Anxious For Nothing
Philippians 3:20-4:9
Anxious for nothing. I know you have heard that statement one hundred times. And you might just say, “Yeah, right! That’s easy for you to say. That does not work for me.” Please do not check out because you’re saying, “I can’t do this.” Most of all, do not start worrying about something right now.
My mom used to call me a "worrywart." The definition is a person who agonizes unduly, anticipating failure or disaster or other misfortune. This slang term dates from about 1930. Most of the time I am calm on the outside, but there is a raging storm of worry, stress, and anxiety on the inside. Other people are a raging storm on the outside – they wear all their emotions on their sleeve, they say.
So, which of these people are you? The title of the message, again for you, is Anxious For Nothing! What I just said was all my anxiousness and worry is for nothing.
It does not change the outcome of anything
It does not help the situation get resolved any faster
My anxiety/worry over our children does not make me a better parent
My anxiety/worry over our grandchildren does not make me a better grandparent
My worry about my job responsibilities does not make me a better employee
I have been self-employed for over twenty-five years and my worry over business day-to-day problems has not made me a better business owner or boss
We have legitimate fears and worries, but our anxiety does not benefit nothing, help nothing, resolve nothing, fix nothing. So, that is how I arrived at the title of today’s message – Anxious For Nothing!
One way to describe anxiety is excessive, constant worry about things that could happen or be about to happen with the outcome unknown. What are the two big areas of anxiety you seem to constantly battle? Family? Occupation? Finances?
Speaking of finances, let me share my financial “success” with you all.
Between the age of seventeen and twenty-five, my only goal in life was to retire at the age of thirty-five years old. Things ended up going a lot different than I thought. I lost everything I owned two times before I was thirty.
I extremely arrogantly left home on my eighteenth birthday telling my mom I did not need her anymore. But ten years later, at the wise age of twenty-eight years old, after learning the world was a cruel master, I came back home and begged my mom for a place to sleep.
When I met my wife, Yvette, for the first time, I had no money, no job, no car, and was living at my mom’s house. I know one thing for sure, Yvette did not marry me for my money.
Financial worries plague everyone, but after thirty-two years of witnessing God’s faithfulness, I can truly say that the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord.
As I have gotten older, my biggest challenge in battling anxiety is slowly losing control of more and more things and having to wait and watch those who are closest to my heart navigate through life.
What does anxiety look like in your life? Difficulty sleeping? Constant fatigue? Emotionally exhausted? Irritability? Wound up tight on the inside – feeling under heavy tension.
To be honest with you, I lose hope periodically. I guess the term could also be fainthearted. How about you? That’s when I need to redirect my mind on the truths of the Bible that will happen, and I totally know the outcome.
I decided to back up a couple of verses, because when I am welled up with anxious thoughts, here are a few things that I forget.
Philippians 3:20a (NLT)
20 But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.
What does it mean to be a citizen of heaven? If we are citizens of heaven, it means that we are resident aliens on earth. Foreigners are distinct in whatever foreign land they go. Christians must be so marked by their heavenly citizenship that they are noticed as different (not weird).
We also have a certain character as citizens of heaven. As citizens, we are under the government of heaven (no red or blue states in heaven). As citizens, we share in heaven’s honors. As citizens, we have property rights in heaven. As citizens, we enjoy the pleasures of heaven. As citizens of heaven, we love heaven and feel attached there. As citizens of heaven, we keep in communication with our native home.
Philippians 3:20b (NLT)
20 …and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
Christians eagerly await the coming of their King – Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:12-13 (NLT)
12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
Being anxious about our health and longevity of life really can plague us because every day we are getting older. Every day we are slowly losing the ability to do the things we used to do. I cannot do things I used to do or want to do anymore.
Anxiety seems to really accelerate in areas we cannot control any longer. So, since we can’t control it, we play out the scenarios in our minds over and over, changing up the details or outcome. This restricts our thinking and gives us tunnel vision and at times is very dark at the end of this familiar tunnel.
Anxiety is counterproductive, that’s why some of the symptoms are fatigue and irritability because in these times we can’t seem to accomplish things, work through things, or accurately evaluate things.
But there is hope for us who suffer with anxiety…
Philippians 3:21a (NLT)
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own,
We are just passing through. This is not our home and we are going to receive a new body.
Philippians 3:21b (NLT)
21 …using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
Many times, we forget in our times of worry and anxious moments that God is truly in complete control. Not grasping this truth allows our minds to run rampant. Our responsibility is to release control to the one who truly is in complete control. When we relinquish control to God, we receive peace from God.
So, continuing on from the later three truths of hope, here are some practical steps to help relieve the anxiety in your life today.
Philippians 4:1 (NLT)
1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
How do we stay true or stand fast to the Lord?
1). Our anxious thoughts can deceive us to think that we are all alone, but the truth is we need to reassure ourselves of God’s presence.
God is with us (both inside and out)
God is near us (within reach of everything)
God is among us (he is at work in a full circle)
We need to stand firm and stay standing, not in our own strength because when we are anxious, we have none, correct? Understanding God’s presence gives you the strength to release the worry and fear to God.
God is with us
God is near us
God is among us
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NLT)
5 Don’t love money, be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
The next practical step is found in verse two of our text, so buckle your seatbelt.
Philippians 4:2 (NLT)
2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.
Personal relationships can cause a high level of anxiety. If you have a riff with someone, then every time you say or hear their name anxiety floods in. So, in response to verse two, I beg you to make every effort to resolve any conflict that you have with others, take the steps to dissolve the worry and stress that come with those fractured relationships.
1). Forgive the offender of their wrong
2). Humbly go to them and ask them to forgive you
3). Ask God to forgive you of your part of the conflict
4). Stop fighting God – settle your disagreement
The next practical step is found in verse three of our text.
Philippians 4:3a (NLT)
3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News.
a). Since anxiety is centered in our mind and heart, pour yourself into other people’s lives; start helping and caring for others in need. It will open your eyes to the fact you are not the only one with troubles.
b). Take idle, non-productive/overthinking times and use them as times to care for others with a phone call.
c). Purposefully step out of your worry into the life of another person.
Philippians 4:3b (NLT)
3 …They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.
a). To help you re-direct your thoughts, commit to serve in a regular, on-going church ministry opportunity that fits how God has made you.
b). Doing things for the Lord re-fuels us and gives us a sense of accomplishment and worth.
(Please contact me if you would like some help moving in this direction.)
Philippians 4:4 (NLT)
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!
You are aware of the age-old acronym for the word JOY.
J – Jesus first
O – Others second
Y – You last
Truthfully, I just spent twelve minutes setting up the importance of joy. When you look in the mirror, what do you see most? The time of sorrow or sadness or the times of joy? Joy is not a smile that you put on your face; joy comes from out of your heart! It could end up on your face; it could end up in your hands; it could even get to your wallet. But joy must come from the heart.
True joy begins from a fully surrendered heart by trusting in Jesus to save you from a life which you were born into, separated from God. Joy continues to grow in your heart as Jesus becomes Lord of our lives. The more control we relinquish to Jesus of every area of our heart, the more real heartfelt joy comes out of our lives.
I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Let the King of my heart
Be the mountain where I run
The fountain I drink from
Oh, he is my song.
Let the King of my heart
Be the shadow where I hide
The ransom for my life
Oh, he is my song.
Our joy must be in the Lord because this world is broken and still breaking – this is not our home. We are just passing through. We are a citizen of heaven. Our joy must come from the Lord because we are on our way to spend eternity with him. All the stuff we think that is going to make us happy stays here.
Philippians 4:5 (NLT)
5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
Another proof that we have the joy of the Lord in our hearts is a consideration for others in all we do (again, taking our focus off of our anxious selves). It is yielding to others, being gentle to others, kind to others, and to go beyond the letter of the law in how we treat others.
Why should I surrender my personal rights for others? Because Jesus did it for me.
The Lord is near in both time and space as I stated earlier.
God is with us
God is near us
God is among us
And then, in time, he is coming soon.
An anxious mind can begin to be healed from a heart of joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
10 Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
This next verse is so overused and is extremely hard to put into practice, so let us break it down.
Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.
Don’t worry about anything. Okay, cool. That sounds easy enough (so how’s that working out for you?).
First of all, don’t worry about anything is not an option, but a command. But truthfully, it is for our own good because worry opens the floodgates to anxiety. Anxiety in our hearts is painful.
Growing up as a young teenager, I actually lived on a farm. We had horses and cows and we had sheep and goats and we had rabbits, chickens, ducks, hamsters, snakes, mice. We had everything. Rats! Everything that comes with a farm. We had dogs and cats, and I had a pet dog back then. Everybody kind of ran loose there at the house – the chickens, geese and ducks, and the dogs. And we would put them all back in at night.
But my dog took on his first bad habit, and that was he started chasing the chickens around the yard. And my mom had warned me that I needed to figure out a way to take care of this because he was stressing out the chickens so much, they wouldn’t lay eggs. So, how many people want to have chickens if they don’t lay eggs, right?
He was doing that and I was working on it with him, but one day he was chasing after them and he caught one. And then he killed one. And so, my mom got me again and said, “Hey, I’m going to tell you right now that it’s said that once a dog gets that taste in him, that it’s going to be really hard to break him. If we can’t figure out a way to deal with this, then we will have to put him down.” (That’s what you did back in the day.)
So, someone gave us this tip to take that dead chicken and wrap a small cord around the feet and go to the dog and tie the other end around his collar. And so, that poor dog, he lived with that smelly, dirty, stinking chicken for a long time. I don’t remember how long, exactly, but it was at least several days.
One day, I came home from delivering papers on my paper route, and the chicken was gone. The string was still there, but the chicken was gone. So, everybody was still running around the yard, but I noticed something different about the dog. That anytime one of those chickens started anywhere near his peripheral view, he would take a quick look at it, and then he would turn away. And it was time to go take the chickens back to the pen, he wouldn’t go anywhere near that pen. He sat over there and waited for me to come back until I came back.
But he went through a lot of pain to get like that, didn’t he? He went through a lot of heartache.
So, because of the pain caused from worry that launches us into anxiety, Paul says instead of worry pray about everything. When the first trickle of worry starts finding its way into your mind, we need to build a wall of prayer up to divert the flow of anxious thoughts. Not the “God help me not worry prayer” but instead, tell him what you need.
Lord, I am prone to worry in my mind about so many things. I cannot seem to shut it down anymore. My worry drops down into my now anxious heart and I cannot figure out how to work through it. Jesus, I can’t do this without your help, I don’t want to spiral down again, please help me. I am begging you to give me back the joy that I once had that only you can give me.
Praying openly, transparently, desperately. Worry or anxiety does not accomplish anything, but prayer does.
One of the local churches in the area has been flying banners for years that say, “Prayer changes things” and it truly does. Worry demonstrates a lack of trust in God fueled by focusing on our circumstances. Prayer creates an environment for us to re-align our hearts with God to shift our dependency on him, putting him back on the throne of our hearts. Thank him for what he has done. Thank him for his faithfulness. Count your blessings one by one.
About twenty years ago someone told Yvette and I that we should get a prayer jar. And I was too cheap, so I found a coffee can and put the plastic cover over the top and cut a hole in it, and said here’s our prayer jar. With it, we cut these little pieces of paper. And then every time we had a prayer that we were working through with the Lord we wrote it down on that little piece of paper and we folded it and put it inside that coffee can. And then as God brought some resolve, or change or some sort of new details, we would write it down on a piece of paper, fold it up, and put it in that can.
And I don’t know how long we filled that can, but it was somewhere between nine months and a year. It was quite an experience to sit down and open that can and dump them out and read through each one. And truly, count our blessing one by one. It was awesome. And we should do it again.
Philippians 4:4 (NLT)
7 Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Heartfelt times of prayer bring heartfelt times of peace to the fainthearted. It is implied that the peace of God cannot be described, but can certainly be experienced. This peace does not just surpass the understanding of the worldly man; it surpasses all understanding. Even the godly man cannot comprehend this peace. This peace protects the two organs of worry (the heart and the mind). These organs produce feelings and thoughts.
So then, rather than thinking about the things that trouble you, that cause worry and anxiety and are destructive, let the peace of God redirect your thinking by guarding/protecting you surrounding your heart and mind by the peace of God.
Again, heartfelt times of prayer bring heartfelt times of peace to the fainthearted, but like everything else, we must put it into practice.
Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
8 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.
We just looked at the need of God’s presence in our thoughts. And we looked at the need of heartfelt prayers of surrender to God. Now, we will look at the need to think right. Because there is a good side and a bad side to everything; there is an upside and a downside to everything. The high road is to focus on the good side and the upside. If you look for the good in things you will certainly find it.
Fix your thoughts on what is true. Like an archer pulls back the arrow in the bow in a straight, direct line-of-sight on the intended target. That is the first question you must use to evaluate your thoughts. Is it true? Are my thoughts facts, or am I feeding off something else?
Anxiety has a way to turn us into fortune tellers, predicting outcomes and futures of events or people. If it is truly not a factual truth, then immediately build your wall of heartfelt prayer to divert the flow of anxious thoughts in desperation to God.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
So, that sounds good. What is the next step? Who would have thought the next step is in the next verse?
Philippians 4:9 (NLT)
9 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.
Living right by putting into practice verse eight sounds wonderful, but if it is not implemented it has no value.
It was the pain and the smell of the dead chicken tied around my dog’s neck that cured him from his destructive behavior that if not corrected would have cost him his life. He allowed the pain to bring lifesaving change.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
My mom used to call me a "worrywart." The definition is a person who agonizes unduly, anticipating failure or disaster or other misfortune. This slang term dates from about 1930. Most of the time I am calm on the outside, but there is a raging storm of worry, stress, and anxiety on the inside. Other people are a raging storm on the outside – they wear all their emotions on their sleeve, they say.
So, which of these people are you? The title of the message, again for you, is Anxious For Nothing! What I just said was all my anxiousness and worry is for nothing.
It does not change the outcome of anything
It does not help the situation get resolved any faster
My anxiety/worry over our children does not make me a better parent
My anxiety/worry over our grandchildren does not make me a better grandparent
My worry about my job responsibilities does not make me a better employee
I have been self-employed for over twenty-five years and my worry over business day-to-day problems has not made me a better business owner or boss
We have legitimate fears and worries, but our anxiety does not benefit nothing, help nothing, resolve nothing, fix nothing. So, that is how I arrived at the title of today’s message – Anxious For Nothing!
One way to describe anxiety is excessive, constant worry about things that could happen or be about to happen with the outcome unknown. What are the two big areas of anxiety you seem to constantly battle? Family? Occupation? Finances?
Speaking of finances, let me share my financial “success” with you all.
Between the age of seventeen and twenty-five, my only goal in life was to retire at the age of thirty-five years old. Things ended up going a lot different than I thought. I lost everything I owned two times before I was thirty.
I extremely arrogantly left home on my eighteenth birthday telling my mom I did not need her anymore. But ten years later, at the wise age of twenty-eight years old, after learning the world was a cruel master, I came back home and begged my mom for a place to sleep.
When I met my wife, Yvette, for the first time, I had no money, no job, no car, and was living at my mom’s house. I know one thing for sure, Yvette did not marry me for my money.
Financial worries plague everyone, but after thirty-two years of witnessing God’s faithfulness, I can truly say that the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord.
As I have gotten older, my biggest challenge in battling anxiety is slowly losing control of more and more things and having to wait and watch those who are closest to my heart navigate through life.
What does anxiety look like in your life? Difficulty sleeping? Constant fatigue? Emotionally exhausted? Irritability? Wound up tight on the inside – feeling under heavy tension.
To be honest with you, I lose hope periodically. I guess the term could also be fainthearted. How about you? That’s when I need to redirect my mind on the truths of the Bible that will happen, and I totally know the outcome.
I decided to back up a couple of verses, because when I am welled up with anxious thoughts, here are a few things that I forget.
Philippians 3:20a (NLT)
20 But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.
What does it mean to be a citizen of heaven? If we are citizens of heaven, it means that we are resident aliens on earth. Foreigners are distinct in whatever foreign land they go. Christians must be so marked by their heavenly citizenship that they are noticed as different (not weird).
We also have a certain character as citizens of heaven. As citizens, we are under the government of heaven (no red or blue states in heaven). As citizens, we share in heaven’s honors. As citizens, we have property rights in heaven. As citizens, we enjoy the pleasures of heaven. As citizens of heaven, we love heaven and feel attached there. As citizens of heaven, we keep in communication with our native home.
Philippians 3:20b (NLT)
20 …and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
Christians eagerly await the coming of their King – Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:12-13 (NLT)
12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
Being anxious about our health and longevity of life really can plague us because every day we are getting older. Every day we are slowly losing the ability to do the things we used to do. I cannot do things I used to do or want to do anymore.
Anxiety seems to really accelerate in areas we cannot control any longer. So, since we can’t control it, we play out the scenarios in our minds over and over, changing up the details or outcome. This restricts our thinking and gives us tunnel vision and at times is very dark at the end of this familiar tunnel.
Anxiety is counterproductive, that’s why some of the symptoms are fatigue and irritability because in these times we can’t seem to accomplish things, work through things, or accurately evaluate things.
But there is hope for us who suffer with anxiety…
Philippians 3:21a (NLT)
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own,
We are just passing through. This is not our home and we are going to receive a new body.
Philippians 3:21b (NLT)
21 …using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
Many times, we forget in our times of worry and anxious moments that God is truly in complete control. Not grasping this truth allows our minds to run rampant. Our responsibility is to release control to the one who truly is in complete control. When we relinquish control to God, we receive peace from God.
So, continuing on from the later three truths of hope, here are some practical steps to help relieve the anxiety in your life today.
Philippians 4:1 (NLT)
1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
How do we stay true or stand fast to the Lord?
1). Our anxious thoughts can deceive us to think that we are all alone, but the truth is we need to reassure ourselves of God’s presence.
God is with us (both inside and out)
God is near us (within reach of everything)
God is among us (he is at work in a full circle)
We need to stand firm and stay standing, not in our own strength because when we are anxious, we have none, correct? Understanding God’s presence gives you the strength to release the worry and fear to God.
God is with us
God is near us
God is among us
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NLT)
5 Don’t love money, be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
The next practical step is found in verse two of our text, so buckle your seatbelt.
Philippians 4:2 (NLT)
2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.
Personal relationships can cause a high level of anxiety. If you have a riff with someone, then every time you say or hear their name anxiety floods in. So, in response to verse two, I beg you to make every effort to resolve any conflict that you have with others, take the steps to dissolve the worry and stress that come with those fractured relationships.
1). Forgive the offender of their wrong
2). Humbly go to them and ask them to forgive you
3). Ask God to forgive you of your part of the conflict
4). Stop fighting God – settle your disagreement
The next practical step is found in verse three of our text.
Philippians 4:3a (NLT)
3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News.
a). Since anxiety is centered in our mind and heart, pour yourself into other people’s lives; start helping and caring for others in need. It will open your eyes to the fact you are not the only one with troubles.
b). Take idle, non-productive/overthinking times and use them as times to care for others with a phone call.
c). Purposefully step out of your worry into the life of another person.
Philippians 4:3b (NLT)
3 …They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.
a). To help you re-direct your thoughts, commit to serve in a regular, on-going church ministry opportunity that fits how God has made you.
b). Doing things for the Lord re-fuels us and gives us a sense of accomplishment and worth.
(Please contact me if you would like some help moving in this direction.)
Philippians 4:4 (NLT)
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!
You are aware of the age-old acronym for the word JOY.
J – Jesus first
O – Others second
Y – You last
Truthfully, I just spent twelve minutes setting up the importance of joy. When you look in the mirror, what do you see most? The time of sorrow or sadness or the times of joy? Joy is not a smile that you put on your face; joy comes from out of your heart! It could end up on your face; it could end up in your hands; it could even get to your wallet. But joy must come from the heart.
True joy begins from a fully surrendered heart by trusting in Jesus to save you from a life which you were born into, separated from God. Joy continues to grow in your heart as Jesus becomes Lord of our lives. The more control we relinquish to Jesus of every area of our heart, the more real heartfelt joy comes out of our lives.
I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Let the King of my heart
Be the mountain where I run
The fountain I drink from
Oh, he is my song.
Let the King of my heart
Be the shadow where I hide
The ransom for my life
Oh, he is my song.
Our joy must be in the Lord because this world is broken and still breaking – this is not our home. We are just passing through. We are a citizen of heaven. Our joy must come from the Lord because we are on our way to spend eternity with him. All the stuff we think that is going to make us happy stays here.
Philippians 4:5 (NLT)
5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
Another proof that we have the joy of the Lord in our hearts is a consideration for others in all we do (again, taking our focus off of our anxious selves). It is yielding to others, being gentle to others, kind to others, and to go beyond the letter of the law in how we treat others.
Why should I surrender my personal rights for others? Because Jesus did it for me.
The Lord is near in both time and space as I stated earlier.
God is with us
God is near us
God is among us
And then, in time, he is coming soon.
An anxious mind can begin to be healed from a heart of joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
10 Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
This next verse is so overused and is extremely hard to put into practice, so let us break it down.
Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.
Don’t worry about anything. Okay, cool. That sounds easy enough (so how’s that working out for you?).
First of all, don’t worry about anything is not an option, but a command. But truthfully, it is for our own good because worry opens the floodgates to anxiety. Anxiety in our hearts is painful.
Growing up as a young teenager, I actually lived on a farm. We had horses and cows and we had sheep and goats and we had rabbits, chickens, ducks, hamsters, snakes, mice. We had everything. Rats! Everything that comes with a farm. We had dogs and cats, and I had a pet dog back then. Everybody kind of ran loose there at the house – the chickens, geese and ducks, and the dogs. And we would put them all back in at night.
But my dog took on his first bad habit, and that was he started chasing the chickens around the yard. And my mom had warned me that I needed to figure out a way to take care of this because he was stressing out the chickens so much, they wouldn’t lay eggs. So, how many people want to have chickens if they don’t lay eggs, right?
He was doing that and I was working on it with him, but one day he was chasing after them and he caught one. And then he killed one. And so, my mom got me again and said, “Hey, I’m going to tell you right now that it’s said that once a dog gets that taste in him, that it’s going to be really hard to break him. If we can’t figure out a way to deal with this, then we will have to put him down.” (That’s what you did back in the day.)
So, someone gave us this tip to take that dead chicken and wrap a small cord around the feet and go to the dog and tie the other end around his collar. And so, that poor dog, he lived with that smelly, dirty, stinking chicken for a long time. I don’t remember how long, exactly, but it was at least several days.
One day, I came home from delivering papers on my paper route, and the chicken was gone. The string was still there, but the chicken was gone. So, everybody was still running around the yard, but I noticed something different about the dog. That anytime one of those chickens started anywhere near his peripheral view, he would take a quick look at it, and then he would turn away. And it was time to go take the chickens back to the pen, he wouldn’t go anywhere near that pen. He sat over there and waited for me to come back until I came back.
But he went through a lot of pain to get like that, didn’t he? He went through a lot of heartache.
So, because of the pain caused from worry that launches us into anxiety, Paul says instead of worry pray about everything. When the first trickle of worry starts finding its way into your mind, we need to build a wall of prayer up to divert the flow of anxious thoughts. Not the “God help me not worry prayer” but instead, tell him what you need.
Lord, I am prone to worry in my mind about so many things. I cannot seem to shut it down anymore. My worry drops down into my now anxious heart and I cannot figure out how to work through it. Jesus, I can’t do this without your help, I don’t want to spiral down again, please help me. I am begging you to give me back the joy that I once had that only you can give me.
Praying openly, transparently, desperately. Worry or anxiety does not accomplish anything, but prayer does.
One of the local churches in the area has been flying banners for years that say, “Prayer changes things” and it truly does. Worry demonstrates a lack of trust in God fueled by focusing on our circumstances. Prayer creates an environment for us to re-align our hearts with God to shift our dependency on him, putting him back on the throne of our hearts. Thank him for what he has done. Thank him for his faithfulness. Count your blessings one by one.
About twenty years ago someone told Yvette and I that we should get a prayer jar. And I was too cheap, so I found a coffee can and put the plastic cover over the top and cut a hole in it, and said here’s our prayer jar. With it, we cut these little pieces of paper. And then every time we had a prayer that we were working through with the Lord we wrote it down on that little piece of paper and we folded it and put it inside that coffee can. And then as God brought some resolve, or change or some sort of new details, we would write it down on a piece of paper, fold it up, and put it in that can.
And I don’t know how long we filled that can, but it was somewhere between nine months and a year. It was quite an experience to sit down and open that can and dump them out and read through each one. And truly, count our blessing one by one. It was awesome. And we should do it again.
Philippians 4:4 (NLT)
7 Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Heartfelt times of prayer bring heartfelt times of peace to the fainthearted. It is implied that the peace of God cannot be described, but can certainly be experienced. This peace does not just surpass the understanding of the worldly man; it surpasses all understanding. Even the godly man cannot comprehend this peace. This peace protects the two organs of worry (the heart and the mind). These organs produce feelings and thoughts.
So then, rather than thinking about the things that trouble you, that cause worry and anxiety and are destructive, let the peace of God redirect your thinking by guarding/protecting you surrounding your heart and mind by the peace of God.
Again, heartfelt times of prayer bring heartfelt times of peace to the fainthearted, but like everything else, we must put it into practice.
Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
8 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.
We just looked at the need of God’s presence in our thoughts. And we looked at the need of heartfelt prayers of surrender to God. Now, we will look at the need to think right. Because there is a good side and a bad side to everything; there is an upside and a downside to everything. The high road is to focus on the good side and the upside. If you look for the good in things you will certainly find it.
Fix your thoughts on what is true. Like an archer pulls back the arrow in the bow in a straight, direct line-of-sight on the intended target. That is the first question you must use to evaluate your thoughts. Is it true? Are my thoughts facts, or am I feeding off something else?
Anxiety has a way to turn us into fortune tellers, predicting outcomes and futures of events or people. If it is truly not a factual truth, then immediately build your wall of heartfelt prayer to divert the flow of anxious thoughts in desperation to God.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
So, that sounds good. What is the next step? Who would have thought the next step is in the next verse?
Philippians 4:9 (NLT)
9 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.
Living right by putting into practice verse eight sounds wonderful, but if it is not implemented it has no value.
It was the pain and the smell of the dead chicken tied around my dog’s neck that cured him from his destructive behavior that if not corrected would have cost him his life. He allowed the pain to bring lifesaving change.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,