Philippians 4:5

In keeping the flow going on the blog, I am moving on to Philippians 4:5. But before I do that, I just want to say that I had an awesome day yesterday just rejoicing in the Lord because He is God. Goes to show you that if you are ever in need of a fresh anointing or something to lift you up, choose a verse that speaks to the heart and meditate on it for a day. It is really uplifting! Just to refresh I got an awesome word this past weekend about what to do in turbulent times. The book of Philippians has well-defined instructions on what to do.
Philippians 4:5 (New International Version)
5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
This verse has two sentences, so I will make two points.
First, God is commanding us to be gentle to everyone who is around us. To me this means, that I cannot allow the uncontrollable events that are going on around me to affect my emotions to the point that I mistreat anyone. We cannot let circumstances dictate how we treat others. For example: if we lose our job we do not have the right to freak out on our family members. I feel that it is at the emotional level where we dictate whether we will rise or fall. If we are quick to react in a harsh way, then we might spout off and say something that we might later regret. We MUST allow our minds time to process, in order to make a thoughtful decision which will benefit us and glorify God and set an example as Christ would. The more we trust God in every situation, the more He is hostage of our emotions, the more we can display the gentleness which He expects and commands in this scripture.
Second, Paul reminds us that God is everywhere in ALL situations. God is physically "near" us all the time. His spirit lives within our bodies. He gives us peace in rough situations because we know that we can trust Him. My NIV cross referenced this verse with James 5:9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! This command once more demonstrates a behavior that God does not want us to display. He does not want circumstances to cause us to "grumble" or cause co motion in our lives and with our fellowship of believers. He would prefer that we give our anxieties over to Him, allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in us and ease us with the peace that passes understanding.