Joy Thief Number Four: Worry

The theme of the book of Philippians is the Joy of the Lord. In each chapter there is a thief that will steal your joy. Also in each chapter is an antidote to defeat these thieves and restore the joy of the Lord.

In the first chapter, the joy thief is circumstances. The antidote is to keep Jesus Christ foremost in our mind because for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

In the second chapter, the joy thief is people. The antidote is humility to serve others from a heart of love.

The joy thief in the third chapter is things. The solution is to treasure treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth. The ultimate blessing is to seek the Blessor instead of the blessings.

The thief that steals joy in the fourth chapter is worry. The world will indoctrinate our minds through panic, pandemic and pandemonium to succumb to the cares and worries of this world. These anxious thoughts will steal our joy. The antidote to worry is prayer with supplication and thanksgiving to keep our hearts and minds focused on the truth of His word.

The fourth and final chapter of Philippians begins with encouragement to stand steadfast in the Lord, in harmony with believers whose names are in the book of life. The love of God is the basis for unity within the body of Christ. The devil’s ploy is to divide and conquer, to set our hearts against each other. However, to reconcile with others we must meet each other at the foot of the cross. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .

In Philippians 4:4, the first key to praying and focusing our minds on the Word of God is the central theme of Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” This is a command. It doesn’t say rejoice when we feel like it or “when the spirit moves us.” Rejoicing in the Lord is a deliberate, intentional, and purposeful act of the will in obedience to God’s command. When we rejoice in the Lord, we’re obeying the first of the Ten Commandments: thou shalt have no other gods before me (Nothing between your face and my face.) As the song says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth shall grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

The second key to prayer is “Let your moderation (the spirit of gentleness and loving kindness) be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand.” The book of Timothy encourages us to love others and minister with a forgiving, compassionate, and merciful heart. To minister means to “run to serve” the flock of God with a pure heart fervently.

Therefore to defeat the worries of this world, pray with a submissive heart of gratitude. Philippians 4:6-7 says: “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Prayer is the antidote to anxiety. Through prayer, the peace of God that surpasses worldly understanding will guard our hearts. God’s Peace is available only through the Prince of Peace for Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Peace with God is the result of reconciliation… reconnection and atonement (at-one-meant) through Jesus Christ’s payment for our sin. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Because we have been reconciled with God we have peace with God and with our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Our fellowship is in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Having God’s peace, we can focus our minds on the things that matter. According to Philippians 4:8: Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Proverbs 4:23 says, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of the heart proceed the issues of life. To keep and to guard our hearts and minds, think on the things of God available only through the Word of God.

Oswald Chambers said, “All God requires from me is extreme obedience with no questioning or complaining on my part and no explanation on his. Then when the crisis comes and courage is required, God expects his men to be the reliable ones.” The reliable ones are the ones who are faithful to His Word.

Chambers said, “it’s one thing say, don’t worry, but it’s an entirely different thing to surrender our hearts to the Lord. There is nothing God can’t handle. Through the tumult and anguish, our rest in him is available only when our hearts are surrendered to him.” For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Worry ends in sin because the root of worry is in having our own way instead of God’s way. Chambers says, “beware of the man who has nothing to lose.” When we turn everything over to God including the throne of our hearts, then we can come to him with empty hands. When we acknowledge our own weakness, then he will strengthen us and uphold us with the right hand of his righteousness.

The problem with a living sacrifice is that it wants to crawl off the altar. Therefore we must crucify upon the cross our will in subjugation to his will. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

It’s the little foxes, the little cares of the world will choke the Word out of our lives. Worry is infidelity to the Lord. It’s trusting in our fears and anxieties and believing the world’s lies instead of the truth of the Word of God. To enter into fellowship with the Lord, we must enter in with total abandonment and absolute trust.

According to Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the. Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.” When we align our will with His will in prayer, then we will rejoice in the Lord. Joy and rejoicing is the outpouring of a heart filled with gratitude and praise.

When the Lord says, “Get in the boat, we’re going over to the other side” our job is to get in the boat. Our job is not to ask, “what’s the weather forecast?” The only question is “Whose boat are you in?” Then when the storms rage and the waves are crashing all around, the Captain of Salvation will say, “Peace be still.” Through the trials of life and in the midst of the storm we will come to understand that “even the storms and wind obey him..”

Our joy is not in circumstances, people, things, or worldly thoughts. Our joy is in the object of our rejoicing: the Lord himself. For he alone is worthy of all glory and honor and praise!

Therefore, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…
….That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Joy Thief Number Three: Things

In each chapter of Philippians there is a thief that will steal your joy. Also in each chapter is a remedy to restore the joy of the Lord.

In the first chapter the joy thief is circumstances and situations. The antidote to defeat this thief is “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” When the storms of life are raging and there is panic, pandemic, and pandemonium all around us, the remedy is to keep the main thing the main thing: Jesus Christ and him crucified and the saving power of his resurrection from among the dead.

In Chapter two, the joy thief is people. The antidote is, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Even tough being in the form of God, he made himself of no reputation. Instead, he humbled himself and took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even unto the the death on the cross.” Humility to God in serving others is the antidote to overcome the world’s criticism and condemnation as the devil’s minions attempt to steal our joy.

In chapter three of Philippians the joy thief is things. The antidote is the spiritual mind…. finally brethren rejoice in the Lord. Paul said this is a reminder that there are false prophets and preachers who will lead you astray by telling you that salvation is by works and the things of this world and not of grace. However, we put no confidence in the flesh, not having the circumcision made with hands but having our hearts circumcised to receive the truth of the Word of God.

Paul said that from an earthly perspective, he had the right credentials to rely on the things of this world… his own works and the things that the world holds dear. Paul was an Hebrew of Hebrews who could trace his lineage through the honored tribe of Benjamin. He had been trained in the right synagogues and by the right rabbis. He was a leader of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of Judaism. However, Paul acknowledged, “those things I counted as precious to me, I now count but dung compared to the righteousness I have in Christ.”

Jesus said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, then you shall bear much fruit. He is the vine and we are the branches. Unless we are attached to the vine, there will be no fruit, there will be no purpose in life.

The goal in Philippians 3:10 is that we will know him and the power of his resurrection being conformed to his death. The power of the resurrection is the power that raised Jesus from among the dead. Part of knowing the power of his resurrection is to know the fellowship of his suffering. Through the tribulations he will refine us according to the good pleasure of his will. The end result of this refining through tribulation is hope and love. For tribulaton worketh patience, and patience experience (character), and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Only through suffering and the trials of life can we understand the grace of God. Paul learned this difficult life lesson after he prayed three times, “Lord please remove this thorn in the flesh.” The third time he prayed, God answered, “My strength is made perfect in thy weakness, my grace is sufficient for thee.”

The devil will sidetrack our thoughts and condemn us into thinking that we love those whom God has blessed us with, even more than we love God himself. Pete loved his wife so much that he prayed, “Lord I think that I love my wife more than I love you.” God answered, “you don’t love her more than me. You love her because you love me.” According to 1 John 4:12b, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” The love of others is a reflection of the love of God. Jesus himself said, “in that ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

The purpose is that we will be conformed to His death… that we will reckon our old sinful nature dead and our new spiritual nature alive in Christ. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

If God needs to break our hearts for what breaks his, then thank him for breaking our hearts. That we may be conformed to his will, not ours. He’ll pick up the threads of our broken hearts and weave them together again, conformed according to his will and his purpose.

The antidote to the joy thief of the things of this world is to set our affection on things above and not on things of earth. For our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection. The hope of the resurrection keeps everything in proper perspective. Our hope is that the best is yet to come. According to Romans 8:18… the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

As sons of God and as Americans, we hold dual citizenship. We’re Christians who happen to be Americans and not Americans who happen to be Christians. Even though we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, Our first allegiance is to the country of our new birth. We may be natural-born citizens of the United States. However we’re spiritual-born again citizens of heaven. We’ve been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by he word of God which liveth and abideth forever.

Because he lives and because he lives in us, we can choose joy. This is a command: Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Our joy is not in circumstances, people, or things. Our joy is in the object of joy, the Lord himself.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know who holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives!

Therefore, rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice….
…That we may ever live to the praise of the glory fo His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael