Although I like to claim that I am a carefree person who doesn’t tend to worry about much, that isn’t entirely true. I want to be, and I tend to be this type of person when I have a lot of things going on. The problem is that when I have time to slow down and think about what I have going on, then I start to get anxious and worried. I know, this is just the opposite of what you would expect. You would think that during the times when I am overwhelmed with dates and events written in my planner that I would find my times of greatest stress. I guess the truth is that I have to move at such a fast pace that I don’t even have time to get nervous. So my question becomes, how do I handle myself in these times when I have the time to worry and become anxious. You see, Philippians is one of my favorite books of Scripture and the words of Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything” are the first words that enter my mind when I hear or even think of the word anxious. I know that God does not want me to worry over insignificant things because He has promised to provide. So how do I live according to His command for me to not worry? Well, lucky for me and for you, the Apostle Paul gives us here a manual for how to handle stress. This morning, I want to quickly take some time to look at how what Paul has to say in this stress management manual.
The first step that Paul gives us is to remember our greatest joy. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” To get the complete meaning of this simple statement we have to look at the original Greek text. You see, the word used here to mean rejoice is a variant of the word that means joy. Upon hearing this word joy, I hope many of you are thinking back to the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5. You see, joy is a Christian virtue, while happiness is a worldly one. Happiness is external while joy is internal. Happiness is circumstantial, while joy is never-ending. To quote James Boice, “Joy issues from the nature of God, and it is intended to well up within those in whom God’s Spirit dwells. It is not external; it is internal. It does not hinge upon circumstances. Things may happen to the Christian that no one, including the Christian, would be happy about. But there can still be joy.” The Christian who is filled with this supernatural, abounding joy will not be changed by the stressors of this world.
So the first step to handling anxiety is to remember the great promise and one unchangeable truth that we began our worship with last Sunday. We must keep in mind the eternal joy that we have in our Savior Jesus Christ. In other words, there is a sense of keeping in mind our priorities. The next thing that we are to do flows from the first. As we rejoice in the Lord over this great promise, even when we feel oppressed and are suffering, we are to let others see our gentleness. Paul exhorts the Philippians to be reasonable. “Make your reasonableness known to everyone.” This word reasonableness isn’t calling use to be unnecessarily rigorous, especially about unimportant matters. As I have already alluded to, it is a call for us to be gentle, to be compassionate. Not that we are to compromise on our doctrines or our beliefs, but we must be flexible in our attitudes when it comes to our dealings with others, especially other Christians. Think about the man who is dealing with the loss of a family member, or the woman who has just received a terminal diagnosis who for a moment blames God. Should we not forgive the thoughts they had during the moments of their greatest weakness? You would not do this at all, but you would only want to show them the love that you have for them. Or maybe even better, think of the child who rebels from their parent simply because they are too rigid. I have known many a person who rebelled again their parents and their Christian faith because their parents were too rigid in their expectations and showed little compassion. Although I have known some whose hearts were so hardened that they would not accept their children back, how grateful is the heart of one whose child returns to him. Think about the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father didn’t sit idly by and wait for his son to return to him. After seeing him he ran out to him and met him. Before he could even say a word to him, his father hugged him and wouldn’t let go. If that isn’t an act of compassion and gentleness then I don’t know what is. Now think of the greatest act of compassion that the world has ever known. Think about the sacrificial death that came to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Despite continuous sin and falling short of God’s will for our lives, our God showed compassion. Instead of condemnation, we find salvation in the saving death of Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God.
So we have seen in the first 2 verses that when we are faced with anxiety that we are to first remember the joy that we have in Christ and secondly to remember the compassion that has been shown to us and the great gift that has been given to us by our Heavenly Father. So these first 2 verses are aimed at us getting our minds right when dealing with anxiety. The next step in the Apostle Paul’s model for dealing with stress and anxiety is something that we must physically do. Paul tells us here that we are to pray, but not just any kind of prayer. When faced with anxiety we are to pray for everything. Handle everything with prayer and supplication. We must make our requests and our worries known to God. Yes, God knows our situations and there is nothing limiting Him from acting, but if we know that He is the only one with the power to deliver us and provide for us then why would we not go to Him in prayer. In the modern remake of the classic film Clash of the Titans, there is a scene that depicts this perfectly. Now I don’t agree with Greek mythology, but this scene shows our attitude towards prayer far too often. Perseus and all of the men with him are in great peril. One of the men that is with Perseus asks him if he has prayed to his father, Zeus, the king of the gods. Perseus’ response to his men is, “No, and I will not pray to him because I can do this myself.” Now we don’t flat out admit that we won’t pray to God because we want to do things without any help, but we virtually do this when we don’t go to God in prayer.
When we talk of prayer, what exactly are we talking about? Well, prayer is talking with God. But true prayer, is for the believer alone. True prayer is a pouring out of the heart on behalf of the believer to God. I have known many who have come to know Christ later on in their life. I have had the privilege of standing beside them as they make their first profession of faith. I can tell you without a doubt that you will never see a prayer that represents the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus more than that first prayer that someone makes once they have gone from being lost in the darkness to finding themselves in the light of grace. Billions of people each and every day pray to some higher power. Many of these prayers are wonderfully articulated and very elaborate, but unless they are made to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ the Son then they are worthless. Whether by rituals, chants, meditations, or any other method of prayer, only Christ provides access to the one true God. And some of you may take issue with these statements and think that I am being intolerant of other faiths, but I am merely reciting the very words of Jesus Christ from the Gospel of John. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Jesus doesn’t say here that he is one of several ways or avenues to come to God. He didn’t say that he was merely a prophet who points the ways (multiple) to God, but he is the eternal prophet who is THE way to God. This means that no prayer offered to God apart from faith in Jesus Christ has ever reached our Heavenly Father.
As you can probably imagine, my life has been filled with some stress and anxiety over the past few months. As most of you probably know by now this is my last Sunday at Grace Chapel. I will be in the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church in Houma, LA starting next Sunday. Entering this week, we hadn’t sold our house here. We didn’t have an actual place to live in Houma yet. I have some oral examinations coming up on Tuesday, followed by more examinations the last weekend in January. We don’t know exactly what we are going to do with our kids in Houma. Amy doesn’t have a job there yet. We have to keep bringing our dog up here to the vet for some treatments. And then there is the regular everyday life stressors that are always there. Oh and throw in the stress that goes with being a pastor for the first time in a church than has been stagnant for some time and is in need of some revitalization. But other than that there isn’t too much going on in our house.
When Amy and I went to visit the church in Houma, there was something that they did in the service that was called the prayers of the people. Now I have seen this done in many churches and it is very similar to the pastoral prayer which this church commonly does after hearing God’s word; a prayer that we will take part in in just a few moments. But this prayers of the people was different. One of the elders of the church, Mike, stood up and prayed for the congregation. Not just a general prayer for the congregation, but every member of the congregation. He prayed for almost the entire congregation by name. My eyes were closed for so long I think that I almost fell asleep; twice. After the service, I asked Mike why he chose to pray for so many individually instead of just lumping them all together as the congregation. He responded to me, “Because I think that God is calling us to pray for everything and everyone. He doesn’t want just general prayers all the time. Sure they are fine, but every now and then God wants us to lift up specific prayers that we have for Him.”
With these words firmly in the front of my mind over the last several weeks, I gave it a try. I sat alone one day and prayed. I prayed for each and everything that was causing my anxiety. I prayed for every person that I could think of that was in need of God at this time. I prayed for every church family that I could think of who is in need of God’s guidance in a strong way. I prayed like I had never prayed before. And I want to tell you what happened in that moment, I felt a wave of calm overtake me that I haven’t felt since I was my daughter’s age, when I didn’t have a care in the world. In those 30 minutes spent in prayer I turned everything over to God. You see, I was clinging to the things of this life. I was trying to be the one in control instead of letting the God who created the universe control all things. I was not trusting that God, in His providence, was going to take care of me, my family, and all those who I care about. That was my sin causing a barrier to form between me and God. My sinful want of being in control was causing me to not know God as I ought. And, as is the case with any conversation, the better you know someone the more heartfelt the conversation. The more powerful and intimate the relationship, then the more power the conversation. In this case, the more intimate we are with God, then the more powerful and meaningful our prayers become.
So we have changed our mindset, shifted our priorities, and prayed without limitations about all that causes us to worry. What happens? Verse 7 tells us, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is that feeling that I felt after praying so heavily over all the things that have caused me to stress, caused me anxiety. There was a peace about me that can only come from God. Friends, it is a great privilege that we have to pray to God. The mere fact that it is so easy is further proof of God’s amazing love. On Christmas Day we were in Meridian and attended First Presbyterian there and the pastor and a good friend of mine, Rhett Payne, referenced the phenomena of Tebowing. Some of you may know what it is but others may need an explanation. Tebowing, taken from the Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, is the act of kneeling down and praying despite whatever is going on around you. He has made this his practice during games on Sunday and it has kind of taken on a life of its own. Now there are those who have criticized him for it. There are those who have mocked him for it. But let’s don’t put so much emphasis on the person, but on the act. I want to tell you what happened with one of those stressors that I had.
The fact that we can come to God no matter who we are, no matter what is going on around us, and no matter what we may have done is a tremendous blessing. Why would we not take full advantage of this gift? Why would we not make full use of this news? So when you are faced with stress, you need to pray. Even if you aren’t stressed, you need to pray. The command here in this text made by God through the Apostle Paul is to take everything to God in prayer. Our God is the only one with the power to lead us through the troubled times in our life. Our God is the only one who we have to thank for all of the blessings that we currently enjoy. Prayer to God, humbling ourselves before Him, is the greatest act of thanks that we can ever give to God. Let’s all take full advantage of this and take everything to the Lord in prayer.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.
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