Main Idea: Peace saturates my heart as prayer removes the worries in my head.

Today is the third message in our series "Your Best Life Anyhow." We are using Paul’s letter to the Philippians as a foundation to talk about how we can choose to have God’s best for our life in spite of our problems, adversity and challenges. We’ve talked about how that we need to make a choice to be positive and to involve ourselves with life when we face difficulties. But it is not only our attitude and our actions that are needed. A third key to achieving our best life anyhow is to remove the worry and anxiety from our mind and allow God to replace that with his peace. What we are going to talk about today is that peace will saturate my heart as prayer removes the worries in my head.

Let’s be honest this morning. You and I both know that when we face our own struggles, we worry. We may be dealing with a negative attitude and trying to withdraw from the life we had but one of the things we do and do well is worry. We know that the Bible says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you" (I Peter 5:7). We know that worry is useless and never solves anything. (Matt. 6:27). Yet we end up just like the person Jesus described in his story about the farmer who planted seed on thorny ground and the thorns choked out the seed. Jesus said that it’s like people whose life is "choked with worry" so his word can’t develop or mature. In other words, as long as our minds are choked with worry all the Bible verses in the world are worthless. As long as worry grips our mind what we know we ought to do or believe is of no value. So the key is we have to remove the worry! How? Well, that’s what our text for today tells us.

Before we talk about how to remove the worry I want us to see in this verse the kind of life God desires for us. Paul uses the word "peace" three times in this verse. He says that we should "experience God’s peace" (v. 7), that "peace will guard" us (v. 7) and that the "God of peace will be with you" (v. 9). Paul describes a condition in our life where peace is something that we experience, protects us and directs us. Now understand that what Paul writes about here was not always his own experience. There are times in his other letters that he tells about his own inner conflicts, fears and cares. However, by this time in his life in prison in Rome he has absolute assurance that he is experiencing peace, protected by peace and directed by peace.

What I am saying is that God’s desire for you, just as Paul’s desire for the Philippians, is for your life to be so filled with his peace that there is no room for worry. I’m not talking about some sort of glazed over emotion that detaches you from the reality of your life’s problems. What Paul is describing here is a sense of inner calm or ease that saturates our heart and life that is based on the security of God’s provision. That’s why Paul will say that this peace "is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand" (v. 7). This peace is not the result of some human ability to block out all the pain and the negative feelings. It is not something you create. It is something you receive from God. God’s desire for us is that when we encounter trials and troubles that we have a sense of inner calm saturating our heart that is based on the security of God’ provision for us. That is the only way you can live your best life anyhow!

So how do you get there when your mind is filled with worry and anxiety? How can I put my mind at ease or at peace? First, for my mind to be at ease prayer must replace worry (Phil. 4:6-7). In verse six Paul commands the Philippians to stop worrying. The word means "anxious, harassing care" or "trying to carry the burden of the future today." Worry is what makes you stare at the ceiling in the middle of the night because your mind can’t rest from all the thoughts in your head. It’s what makes your heart race, your mouth dry, your hands sweat and the blood rush through your head. Worry is what makes you think, act and feel crazy with all that might go wrong, be wrong or should not be wrong.

What did Paul have to worry about? Oh, you know, stuff like being tortured to death or having his head cut off—just the usual. What did the Philippians have to worry about? Oh, you know, stuff like being beaten, losing their family, being thrown in jail for believing in Jesus—just the usual. What do we have to worry about? Oh, you know, stuff like if the chemo is going to work, if the tumor is going to come back, if my job is going to hold out, if my marriage is going to hold on, if my kid is going to survive, if I’m ever going to get a job—just the usual. So Paul says with all that going on in our head to do one thing first: stop worrying!

You and I both know that merely telling us to stop something only makes us want to do it more. That’s why Paul says that we are to not merely stop worrying but to replace it with prayer. He says, "Instead, pray about everything." Some of your translations have "prayer and petition" but it’s really all the same thing. He is simply telling us that the way to be anxious for nothing is to pray about everything. He adds, "Tell God what you need." I like the way the NASV says, "Let your requests be made known." That describes to me a process of unpacking and conversing with God about every aspect of my worry. It means to me thoughtful reflective prayer. This kind of prayer is to be accompanied by our thanking God "for all he has done." This is so vital. It’s not just prayer; it’s thoughtful prayer that adds thanksgiving to God on top of it! My thanking God has the power to shape my worry and anxiety because it causes me to see my worry through the eyes of his provision!

So what is it you are worried about? I’m telling you as I tell myself; the only way to be free from it is to pray about it thoroughly and totally. That will take some time, some quiet time, some reflective time. One thing I’ve discovered this year that has helped me is to sit in a particular chair in our house in the very early morning and just talk to God. I just talk to him as if he were a counselor sitting opposite me. I open my mind to His Spirit and I tell him what I’m worried about. Then I begin thanking him for what he has done and what he can do. Do I still have times when I struggle with worry? Yes, and it is a sin for me to let my mind get to that place and I have to start over. Yet here is the key once you have tasted what it’s like to put your mind at ease through prayer, real thoughtful, grateful prayer you want it back. For your mind to be at ease, prayer must replace worry. It’s just that clear.

Next, Paul says that for my mind to be at ease, to experience God’s peace, my thoughts need to be focused (v. 8). I want us to go back to verse 7 for a moment. When Paul tells us to replace our worry with prayer, he says that we will then experience God’s peace and that his peace will protect the two most vulnerable places of our life—our heart or our emotions and our mind or our thoughts. Again notice that this is not something that we do, it is something that God does. God provides us his peace and that peace is like a guard around our heart and mind. Yet it doesn’t end there because he tells these Christians that they have a role or responsibility to play in keeping or maintaining this sense of peace.

In verse 8 Paul says we are to "fix" our thoughts. The word means careful, deliberate evaluation of our thoughts. Again, this is something we are to do. What are we to fix or focus our thoughts on? He gives us eight things: True, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. The Message translation says, "Truly noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise not things to curse." We could spend quality time on each one of these but we don’t have that time today. The bottom line that Paul is making is that once our minds are relieved from the torment of worry through prayer that peace is to be maintained by a shift in our thinking from thoughts that are destructive to thoughts that are constructive.

There is always going to be a battle for my mind and thoughts. There will never be a time that your own sinful nature, our own world or Satan himself will not try to control your mind. So that battle is going to be a constant one. However, you have the power to influence the outcome of the war. The control of my mind is my choice. It is my choice if I am going to allow my thoughts to be distorted, twisted and destructive. Once my thoughts become distorted then my emotions will follow right along with them and I will get myself into a bad place. I can blame anything I want for the way I think but it is finally my choice because the control of my mind is my choice. That leads me to this: the focus of my thoughts is to be deliberately determined. That’s why Paul said, "Fix your thoughts." It is my responsibility. That is the value of the list of things that Paul mentioned because every destructive thought you have can be countered with a constructive one.

How can you do that? One method that has worked for me is when thoughts that are distorting what I know is true come to my mind, I stop, write it down and then write down why it is not true. Over time when you do this enough, your mind begins to say, "You know that is a real hassle so why don’t we not think that?" You say, "Bruce, that’s a bit extreme." Well, my response is, "Tell me what you are doing to fix your thoughts?" It is my responsibility to "fix" my thoughts and just wishing I didn’t worry doesn’t cut it! For your mind to be at ease, your thoughts must be focused on what is constructive, not destructive, and that is your choice.

If my mind is going to be ease, prayer must replace worry and my thoughts must be focused. There’s one more element that Paul gives and that is for my mind to be at ease my life must be an example (v. 9). He gives another command at the beginning of this verse when he says, "Keep putting into practice…." He is again saying there is something for us to do not only with our thoughts but also with our actions. He says that their actions were to follow deliberately his example of Christian living. He tells them that all they learned, heard and saw him do, they were to do as well. Then by doing this they would be assured of God’s very peaceful presence being with them.

Do you see what Paul is telling us? He is pointing out to us that unless there is continuity in our life with what we pray and what we think then our mind will not be fully free from worry. My life can’t be a contradiction to what I profess to believe. In other words, I need to live out or model what I know to be true. It’s fine for me to tell myself that I need to replace my worry with prayer and that I need to focus my thoughts on what is constructive, not destructive, but if my actions contradict that, then I’m right back where I started.

Here is where I believe we break the continuity between our action and our belief: It’s when we try to manipulate God, others or circumstances to resolve our worry. I pray about my worry. I focus my thoughts on something greater than my worry. Then when what I’m worried about isn’t resolved, I try to take over and make something happen to make the worry go away. I try to fix things or manipulate things or become nosy about things because I can’t trust that God will take care of it. How can I do that and expect God’s peaceful presence to be with me? I can’t because there is a contradiction between what I say and what I do. I have a responsibility to apply my faith, pass on my faith and live out my faith for my mind and my life to be at ease from the assault of worry.

What is so cruel about worry is it causes us to focus on the wrong thing. What God wants for you now in spite of your problems is for your heart to be saturated with his peace. He wants your focus to be on doing what is necessary to have his peace – thoughtful prayer, constructive thoughts and a consistent life. Those are to be our focus.

One of my favorite stories that Chuck Swindoll tells is about a woman who after forty years of marriage suddenly lost her husband. "For several months she sat alone in her house with the shades pulled and the door locked. Finally she decided she needed to do something about her situation. The loneliness was killing her. She remembered that her husband had a friend who owned a nice pet store—a pet might be good company. So she dropped in one afternoon to look over the selection. She looked at dogs, cats, goldfish—even snakes! Nothing seemed quite right. She told the storeowner she wanted a pet that could be a real companion—‘almost like another human being in the house.’

"Suddenly he thought of one of his prized parrots. He showed her the colorful bird. ‘Does it talk?’ ‘Absolutely…a real chatterbox. Everybody who comes in the store is astounded by this parrot’s friendly disposition and wide vocabulary. That’s why it’s so expensive.’ ‘Sold!’ She bought the expensive parrot and hauled it home in a large, elegant cage. At last she had a companion she would talk to, who could answer back. Perfect!

"But there was a problem. A full week passed without the bird’s saying one word. Beginning to worry, she dropped by the pet shop. ‘How’s the parrot doing? Quite a talker, huh?’ ‘Not one word. I haven’t been able to get a sound out of that bird. I’m worried!’

"‘Well, did you buy a mirror when you got the parrot and the cage last week?’ ‘Mirror? No. There’s no mirror in the cage.’

"‘That’s your problem. A parrot needs a mirror. It’s funny, but while looking at itself, a parrot starts to feel comfortable. In no time it will begin to talk.’ So she bought the mirror and put it into the cage.

"Time passed, still nothing. Each day the woman talked to the bird, but not a peep came out of its beak. For hours on end she would talk as the parrot stared in silence. Another week passed without a word. By now she was really getting worried.

"‘The parrot isn’t talking,’ she told the pet store owner. ‘I’m worried. All that money, the mirror—and still nothing.’

"‘Say, did you buy a ladder when you got the parrot?" ‘A ladder? No. I didn’t know it needed a ladder. Will that make it talk?’

"‘Works like a charm. The parrot will look in the mirror and get a little exercise, climbing up and down this ladder several times. Before long you won’t believe what you hear. Trust me, you need the ladder.

"She bought the ladder and put it into the cage next to the mirror…and waited. And waited. Another seven, eight days, still nothing. By now her worry was approaching the panic stage. ‘Why doesn’t it talk?’ That was all she could think about. She returned to the store in tears…with the same complaint.

"‘Did you buy a swing?’ ‘A swing! No, I have the cage, a mirror, and a ladder—I thought I had everything. I had no idea I needed a swing.’

"‘Ya gotta have a swing. A parrot needs to feel completely at home. It glances in the mirror, takes a stroll up and down the ladder, and before long it’s on the swing enjoying itself—and bingo! I’ve found that parrots usually talk when they are perched on a swing.’

"The woman bought the swing. She attached it to the top of the cage near the ladder and coaxed the parrot up the ladder and onto the swing. Still, absolute silence. For another ten days not one sound came from the cage.

Suddenly she came bursting into the pet store, really steaming. The owner met her at the counter.

"‘Hey, how’s the parrot? I’ll bet – ’ ‘It died! My expensive bird is dead in the bottom of the cage.’

‘Well, I can’t believe that. I’m just shocked. Did it ever say anything at all?’ ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, it did. As it lay there taking its last few breaths, it said very faintly, ‘Don’t they have any food down at the store?’" (Laugh Again, Charles Swindoll, p. 205-207)

There is no greater waste of our time and no greater thief to our peace of mind than worry. By focusing on worry our minds will never be at ease and we live our lives missing the peace that is already ours. You can’t live your best life with your mind destroyed by worry. Replace it with prayer, focus your thoughts and practice what you believe and you will find God’s peace saturating your life. Then you will have your best life—anyhow!

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org