For a scripture reading this evening, we turn to the word of God as we find it in Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Iudaeus and beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, Help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. 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 everything 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 me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, when ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding, ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity. not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Specific verses that we look at this evening as our text is verses six and seven of the chapter. Verses six and seven, be careful for nothing but In everything, 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. Verse 4 of this chapter says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. That little verse really sets out the theme of the book of Philippians. The whole book is a book of joy. One of the central themes of the book is the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. And the way to rejoice, how do we, how can we rejoice? The Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle to give us some good instruction in that regard in the following verses. The very next verse, verse 5 says, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. In other words, be temperate, be moderate, be controlled, especially in your relationships with others, especially in your relationships with God's people. Be moderate, be temperate, let your gentleness, good translation of that word moderation, let your gentleness be known unto all men, remembering that the Lord is at hand. We will have no joy as God's people if we are embroiled in strife against others. Our joy, our joy in our salvation is found as we walk with the Lord, responding gently to others. That first of all, Then the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, goes on to give us another important principle to walk in and maintain that joy in the Lord. We find that in our text. Be careful for nothing. Literally, don't be anxious. Don't be worried. Don't worry about anything. Be anxious. over nothing. Don't let anything cause you to be anxious. This says anxiety is the enemy of natural, earthly joy. So it's also true that anxiety is the enemy of our joy in the Lord and in our walk with Him. If we will then have joy, then we must be anxious for nothing. We consider the text under that theme, commanded, it is a command, commanded to be anxious for nothing. First of all, the divine command. Secondly, the required alternative, commanded not to be anxious for anything. What should we then do positively? And finally, the promised peace. The word translated, be careful, in our text, literally means to be uneasy of mind. To be uneasy of mind over an anticipated evil or trouble. It doesn't mean what we normally think of when we think of careful. We ought to be careful Christians. As we live our life in the midst of this world, the world of sin and temptation, we must be careful. But the text means don't be full of care, that is full of anxiety, uneasy of mind over some anticipated evil, some anticipated trouble. That's what we refer to ordinarily as anxiety or worry. One who worries brings an anticipated trouble to his mind. And he dotes upon that trouble. He anticipates some problems, some trouble. He lets that come into his mind and he continues to think about it. He continues to allow that worrisome, troubling thought to abide in his mind. Beloved people of God, the interesting thing, one of the interesting things about worry is that often the trouble that one worries about is only anticipated. It's only something that we look forward to with a certain fear and dread or concern, but it's only anticipated. It may not ever actually take place. We worry about something that has not happened yet, but that which we anticipate could happen. Perhaps We have a job that we like, and something occurs, and we worry that we might lose our job. We continue to think about that, and we allow that in our minds, and we continue to go over that over and over again. And it causes us anxiety and trouble and worry within. And later, we lose our job, and we worry that we might not get another job. We worry about that anticipated thing. It hasn't happened yet, but we worry that it could happen. We might not ever get another job. And then we get another job, the Lord provides. And again, we worry that our employer or our co-workers might not like us, or we might not get along, or we might not be good at this job. We worry about that. Hasn't happened yet. But we fill our minds with those thoughts, or we allow them anyways to come into our mind. And then we get a raise or a promotion indicating that actually we're doing well at our new job, and then we worry that we might lose that job. So it goes over and over again in all kinds of different spheres of life, doesn't it? Not just employment, but all kinds of areas of life. We worry about things that have not happened yet. The one who worries may be convinced in his own mind that the trouble will come. He imagines it in all of its frightfulness and he's convinced that that trouble will come, but often it's only a perceived or imagined trouble. It's not at all a certain thing. But sometimes We worry about things that are. Situations in life that are not the way we want them to be. Troubling problems in our life. And we think about that problem or that trouble. And we focus upon that. And we let those things fill our mind. And we worry and we're anxious over realities. Child of God has many. griefs, many troubles in life. Scripture makes that plain. We ought never, as God's people, step back from our life and say, look at my way, look at the troubles in my life, look at me surrounded with all these griefs and problems that must indicate that God does not love me or that God is not with me. In fact, very often it indicates exactly the opposite. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, scripture tells us. So it is for the child of God in the midst of this world. Often he has real troubles. The question isn't whether or not we have real troubles. The question is, and the text speaks of how we think about those troubles, those problems in life. And it says to us, do not be filled with anxiety. Do not allow yourself to worry about perceived possible troubles or real problems in your life. Whether the problem or trouble is something that's only perceived as a possibility or it's a reality in our life presently, when we worry, We worry about things that are outside of our control, don't we? We do. We don't worry about the things that we think we can do something about. We thought we could do something to change it, then we would simply do that thing and we would say, there, I took care of that problem. Worrying is a certain admission that I have not control over everything. There are many things in my life over which I do not have control. Growing old, for example. No control over that. What's going to happen to me? The child of God may say. I see what happens to some saints. I see that the physical troubles they go through as they grow old, what will it be like for me? And one can worry and be anxious over that. What about my children? The world's undeniably growing more wicked. The temptations, the allurements of the world grow in power. They perhaps may even sneak into the hearts and minds of my children without me knowing. What will happen to them? What about my grandchildren? What will happen to them? What will happen, children, young people, in school next year? Will I get the grades that I want, that I need, or that I believe I need? How will I do? We can worry about that. What about my friends? Will they still be my friends? How long will they be my friends? We can worry about those things, can't we? We worry about who we will marry. Will I marry, if that's my desire, will I ever find someone, a godly spouse? How long will it be? Who will that person be? Will they be truly good for me? Help me in my godly life? What about my career? What about that pain, that twinge of pain I felt a little while ago? What might that indicate? What about that abnormal lump or that spot? that I've discovered. What about that difficulty? I know I must face that difficulty of correcting a brother or bringing a word of admonishment to a friend. What will occur to that relationship? What will happen? And that's but the beginning, isn't it, of those things that we worry about that are outside of our control. But the text comes to us with a good, firm command. God says, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Don't worry about any of those things. Don't worry about anything. at all. That means, beloved, that worry is a sin. It is. It is. It doesn't mean someone is utterly broken down with worry, utterly captured with the power of anxiety or depression that we ought to come to them with our Bible and hit them upside the head and say, that's a sin. But for us, as we stand in a normal circumstance in our life, we must hear the word of God. It is sin to worry. And those who are utterly captured in the bondage of depression and anxiety need gently and with mercy, to be reminded to fight that which is sinful in those troubles. That doesn't mean, of course, that someone who suffers from depression is more sinful than anyone else. You must never go in that direction and leap to that conclusion. Nevertheless, there is sin in our worrying. Therefore, we must not take worry or anxiety lightly. God says we may not do it. Therefore, if we do worry, we are sinning. And when we sin, God is not pleased with us. Worrying is serious, as is all sin. Sometimes we're inclined to look at certain sins, murder or adultery or some of these other sins, and we say, those are really serious sins, but worrying, that's a little pet sin that I have, not such a big deal, it's not such a troubling thing. God says it is sin, and all sin is offensive to God. And the text says not only Acts does not say, I'm going to talk now to certain people who have a problem with worrying. That's not how God comes to us this evening. God comes to all of us and God says, you, all of you, stop worrying. That's the word of God for me too, for all of his people. Stop worrying. And God doesn't come to us and say, stop worrying when we're not worrying. So when God says, stop worrying, He means to say, you are doing that. Now stop. That's what the Lord says to us tonight. And it's certainly true. Some are more prone to worry than others. Others are less prone to worry. Live according to a more carefree way of life. But all of God's people do worry. God knows us. God knows our weaknesses. And God says to us, you are doing that now. Don't do that. Don't do that anymore. But he also knows how we like to try to find loopholes in his commandments. when He comes to us with His callings and His commands, so that we can make them somehow not apply to us. We all do that, don't we? So He says to us, be anxious for nothing. Don't worry about even one thing, not one thing in your life. might have said to ourselves, that's true, that's true what God says when He says, don't be anxious, don't worry, that's true, we ought not worry generally over things, but these little things that I sometimes worry about, these little things that sometimes I allow to get me anxious, that's not so important, that's not such a big deal. The text says, stop worrying about even one thing, even every little thing. Or one might have said to himself, or we might say to ourselves, I agree with this text, we should not worry about things in life, certainly we should not clutter up our minds with worry over all these little things in life, but you understand what I am going through is not a little thing. The trouble that I have in my life is a tremendous trouble. Who can blame me for worrying about that? It's all you could expect in this situation that I would worry about this. Anybody would worry about this if it was in their life. And the text again speaks to us. Do not worry about anything. Not one thing. Not the big things in life either, the big troubles and problems or the big needs as we see them. And that's in harmony with Jesus' instruction too. In Matthew chapter 6, yet another beautiful passage of scripture which speaks of anxiety and worry, which comes to us again with the same gracious and effectual command, works peace in our hearts through that command. We find in Matthew 6 verse 25 these words, Jesus' words, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Take no thought means don't be worried, don't be anxious. It's exactly the same idea. Take no thought for your life. And then Jesus says, no, not even for what you're going to eat. There was someone who said, I don't know where my next meal is going to come from. Jesus doesn't say, well, then I understand you could worry about that. That's certainly significant. He says, no, don't worry about that either. Nothing. Nothing. Not even the food that you need. Why it is sin to worry, why we're commanded not to worry, is because when we worry, we doubt God. When we worry, we show a lack of faith in God. Beloved, we believe that God is sovereign. We believe that God is almighty. We believe that God can do anything. And we believe that God loves us. He is our Father in Heaven, a mighty, powerful, loving Father. That's what we confess. We have to recognize, though, there's a difference between knowing and believing. It's true that faith, believing, includes a knowledge. But one can know something, one can confess something, one can say, and we recognize this happens in our life all the time, we say, if someone were to ask us, is God Almighty? We'd say, absolutely. Does God love you? Absolutely. Then why are you worrying? If you know that, why are you worrying? And we have to answer, because I'm not believing that. I'm not taking hold of that at this moment by faith and believing that and resting in that truth. With all the power of faith, God has worked in me. Often, we do not trust him. to use His mighty power to care for us. When we worry, that's exactly what we're doing. We fail to trust in God to care for us. We rather worry than trust that God loves us and that He will direct all things to our advantage. We know those things. We must believe them. must believe that God will control everything for our very best advantage. No matter what happens, no matter what will lie in the future, no matter what things we may ask ourselves, what will happen here? What will happen there? We can say whatever it is. We can confess this, but we must believe it too in our heart. Whatever it is, whatever God has in store for me and for my loved ones in the future, it is best. It is good. He's my God. He is sovereign. He is mighty. And he loves me. He loves me. How could I doubt that about him? Gave me his own son. He gave me Jesus Christ. Not only did He give Him to me so that His Son, Jesus Christ, could walk about here upon this earth for a while, but He gave Him to me in the sense that He gave Him unto the suffering of His life and unto the death of the cross. That much He loved me. And Jesus Christ Himself as the revelation of God and the revelation of the love of God showed me in the cross how much He as God loves me. And that He willingly laid down His life, suffered hell, eternal hell thrust into Him in the space of three hours. He did that for me because He loved me. cannot doubt, must not doubt, must not worry, but trust. Romans 8 verse 32 speaks that way too. He, that's God, he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? We believe that. We trust in that. That's God's word. But rather than go on worrying and sinning, instead of going on worrying and sinning. And so that we can trust in God. God says to us, let your requests be made known unto me. Let your requests be made known unto God. That's verse six, the continuance of verse six. Verse six begins, be careful for nothing. Don't be anxious about anything. And then this, but in everything by prayer and supplication, With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. God tells us what to do about our worries, and what he says is, tell me about them. That's how you deal with them. You bring them to me, and you tell me. And I call this God's people. to just toughen ourselves up, as perhaps we may hear and learn from the world. We're not called to crush all of our cares, simply ignore them, beat them down, and become cynical and tough. But we're called rather as broken, hurting, children, weighing troubled children, to come to God with those troubles and trials and to pour out our heart unto Him. Make known to God your cares. It may seem like a strange thing for God to tell us. Let your requests be made known unto God. Doesn't God already know everything? Isn't God omniscient? Doesn't He know everything about our life? Why would He want me to come there and tell Him about my worries, my troubles? God is omniscient. No question about it. God knows all the things that worry you. He does. He knows all things that ever have worried you. He knows all the things that will yet be inclined to cause you to worry in the future. He knows exactly how much they worry you and cause you to be anxious, or how little. And he knows exactly why they worry you. He knows you better than you know yourself, better than anyone knows you. Why does He tell us to tell Him? And again, beloved, it goes back to the fact that He loves us in Jesus Christ, His Son. He loves us. It's not for Him. It's for us. We must come to Him and tell Him of our worries and our anxieties. Not for His benefit, but for ours. So that we can come to realize that He knows. We need to be reminded of that. And prayer serves that purpose. God says, come to me, tell me in prayer all the things that cause you to be anxious so that you will know that I know. The tiny little shadow of that in our own earthly human relationships isn't there? How often isn't it the case? You may sit down with a good, trusted friend And perhaps even with tears, talk about the troubles and the worries and the anxieties of your life. And perhaps that friend has nothing to say, nothing to offer, nothing real to offer. They empathize, they sympathize, but there's no solution they can give you to the trouble. And yet you leave somehow refreshed and encouraged. Someone else knows. Someone else cares. That's we say a little picture, a little shadow. The purpose prayer serves in our life. Now we come in prayer, not to an earthly friend, not to someone who loves us in a certain measured way, maybe greatly, but yet in a measured way, and as a sinner. But we come to the almighty perfect God who loves us beyond our imagination. And we bring to him our worries, and we're reminded. that He cares, and we're reminded He's in control. It's all in His hands. We must come to God often, spend time in His presence, bringing Him into our consciousness, becoming aware of God and all of His glory, Meditate upon the glories and the wonders that are yours. Think of his attributes. Spell them out. Meditate upon what they mean, what they mean for you in Jesus Christ, your Lord and your Savior. And you will find comfort, deliverance from worry and anxiety. And God does not put a limit upon it. God does not say, come to me with certain things, come to me with the big worries, the big troubles, the big anxieties. God says, in everything, in everything, let your requests be made known unto God. Beloved, if there's another, yet another indication of His marvelous love for us, it's that God's not an aloof father. He's not a father with his door shut tight and says to us, don't trouble me, don't bother me with all your little problems. You're going to come to me, make sure it's something significant. God says, in everything, anything that bothers you, anything that troubles you, anything that threatens to rob you of your joy in Christ and fill your mind with anxiety and worry, bring that unto me in prayer. Every perceived evil, even every imagined trouble. That's not evidence of God's patient, fatherly love. I don't know what is. The text tells us how to do this as well. How must we pray? How can we pray to God and bring these things before him? First of all, the text uses the word prayer. Prayer is an act of worship and as an act of devotion to God. The word prayer means you must come to God with the right attitude, with the right heart and spirit. Come to God in humility. Come to God with a consecration of heart. A humble, consecrated heart. Come to God with reverence. That's prayer. That's true prayer. Humble, reverent, Worship of God. Come to God with petitions, the text goes on to say. That is, specific requests. God is not telling us here, come to me and simply tell me that you have troubles, tell me that you have worries. God says, I want to know what they are specifically. Set them out before me. Tell me. List out those things that cause you to be anxious. so that we can look at them individually before God and realize as we hold them out before God, they're not even worthy of my worry. That's what occurs too, doesn't it? Have some way or other and we say the Lord tells me to bring it to him in prayer and I come to him in prayer and I hold it up before him and I say, Lord, here is my worry. But in his glorious presence, that worry seems to disappear. And I realize it's nothing worth worrying about after all. We come to God with prayer. We come to God with our petitions. We come to God with thanksgiving, the text says, with thanksgiving. And the one full of anxiety and full of worry would say, what kind of, what kind of command is that? Come to God with thanksgiving. I'm someone now that's worried. I'm anxious, but come to God with thanksgiving. That's his yas. Not come to me only focusing upon your worries, but thanking God for all of his blessings to you as well. We need to elaborate on those things in our prayers as well. Not only our requests and our petitions and our ways, but we come to the Lord and we thank Him for what He has done. We thank Him for all the glorious things He has given to us freely and graciously in Jesus Christ. Thanking Him for helping us with regard to those things that worry us. Again, putting things into perspective in the presence of God, rids us, as God works in our hearts, of our worries. And then our request, don't only list your worries, don't only lay out your petitions before him, don't only thank God for the good things that he has done, but also request of God what you need. What do we need with our anxieties and with regard to our worries? Often we immediately think of the thing that's causing us to be troubled and worried. We maybe come to God and say, take that away or care for that or control that. Certainly we may ask God with regard to that, but we need something else far more. We need the grace to fight against worry. But we need more than those external circumstances changes. We need the grace to bear up under the praise and the glory of God in those circumstances, whether they be real trials or only imagined perceived possible troubles. We need the grace to trust God. We can't find that in ourselves. We can't somehow drum that up within ourselves. We come to God and we say, Lord, I am weak. I am sinful. I don't have any grace within me of my own except that which Thou dost give to me. I am not able to stop worrying. I can't do it. And I'm not able to trust in Thee. When I try on my own, I'm unable. Give me, then, my grace and Holy Spirit, that I may not worry, but trust in Thee. When we do that, come to God in prayer, as he calls us to in this passage, then the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Peace is of God, real peace. That's what the text is talking about. Not some earthly peace, not some imagined peace of men, but the real peace of God the peace that is known within the Trinity, within the Triune God Himself, the peace that's known between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that peace of God is ours, and that peace of God will come into our hearts. It's really to say God Himself and His Spirit will bring his own peace from himself into our hearts and answer to our prayers. At peace, you feel his tranquility, inner calmness, quietness. Peace comes to us as the fruit of the Spirit. It's only for the elect, of course, Jesus Christ died upon the cross to earn the rights to dispense to his people all the blessings, all the blessings of salvation, including peace. But he earned that for his elect, for his elect alone. And he will give that to them. He does give that to us as we continually ask that of him and are thankful of it, for it, in prayer. As the Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 116 points out, a peace then, known by us as Christ's people and known as that which really passeth all understanding. That's the peace of God. It is. It passes all understanding. It's beyond our comprehension, that peace of God. We're unable to find the depth or the height of it. There's no end of it. It's infinite. It's amazing peace. Beloved, it's peace that gives a child of God quietness and peace and tranquility in some of the most horrific situations of life. It's the peace that fills the heart of the martyr who's marched off to the stake and is about to be destroyed with an agonizing, painful death for the sake of Jesus Christ. And he says, I have peace. That's impossible apart from the work of God. That's amazing peace. That's a peace which continues in trials that we endure. How often don't we see that in one another? How often haven't we experienced that in our own life? God brings us into a trial and it doesn't go away. The trial remains. And it carries on, and it carries on, and it continues. And yet each day anew, he gives peace. Peace that passes understanding. Well, sometimes we have our worries in the midst of the trial. They may creep in again. We grow weak, and again, We throw ourselves upon our knees, and we call out to God, and we pray to him, and we make known our troubles before him. And again, he picks us up, and we have peace. That's the peace the text promises us. That's the peace as God's children we enjoy. That peace shall keep your hearts and minds." Hearts and minds means your whole self, all your thoughts, your willing, your emotions, everything that is within you will be held up, braced, strengthened by that peace of God which passeth all understanding. And when the text says that peace shall keep your hearts and minds, it means that peace will guard you. That's literally what the word is. Guard. that peace will guard you, will stand guard over your heart, will stand guard over your mind. Once we have that peace and as we receive that peace from God as a gracious gift from Him, then it guards us also from future worry, or strengthens You can think of it another way, that peace that God gives in answer to our prayers, which guards, stands guard over our hearts and minds, guards us from the devil. Understand that too, don't we? One of the best and oldest tactics the devil has ever employed against God's people is to try to strike their hearts through with worry, with anxiety. fear so that we run away from God or we lean upon our own activity instead of quietly trusting in Him. Praise is the text. God will send you His peace, a peace which passeth all understanding and which guards you from the evil one who seeks to sow worry in your heart. And that peace will guard you in Christ Jesus. That's where we are. That's who we are. We're those united to Jesus Christ. We're those who are in Him and He in us. By the wonderwork of God in our hearts, we abide in Him. We trust in him. We live in him as he is in us and as he fills us with his own power and with his own life. He is the one. He is the one. He testifies in our hearts. God loves us. It's the one who has himself personally established that peace for us through his cross. God will guard your hearts and minds for the peace that passes all understanding as you are in Christ Jesus and as you abide consciously, trustingly in him. Abide in Christ Jesus. Trust in God. Look away from those things that cause you to worry. Don't look at them. Don't give them your attention. Look to God. Trust in Him. Rejoice in His riches. Be filled with His wonders and His glories. And then trusting in God and commuting with Him, you will have peace. Again, the passage we read at the beginning of our worship this evening. Thou will keep him, the prayer of the child of God, confessing the glory and the wonder of God. Thou will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee. That's the word of God to us tonight. those who are in Christ Jesus. Remember now, as you've heard the word of God and you return to your life and you look at those things which may cause you once again to worry and to be filled with anxiety, remember that peace that the text speaks of comes through prayer. Are you going to pray? Are you going to pray as the text calls you to? You know how that beautiful line in the hymn goes. We love our Psalter numbers. Certain hymns put things very beautifully too. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Pray then, beloved, pray. Be anxious for nothing and have real peace, real peace, peace that passes all understanding and that equips you serve the Lord, to praise the Lord, to glorify Him in your life as one who rejoices in the Lord. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee that Thou dost love us enough. Thou dost love us so much. Thou hast come to us in thy fatherly counsel. Give us the commands that we need to hear. That we may, not by our own strength, but by thy power which comes to us through the commands, that we may turn from our worries, from our doubts, and trust in thee. that we may pray to Thee. Fill us, Father, with that determination to pray more, to be found in prayer often. And then, Father, also we pray now, show us the fulfillment of Thy promise. Show us Thou art a God of grace. And in answer to our prayers, fill us, Lord, With the peace that thou dost promise, the peace which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds by that peace, that we may praise thee and glorify thee for thy goodness, thy kindness, and thy love, as we know it in Jesus Christ. Amen.