9 Essentials to Living the Christian Life: Prayer

Finding peace on the journey of the faith is what I want to call this lesson. And it comes straight from the text that I just read in Philippians 4, 6 to 7. I want to take those two verses apart this morning as we think about finding peace on the journey of faith. Here's my first admonition. We must not be anxious.

The text says, do not be anxious about anything. Do not be anxious about anything. It is a command. It is not an option. Do not be anxious is in the imperative mood, telling us this is a command.

it is something that we are to not have in our lives as christians this word anxious is the same greek word that we see in other passages matthew 6 25 where jesus tells those to whom he is speaking in the sermon on the mount i tell you do not worry about your life what you will eat or drink or about your body. Matthew 6, 34, he says, Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. It's the same word used when Martha was hustling and bustling in the kitchen, anxious about taking care of the Lord who was there, while Mary sat calmly at the feet of Jesus. And Jesus finally looks at Martha and says, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. It's a command that we are not to be anxious.

We need to understand what that word anxious means, so let me give you a sense of what that word means in this text. The word anxious is used in this context in Philippians 4, 6, has the sense of nagging worry. it's this sense of fretful concern about things that we face. It's apprehensive fear. It's that helpless, hopeless feeling because we don't have control of events in life.

It's that emptiness in the pit of our stomachs that is afraid of what will turn up in the next bend or turn in our lives. It's that feeling of insecurity and uncertainty that gives us sleepless nights. It's the fear like that the disciples experienced as they were on the boat and the storms raged and they thought they would be overcome. It's that nagging, gnawing worry. That's the kind of thing that we're commanded not to have in our lives.

Caleb and Kate when they were very young and we were talking about this notion where Jesus says don't worry. And they said well how can you not worry? Everybody worries. How can it be a sin to worry? Well it's a sin because God commands that we not do it.

And if we do it we thus sin. And it's a sin because worry and anxiety at its root shows a lack of trust and confidence in he who rules and reigns. Now this notion of, I don't need to be reminded,

this notion that we should not be anxious

does not prohibit planning for the contingencies of life. It's not saying we shouldn't see what's out there and plan for it. this notion that this command we should not be anxious does not ask us to ignore reality and pretend that difficulties in life don't exist they do life is tough life is hard the older we get maybe we recognize that better as we've experienced more and more difficult circumstances in our own life the apostle paul is not asking us to ignore reality you read the whole book of you will see he's very realistic about his own circumstances. He's now been imprisoned nearly three years as he writes the book of Philippians. He's awaiting trial.

He knows and acknowledges that trial may result in his being released, but it may result in his death. Yet in the midst of those circumstances, he says, don't be anxious. he writes to the Philippians in the city of Philippi who were undergoing persecution and he tells them even though you're undergoing persecution in Philippians 1.28 he says don't let it frighten you but he doesn't ignore the reality that difficulties exist in life and I am not asking us to bury our heads in the sand as Christians and pretend that life is just a bed of roses but I am asking us to look reality in the face and not be afraid and not to be anxious about whatever life may bring us.

The text says we're not to be anxious about anything so the command is there's nothing in life that we should allow us that should cause us to be anxious. We need to be in every circumstance able to overcome this sense of anxiety and fear. We want to be those folks who are peaceful in the storm. No matter what life brings, there's this air of confidence and peace.

So, my next point is we need peace in our lives. If we're going to not have this anxiety in life, I think really the flip side of having anxiety is learning to find that peace in our lives. The peace of God that transcends all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the text says. peace in our lives. How do we get it? What is this peace?

How do we get it? Peace is this peace that's spoken of in the text. Peace is first a right relationship with God.

Peace is a right relationship with God, number one. And number two, it is freedom from anxiety and worry. So do you seek peace? What is that peace? That peace is first, the right relationship with God, and then secondly, it's this freedom and rest from the knowing anxiety and worries that we face in life.

How do we get it? It is first found in Christ Jesus. Do you hear me? which Paul speaks, is found in Christ Jesus. He says that at the end of the verses, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In Christ Jesus. What's the picture there? Here's the picture. At one time, all of us stood outside of Christ. We were not united with Him.

We were not, by faith, trusting Him. But for those of us who have come to faith in Christ, we have at some point believed into him. We have united with him and joined with him, and now we live in Christ. And it's as we live in Christ that we can find peace. The first piece is that we have a right relationship with God.

Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and we have trusted him to deliver us from our sins relationship with God. And it is only in Christ that we can begin to experience this peace that will transcend these worries and anxieties of life. So my first question for you is, are you in Christ? Have you united with him? Are you in the circle? If you want the kind of peace about which this passage speaks, you've got to be in the circle. If you're outside the circle you will never experience it.

The reality is that those who are outside the circle ought to live in terror. Their lives ought to be the most anxious of lives. If they understood reality they would be because those who are not in Christ dangle on the gossamer thread over the pit.

They are but a heartbeat away, a car wreck

from experiencing eternal anxiety.

So if we want it, we've got to be in Christ. But let's take it the next step.

We must be in Christ Jesus and we must recognize that this peace comes from God. The text says, and the peace of God

that transcends all understanding hearts and minds. So it's the peace of God. That's a genitive of origin. What that basically means is when it says peace of God, it means the peace that originates from God or comes from God. It's the peace that comes from God. Why is it that this peace about which the text speaks, why is it that Paul wants us to emphasize that it is from God that this peace comes?

We cannot and we will never have peace until we recognize and have a proper view of who God is. Because it's only as we recognize who He is that we can begin to rest and not be anxious in this life. He is, who is this God? He is the maker of heaven and earth. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Shaddai. He is the Lord Almighty. He is the Lord of hosts. He is the mighty fortress. He is Jehovah Jireh. He is the Lord who provides. He is the God who can say to the storm, peace, be still. He is the God who can see us in the darkness of our anxieties. He is who is good and who cares for us.

If he weren't this kind of God, this almighty creator, El Shaddai, if he were not this kind of God and if he didn't care for us, we would never know peace. It's only when we have one who is over all circumstances of life, who reigns supremely over all events of life that we have any hope of finding peace. the scriptures repeatedly tell us who God is so that we will yearn to know him better and to trust him more closely so that we can have this peace if you will permit me just to read a few passages I've given you the references in your handout there but I just want to read these just listen don't take notes you can go home and read these passages later But if you're in the midst of anxiety, listen to these words. And let me just read them slowly.

I, sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone. My hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress. I will not be shaken.

You hem me in behind and before. You have laid your hand upon me, O God. is too wonderful for me, too lofty to attain. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you.

The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the all light.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Those words are power.

And I know, because some of you talk to me, that some of you need to hear them. You need to hear them deep in the heart of your hearts and in your souls. Peace comes from God, the all-sufficient one. It comes by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Do you want this peace that comes from God and is found in Christ Jesus?

Then you must pray. but in everything by prayer and petition present your request to God with thanksgiving prayer is a request for help and that word petition has the notion of an urgent plea and entreaty to God it's not just a soft easy kind of prayer this is going to the God Almighty and saying have your help. I am overwhelmed by my circumstances. Will you not deliver me? We must petition him.

We must seek his face and we must always do it with thanksgiving. See, prayer always recognizes and worships the one to whom it prays because there is a real sense in our prayers, or should be always of gratitude. Gratitude for who God is, for what He has done, for His past faithfulness and deliverance, and for what He will do for us in the future. You see, prayer is an admission. It is an admission that we need God's help, that we are not self-sufficient, that we are not all-powerful, that we are dependent.

that God is the living and sovereign Lord of the universe who rules and reigns over all of the circumstances and events of life. John Piper put it this way in his book Desiring God, prayer is turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide what we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy. In prayer, Piper says, we admit our poverty and God's prosperity, our bankruptcy and his bounty, our misery and his mercy. So why don't we pray?

Not just about some things, but as the text says, about everything. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

This peace of God can only be ours when we prayerfully trust in Him to guard our hearts and our minds. Some translations say, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will keep your hearts and minds. I think a better translation there, and the NIV catches it, it says He will guard your hearts and minds. And the picture is that God is the sentry. He is on post.

He is on patrol. And He is protecting us. As we go to Him in prayer and petition, He is protecting us from these attacks of anxiety and worry and apprehensiveness and fretful concern. He does not want the evil one to overwhelm us. He does not want the circumstances of life to overwhelm us.

So He is the guard protecting our minds from doubting, fear, worry. Protecting our hearts from those feelings of helplessness. and hopelessness. The last point about this peace is God's peace is a peace that transcends all understanding, the text says.

I think there are two possible understandings of what it means when it says the peace of God, quote, transcends all understanding. One sense is that God's peace beyond our human comprehension.

We can't understand, number one,

why he would send his son to die for us so that we can have this peace. It's beyond our human comprehension to understand why somebody would send a son to die for rebels, for people who are in rebellion against him. and this peace of God is also beyond our comprehension because it's hard for us to understand how we can really experience this sense of peace and inner well-being when we take our prayers and petitions to God it's a mystery to us how we can begin to sense and experience this peace have you ever felt that peace? ever had something just weighing on you so heavily and when you were at the end of your rope you finally did what you should have done at the beginning of your rope you finally got on your knees and you just poured your heart out to God and somehow the burden fell off the anxiety lifted the worry was gone why is that? I don't know for sure it's a mystery but I know that this God we serve wants us to be free of the burden of the anxiety. And when we turn to him and get before him, he takes it away. It's a mystery. But boy, I love the mystery. I love the mystery.

I think the other sense in which transcends all understanding may be used is it may mean when we say the peace of God transcends all understanding I think it may mean his peace is of more value than all understanding and knowledge. The peace of God transcends all understanding. It excels over knowledge and understanding. It is of more value than knowing everything else that we could possibly know in our humanity. In other words, the peace of God is priceless.

Well, here are my lessons for life.

Lesson number one, get a good night's sleep. You know, sometimes that anxiety, that worry comes because we've just worn ourselves out. I always remember good advice from a godly mother.

Things aren't going well. Get a good night's sleep. Sometimes some simple basic taking care of some basic needs can help us overcome some of this stress and anxiety. Some of you are just stressed out because you're overworked, not getting enough rest, you need a vacation. if you got that stress look at some of those practical things to help you number two admit specifically your fears and anxieties to God I'm saying you need to name them maybe you can't identify it at first but you need to stop and try to work through what is it that is causing you this anxiety and fear specifically I will tell you in my past years I finally put my finger on it was a fear there were two main fears fear that I would fail that I wouldn't be and do all I should be and do and the second fear was was sort of this financial worry always worrying about you know am I going to have enough for the family for my children how am I going to make sure ends meet and so forth and it's just kind of weighs on me but when you can name it, when you can name it, then you can start to do something with that anxiety or fear. So I'm going to press you to identify it specifically.

And then I'm going to say once you identify it, begin and end each day giving your anxieties to God and your fears to God. I don't think it has to be a long prayer.

but I think it's a great way to begin the day to ask God to deliver you from your fear and anxiety and to trust in him today and at the end of the day go back to him and give him those cares cast all your care upon him because he cares for you let him carry the load he's a lot stronger than you are D. live more simply live more simply our lives as much as possible of those things that cause anxiety. You know, sometimes we're stressed out because we've just made bad choices. Some of the sometimes the stress we feel financially is because we've just been addicted to stuff and have just acquired and acquired because we have this sort of insatiable desire for something else, a bigger home, a bigger car, a bigger TV, an entertainment center. And we need to live more simply to give away some of that.

And as we begin to live more simply, some of that stress begins to go away. Sometimes we get stressed out because we're trying to do too much stuff. we're trying to do so many different activities. We're trying to be husband, father, worker, provider, civic leader, in a civic organization, all these different tasks. Sometimes we need to live more simply.

We need to get more focus in our lives, set aside some of those responsibilities that aren't essential and live more simply.

E, read chapter 6 of Desiring God. This is John Piper's book. Chapter 6 is about prayer. I strongly urge you, if you want to borrow mine, I'll lend it to you. Come ask me.

But read just one chapter, chapter 6 on prayer.

Number 6, learn a mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing. Our helper, he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate.

On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Christ Jesus it is he Lord Sabaoth his name from age to age the same and he must win the battle and there are two more verses but it's a great hymn to remember

I said that twice I didn't mean to but maybe God did it. Lastly read the Psalms regularly see how the psalmist pours out his heart to God and how he trusts in him Elizabeth Elliot, when she ended her book, the 40th anniversary edition of her book, Through Gates of Splendor, it was a book she originally wrote after her husband, a missionary, was killed along with four other men. She ends the book by saying, in essence, that our fears and our doubts can overwhelm us if we don't trust in God. But let's trust in the one who's drawn the boundaries of the earth and the heavens. Because he will care for us.

Let's pray.

Lord, I know the fear and the anxiety is great with many in this class. I know because they told me. Today, on their behalf, I give their anxiety to you. Their fear to you.

may they rest in the shadow of the Almighty. May they know the God who is our refuge and our strength. You are our helper. May we recognize it and trust in you. For it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.