The Christian's Mind; Secure

How many times have you said to yourself, "Oh, stop worrying"? Or if you didn't say it to yourself, perhaps you said it to somebody else, "Oh, stop worrying." Well, worry is a serious problem because worry has consequences that are physical, emotional, and spiritual. You can worry yourself right into sickness. Our word "worry" comes from an Old English word that means to strangle, and you can strangle yourself with worry. The Greek word means to be pulled apart. To be anxious means to be pulled apart. Worry is wrong thinking and wrong feeling about people, circumstances, and things.

I want to repeat that now. Worry is wrong thinking—there's the mind—and wrong feeling—there's the heart—about circumstances and people and things. Now, you just take whatever is upsetting you today, sit down with a piece of paper and draw three sections to that paper, and label one "circumstances," label the second one "people," the third one "things," and you'll find out you can list what you're worrying about. Circumstances—perhaps there's illness, perhaps there's a job problem. People—perhaps a neighbor is making life difficult for you, maybe you're a pastor and one of your church members is breaking your heart. Things—things like paying bills and having enough money to get done what needs to be done. Things. Worry is wrong thinking and wrong feeling about circumstances and people and things.

Now, in Philippians 4:6-9, the Apostle Paul gives us some suggestions on how to conquer worry, how to have the secure mind. He says in Philippians 4:6, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

Now, you'll notice in verse seven that the peace of God will guard you, and in verse nine, the God of peace will be with you. Now, Paul is telling us here that if we are going to conquer worry—wrong thinking and wrong feeling about circumstances, people, and things—if we're going to conquer worry, there are three essentials. Verses six and seven: right praying. Not just praying—right praying. Verse eight: right thinking. And verse nine: right living.

Now, these three elements, these three factors, are essential if you and I are going to have the secure mind. Of course, the devil doesn't want us to have a secure mind. Satan has a heyday when God's people worry, because then the devil can get us to be impatient and indifferent and intolerant, and before long, we are so worked up because of our worrying, we are out of control. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Therefore, we're grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit and creating problems for ourselves and for other people and for God.

Now, worry is a sin. And the answer to worry is peace: the peace of God to guard our hearts and our minds—notice that in verse seven—and the God of peace to be with us as we serve Him. All right, essential number one: right praying. Verses six and seven: "Be anxious for nothing." That's a commandment. He's simply saying don't worry, don't be pulled apart.

Now, "peace" is a familiar word today, a familiar topic. My, we read about bombings and murders and kidnappings and all these terrible things that are going on, but even if you move off of the national and international scene and just simply move into homes, you'll find that there's a great deal of peace missing in our homes today and in personal lives. Years ago, Henry David Thoreau said, "The masses of men are living lives of quiet desperation." That person you live with may be all wrought up down inside, worrying and fretting, and there may be someone you know who's contemplating ending his or her own life. Why? No peace down inside.

Now, peace comes from Christ; peace does not come from the world. Oh, there are false kinds of peace you can get from the world. There's the peace that comes from innocence. Here's a little child in the mother's arms, and that child is at peace. Why? Because the child is innocent. It knows nothing about good or evil, knows nothing about the problems of the world; it's just innocent. One of these days, it will turn the corner and discover it is living in a very real world. I don't want the peace that comes from innocence. Nor do I want the peace that comes from indifference. There are those who wear blinders, who put their hands over their ears, and they say, "Now, don't tell me about it. I don't want to hear the news. I don't want to know what people are going through." It's the peace that comes from indifference. That's a very selfish way to live, isn't it?

And then there's the peace that comes from ignorance. The false prophets have a way of getting people into a false peace. Jeremiah talked about that centuries ago, Jeremiah 6:14: "They"—meaning the false prophets—"have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace." This is the peace of ignorance. When you believe a lie, then you can have a false peace. But false peace is like a false remedy that some quack doctor may give to you, and that false remedy does you more harm than good. We don't want the peace that comes from indifference or the peace that comes from ignorance; we want the peace that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

"But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard"—and the word "guard" there means "garrison." It's what Paul was experiencing when he wrote Philippians; a Roman soldier or two guarding him twenty-four hours a day. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will garrison, guard, stand guard over your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Right praying.

Now, you'll notice that Paul uses three different words here: prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. That's right praying. The word for "prayer" carries with it the idea of worship and devotion and adoration. So, right praying involves adoration, right praying involves supplication, and right praying involves appreciation. And the result of this, of course, is peace. He tells us that.

Adoration: This means loving the Lord, enjoying the Lord, confessing our sins. It means coming into His presence not screaming out and telling Him, "Lord, I'm in trouble, I'm worrying, help me," just coming into His presence, quieting our hearts before Him, adoring Him, worshipping Him—"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts." It's amazing what wonderful medicine to the heart and to the mind is worship, adoration. He says, "Now you come to the Lord. Don't be anxious about things, but in everything by prayer"—adoration—"adore the Lord, surrender yourself to Him."

Then move into supplication: "By prayer and supplication." Now, supplication means the earnest, heartfelt expressing of our needs and our requests. David shows us what supplication is like in Psalm 142. Let me read it to you. "I cry out to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path." Now, here's a man who's not just whispering a prayer; here's a man who's crying out to God with supplication, complaint, trouble, and an overwhelmed spirit. Supplication is like Jesus in the garden, Hebrews 5:7: "who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death." Praying the way Jesus prayed in the garden: supplication.

Thirdly, appreciation: "With thanksgiving." Thanksgiving is a marvelous therapy for a troubled mind and heart. Whenever you and I are troubled and worried, the devil comes along and says, "Well, if the Lord loved you, He would do something for you. Obviously, He doesn't love you." And then if we just look back and look around and realize how good God has been to us. Ephesians 5:20 says it so beautifully: "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Colossians 3 gives us the very same message, doesn't it? It's a parallel to Ephesians 5. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Do you take time to sing to the Lord? I think we ought to do more of that. "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Well, the Word of God makes it very clear that thanksgiving is a part of right praying. Now, I think the result of this then will be that God will bring peace to our minds and our hearts. We start thinking about worrying things, things that bother us, then our thinking moves down to our feeling, and then our feeling adds more fuel to our thinking, and the heart and the mind start pulling each other apart. The mind says, "Now stop worrying about that," the heart says, "Oh, I can't help but worry about it," and the heart and the mind are pulling each other apart. That's the meaning of the word "anxious" in Philippians 4:6. The Greek word means to be pulled apart.

Now, the interesting thing is this: Daniel practiced this kind of praying. Daniel 6. They told Daniel he was going to be thrown into a den of lions. Now, would you worry about that? I think I would. I'm human like anybody else, and here they're going to throw Daniel into a den of lions. Now, when Daniel found out about it, he went and held a prayer meeting. Daniel 6:10: "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God."

Now, here are the same three words that Paul used. Verse 10: he prayed, he gave thanks. Verse 11: he made supplication. Now, what was the result? He had peace. He just trusted God. They put Daniel in the lions' den, God closed the lions' mouths—they couldn't even get near him to hurt him even if they wanted to—and Daniel had perfect peace. And the men who tried to kill Daniel ended up being killed themselves. That's a beautiful thing, isn't it? To know that when we come to God with right praying, which is adoration, supplication, and appreciation, God's peace guards our minds and our hearts, and we're not being torn apart. Right praying.

But Philippians 4:8 goes on to say there's a second element involved in the secure mind, namely, right thinking. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, praiseworthy, think on these things. Meditate on these things." Now, you cannot separate the peace of God from what goes on in your mind, because you see, if we're worrying, God's peace can't take over. Isaiah 26:3, a verse you ought to mark in your Bible, Isaiah 26:3: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Then he goes on to say, "Trust in the Lord forever, for in Jehovah the Lord is everlasting strength." But I like that little phrase: "whose mind is stayed on You." That doesn't mean we're always reciting Bible verses, we're always thinking hymns; it simply means that we have placed our complete trust in the Lord, we've given our mind to Him.

Whenever we allow lies to come into our mind, there will be worry. Remember that now. The devil works through lies; God works through truth. Don't think any thoughts that will not pass through the eight gates of Philippians 4:8. If it's not true, don't think about it. If it's not something noble and honest and worthy of respect, don't think about it. Much of what's on the news and found in the newspapers isn't worth thinking. If it's not just and honest and right, don't think about it. If it's not pure and leads to purity, if it's not stainless, don't think about it. If it's not of good report, if it's just some unattractive piece of gossip, don't think about it. It should be worthy to tell others. If there's any virtue—if it's not virtuous, that makes you do better and be better, don't think about it. If it's not praiseworthy, worth commending to others, don't think about it.

Now, you meditate on verse eight, and you'll find out that every thought that creates worry violates one of those standards. Your thoughts are important. Thoughts are things; thoughts are powerful. The Bible says, "As he thinks in his heart, so he is," and you are what you think. And thoughts create habits, and habits create character, and character creates destiny. And so don't immerse your mind in the storms of life. Rather, test every thought by what Paul writes in Philippians 4:8. By the way, if you'll compare Philippians 4:8 with Psalm 19:7-9, you'll see a parallel between what he says and what David says about the Word of God. "The law of the Lord is perfect... the testimony of the Lord is sure... the statutes of the Lord are right... the commandment of the Lord is pure... the fear of the Lord is clean... the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous." Fill your mind with the Word of God. Right praying: adoration, supplication, appreciation. Right thinking: allowing our thoughts to be tested by the Word of God.

Finally, right living. Now, if a person is living in disobedience to the Word of God, he ought to worry. He's got a lot to worry about. Be sure your sins will find you out. Verse nine: "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me"—I like that—"do, and the God of peace will be with you." Paul didn't just pass on what he received from somebody else; he taught it. He said, "Now you've learned from me, you've received it from me, you heard it from me, and you saw me practice it. Now do it." Obey the Word of God, and the God of peace will be with you. You cannot separate an obedient life from a calm and secure mind. Isaiah 32:17: "The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." Notice what he says: first the righteousness, then the peace. First the effect of righteousness in the life, and then quietness and assurance forever.

By the way, in James 4, you have the "war chapter" of the Bible. Philippians 4 is the "peace chapter" of the Bible; James 4 is the "war chapter" of the Bible. You ought to look at that. "Where do wars and fights come from among you?" Well, he tells us where they come from. They come from wrong praying, verse three: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." He tells us in verse one these fights and wars come from the warring down inside, the pleasures down inside that want to express themselves. So, wrong praying, James 4:3. Wrong living, James 4:4: "Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." You can't have the peace of God and be the enemy of God. "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" So in James 4:3, wrong praying brings war. In James 4:4, wrong living brings war. James 4:8, wrong thinking brings war: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you double-minded." What's he saying? Well, he's simply telling us here that if we don't think the way God wants us to think, live the way God wants us to live, and pray the way God wants us to pray, we are going to find life is a battlefield. And we're going to be at war with God and at war with ourselves and at war with other people, and we're going to have a life filled with worry.

Now, back to Philippians 4. If you and I are to have the secure mind—the mind that is not torn apart by worry, the heart that is not being pressured by worry—we have to put Jesus Christ first in our lives. This means right praying: taking everything to God. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything taking it to the Lord in prayer. And then, right thinking: whenever a thought comes to your mind that is not pure or noble or lovely or praiseworthy, then just put it out. Just say, "Lord, take that thought from me," and by an act of your will, give it to the Lord. Right living: just obey what God has for you to do. And you know, the result is going to be that the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind, and the God of peace will be with you, and you can walk through the battlefield with the peace of God protecting you and directing you.