Getting Back on Track!

Well, we are continuing our / / Did I Just Say That? Series where we are looking at the simple, yet profound power of choosing to watch what we say. Last week we looked at a couple different aspects of how we use our words.

/ / 1. Your Words Have Power

We read from Proverbs 18:20-21, which says, / / From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Literally saying, / / You eat what you say and you are what you eat!

No wonder there’s such encouragement in the bible to watch what you say! / / Do everything without complaining and arguing… Philippians 2:14. And Ephesians 4:29 says, / / Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths...

What’s that mean? Corrupting? The NLT says it this way, / / Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

The word Corrupting means bad, or worthless. It goes as far as rotten, meaning it’s no good for anything useful, it’s worthless, it’s got no use.

So, that scripture is really encouraging us to be so aware of and concerned with what we say that we are making sure we’re not even letting things that just don’t have value to come out of our mouths. And we all know what a rotten apple does to the rest of the bushel, right?

Corrupt words can in turn corrupt those who are within ear shot of those words.

Psychological and Therapy research shows that children are very impacted by the words we speak.

Adults are too, we just maybe show it less.

Our words can cause lowered self-esteem, bad behavior & negative responses, anxiety, self-defeating behavior in others because we are reinforcing what they probably already struggle with themselves.

And that is negative words AT someone else, but even our own negativity, our complaining, our ‘rotten’ words, impact those around us. Ever been in a room where someone says something and it goes completely silent right after they say it, and everyone is just kind of staring, all thinking the same thing, “Well, this is awkward...” Our words can literally change the atmosphere in a room. They can change the emotional and spiritual climate.

Have you ever been having a good day and then someone comes in who is having a bad day?

How’s your good day going after you spend 10 minutes listening to their complaining?

Words have Power.

And this isn’t just about how our negative words effect others, but this is for ourselves as well. When I speak about situations, it builds expectations, it reinforces negative belief patterns and results in further experiences that also reinforce those believes.

It’s a vicious cycle, but it will continue to be so as long as we continue to fuel the fire with our words.

I’m always amazed at how much I continue to see in the book of Proverbs. If you’ve been following along in our daily Bible reading this year, and you’ve been reading Proverbs every month, you are getting a daily dose of wisdom. And this is one of the most unique and amazing aspects of the Bible, the Word of God, that it is alive, and it is life to those who read it. This is the promise, that the Bible is life.

As I was reading yesterday’s proverb, Proverbs 13, when you get to vs 3 it says, / / Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.

IF Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, Then as long as we continue to simply think our words don’t have the power they actually have, we’ll keep using them in wrong ways, producing results in our lives we don’t even want. I think that’s the thing that gets me the most in all of this. We don’t want the results of our words. We don’t want the results of our actions, of our judgements, of our unforgiveness, but we’ve been completely duped into thinking that our words don’t mean anything, or there’s no power in them, or that’s just the way things are. And so we get stuck in these patterns that the world has dictated to us as normal, when they are completely contrary to God’s true purpose and design for our lives.

As we looked at in the last week of our series on Mercy. We can easily fall into demanding judgement when someone wrongs us instead of showing mercy and asking God to provide Justice on our behalf. The world would say that’s not how it works, you gotta get what you get, keep what you have, and control it all because the world is out to get you. Don’t trust people. Don’t be generous. Look out for #1.

We end up holding on to grudges that produce pain in our lives and they can’t heal because we can’t let go, even though we’re saying, “ya, ya, whatever, it’s fine...” But it’s not fine. We know we aren’t forgiving them. We know we’re still holding on to it.

I’ve actually had people say that to me before, They say what the person did didn’t hurt them, and they’re fine with it now, but they will NEVER forgive them. Well, if you can’t forgive someone for hurting you, then it’s still got a hold on you, and it’s effecting you negatively.

Now, that’s different than forgetting. The statement “Forgive and Forget” isn’t actually biblical. Even God doesn’t forget. Here’s the difference, just like God does with our sin, we get to choose NOT to remember. That’s different than forgetting. / / Forgetting isn’t really intentional. Even by definition, it’s “to fail to remember, to inadvertently neglect to do, bring, or mention something…” “Oh no, I forgot...”

/ / Forgiveness on the other hand is defined as no longer requiring payment for something. If you hurt me, I could demand judgement, but I’m choosing not to. I’m cancelling that debt. That doesn’t mean I don’t remember that you hurt me. It’s not gone from my memory. It means I am choosing to no longer hold that hurt against you. I’m releasing you from my judgement. You might WANT to think bad things about the person, but you are CHOOSING to NOT do that.

The bible says this about how God treats our sin… Hebrews 8:12 , which is talking about Jesus the High Priest, we looked at that during our Grace & Mercy series, and it says, quoting from the Old Testament in Jeremiah 31:34, which is a promise from God, / / “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

Jeremiah is written in Hebrew, Hebrews is written in Greek, but both of these scriptures, where the word “remember” is, means the same thing. In Jeremiah the Hebrew word is / / zakar, and it means to remember, to recall, to call to mind. And in Hebrews 8, the greek word is / / mimneskomai, and it means the same thing, to be recalled or to return to one’s mind, to remind one’s self of something, to remember.

The definition is the same, you are CHOOSING to bring something back to your memory. And this scripture is saying God is choosing NOT to do that. I’ve said this to Kaylee before, she does something, we talk it through, we get to a good place, and I say, “Ok, let’s move on, we’re done talking about this, I will not bring it up any more...”

That’s what God is saying about our sin. You did it. You were guilty of it. But you are no longer guilty of it because you chose to believe in Jesus Christ, which has removed the consequence of sin in your life, and as a result, I’m not going to bring it up any more.

This is really good news. Because if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you’ve asked God to forgive you and to make you right with him, and you end up coming up against things you’ve done in the past, you know it’s not God. Because God chooses not to bring it up again. It’s been forgiven. So, that means it’s either coming from an external source, the world, the people around you, the spiritual realm, OR, yourself, and we need to do what God does and choose not to remember. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, and we aren’t going to simply forget, it may still be in our memory, but we are choosing not to bring it up again.

And I think we can all feel the difference when we choose to remember something, the emotions it brings up, if we’ve truly forgiven someone or not, if we’re still holding a grudge, if a part of us still wished we could have judgement… We feel that.

But here’s the thing: / / Freedom is not found in a clenched fist, it’s found in release and allowing God to heal what we can’t.

So, our words have power and we need to be careful how we use them and so the second thing we looked at last week was that we need to:

/ / 2. Wash That Mouth!

Wash our mouths out with soap. Do what it takes to clean up our words. Acknowledge we don’t get it right all the time, Repent for using our words wrong, Choose to Hold our Tongue, Commit to change and allowing God to heal us and change us.

Remember, Romans 12:2 says / / …let GOD transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

It doesn’t say YOU change your mind and as a result change your life. It says let GOD change the way you think which will produce the transformation you want. One of the best things you can learn is you can’t change the things you can’t change, and no one should, and not even God expects that of you. Life is about understanding that you can and should change many things in your life. You CAN watch your tongue. You CAN put your best foot forward. But there’s times where things in our lives we encounter simply need the grace and mercy of God.

Undeserved favor, compassion that leads to HIS action on our behalf, the justice of God, or HIM making right in our lives what we can’t.

So, today we’re going to look at one of those areas that we CAN make a difference in. An Area that we DO have the power to change. We’re going to read one of my absolute favorite verses, which is Philippians 4:6

/ / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

OK, last week we looked at the fact that our negative words have power, but this week we’re looking at the antidote, which has power to completely transform our lives. It’s so simple, and yet, unbelievably powerful.

The ESV says it this way, / / Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Alright, just quickly. If you’re ever asking yourself, why does he jump back and forth between the ESV and the NLT so much? This is why. The ESV is more closely translated word for word, but the NLT is written in an easier to understand way. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication... vs. don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything...

I mean, who uses the word supplication???

Alright, to be anxious, or to worry, often causes us to what? Think too much and talk to much. And if our words have power, then the more anxious and worried we are, the more we recycle the words of fear, anxiety, worry, and it keeps us in that cycle of expectation and experience that just reinforces those things.

I want you to picture this like a traffic circle, you’re stuck on the traffic circle, the circle itself is worry, anxiety, frustration, complaining, negative thinking and negative words that slip out of our mouths..... and it seems like the car of your life only has a left turn, and you’re stuck going round and round in that circle. Well, that’s just a lie, you’re not stuck, you’ve just been focusing in the wrong direction.

If you remember back when you took your driving test, one of the things they teach you in drivers ed is that you end up going where you’re looking. It’s basic driving skill 101. Don’t look at the ditch, you’ll end up IN the ditch. Don’t look at oncoming traffic, you’ll end up IN oncoming traffic. You look down the road you are on, where you want to go, and your arms respond accordingly, you go where you’re looking. Happens with walking too, your legs will respond to where you are looking.

Well, to change our focus so we can get off the traffic circle of this negative pattern, we’re going to look at the 3 off ramps in Philippians 4:6 to get you out of that cycle and back on the road that leads to life.

/ / 1. Don’t worry about anything

Or as the ESV says, Do not be anxious about anything.

Alright, that word Anxious, is actually the same type of word as we just looked at in remember. First, it means, to be anxious, to be troubled with cares. But, then it says, To care for, look out for, to take thought...

Do you see that? There’s a choosing here. There’s a choice we need to make, and often times, we make the choice to worry, to cycle our thoughts over and over again, to not let go of the pain, to focus on what’s going wrong. We might say it doesn’t bother us anymore, but if we’re still talking about it, it still bothers us. Because when we aren’t ruled by it anymore, the conversation is different about it.

So the first thing we need to do to get off of this traffic circle we are on is to recognize that it is by our own actions of continually looking left, that we’re driving left in a circle. And we need to make a choice to pull our eyes off of that direction. This takes effort. We know it.

BUT, what if we just took our eyes off of turning left, and just went straight. If you’re on a traffic circle, what’s going to happen? You’ll crash, won’t you? You’ll just drive right off the road into the ditch.

So, like we said last week in our washing our mouths out with soap, one of those points was to Hold. Hold your tongue, right? Acknowledge we’re using our words wrong, repent for doing so, do our absolute best to hold our tongue, AND commit to the process.

This takes work. It takes catching yourself. It takes getting a bit awkward maybe. It might mean you start a sentence, realize you’re about to say something you don’t want to say anymore, or you want to, but you’re choosing not to, and stopping, and just saying, “ya know what, I don’t need to say this...”

Are we engaging in conversations simply because we don’t want to be awkward. We’re just sitting there complaining away and we have the thought to stop, but we’re just going along with it, and the person we’re talking to is agreeing with everything we’re saying. Or someone else is saying things we don’t like, we don’t think are appropriate, we don’t think are helpful, but we don’t put an end to it, oh gosh, that would be awkward… Ya, but if you want off the circle, you need to pull back to center first, get OFF looking left and that takes a choice.

Again, I’m not talking about NOT talking through things, I’m not saying we can’t talk about stuff, I think we all know the difference when a conversation isn’t helpful, like Ephesians 4 says, let no corrupting talk, meaning, useless, not good for anything talk… Sometimes talking about what’s going wrong IS helpful, but I think we get the difference. And the more we ask God to be a part of our lives, the more we give place for Holy Spirit to work in us and through us, the more we will recognize what is not helping. Remember, Romans 12:2, it’s not your job to change the way you think, we are asking God to transform us by allowing Him to change the way we think. But that takes acknowledgement, repentance, holding our tongue and committing to learning and allowing God to work in us so our minds can be truly changes, and then we see transformation in our lives.

/ / 2. Pray about Everything

OK, so, we pull our eyes off turning left, we CHOOSE we are no longer going to use our words to tear down, to cause death as proverbs 18 says, and we don’t want to just be neutral, but we want to CHOOSE life. So we have to change our focus to a new direction, instead of turning left and being stuck, we’re going to turn right so we can get off the circle and back on the road to life.

And one of the reasons I love Philippians 4:6 so much is that it doesn’t just tell us to make it happen, it gives us the road map to make it happen. The “Don’t worry about anything” part is super hard, it’s not easy at all. To live our lives not worrying, not thinking about things, not focusing on what’s going wrong, is NOT easy. BUT, it isn’t just telling us NOT to do something, it’s telling us HOW to not do it. So, first things first is to choose we no longer want to be stuck in the circle, but the path OFF the circle is mapped out for us, and the first part is, instead, pray about everything.

This is where the true focus begins to change. We are stuck focusing on the negative, and instead of just trying to focus on the positive, we turn our focus to God. See, / / the key to not worrying isn’t not worrying, the key to not worrying is to focus on the one who has no worry in Him.

God the creator. The maker of all things. Our Good Father who calls us His sons and daughters, who cares for us…

In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching on the trap of putting our hope in money and personal possessions. It’s where he says, No one can serve to masters. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

And he says this as his point: / / That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life - whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear… Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

WHOA, great question Jesus. Have any of our worries, our anxiety, added a single moment to our lives? No, In fact, quite the opposite, research actually shows that overreacting, constantly worrying, and living in a state of perpetual anxiety can actually REDUCE life expectancy.

We have a saying, “You had me worried sick...” Seems that’s very true... worry can actually make you sick...

Another great example that the teachings of Jesus are 100% spiritual, he’s pointing us to His Father, He’s directing our attention to God, but at the same time, it’s the most practical, life saving, life producing advice you could get. Again, not worrying is just not that easy, and Jesus gives the directive, just like we see in Philippians 4, Matthew 6:31-33 says, / / “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

/ / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

And prayer is simply conversation with God. Instead of giving in to worry, we are choosing to not worry by doing something else instead.

If my body is hungry, and I WANT pizza, the solution is not to starve myself. And the solution is definitely not to give in to the negative desire I recognize I have (not saying pizza is wrong, pizza is a gift from God, but you get where I’m coming from, I can’t do pizza anymore… and no, I don’t want your cauliflower crust recipe, they are all terrible)… The solution is not starvation, the solution is giving my body what it NEEDS.

It’s the same here.

Worry is no good for me. I’ve recognized that, and I’ve made the choice to change that. So, the solution is not to simply NOT worry, but the solution is to give my mind and heart what it needs, and that starts with turning to God who is the one who knows what I need and want and what is best for me.

If you are sad, hurting, angry, depressed, whatever it is that’s got you wanting to talk negative or complain or worry and be anxious, turn to God and talk to him about it. Let him know how you feel. Let him know how you are doing. Confess that you’re not alright.

There’s a song I absolutely love by a band, We Are Messengers, and the chorus says, / / “Maybe it’s ok, if I’m not ok, Cause the One who holds the world is holding onto me. Maybe it’s alright, if I’m not alright, Cause the one who holds the stars is holding my whole life.”

God is very ok with your pain. You don’t need to hide it. God is very ok with your struggle. God is very ok with your anxiety and worry. Not because he thinks you can handle it or because you have to handle it, or because it’s ok that you have it, but because He knows HE can deal with it!

They have this saying in business, Always complain up… simply meaning, don’t complain to those who work for you that changes the way they see the leaders, and don’t complain to those who work beside you that can’t do anything about it, bring your concerns to the person in charge.

Start the conversation, this is what prayer is, having a conversation with God. Tell him the problem… He’s the one that can do something about it.

/ / 3. Tell God what you Need

That’s the next part of the scripture. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need.

Yes, complain up, but don’t just complain up, but be honest with what you need. Ask God to heal you. Ask God to take the pain. Ask God for what you need. Trust Him to provide. Jesus says in Matthew 6, not to worry about money because God already knows what we need, and if he looks after the birds of the air, and if he makes the lilies of the field beautiful and cares for these things, how much more will he look after us?

In Luke 12:6, Jesus says, / / “What is the price of five sparrows - two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

Choose not to worry by starting the conversation with God, being honest with how you are feeling, and then being humble enough to ask for the help. Don’t just say, “God, life sucks..”

Say, “God, I feel stuck, would you pull me out of this situation I’m in. It seems like every relationship I get in to turns bad, I don’t want that anymore.”

“God, It’s so hard not to worry about money, I don’t know where my next paycheck is coming from.... I want consistency and stability. Help me find a better financial position.”

“God, I’m really struggling emotionally. I’m sad. I’m fighting depression. Give me joy. Give me friends. Give me people to make me smile.”

Tell God what you need. Be honest. Be open. And believe not only that he CAN, but that He will.

And if you doubt, that’s ok. There was a man who had brought his son to Jesus for healing and he says, “If you can heal him...” And Jesus says, “If I can? Anything is possible for him who believes.” And in what is probably the greatest moment of honesty in recorded history, the man says, “I do believe, but help my unbelief...” It’s ok to struggle with our belief. It’s ok to believe, but not believe, because we’re still learning to believe, and maybe that just takes some help from God Himself.

It’s like saying, “I know you CAN, but I’m not 100% that you will...”

Tell God what you need and ask him to help you believe.

/ / 4. Give Thanks

And there it is, Paul wraps up that verse… Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and THANK HIM for all he has done.

The last turn off this circle of worry and negativity and words that produce death rather than produce life, is to choose to be grateful, to give thanks.

This is a sneaky one. Like I said last week, I believe the true power in thanksgiving is that it forces us to remember the good. It takes our eyes off of the bad and makes us search out the good. You ever have those thanksgiving dinners where suddenly someone says, “Alright, we’re going to go around the table and everyone has to say what they’re thankful for...” And you’re sitting there going, “Oh my goodness, don’t pick me first, I don’t know what to say.”

OR you’re like, “pick me first so I can take the easy answer before someone else does.. I’m just so thankful for all of you.......my family… awwwwww...

It’s like we struggle to think of what we’re thankful for. Oh my, hmm…let me think about that...

But choosing to be thankful resets our focus. It’s hard to be giving thanks and holding a grudge. It’s hard to be angry while honestly thanking someone.

And when we choose to thank God for what He’s done we are choosing to remember what He’s done, and like we sang this morning, / / I’ve seen you move, you move the mountains, and I believe I’ll see You do it again.

If I know you can do something because I’ve seen you do it, and I remember that you did it, I can believe for you to do it again. There’s a difference between asking someone for help that’s never done it, and someone that’s done it a hundred times, your confidence level in the project kind of goes up right?

Hey, can you help me with this? well, I’ve never really done it before…oh, ok, maybe not then, thanks anyways.

Can you help me with this, “oh ya, I’ve done that a thousand times...” awesome!!!

Thanking God is like reminding ourselves that God’s done it before, he can do it again, we can believe and we don’t have to worry.

And maybe you haven’t seen it, but you know it’s a promise, you can thank him for that too.

And honestly, if you’re having a hard time with it start with God, thank you for the life of Jesus Christ.

Or simply if you’re here this morning, you have something to be thankful for. Thank you for the breath in my lungs, thank you for the air I breath. One of the songs we sing, Build my life, there’s a line, “Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe...”

Since being in the hospital, I’ve hardly been able to sing that line, there’s so much meaning in breath. There’s so much to be grateful for simply in our breath!

We have so much to be thankful for. But here’s the thing.

Number 1, / / are we choosing to be thankful, to be grateful.

Number 2, / / are we choosing to give God the thanks for it?

Do we attribute our success to our own awesomeness? Do we think all our good things are because we’re good? Or do we recognize there’s something much bigger at play here?

I know that I got out of that hospital in large part because I was 100 lbs smaller in August than I was in January, I know that’s a HUGE part, but I thank GOD for the path He led me on and the conversation I know He set up with an addiction counselor that forced me to look at some things in my life. Have I lost 100 lbs, yes, can I thank God for that, oh you better believe it. And for the grace in the process, and His strength I’m finding in my weakness...

And when we choose to give thanks, when we choose to be grateful, we are choosing to refocus. Like I said, it’s hard to be thankful and angry at the same time.

Now, here’s the promise for all of this.

/ / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. THEN (meaning, as a direct result of what you’ve just done) 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.

So, Choose to no longer use your words for negativity, choose to pull away from worry, choose to let go, forgive, no longer hold on to the pain, hurt, anger, frustration, fear, and turn to God, pray about these things, talk to Him about your struggles, and tell Him what you need, and remember what He’s done, to build your faith in what He will do. Give thanks...

Whether it’s going well, or whether it’s difficult, as we read last week, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, / / Be thankful in all circumstances...

Can you pray this with me this morning?

God, I don’t want to be stuck on the traffic circle of negativity. I don’t want to struggle with worry, anxiety, fear, anger, resentment or pain. Would you help me. Would you heal me. Would you save me. Thank you for your promises. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your life. I want to live in the life you have for me.