WORRY-Pray Instead

Philippians 4:4–9 NIV

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Paul provides three antidotes to worry and anxiety:

Rejoice and be gentle no matter what

STORY - Sadie and her ‘new friends’.

Scholars believe the philippian church was undergoing SOME kind of persecution and trial

So the advice isn’t simply - every day, try to be thankful and nice. It’s, ‘when stuff is hard - rejoice, and be gentle in the middle of it’

Remember - he’s talking to people about how not to worry.

But Paul gives a reason why we can rejoice and be gentle. Why? the Lord is near.

This means a few things:

We need to always be showing the character of Christ

there’s no situation where we can be like, yknow what, just this time i’m gonna flip out on this guy.

But second, and this is probably the bigger one - if the Lord is near - what do we need to worry about?

The infinite, all powerful, all knowing God of the universe, who loves you and delights to walk with you and work through everything you face - he’s literally RIGHT THERE

We CAN rejoice - because God is here to help

We CAN be gentle - because the Lord is strong

Remind yourself - in every situation, the Lord is there, and he’s working. So take a breath before you respond - and say, ‘The Lord is with me - what can possibly be against me?’

STORY - Paul - thorn in the flesh. CELEBRATE the weakness because it means God acting.

Don’t knee jerk to hate, or anger, or lashing out, or fear. Just pause. And respond with gentleness and rejoicing.

Present your requests with thanksgiving to God in every situation

STORY - My kids wanting to bring and share absolutely everything

When we worry - WE take in problems into ourselves, and we worry about them.

And usually, we worry because of all the things we can’t do or control

There’s no sense worrying about a problem that’s easy for you to take care of.

In a sense - it’s our weakness that turns a situation into a problem.

That’s a humbling way to think about it. It’s not what’s out there that makes it a problem - it’s our weakness to do something about it.

Here’s a clue - this is true, even when we feel like it’s not. Every situation that we face - our weakness, our flesh, gets in the way in some fashion. Many times - we can solve it well enough. But not as well as we could with God’s help. Every time.

There’s tremendous power in becoming the kind of person that, when you face adversity, hardship or worry, you go, ‘Ok - now I need to pray and give this to the Lord, so that he can help me through it, because i know that I shouldn’t figure this out myself’.

Notice what paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, present your requests, and the lord will give you peace when you see him answer them

This is a very important thing. It’s not the answer that gives us peace - it’s the process of giving stuff up.

When we pray, and we refuse to stop worrying until we see the answer to our prayer - doesn’t that mean we trust the gift more than the giver?

Because remember - worry is not when something bad happens. Worry is what happens when we take in the stress of trying to figure out something bad by ourselves.

He says - Give up your requests to him, and the Lord will give you peace. Period.

We treat prayer sometimes like it’s our way of putting something on God’s radar.

God knew the end from the beginning. It’s not simply our way of telling God - it’s our way of giving it to him.

The easiest way to make something a reflex is to practice it as much as possible.

STORY - Time that we practiced something so much it became a reflex.

Now this means, don’t just pray about stuff that’s going bad. God’s not a vending machine to get stuff out of.

Practice bringing everything.

James says, James 5:13–14 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”

Whatever you got - take some time to bring it up to the Lord.

You’ll get better and better at reflexively doing it.

Now, there’s one last piece, and it doesn’t sound like it fits. But it really does.

Dwell on whatever is good, true, or lovely

STORY - A time you realized the good by just reframing your perspective

There’s intensely practical advice here.

The lord is always working - but it’s not always a big, bold, flashing sign. God works in many ways through many people, and we need to pay attention

It’s easy for us as people to forget the good that has come, and is coming, when faced with something bad. And when we do that - we risk missing what the Lord is really doing in the situation.

There aren’t a LOT of times with the Lord that His answers feels like , burning bush, booming voice.

I have seen the Lord moving in so many subtle ways in my life. Powerful ways, impactful ways - but still subtle ways.

When we learn to keep our eyes on the good in every situation - we learn to see what the Lord is doing clearer.

And this isn’t, ‘just say everything is good.’ It’s not about lying.

STORY - healing my leg. I’m not fully healed. But i know I will be. And I know i’m way more healed than I was.

How do we do that? By....dwelling on the good.

I like to have a practical, and sometimes I’m bad at them. But this one just writes itself.

But our memories can be short. Don’t just dwell on the good - do whatever you can to remember it. Celebrate it. Record it.