Be Anxious for Nothing

Transcript

GRM 200
5/18/1986
Be Anxious for Nothing
Philippians 4:6-9
Gil Rugh

Book of Philippians and the fourth Chapter in your Bibles. Philippians Chapter 4, there are certain passages and sections of the word of God that you find yourself coming back to again and again over the time that you are a believer. And Philippine Chapter 4 is one of those Chapters that I find myself retuning to again and again. In the midst of Chapter 4, Paul is going to the center attention on the subject of the peace that belongs to the child of God that inner tranquility and peacefulness of spirit that the child of God is privileged to have in the midst of turmoil and tribulation.

Very concern that we do not see this characteristic evidence as it ought to be among believers. We live in a world that is rather chaotic. There are many pressures that people feel in their lives and the inability to handle these pressures is evidenced by the increasing numbers of psychiatrists and psychologists that are present in the world, as people turn to other people looking for answers, looking for a way to cope with life. I would expect that in the world, but I am concerned that as we have seen this multiplying in the world, we have also seen the increase within the church as well. We are seeing multiplying numbers of Christian psychologists and Christian councilors. We in spite of the increasing numbers are unable to cope with the numbers of people to want to see them to say I need help.

And yet when I come to the word of God, I find it believers are those singled out by God as privileged to be enjoying inner tranquility and peace all the time. And I fear that something is wrong that we are really not living the Christian lives. I am not saying Christians never have problems, I am not saying Christians don’t need council, I am saying Christian aught to be characterized by peace within and that’s the privilege that we ought to be taking advantage of all the time. In fact it is a responsibility. In fact if you do not have the peace of God within, if you are not enjoying that inner tranquility, mental and emotional peace and harmony, you are in sin as a believer.

They will come out in Philippians 4. Paul has talked in the opening verses about a conflict that existed within the church at Philippi and that may well be what prompted him to talk about peace on the inside, because you remember James says that fightings and bickerings and wars are a result of sin within the individual and the individual does not have peace. The individual is being torn on the inside and the result is he spreads that inner conflict into his dealings with other people. So Paul has talked about a conflict that existed at the church at Philippi and from that he moves into a discussion of the peace of God within the heart of the individual.

In verses 4 and 5, he gives a couple of commands, rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice. That’s given as a command. Believers are commanded to be rejoicing. Isn’t that amazing! The thing that I really want happiness and joy in my life, God says I am required to have. Now he doesn’t require me to have anything that he doesn’t provide. So if I am living as God wants me to, my life will be characterized by joy. That doesn’t mean everything will be happy and light, but it means that joy and rejoicing that God produces within and from what in it spreads to the outside will characterize me. He also instructs them with a command, let you for bearing spirit be known to all the men. Boy, you ought to be characterized by patients with one another, a willingness to put up with one another if you will. That was lacking at the church of Philippi, so they had conflict among some key people who had been key in the ministry with Paul, says this is a command, let your forbearing spirit being known to all. The Lord is near. I am to be living in light of the Lord’s coming, that affects the way that I relate to others, that affects my patients with you by recognize the Lord’s coming.

Then he directs your attention to the matter of peace where we want to focus our attention. There is going to be a serious of commands given, so continues the commands to the Philippians. We are going to look at these commands in verses 6 through 9, where the focus will be on the mental and emotional wellbeing of the believer. And that’s all will be based up on a personal relationship with God. I think the world ought to be worried, I think he world ought to be getting ulcers. I think the world ought to be losing sleep at nights. The world of the unbeliever, they have got a lot to be anxious about. We are talking about God’s special provision for those who are his children. We are talking about a family relationship. It’s like you would talk to your children and you assure them that you are going to take care of them, you are going to provide for them and you are going to meet their needs. That doesn’t mean the child down the block doesn’t have to worry about those things for himself. It means your children don’t have to worry about it because you have taken total complete responsibility for their wellbeing.

Now as a child of God, he has taken total and complete responsibility for my wellbeing. So you must begin with peace with God before you understand the peace of God. You have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ. When you come to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin personally and subsequently was raised from the dead, you trust him and his work along for your salvation, you have peace with God. He cleanses you, he forgives you, he brings you into a personal relationship with himself. Now he desires to produce his peace within your life in every situation.

Paul wants us in verse 6 with a command, be anxious for nothing. I think it’s important to note. I mention as we began that if you have anxiety in your life, if you have worry, that is sin. You know why it’s sin? The command of the word of God is be anxious for nothing. Now if God commands don’t be anxious about anything, word anxious here means to be fretful, to worry in the context that is used here. If God commands me not to worry and I worry, I am in rebellion against the command of God, that’s what sin is. To him who knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin.

Sin is transgression of the command of God .God commands me. Gil be anxious for nothing, I say you don’t understand my situation. He says be anxious for nothing, so I don’t have to know about the details of your life, you don’t have to know about the details of my life, but you can tell me that God’s plan for me is not to be worried about it, right, because I am not to be worried for anything. That’s the instruction and command that Paul gives under the inspiration of the scripture. This is not new, it pervades the scripture, it’s based up on the fact that God is taken us under his wing. We are the objects of his care and thus his total responsibility.

Back up to the gospel of Mathew Chapter 6. Mathew 6, you note it’s interesting as it’s true in so many areas of our lives as believers. Our greatest privileges are also our responsibilities. Isn’t it interesting, God commands me not to be worried. I don’t want to worried any way. So the responsibility I have not to worry is really a great privilege, who wants to worry? I was just working up a good ulcer, it’s too bad now I find out, I can’t worry. Nobody wants a life like that. So when God says, he is telling me that the very thing that will any way.

In Mathew Chapter 6 verse 25, Jesus is speaking. He has talked about no treasure here, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So don’t let up yourself treasures on earth. Back in verses 20 and 21, you can’t serve two masters, you can’t serve God and things of this world. Verse 25, for this reason, I say to you, do not be anxious for your life. There is a word that we are talking about, don’t be worried about life and the things of this life. What you will eat, what you will drink, what about body, and the clothes you wear, the food. Look at the birds, an example, verse 26, they don’t worry, they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they don’t store up in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Now don’t you think you worth board him that a bird? Some of you have little pets, some of you have bird for pets. You see that they are fed, that the cage is cleaned, you take care of them. But they are not worth anything near what one of your children are to you. I mean, you think you would take care of that bird in the cage and not provide food for your kids, that’s what God saying. Aren’t you worth much more to me than the birds of the air and what would anxiety do for you any way. If you sit and worry, what you can accomplish?

We can’t change life by worry, you can’t have more close if you decide to worry two hours a day about it. That’s the point of verse 7, verse 27. Then the lilies of field, look at those and look at beautify of the flowers, they don’t toil, they don’t spin. They don’t spend any time working up a garment, but they are far more beautifully arrayed that even Solomon was with all of his wealth and all of this possessions, why?, God takes care of them. He can take care of them without them doing anything. But if God so arrays, verse 30, the grass of the field which is alive today, tomorrow will thrown into the furnace, really not do much so much more for you. You have to underline this. This is the issue. All men of little faith, you know what the problem is?, my willingness to trust God. Do not be anxious then, saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink with what shall we close ourselves. Now note this for all these things, the gentiles eagerly seek. Gentiles here are synonym for unbelievers. The unbelievers are absorbed with the things of this life because that’s all they have. They have no hope beyond this life, they have no heavenly father to care for them. They better be worried about it.

Now here comes the conflict, the word around me, the word in which I dwell on this earth is constantly pressuring me with its philosophy, that you need security, that you need things, that you can be sure about tomorrow, you need to worry about that and pretty soon that thinking begins to affect me as a believer. Will I have enough to retire on?. What if I lose my job with the economy the way it is, Job is hard to find. What if, what if, and you stop and think of the advisements of the world, the pressures of the world, how much of it has to do with that realm. That’s what the gentile seek. All of you can only have security, but they ask how many do the area you can have security. Would you like security as though by having a cretin amount of things you had security?

The instruction for us is seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you, verse 34, therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own and if we consider this before, you don’t have to be anxious about tomorrow, that pretty well takes care of all your anxiety, doesn’t it?. You had enough food to have strength to get here, you had enough clothes to cover yourself up adequately to get here. You made it to today, didn’t you? If most of us don’t eat the rest of the day will survive the day, you could pretty well live the day in these close, don’t have much to worry about than doing it. Oh boy, you don’t know my situation, I am on the brink. But you are not over it, are you? No, but tomorrow I may be.

Well, verse 34 is for you. Do not be anxious for tomorrow, that’s easy to say, but don’t know my situation, try, but God does and see we come back to the end of verse 30. Oh, you have little faith, you know what the problem, do I think God is able to meet my need?, probably could. Do I think he will meet my need? I hope so, has he always done it before?, yes, but what if he doesn’t come through this time. I want you to think about that for the next two hours after I have done preach. What if he does into come though? You are in trouble, I am in trouble because God is no longer God, he has been unfaith. You see the trap. Why begin to question the faithfulness of God and his reliability, I have no place to go. If I tell my children, look you are my children, I am going to see that you have food and clothing, may be not the food you wand, may be not the clothes you want, now ___320__the teenagers defiantly not the clothes they wand. But I am going to see they are adequately fed and adequately clothed.

Is it make any sense for them go down and sit in their room and start to worry and think, oh boy, what if I don’t have anything to eat tomorrow. That’s foolish, that’s my responsibility, I am your father. So God says, Gill I am going to see you taking care of and I say oh, that’s wonderful or what if he doesn’t take care me. How foolish, how ridiculous.

First Peter Chapter 5 verses 6 and 7, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exult you at the proper time. See you are dealing with the matter of a willingness to submit ourselves to God, casting all your anxiety upon him, why?, he cares for you. He is interested, he is concerned about me. So he wants all my worries, all my burdens, all my fears, all my anxieties give them over to him. He cares about me and that never sees us to amaze me, that the almighty sovereign God finds me individually so important that all my worries, all my concerns, all my fears he is interested in. He wants to take responsibility for that and to see that all my needs are met. Any wonder I as a believer say I can walk through life without any fears, without any worries. Any wonder I can leave differently than the world. The world says if you are not worried, something is wrong with you. The world says if you are not anxious about things, you got your head in the sand. I say that’s true if you don’t have a loving heavenly father looking out for you.

Back up to Philippians Chapter 4 again, let’s at some of the details here. He says don’t be anxious for nothing be anxious for nothing, but he doesn’t put a period there. Now it would be adequate to give the command and leave it there, but he is going to unfold how this is to be leaved up. But indicates a strong contrast in everything, in that contrast with nothing, anxiety, no anxiety, but in everything by prayer supplication with thanksgiving let you request be made known to God. There is another command. Let your request be made known. That’s not a recommendation. If you don’t think you can handle it, let your request be made known. If you are tired of worrying about it, let your request be made known. Now God commands us so if I am not telling God what’s worrying me, I am in sin because he told me.

I use just four words for prayer here, be a good study for you, we are not going into it. Uses the word prayer, uses the word supplication, uses the word thanksgiving, and uses the word request. So that party well encompasses everything on my mind bring it before him. Sometimes we get in the trap that we will worry about the little things, that leads God free to handle the big thinks. How foolish. It’s like my kid saying I will worry about weather I have enough breakfast, I will let dad worry about dinner. I mean, he is not helping me out, I really don’t need his help with breakfast. I can provide breakfast as well as dinner. Somehow, we think we are going to help God out. I am worried about the little things had in new Christian here at the hill tell me.

I try not to burden God with the little things in my life, but once the big things come, then I, you know, I feel free to tell him. That’s not the way it is. That’s not the way you want it in your family because you know what, you relies also if your children develop the pattern of coming to you about the little things you know what ?, when the big things, what, that habit is developed. It’s the natural thing. If then I have the pattern of trusting you in the little details of their life, when the big things come they don’t have the right habit developed. So we have that habit developed. What’s worrying, what’s on your mind. Turn it over to the Lord. It’s just that simple. It’s not new. We can go back into the psalms where we told to case all of our burdens up on him and he will sustain us in Psalm 55.

This has been God’s pattern for his children all along. Once he takes us under his care, we become his total responsibility. Now it’s hard for me to really live like that, to be quite honest with you. I know that’s a theological truth, but I find myself pressured when I say I am going to leave consistently with that every moment of every day. I tend to on a pool of things back in, I can handle this, I can worry this one through, realized that God wants me to roll it to him, but you say well, well I have done that. God said don’t worry, but committed to me in prayer, I did that, I am still worried. Now I have got a double burden. Now I know I am in rebellion against scripture, but I still worried about the problem. Well Paul goes on and I think this is key thing. You got to see this whole section in the context of the peace of God because you will note verse 9 is going to end with a promise that God of Peace shall be with you. So he still is talking about peace in the section.

So he says verse 7 and the peace of God would surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There is a promise. When I have faced my anxieties, turned them over to God, God sends his peace to take up watch my heart. Stand guard, a military term, put someone on guard duty to protect my heart. That’s God’s responsibility you know. He stands his peace to stand guard at my heart. I want you to note something here. He doesn’t say he will remove any problem. He doesn’t say he will remove any conflict. I wouldn’t need someone on guard duty if there was no problem. He puts someone on guard duty where there is a threat and a danger. His peace as to stand guard at my heart because there are things that assault me, that would destroy the peace that would cause me anxiety. Now this is the peace which surpasses all comprehension. I take at the point there is it’s different than the peace the world has.

Here we noticed that some people in the world seem relatively peaceful. They seem to be living relatively peacefully and in fact some people in the world see more peace than you and I do as believers. Everything seems to be going right. They have got healthy bodies. They have an abandons of material possessions. They seem to be having a pretty good time and they don’t seem to be too worried, but the deceptiveness of that is it is a peace built up on circumstances. Watch that same person, I have seen this happened with man who had been in the business world, important, influential, well to do, powerful and watch that man lose what he has and he comes apart from the inside out.

A person who seems so strong seems able to handle anything is diagnosed as having a serious illness and they begin to disintegrate. Easy to have peace when the circumstances are right, but it is a depictive peace. It’s a peace based upon external. The peace God wants to talk about is based on the inside and that’s what makes it go beyond understanding. We had believers share with me. They have been going through what we called deep waters. Their world seems to have come apart and collapsed around them and I can’t explain the peace I have got on the inside. It’s so contrary to what I would expect to be happening. It goes beyond understanding. There is no way. Humanely speaking you ought to say they are to be out of their mind. They ought to be crazy with worry, but see God places a peace that starts on the inside and spreads out.

The world tries to do a counterfeit and Satan does good counterfeits, but they all start on the outside and work and as soon as the outside is affected, the inside is affected. That’s why the world place on that, place upon the fear. You can have security for the future if you invest this way, why? you won’t have relative peace knowing you have this on a rather permanent basis. At your hearts and minds, want you to note here, this involves my mental and emotional wellbeing. God wants me to have mental and emotional health and wellbeing. He wants me to have peace not at the expense of my intellect, not by sticking my head in sand and avoiding reality, but in my mind as I have confronted reality, confronted reality and light of care of a loving heavenly father. My heats, my emotional wellbeing and stability is tide to that relationship as well in Christ Jesus. This only happens for believers. Now we go that far to the last degree, but too often we stop.

Now Paul says now finally here is what you do. He is going to go on. There are two things you must do to experience this peace beyond what he has said. He said not to be anxious, but to give concerns to God and God will give us his peace, but how many times have you prayed about something and still lost sleep about it, still worried about it. Well the reason is we haven’t fallow through it, verse 8 finally brethren, think on these things. The last statement of verse 8 is given as a command. Be constantly thinking about these things. Present tense, let your mind constantly be occupied with these things. I think this is where the greatest breakdown is. This is where the battle is won or lost. It’s a battle in the area of my mind. Problem is our pray about it, I will give it to the Lord and then I proceed to worry about it.

In fact there are certain things in my life that when I prayed about it, I don’t pray about it again. I turn them over to the Lord, you know why?, every time I bring in back into my mind to pray about it, I begin to worry about it. So they come to mind as I say Lord I have already turned that over you, we don’t even need to talk about this anymore. I have left it you to handle because prayer can even become a trap, say why better pray about this more and what I am really doing is worrying my way through it unto the title of prayer. So be careful about that. When I have committed to the Lord, I have committed Lord, and now I have got to think differently. And it is encouraging me to here I determine what my mind will do. There’s going to be breaking some old habits.

Some of us are really developed into good warriors. Everybody ought to be good at something and some of us have fond this to be what we are best at. I can discipline myself, I can break old habit patterns, I can determine what I will think about. This would determine where you are emotionally as well. Let’s look thorough the standard here. Hear is how you are to think, here is what you are to think, finally brethren, whatever is true as the sense of valid or reliable, it’s the opposite of falsehood. Think on things that are true, so therefore if I think about a concern, what if God doesn’t come through this time? Is that a true thought or is that a falsehood? Could God ever not come through? If you stop and think about it for a while, if what if God doesn’t come through, what in the world are we going to do? There is no sense in worrying, everything is just futility, emptiness, hopeless. But how often do we come to the edge and say I know I have trusted God before. He has always been faithful before. But this is a little different situation, what if, God can never fail. It’s like my children think like my dad has fed me all these years, he has clothed me all these years, but what if he doesn’t do that this week? What are they going to think, here is your kid setting down there.

You have a 4-year-old sitting down there saying what if my parents don’t feed me this week. I mean, it times that did not know the way of life because there something is not true. So I have to think about what’s true, that has to do with my relationship with other people as well. What is valid reliable in contrast to the falsehood. Be careful about that trap of how I think about you, what I hear about you, do I think about what’s true. Sometimes believers have gotten into conflicts and battles because they have been thinking about something that was not even true about other people. Whatever is honorable, it has used here this word and few times in the pastoral epistles means worthy of respect or honor. It is used in the pastoral epistles of that which makes a person worthy of respect or it’s think about that which makes a person worthy of respect. If I apply that to God, I think about his faithfulness, his goodness, his mercy, his grace, his justice, his loving kindness. He is a God worthy of respect, worthy of honor. I have to think that same way about other people as well. Other believers.

That’s not the way the word functions. They don’t think about the lovely things in people, the things that would make you respect that person. They look for the flaws and dwell on them. You have a person in public life, in political life who does many exemplary things, but there is a constant looking for things that may not be worthy of respect. But for us as believers were to think on things that are worthy of respect, that would cause me to respect that other person. He goes on. Whatever is right means just would meet God’s approval or God’s standard. I think about those things, this meets God’s approval, this meets God’s standard. Then I dwell on that things consistent with righteousness in things and in people. Whatsoever things are pure and it include sexual purity, but it’s a word that’s not limited to that. I mean it’s not tainted or corrupt, it’s a clear, transparent. So it’s something that has not been corrupted.

Think about those thinks, the pure, the uncarpeted, untainted things and things that would be acceptable before God. You know, really what we have here is God’s view of positive thinking, God’s view of right thinking where my mind is to be channeled, how I am to be thinking. Whatever is lovely, I think this is beautiful word. It’s only used here in the New Testament. It could be paraphrase, think about which call us fourth love. Think about that which makes you love that person. Now it’s an area that is easy to breakdown in. They are not the horrible thoughts that are bitter and critical. When I think critical thoughts about you, that doesn’t make me want to of love you. When I am bitter in my thinking about you, that doesn’t awoke love in me for you.

Now note here, it’s not you are doing things to make me love you, my thinking is about those qualities, those aspects of your life that brings out love in me for you. I think it’s a breakdown here in our families, in our husband-wife relationships. You begin to think of things you don’t like about your partner. You think about the things that bother you, that grade on you, that are negative. You know what fallows through with that, pretty soon you don’t love that person any more. Our emotions fallow our thinking. You know what happens, we look at someone else’s husband or wife and I begin to say oh boy, there are some good qualities. You know what suddenly we are thinking, I am looking at my partner saying these are the things that I don’t like, these are the things I wish for different, these are the things that really grade on me. I am looking this person over there and saying, they do this and I think that’s lovely and they are like this and that’s wonderful. Do you think they are perfect?, no, but I am not looking at what they don’t have. You know what happens with that, my thinking is moved from the positive side here of what evokes love over to here. You know what happens, my emotions soon fallow the sling around here and that person comes in and says I just don’t have any feeling from them anymore.

No wander what you did with you mind determined that, how do that change, there was a time when you thought this person when you are going to marry them, oh, they just make me love them, I just love them so much. And you know why, you are thinking about all these things. How many times do the parents say now that their kid’s getting married now, have you evaluated this other person carefully. You know sometimes people in love seem totally nonobjective. You have somebody described the person there and love too and you say I can’t wait to see them, you say oh, when you see me and say that’s it. Wonderful. Love is blind. What do I mean by that. We mean we think about those things that call fourth love in us that are attractive, that are beautiful, that makes us love that person, that means there was not anything wrong, but we aren’t focusing in on that in a call forth love.

We need to be careful about that, that happens among our relationship with one another as well. As a believer, as fellow believers, you have faults and flaws just like I do. You decide you are going to concentrate on that. Pretty soon, there will be conflict, there will be a barrier. I won’t really care for you. You are an undesirable person. You do this, this, this, this, none of those things do I like and that, that, that, that, that, that, happens to the church. You know come here and I look and I can say boy, look at these believers, God’s done a marvelous work of grace in your life, he has changed, he has transformed you, brought us together to worship him. There is the encouragement of being together, I come and say why don’t they adjust the temperature better in here Besides, I passed four people in the home and one of them even looked at me, and say hello, and then the sermon was a little too long, of course that’s not new. You know, I can begin to make a list of everything I don’t like and how does that affect my love for other believers in what god’s doing in this place. You know and I determined it and I begin to project it to other people, but I have been thinking on that which calls forth love in me. That happens to new Christians. New Christians come there and love with all other believers. They are in love with what God is doing, but over time what happens, they get desolation, but you know what partly happens, their thinking changes, they don’t look the same way they did.

Those people didn’t change, those people never were perfect. They were growing believers, but that new Christian didn’t see their life in a new person in love. They are not looking at any of the flaws, they are not looking to see that this too didn’t go exactly strait or that’s just not the beautiful skies slope of knows that I thought every lovely person have. Never even noticed it. Well that over time then I stop thinking about the things that called fourth love, be careful of that. You know we crate an atmosphere and our children like this.

I wonder why our kids grow up the way they do, may be why they don’t want to be with other Christians. Why they don’t want to even have anything to do with the church when all they here us talk about what’s wrong with so and so, how inconsistent that Christian is, what a hypocrite that Christian is. The problems in the church, the problem with what it does and we wonder why they are growing up and they just don’t want to do anything, I can’t understand it. I have told them we are going. And I wonder we haven’t developed in them that kind of thinking that would produce a love.

A key verse to me, because it reminds me that I am in control of my emotions even my love. That comes back to how I am thinking, that’s why I need to be careful in my family, my relationship with other believers and so on. I saw these thoughts coming in, I have got to stop because I can’t control it. Ones I allow the thoughts to take hold of my mind, my emotion are going to swing around. Where we sometimes try to is think here and keep our emotions here and it doesn’t work. Sooner or later your emotions are going to catch up your thinking, then we have problems. We think I am going to think, but I am going to keep my loyalty here, it doesn’t work. So be care full about that thought . Whatever good repute, again many of these begin to blend together. Whatever calls forth admiration, whatever calls forth admiration, whatever is lovely or beautiful about that person attractive.

Then he gives two summery statements. If there is any excellence, if anything worthy of praise and in other words, this hasn’t been a complete list. So anything of excellence, the best in any area, anything that would be worthy of praise, think about that. Let me tell you, if you think that way about me, I like to make this personal, you are going to love me because that all you think about me as the good beautiful lovely qualities, how you help, but love me. How could you help and love a person who is so loveable. I mean if I am lovely, if I am just, if I you know the things of excellence and beauty and praise worthy, how could you help us think, boy love him. We are thinking about that. You know we are going to be a lovely group, why? We love each other, you know, you love a person like that, that I am controlling my feelings here by thinking biblically. That doesn’t means I don’t know that there are flaws. We don’t recognize there are weaknesses. We don’t recognize that there are things that need to be worked on and we are to be doing that, but as far as what our minds dwell on is to be the positive side.

You know, no matter where a believer is in his life, there are things that I can appreciate there because God does, he has does done a work of grace. Even the Corinthian churches, carnal as baby fight as they are, Paul has much to say about them that he is so positive and so good. There where church had every gift, so you need to recognize what God has done and is doing. So I control my mind, that my remembrance tries me back to peace, too often I have anxiety, I pray about it, then I walk often, I haven’t changed my thinking. If I don’t worry about it, who will. I guess God will have to, but I am still not done.

One other area in verse 9. The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. Practice these thing, that’s another command. Do the word, live a life of godliness. In another word put was be not here as a word, but be doors. The thing which you learned and n received the foundation for a godly life, the foundation for peace within the life is the truth of word of God. Paul says what I taught you, practice that, leave that, what you heard and seen in me. Paul taught the truth, he leaves the truth. It doesn’t mean the Paul was perfect, but he had a life that was committed to obeying and pleasing God.

He said in Second Corinthians 5 that his ambition where they are present in this body or absent from this body to be pleasing to the Lord. I want to live godliness, I want a practice the truth of the word of God. So I have worries, I have concerns, I have things that press in up on me. I am going to turn him over to the Lord. God, this is a fear I have, this is a concern, a worry I have to submitted to you. I believe you can handle it, I want your peace to stay and guard my heart. Now I and the power of the spirit must disciple my mind to turn my thinking to those things which are consistent with the word of God. That doesn’t mean I don’t do something if I lost my job, it doesn’t mean I am going to sit in a chair now and watch television until the phone rings with an offer. There are things I do. I am going practice the word of God. There is an intelligence that is to characterize me. I am going to do all I can and making contacts or do whatever needs to be done, but I don’t need to worry about it. Father, I will do all that I am able to do, but the resolution of this is in your hands. So it doesn’t mean inactivity, but it means proper activity with the proper mindset and as I change my thinking to be biblical and I have to be careful not to develop the habit pattern because the pattern we have is to worry it through, to straggles through with it. And also to be doing what’s biblical, now the trap that we get into is what I mentioned at the begging, the little things will handle, I worry about the little things.

You can take care of the everyday details of life and no problem with worrying about them, you can handle that with a few antacid, that’s not a big deal, but the big things, but you what, that pattern. If you are not developing that pattern of turning these little worries over to God and disciplining your thinking and disciplining your life in the power the spirit for Godliness, when the big things come, they just run right over you. And I find myself shattered and I say I just can’t cope. Well, I haven’t developed the pattern. My habit is to worry about it. You know I got a worry that is overwhelming. So I develop that pattern now and you say my life is pretty smooth. That’s a good time to start the pattern. I am going to commit the little things that come up by everyday life to the Lord. I am going to think according to the pattern he has said down for me. I am going to practice the word of God in the way that I live my life and becomes in natural thing, the big things come, that’s alright, I handle those the way I do the little things because they are big to me, but my God handles them all, little and big. It doesn’t matter whether I need 49 sent or 49 million dollars. My heavenly father can handle it, no big deal.

Doesn’t matter whether I have got a cough that will keep me out of work for a day or I have got a terminal illness, my heavenly father can handle my helps. Doesn’t mean that I don’t seek the help and advice of those I can, but I don’t have worry about it. He can handle it, can he handle it? He can handle it. You believe you can handle it. Are you living like, he can handle it. Are you wiling to let him handle it. You know that seems like it’s going to free up a lot of time, doesn’t it? by free up all my worry time, what am I going to do with all my time. Probably channel it into accomplishing some of the things that God wants me to channel it into. Praise God that he is concerned.

I am excited to know the God commands me, Gill don’t you dare worry. You mean you are that concerned about me, you don’t want me to worry, I don’t want to worry either. You will handle it all now, that’s the agreement. It wouldn’t be fare you tell me not to worry and then you don’t take care of it. Well of course you will take care of it. I can live a life of peace and tranquility even when things are beating away at me, there is the guard at my heart and my mind. I have emotional peace and mental peace, that doesn’t mean that we are going to be flat. We are going to have our different intellects. We are going to have our different emotions. I am glad for that. There is sill going to be over here whose emotions are a lot more vital. There are going to be people over here they look like ice cubes and most are going to be in between. So it doesn’t mean that we won’t have different emotional responses, but in it all I can enjoy God’s peace. I am privileged to have that peace because I am his child.

Let’s pray together. Father we acknowledge that it’s easy to study the word on this subject, it’s easy to preach about it and talk about it, to agree to it, but our concern is that we put into practice. We indeed be people who enjoy the privilege of having our God take care of all the details of our lives. we stand amazed at such overwhelming love that you are so concerned and so interested in us that all the details are concerned you, that you will work all things according to your prefect plan for us. What a privilege we have to grow in our trust of you. Lord I pray that, that peace will catheterize each of us as believers, control our thinking, control our actions and we will be people submissive to you that we might have your joy and your peace and we pray in Jesus name. Amen.