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
