Josh Neal – NorthStar Church Blog

Digging Deeper: Unending Peace

Josh Neal on January 19, 2024

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7 (NIV)

UNENDING PEACE

My wife and I love mysteries. Movies, TV shows, anything that lays out something that is puzzling or unexplained just captures our attention. Philippians 4:7 is, to me, one of the greatest mysteries in the Bible.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I don’t understand this. Which, naturally, agrees with “transcends all understanding.” But even though I don’t understand it, I love it. I love that our Good Father in Heaven is not bound by what we can understand. I love that He is not bound by what we say is natural, or reasonable. And, I love that He promises, no matter what, that His peace can always be with us.

One of my favorite lines of a worship song says, “Every promise you’ve made, is as good as done.” Philippians 4:7 is a promise from the Lord. If we reference Philippians 4:6 and “in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” it is as good as done that His peace will guard our hearts and minds.

It is not to say that He will shelter us from difficult times. Far from it. The Bible promises that we as Christians WILL see tough times. But He promises in Psalm 23 to “Prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Praise God that He is always faithful to what He says, that He is FOR us, and that there is nothing that can ever separate us from His love!

Josh Neal and his family have been members of NorthStar Church since 2016. He is married to his lovely wife, Mallory, and has three children: Ember, Clover, and Jack. He loves being a part of the prayer ministry at NorthStar, and enjoys everything from Georgia Tech Football, to hunting, to writing.

Digging Deeper: Keep Going!

Josh Neal on January 18, 2024

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:9 (NIV)

KEEP GOING!

One of my many quirks is that I love acronyms. Good ones, bad ones, any of them. I especially enjoy making acronyms out of nonsensical things. Something about shortening down a string of words or thoughts just entertains me on a deep level.

If I could shorten down Philippians 4:9, it would be to two simple words. “Never quit.”

Even in the mundane, and especially in the hard times, never quit.

How long can we keep going? How long can we endure? Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” We can endure always. Because God is GOOD.

So, in the interest of making things short and sweet – I would encourage you today to take a few minutes to pray: “Father God, strengthen my heart, so that I may never quit. Jesus, help me to NEVER stop locking eyes with you daily.”

Digging Deeper: Thinking Time

Josh Neal on January 17, 2024

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

THINKING TIME

I just love the message of Philippians 4:8. Something about it always leaves me feeling so encouraged! I guess that is one of those funny little things about the Word of God; it always seems to know how to get to the heart!

There is something to be said for taking the time to discipline our minds. The Bible speaks about taking every thought captive, and intentionally dwelling on things that are true, honorable, right, etc. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” We are constantly surrounded by our own thoughts, and to a large degree, our thoughts shape our reality.

Everything that we think about will form the lens by which we perceive the world. If we are constantly thinking about all the things that are going wrong, we will start to see every little thing and interaction through that lens of wrongness, instead of seeing the blessings of God. That is one of the reasons Paul instructs us to intentionally think about that which is “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.”

Philippians 4:6 and 4:8 really tie together – that intentionally dwelling on the Good (God) things, will help us develop a spirit of thankfulness, which then will lead to us dwelling on the good things, which continues to build a cycle of renewing our minds day by day!

So, today, take a minute and try something. Instead of watching whatever catastrophe has happened in the news, or seeing who has been dragged through the mud, take a few minutes to pray, and spend time with God telling Him the things you see that are good and admirable, and ask Him to reveal more pure and praiseworthy things to you! Prayer does not always need to be laying down a spiritual to-do list; sometimes it can just be spending time with the Lord, and thinking about His Good things together!

Digging Deeper: Blessed, Never Stressed

Josh Neal on January 16, 2024

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

BLESSED, NEVER STRESSED

Sometimes life can be frustrating – can I get an Amen? And it sure seems like frustrations have been popping up like weeds in spring! And what are we supposed to do in the middle of all these worries?

Let’s look at the second part of Philippians 4:6 – “but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” In EVERY situation? I don’t know about you, but for me, it can be pretty hard to pray thankfully in EVERY situation – and yet, Paul does not leave a lot of room for interpretation.

Sometimes keeping an attitude of thankfulness is difficult for me. I think that lack of thankfulness really comes from a lack of proper perspective. I am not suggesting that you compare your situation with someone else’s; even if someone is always in a worse spot, saying “well, at least I am not going through (insert tragedy here)” isn’t really helpful.

Instead, I think it is important to ask the Lord to reveal to you an accurate perspective on your situation. That isn’t to say that what you are going through isn’t difficult; but ask Him how HE sees it. And ask Him to help remind you of how blessed you are – because no matter what is going on in your life, God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, loves you specifically, and He blesses those He loves in countless different ways. On top of that, ask The Lord to remind you of an eternal perspective – remembering that all things- ALL things – work to the good of those who love Him.

Digging Deeper: What are We Supposed to Carry?

Josh Neal on January 15, 2024

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CARRY?

Do you ever get really excited about something in life, and then as soon as the moment arrives you think to yourself, “Oh… great…”?

Because that is exactly what happened to me when I started to write this particular Digging Deeper. I was so excited to dig in to the word and write… but did it HAVE to be that one pesky verse? When Paul tells the Philippians “Do not be anxious (or worry) about anything…” I just so dearly wish that I could overlook this verse in the Bible.

Worrying is a bit of a pastime for me. Work, family, money, politics, traffic, health – with so many things to worry about it almost feels irresponsible sometimes NOT to be wringing my hands over everything! And yet… the Lord tells us in His Word NOT to worry. Even Jesus himself says ”Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?“ in Luke 12:25. So what do we do about this? I think Mike gave us a great point on Sunday when he said Jesus wants to carry our burdens.

I don’t know about you, but it is awfully hard for me to just NOT do something, or just give away a responsibility. Fortunately, I think Jesus knew about guys like me from the day He gave us breath. Jesus says in Matthew, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

He doesn’t just leave us idle! He has a plan for us! Instead of worrying and being belabored by the world’s woes, He tells us to give those burdens to him. And in exchange, he has a light and easy burden to lay on our shoulders instead! I don’t think the light and easy means inconsequential; rather, something that is blessed and ordained by the Lord as something we can carry!

Today as you get going, take a few minutes and pray through giving Jesus your burdens, and asking Him for HIS burdens instead! If you’re anything like me, it will change your day!