Anxiety
Philipians 4:5 Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
People like to tell me ‘be anxious for nothing’. I disobey God with my anxiousness. Not for myself or my stuff. I could happily live in a shack under a mango tree with nothing but my Bible, if I were alone. I have my own retirement income, which mostly goes to ministry as well. Possessions mean absolutely nothing to me. ‘Pride of ownership’ is sin because the first word is pride. My one and only cause for anxiety can be said in one word, ‘OTHERS’! My anxiety comes from my worry for others. Not because I am a ‘do-gooder’ but because the love of Christ constrains me. 2 Cor 5:14
Bill Gates, in an interview several years ago, was asked if anything botherred him or worried him. He answerred with a hearty ‘nope’! It shocked me, but then many people who don’t truly love the Lord would answer the same way if they were being honest. Without love, it’s all pointless. A person counseling dying people, or who prays for sick and starving children that doesn’t worry for them is nothing more than a babbling buffoon. To live a true Christain life, you will have anxiety. You will also have peace.
The verses above are a whole lot more than the pat Christian ‘be anxious for nothing’ sign they sell at Cracker Barrel. This phrase is usually taken out of context. Chuck Smith said that if it isn’t in context, it’s pretext. Paul wrote this from prison, in the days when Nero Cesar was killing Christians just for fun. Paul was in jail for being a Christian, so there’s that heaviness and seriousness as well. Paul is speaking from experience. The beautiful thing is, not only does Paul in Philippians 4 tell us what not to do, but also, through the Holy Spirit, he tells us how to prevent and remedy it. Telling someone not to do something that is in their DNA is cruel, and useless. That is unless you give them a solution as well. A guy once travelled a whole day, over 3,000 miles, just to tell me that he was sent by God and his ‘supernatural gifting’ was to point out problems in ministry. I asked him if his giftings included solutions and he said ‘no’. So I knew he wasn’t really from God. Any clown can point out problems. An old CO of mine had a sign saying ‘don’t come to me with a problem unless you have the solution too’. I know our problems, everyone else does too. What we want are solutions. God not only points out problems, He also provides solutions.
- Our goal is to be gentle. That’s a good testimony for the world to see. I was trained to be rude (the opposite of gentle). There’s not a gentle bone in my body. That’s a bad testimony. I want to change that. How? By being anxious for nothing.
First step to not letting our concerns grow into anxiety is knowing that the Lord is near! You are not alone! And we just have to hold on a little bit longer. Show off for Jesus and His angels. Get caught red-handed, raptured or die doing something actually worthwhile and with a good attitude.
a. Knowing that the Lord is near gives me peace and assurance. The Lord is inside me, through His Holy Spirit. The Lord is my comforter.
Jesus said in John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
b. The Lord is also near in terms of Him coming back.
c. The Lord is also near in terms of our brief life here on earth.
a,b, and c gives us a way to measure our small problems in terms of the grand scheme of things.
- Be anxious for nothing, (we are going to worry, but here’s how to keep out too much concern which can turn into unhealthy anxiety)
a. In EVERYTHING! The devil is in the details. A lot of little things add up to big things. IE Our accounting here for Nicaraguan government just got about 5 times worst, but it is still manageable IF we keep up with it daily. Take a week off and we are dead in the water. Take a week off of anything and catch up can kill you. In EVERYTHING PRESENT YOUR REQUESTS! How?
- pray your requests, talk to God daily, ask Him about EVERYTHING, for everything. If you start to worry, tell God immediately, don’t wait for a little thing to turn into a big thing.
- petition is more than just a prayer. It’s a legal action. Many times a legal demand requiring many signatures. Get people that YOU TRUST to pray with you. Be persistant. If it’s important enough to risk being anxious over, it’s important enough to clamor to God about.
- give thanks to God BEFORE the prayers and petitions are granted.
Do this and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.