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Three Ways To Overcome Fear // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 4
It may come as a surprise, but in this world of stress and anxiety God doesn’t want us to be afraid. But how is that supposed to work?
Do Not Worry About AnythingWell, here we are – this is the last message in a series of four programmes that I have called “Do Not Be Afraid.” So many people spend so much time being afraid in their lives. Either it’s a crisis or just an ongoing nagging, ongoing sense that something bad is going to happen – a negativity; a pessimism, always thinking the worst. Always imaging the worst outcome – always expecting the worst.
So often through the Bible, God says to His people “Do not be afraid.” He doesn’t want us living in fear; He doesn’t want us worrying, and so many of us do. Okay, we might have a brave face; we might have a cool, calm exterior but inside, a lot of people are torn apart; shaken to the core by fear and worry.
Well, today we are going to finish up this series by looking at three very practical things that we can do to overcome that. I’m talking about living a life that, by and large, is free from fear and worry. Scary things will still come along at us in life – it’s about living through those things with a calm delight and a resolve, with a deep knowledge that God is in this place with us.
The first thing I want to share with you is this: our mind matters! What we do with our thoughts really matters. Back in 1953 a man by the name of Norman Vincent Peale wrote a classic book – it’s called “The Power of Positive Thinking” and for a long time I pooh-hooed that idea. "It’s not about 'positive thinking'"; I said to myself, "it’s about trusting in God." And even when I started reading his book fairly recently, I was sceptical but what he expounds in that book is exactly what God talks about in the Bible.
Basically what he says is that: our mind matters. Let me take you to a passage that I often go to myself – it’s written by the Apostle Paul in prison, on death row in a Roman prison, writing to his friends, the Philippians. Listen to what this man Paul writes from his dank prison cell. If you have a Bible, grab it – we are going to Philippians chapter 4 today – beginning at verse 6:
Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.
I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I’m referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.
I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Let me start with just the first couple of verses – let’s look at them again.
Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How do we not worry? You see, in my experience, worry is just something that happens. I have wanted to turn the worry tap off many a time but this stream of worrying thoughts keeps flooding into my mind. Now, I am as strong willed and disciplined a person as you’ll find anywhere. When I set my mind to achieving something, I invariably do – I have all my life. But you know something? What I have discovered is that I am powerless to turn off the worry tap.
It’s horrifying because when you worry it grips your whole life – you’re waking and you’re sleeping. Have you ever noticed that – you toss and turn at night and you can’t sleep? It is believing in these two verses that have enabled me to end the worry in my life! Can I say that again? It is believing in these two verses in the Bible that has enabled me to end the worry in my life. And you know something? When you stop worrying, you have peace!
That’s exactly what Paul tells us; that’s exactly what God wants to tell you and me today:
Do not worry about anything but in everything …
How do I stop worrying – not by turning the tap off by myself but by replacing it with something else – with the “but in everything … ” “Do not worry about anything but in everything … ” So what’s the "but"; what’s the thing that we should replace the worrying with?
All that time and energy we spend worrying, what do I do with it? I transfer it to something else – to what else? “Do not worry about anything but in everything ...” - that means "everything" – “in everything” that is causing me to worry, “by prayer and supplication” – what does that mean? Praying and entreating God – asking Him, seeking Him – so instead of wasting all that time and energy on worrying, spend it on praying and asking God.
Imagine how different life would be if every time a worrying thought came to haunt the deepest recesses of our mind, we said "Hang on a minute – stop. I am not going to think on that. I am not going to dwell and brood and worry, but instead, in everything I am going to pray." How….how do we pray? – with thanksgiving – "God I thank You that I am in this place. I thank You that I have the opportunity to trust in You. I thank You that unless You show up, I’m in trouble. Now Lord, here’s my problem, will You help me? Thank You!"
If every time we go to worry we did that, here’s what the Bible promises us – now listen to it very carefully – to this promise … a promise that is going to change your life: “Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be known to God” – here comes the promise, “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your minds in Christ Jesus.” There it is! And you know something? That is exactly what happens! Try it, just for a few days, every time you start to worry about something, go to God, do the ‘but’ thing and here’s what happens – He turns the worry tap off.
No amount of strength or resolve or anything else is going to turn that worrying tap off, only God and it’s an amazing peace; it’s an incredible peace. The storm can still be raging, in fact, circumstances can be getting worse, but you have been praying and entreating and thanking God instead of worrying.
And you think to yourself, "I can’t explain this but I have a peace – how, why, how can this be?" That’s why Paul calls it “a peace that surpasses all understanding” – God turned the worry tap off. He did what you and I can’t do:
and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The worry can’t get in – there is where the rubber hits the road.
My Mind Matters
Okay, let’s look at another practical thing that we can do to eradicate that fear and worry from our lives. See, it’s more than just having faith – I mean faith is great but there are some practical things that we need to do to participate in God’s plan for us not to worry and not to be afraid.
Back with the Apostle Paul, in that dungeon again, on death row – if anyone had a reason it was the old Paul. We are going to have a look at what he wrote to his friends in Philippi about this whole subject of not being afraid. Pick it up in Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 8. He said:
Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Now I want to start with the second bit of this first. And here is the reason for that: because what Paul is telling us is that he has discovered how to have God’s peace; how not to be afraid; how not to spend worrying. See, this is not some theory lesson. This is a guy on death row explaining how to have peace. “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.”
So Paul is saying, "You know my life; you know how often it’s been threatened; you know how often people have rioted when I got up to speak and they wanted to harm me and kill me. You know that, you have seen me in action and you have seen how I have coped with the pressures and the threats. You want to have peace? You want to live a life free from fear and worry? Then do the things that you have seen in me and the things that I am telling you now and you will have peace too - God’s peace."
I think that is fantastic because what we are about to have a look at is a proven thing – it works in the direst of circumstances. Doesn’t that excite you? You know, there is not one of us who doesn’t have some reason to worry – not one of us, who isn’t going through some storm right now. And just in case there is the odd person who isn’t, just recognise that it is because you are between storms – the last one has blown out and the next one hasn’t swept in yet.
So what is the practical guidance that Paul gives us in this passage about how to dispense with fear and worry? Let’s take a look: Philippians chapter 4, verse 8:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure and pleasing and commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
You know what he is saying here? What we do with our mind matters! That’s what Norman Vincent Peale wrote in his book in 1953, “The Power of Positive Thinking”. And as I have said before, I used to be very sceptical about this – faith isn’t just positive thinking … positive thinking has a self-help connotation to me – like I can think my way out of problems without God. All I have to do is think positive but that’s not what he meant and that’s not what Paul means here.
Paul is setting out a simple truth – we only have so much brain-band with each day; so much time that we can spend thinking; so many hours to think. Some of our time we spend sleeping, some we spend doing things that require our complete attention so we don’t have time to think about anything else. We spend time "veged" out in front of the TV I guess, not really thinking about much at all.
And then there is the rest of the time when we have time to think and we can think good thoughts or bad thoughts, encouraging thoughts or discouraging thoughts. We can think thoughts that look at our situation, which may be difficult; which may be scary; which may be whatever and what we ‘think’ is going to influence how we see things and how we "feel" them.
The human brain – get this – has about seventy thousand thoughts a day! Busy little thing, isn’t it? And what Paul is say here is: "Look, spend your brain time; your think time, thinking good thoughts – true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent; things worthy of praise – think about these things." You know something? That makes a lot of sense to me and it’s something we have to teach ourselves.
Here’s how it works for me: a negative thought comes into my mind "You know, that guy just doesn’t get it. He’s never going to get it. He just drives me nuts." Maybe he doesn’t get it; maybe he has some issues, but I have decided something – if I think that way it’s going to influence how I treat the guy. So when one of those thought comes floating in, I boot it out! It’s not some unrealistic thing where I sweep things under the carpet, but I replace the bad thought with a good one.
"How can I care for him today? How can I support him today? God you love him just as much as You love me, show me Father how I can build him up; how I can develop him; how I can grow him?" That makes sense and it’s a discipline and the more we do it; the more we get into the habit of recognising a bad thought when it comes in and booting it out and replacing it with a good thought – God thoughts – here is what happens: our whole outlook starts to change.
God honours that and where things were once a threat, He gives us the solution. Where things once scared us, He gives us faith and peace and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a habit of resting our minds in good things and all good things come from God and more good things come from that – peace is one of them; joy is another.
Whatever is true, honourable, pure, just, pleasing, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise, think about those things!
A Word in Time
As we come to the end of our series, “Do Not Be Afraid,” I want to share with you the most important thing that I know about banishing fear and worry from our lives. It is the most important thing; the most effective thing and it comes from the last part of this passage in Philippians chapter 4 that we have been looking at today on the programme.
The Apostle Paul is on death row; he is teaching us how to banish fear from our lives, from the most dire circumstances you and I could ever imagine and here’s what he says – beginning at Philippians 4, verse 10:
I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it.” Remember, he is writing to his friends at Philippi, he is in his dungeon and he says: “Not that I referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need, for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Paul was an itinerant minister who travelled across most of the known world. A good part of his time he spent in jail and he is writing to his friends here about his physical needs. Obviously they provided for him and sent him money and resources when he has been in need and he is saying, “Thank you” – that’s a good thing.
I love how much of God’s Word is about real, practical things in people’s lives but he takes even this opportunity from his dungeon to teach them something. And I believe that God is taking the opportunity to teach us something. Here it is:
For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have a little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Paul is saying, "You know something, it doesn’t matter what circumstances I am facing – good or bad, plenty or little, full or hungry – I have learned … learned in practice; in my experience, I have learned the secret ... the secret of getting through any and all circumstances and that secret is this ..." Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
It doesn’t matter what the world throws at me because God is the one who strengthens me. And when I am hanging close with Him; when I am relying on Him, He comes through – He does the things that I can’t do – He saves me, He encourages me.
"And I have been through this so many times", says Paul, "riots, so many times people have tried to hurt me; so many times people have criticised me, misunderstood me and rejected me because I was telling them about Jesus over and over and over and over and over again." Paul has learned this truth:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
And you know why this is so important? Because whenever I feel a sense of despair, I come back to this one Scripture. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or hurt or rejected or alone or distressed or afraid, I stop; I clear my mind and I say this Scripture verse: Philippians chapter 4, verse 13:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
This is the Word of God! And so I have a number of Scriptures, some that I have memorised, some I have got on my mobile phone. Another one of them is Mark chapter 11, verses 22 to 24:
Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and be thrown into the sea,” and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you have said will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
I have memorised that Scripture passage, can I tell you? I don’t find it easy to memorise Scripture passages – that one and a few others I have memorised and I go to them again and again and again and again. Those I can’t remember, I look at them on my mobile phone. You may not have a mobile phone – write them down on little cards, stick them in your pocket.
God’s Word changes our hearts and when we are struggling; when we are going through the hard stuff, we need access to God’s Word. This is absolutely the most important thing that I know about living a life that’s free from fear and worry. The more I do that, the more I find myself able to do all things that God calls me to do, through Him who strengthens me.
I want to challenge you today. God’s Word is not something to be trifled with. God’s Word is not something we leave in a cupboard or on our shelves and then we wonder why our lives are full of fear and anxiety and stress. God’s Word brings peace. God’s Word convinces us of the truth of what God is saying:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
You can do all things through Him who strengthens you – through plenty or through little, through hunger or through fullness. The most important thing that I know about dealing with fear is to fill your heart and your mind with the Word of God because it has healing power. It will build your faith; it changes your outlook; it is the stuff of healing and transformation.
God and grab some Scripture verses that really speak powerfully to you – put them on some cards or in your mobile phone or memorise them and go to them again and again and again – every day. When you get up in the morning; when you have a break during the day to get away from the madness, just to pause; when you go to bed at night. I tell you something, you will learn what Paul learned through the school of hard knocks that you can do all things through Him who strengthens you.
You know, I challenge you today. You do this for just a couple of weeks; two or three weeks, and fear will be banished from your life because your perspective changes; you start to see things through God’s Word and all of a sudden you start to live it by faith and your faith grows. It’s not rocket science – this is so practical, anyone can do this.
You can do all things through Him who strengthens you
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By Berni Dymet
5
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It may come as a surprise, but in this world of stress and anxiety God doesn’t want us to be afraid. But how is that supposed to work?
Do Not Worry About AnythingWell, here we are – this is the last message in a series of four programmes that I have called “Do Not Be Afraid.” So many people spend so much time being afraid in their lives. Either it’s a crisis or just an ongoing nagging, ongoing sense that something bad is going to happen – a negativity; a pessimism, always thinking the worst. Always imaging the worst outcome – always expecting the worst.
So often through the Bible, God says to His people “Do not be afraid.” He doesn’t want us living in fear; He doesn’t want us worrying, and so many of us do. Okay, we might have a brave face; we might have a cool, calm exterior but inside, a lot of people are torn apart; shaken to the core by fear and worry.
Well, today we are going to finish up this series by looking at three very practical things that we can do to overcome that. I’m talking about living a life that, by and large, is free from fear and worry. Scary things will still come along at us in life – it’s about living through those things with a calm delight and a resolve, with a deep knowledge that God is in this place with us.
The first thing I want to share with you is this: our mind matters! What we do with our thoughts really matters. Back in 1953 a man by the name of Norman Vincent Peale wrote a classic book – it’s called “The Power of Positive Thinking” and for a long time I pooh-hooed that idea. "It’s not about 'positive thinking'"; I said to myself, "it’s about trusting in God." And even when I started reading his book fairly recently, I was sceptical but what he expounds in that book is exactly what God talks about in the Bible.
Basically what he says is that: our mind matters. Let me take you to a passage that I often go to myself – it’s written by the Apostle Paul in prison, on death row in a Roman prison, writing to his friends, the Philippians. Listen to what this man Paul writes from his dank prison cell. If you have a Bible, grab it – we are going to Philippians chapter 4 today – beginning at verse 6:
Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.
I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I’m referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.
I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Let me start with just the first couple of verses – let’s look at them again.
Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How do we not worry? You see, in my experience, worry is just something that happens. I have wanted to turn the worry tap off many a time but this stream of worrying thoughts keeps flooding into my mind. Now, I am as strong willed and disciplined a person as you’ll find anywhere. When I set my mind to achieving something, I invariably do – I have all my life. But you know something? What I have discovered is that I am powerless to turn off the worry tap.
It’s horrifying because when you worry it grips your whole life – you’re waking and you’re sleeping. Have you ever noticed that – you toss and turn at night and you can’t sleep? It is believing in these two verses that have enabled me to end the worry in my life! Can I say that again? It is believing in these two verses in the Bible that has enabled me to end the worry in my life. And you know something? When you stop worrying, you have peace!
That’s exactly what Paul tells us; that’s exactly what God wants to tell you and me today:
Do not worry about anything but in everything …
How do I stop worrying – not by turning the tap off by myself but by replacing it with something else – with the “but in everything … ” “Do not worry about anything but in everything … ” So what’s the "but"; what’s the thing that we should replace the worrying with?
All that time and energy we spend worrying, what do I do with it? I transfer it to something else – to what else? “Do not worry about anything but in everything ...” - that means "everything" – “in everything” that is causing me to worry, “by prayer and supplication” – what does that mean? Praying and entreating God – asking Him, seeking Him – so instead of wasting all that time and energy on worrying, spend it on praying and asking God.
Imagine how different life would be if every time a worrying thought came to haunt the deepest recesses of our mind, we said "Hang on a minute – stop. I am not going to think on that. I am not going to dwell and brood and worry, but instead, in everything I am going to pray." How….how do we pray? – with thanksgiving – "God I thank You that I am in this place. I thank You that I have the opportunity to trust in You. I thank You that unless You show up, I’m in trouble. Now Lord, here’s my problem, will You help me? Thank You!"
If every time we go to worry we did that, here’s what the Bible promises us – now listen to it very carefully – to this promise … a promise that is going to change your life: “Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be known to God” – here comes the promise, “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your minds in Christ Jesus.” There it is! And you know something? That is exactly what happens! Try it, just for a few days, every time you start to worry about something, go to God, do the ‘but’ thing and here’s what happens – He turns the worry tap off.
No amount of strength or resolve or anything else is going to turn that worrying tap off, only God and it’s an amazing peace; it’s an incredible peace. The storm can still be raging, in fact, circumstances can be getting worse, but you have been praying and entreating and thanking God instead of worrying.
And you think to yourself, "I can’t explain this but I have a peace – how, why, how can this be?" That’s why Paul calls it “a peace that surpasses all understanding” – God turned the worry tap off. He did what you and I can’t do:
and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The worry can’t get in – there is where the rubber hits the road.
My Mind Matters
Okay, let’s look at another practical thing that we can do to eradicate that fear and worry from our lives. See, it’s more than just having faith – I mean faith is great but there are some practical things that we need to do to participate in God’s plan for us not to worry and not to be afraid.
Back with the Apostle Paul, in that dungeon again, on death row – if anyone had a reason it was the old Paul. We are going to have a look at what he wrote to his friends in Philippi about this whole subject of not being afraid. Pick it up in Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 8. He said:
Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Now I want to start with the second bit of this first. And here is the reason for that: because what Paul is telling us is that he has discovered how to have God’s peace; how not to be afraid; how not to spend worrying. See, this is not some theory lesson. This is a guy on death row explaining how to have peace. “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.”
So Paul is saying, "You know my life; you know how often it’s been threatened; you know how often people have rioted when I got up to speak and they wanted to harm me and kill me. You know that, you have seen me in action and you have seen how I have coped with the pressures and the threats. You want to have peace? You want to live a life free from fear and worry? Then do the things that you have seen in me and the things that I am telling you now and you will have peace too - God’s peace."
I think that is fantastic because what we are about to have a look at is a proven thing – it works in the direst of circumstances. Doesn’t that excite you? You know, there is not one of us who doesn’t have some reason to worry – not one of us, who isn’t going through some storm right now. And just in case there is the odd person who isn’t, just recognise that it is because you are between storms – the last one has blown out and the next one hasn’t swept in yet.
So what is the practical guidance that Paul gives us in this passage about how to dispense with fear and worry? Let’s take a look: Philippians chapter 4, verse 8:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure and pleasing and commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
You know what he is saying here? What we do with our mind matters! That’s what Norman Vincent Peale wrote in his book in 1953, “The Power of Positive Thinking”. And as I have said before, I used to be very sceptical about this – faith isn’t just positive thinking … positive thinking has a self-help connotation to me – like I can think my way out of problems without God. All I have to do is think positive but that’s not what he meant and that’s not what Paul means here.
Paul is setting out a simple truth – we only have so much brain-band with each day; so much time that we can spend thinking; so many hours to think. Some of our time we spend sleeping, some we spend doing things that require our complete attention so we don’t have time to think about anything else. We spend time "veged" out in front of the TV I guess, not really thinking about much at all.
And then there is the rest of the time when we have time to think and we can think good thoughts or bad thoughts, encouraging thoughts or discouraging thoughts. We can think thoughts that look at our situation, which may be difficult; which may be scary; which may be whatever and what we ‘think’ is going to influence how we see things and how we "feel" them.
The human brain – get this – has about seventy thousand thoughts a day! Busy little thing, isn’t it? And what Paul is say here is: "Look, spend your brain time; your think time, thinking good thoughts – true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent; things worthy of praise – think about these things." You know something? That makes a lot of sense to me and it’s something we have to teach ourselves.
Here’s how it works for me: a negative thought comes into my mind "You know, that guy just doesn’t get it. He’s never going to get it. He just drives me nuts." Maybe he doesn’t get it; maybe he has some issues, but I have decided something – if I think that way it’s going to influence how I treat the guy. So when one of those thought comes floating in, I boot it out! It’s not some unrealistic thing where I sweep things under the carpet, but I replace the bad thought with a good one.
"How can I care for him today? How can I support him today? God you love him just as much as You love me, show me Father how I can build him up; how I can develop him; how I can grow him?" That makes sense and it’s a discipline and the more we do it; the more we get into the habit of recognising a bad thought when it comes in and booting it out and replacing it with a good thought – God thoughts – here is what happens: our whole outlook starts to change.
God honours that and where things were once a threat, He gives us the solution. Where things once scared us, He gives us faith and peace and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a habit of resting our minds in good things and all good things come from God and more good things come from that – peace is one of them; joy is another.
Whatever is true, honourable, pure, just, pleasing, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise, think about those things!
A Word in Time
As we come to the end of our series, “Do Not Be Afraid,” I want to share with you the most important thing that I know about banishing fear and worry from our lives. It is the most important thing; the most effective thing and it comes from the last part of this passage in Philippians chapter 4 that we have been looking at today on the programme.
The Apostle Paul is on death row; he is teaching us how to banish fear from our lives, from the most dire circumstances you and I could ever imagine and here’s what he says – beginning at Philippians 4, verse 10:
I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it.” Remember, he is writing to his friends at Philippi, he is in his dungeon and he says: “Not that I referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need, for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Paul was an itinerant minister who travelled across most of the known world. A good part of his time he spent in jail and he is writing to his friends here about his physical needs. Obviously they provided for him and sent him money and resources when he has been in need and he is saying, “Thank you” – that’s a good thing.
I love how much of God’s Word is about real, practical things in people’s lives but he takes even this opportunity from his dungeon to teach them something. And I believe that God is taking the opportunity to teach us something. Here it is:
For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have a little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Paul is saying, "You know something, it doesn’t matter what circumstances I am facing – good or bad, plenty or little, full or hungry – I have learned … learned in practice; in my experience, I have learned the secret ... the secret of getting through any and all circumstances and that secret is this ..." Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
It doesn’t matter what the world throws at me because God is the one who strengthens me. And when I am hanging close with Him; when I am relying on Him, He comes through – He does the things that I can’t do – He saves me, He encourages me.
"And I have been through this so many times", says Paul, "riots, so many times people have tried to hurt me; so many times people have criticised me, misunderstood me and rejected me because I was telling them about Jesus over and over and over and over and over again." Paul has learned this truth:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
And you know why this is so important? Because whenever I feel a sense of despair, I come back to this one Scripture. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or hurt or rejected or alone or distressed or afraid, I stop; I clear my mind and I say this Scripture verse: Philippians chapter 4, verse 13:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
This is the Word of God! And so I have a number of Scriptures, some that I have memorised, some I have got on my mobile phone. Another one of them is Mark chapter 11, verses 22 to 24:
Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and be thrown into the sea,” and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you have said will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
I have memorised that Scripture passage, can I tell you? I don’t find it easy to memorise Scripture passages – that one and a few others I have memorised and I go to them again and again and again and again. Those I can’t remember, I look at them on my mobile phone. You may not have a mobile phone – write them down on little cards, stick them in your pocket.
God’s Word changes our hearts and when we are struggling; when we are going through the hard stuff, we need access to God’s Word. This is absolutely the most important thing that I know about living a life that’s free from fear and worry. The more I do that, the more I find myself able to do all things that God calls me to do, through Him who strengthens me.
I want to challenge you today. God’s Word is not something to be trifled with. God’s Word is not something we leave in a cupboard or on our shelves and then we wonder why our lives are full of fear and anxiety and stress. God’s Word brings peace. God’s Word convinces us of the truth of what God is saying:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
You can do all things through Him who strengthens you – through plenty or through little, through hunger or through fullness. The most important thing that I know about dealing with fear is to fill your heart and your mind with the Word of God because it has healing power. It will build your faith; it changes your outlook; it is the stuff of healing and transformation.
God and grab some Scripture verses that really speak powerfully to you – put them on some cards or in your mobile phone or memorise them and go to them again and again and again – every day. When you get up in the morning; when you have a break during the day to get away from the madness, just to pause; when you go to bed at night. I tell you something, you will learn what Paul learned through the school of hard knocks that you can do all things through Him who strengthens you.
You know, I challenge you today. You do this for just a couple of weeks; two or three weeks, and fear will be banished from your life because your perspective changes; you start to see things through God’s Word and all of a sudden you start to live it by faith and your faith grows. It’s not rocket science – this is so practical, anyone can do this.
You can do all things through Him who strengthens you