Are you anxious today? Me too. So, I went to the place where I knew I could get help. Philippians 4:4-9. When anxiety comes calling we do not have to strap in for the roller coaster ride that so often comes with this emotional interloper. We can give it the one, two, three!
vs. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Who made this day? The Lord Our Maker made this day. It is His, not ours, so we get up and rejoice! It is His day to be worshiped in and our day to rejoice in. He is the Lord our Banner who sits on the throne, and His Banner over us is Love. So, we choose to remember His unfailing love for us in the hardest, scariest, out-of-control moments of this day; we let His perfect love cast out all fear. I hold out my hands and I audibly thank the Lord for this day, for this life, for His character that I can fully trust in today. Maybe I even hum or sing a line, “You are good, good. You are good to me!” Punch #1
vs. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.The Lord is at hand; We will meet with other people today. Maybe that thought alone causes you anxiety. But the Lord is at hand. He is literally with us, before, beside, and behind. We cannot escape His hand. We are in His grip. Hallelujah! We will have opportunity to speak and tell others what is reasonable today. The ancients used reason, or logic, to persuade people to follow the path of truth. We too can speak calmly, factually, and truthfully to others for the purpose of leading them away from their anxiety and into peacefulness. So, as we speak to ourselves, we turn and speak gently to others. We infuse our surroundings with peaceful, gentle truth. This gentle truthful answering reinforces our belief in the Lord, who is always at hand. Punch #2
vs. 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. So we see that we are told to stop giving into anxiety about everything, even what we are having for dinner or what we will wear today. By practicing trust in these minor decisions, we are forming a peaceful and trusting mindset for the entire day. When the anxious thoughts keep coming, we pray. Prayer is active. We stop the anxious thought process and begin praying. Pray anything! Sometimes I will quote the first Scripture that comes to my mind and then say, “Help me Lord!” So, we begin by supplicating, or humbly and earnestly asking the Lord for help with whatever anxious thoughts are coming at us. And then we take a step of belief by thanking God that He’s got this. He wants us to let Him know what we need. He is Our Father in Heaven, our perfect all knowing Father who is at hand. Tell him what you need. Tell Him you need peace and faith to trust Him. Punch #3
And now the best part - the outcome of the One, Two, Three Punch vs. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. All who are in Christ are at peace with God. Are your sins nailed to the cross with Jesus? Then He has become sin for you! Therefore, there is no more condemnation, only freedom for you - all of our sin was laid on Christ. And He has risen, defeating hell and death and sin! This surpasses all of our understanding and so we need to remind ourselves of where we stand with God, in Christ! Let this truth be a guard, a shield of faith over your heart, your emotions, and your thoughts today. You are in Christ. You have the mind of Christ. Trust it. He will renew you day by day. Have you failed in trusting God? So have I. But I know my standing in Christ has not changed. I know that He is enough. And I know that because I am still breathing, the fight is not over. The enemy has not won and Christ is ready to guard me today. Outcome: Help will come! Knock out!
Punch #1: Choose to thank and praise
Punch #2: Speak gentle truth to others
Punch #3: Pray! Ask the Lord for help and thank Him
Bonus: vs. 8-9 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Go find this stuff to think on, listen to, and meditate on. Instead of letting your thoughts just come and go - go get some of your own! Find the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent in this life and pile it up around you and let it sink in.
One, Two, Three, Punch! ~Your Fellow Sojourner
Wow! Thank you for this, now the hard part is to live it every moment.
ReplyDelete