driving us to work harder to do better than the other person? We must forgive others for any wrong we think they have done to us or misery instead of peace will always be at our doorstep.

All these things are what we can do to ensure the promise the God of peace will be with us. God is peace and if we are to be a true follower of Jesus, each one of us must possess the characteristics of Jesus that will enable us to make it through to the end and be saved, an Overcomer!

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 4:9