The Invisible Chains of Anxiety

Well, turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. What is the most exhausting thing you do every single day, possibly, that accomplishes absolutely nothing? What is the most exhausting thing you do every single day that accomplishes absolutely nothing? Yeah. Gave you a hint by letting you turn to Philippians 4, right? How many hours of your life have you wasted worrying about the what-ifs? Paul has some words for all of us here. Let's start in verse 4. Philippians 4, 4. This is how we should be.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. So God wants His people to be a people full of joy because of the Gospel, because of what Christ has done.

Let your reasonableness or gentleness be made known to everyone. So joyful people, they become a gentle people. There's something different about the Christian.

And it should be known to everyone. And then he says this, the Lord is at hand, or the Lord is near. And I'm going to look at that near the end of my message.

This matters. I'm going to skip hitting on it at the beginning, but this matters in the context. The Lord is at hand.

And then that's where we have the famous verse 6. Do not be anxious. And then he adds in a statement there that really ups this command a notch. Do not be anxious about anything.

And then he has a contrasting statement. What we should be doing, instead of being anxious about anything, he says, but in everything. These are some pretty absolute statements.

He's not making wiggle room for exceptions. He doesn't want to give you, your eye, the ability to make an exception that we're a unique case by which anxiety is justifiable. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything.

And then he gives something by prayer and supplication. And what type of prayer and supplication is this? Oh, it's full of thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God.

And then he gives a result. What's the result of thankful prayer to the Lord? Verse 7, and the peace of God. So God's peace.

And then he describes this peace, verse 7. It surpasses all understanding. So this is such a unique peace that you can't even describe it. It's something that is not of this earth.

And it's a peace from God Himself. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard. And what needs to be guarded? Your heart and your mind.

Your thoughts. We know that, right? How often anxiety, it takes place with some imaginary fear in your thought life. And so God's peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds.

And this is for those who are in Christ Jesus. Right? Is there peace for the wicked? The Lord says there's no peace for the wicked. People are seeking for peace, seeking for comfort, seeking for some sense of calm.

The Bible says apart from being in Christ Jesus, there's no true peace that's true peace that's attainable. It doesn't exist. Now, don't stop in verse 7. Because He's just talked about the mind.

He's just talked about the mind being guarded. And look what He says in the next verse. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

So He's actually, there's a positive path of what we should be thinking about in our life. We're not emptying the mind, we're filling the mind with things that fit inside of these categories. And then He says in verse 9, it's not just thinking, He says what you've learned, so good doctrine matters, what you've learned and received and heard and seen and meet.

So we're learning as we observe our leaders. Paul said imitate Him as He imitated Christ. He says practice these things and look what happens.

The God of peace will be with you. See that all this is connected. All this is connected together.

I'm praying and letting my request be known to God. I'm filling my mind and thinking about all sorts of truths, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy. And then I'm actually going and I'm practicing what I've learned.

So I'm learning, I'm engaged in consuming good doctrine. I have a right view of who God is. And the God of peace is with me and His peace that surpasses all understanding is with me, the Christian.

This is an amazing passage, right? You guys know this passage? So this is just, I'm going to give some thoughts that are reminders to you about this wonderful text. This wonderful text that can really be a very helpful friend. Right? The Bible says call wisdom your intimate friend.

This should be a place you go to when you're facing fears and anxieties in your life. And every single one of us, if we're honest, we probably have some anxiety about something that's already happened in the past. We probably have some anxiety today about something going on in the present.

And we probably have some anxiety about something in the future that hasn't happened yet. Right? So to me, this fits all of us in some way. And one other verse I forgot to read from this closing chapter that is relevant.

Look at verse 19. Look what type of God Paul is showing us we have. My God will supply every need of yours.

I don't know, are you sure He's got the resources to do this? According to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Incredible. So remember, that's who we've got.

That's our God. So, let's think about this. Where was Paul when he wrote these words? He's in prison.

Paul was in a physical prison. He's writing to people on the outside of the walls of jail. But wait, I think some of these people on the outside, they had a greater danger of being in a specific prison than Paul was in.

And I think that's true for some of us. Because there's a captivity that is far stronger than physical chains. There's people, they'd rather be in a physical jail cell than out of a jail cell and in certain chains in their life.

In our text, Paul mentions a different kind of prison cell, one we must constantly stand guard. And he uses that language, the peace of God guarding the mind. There is a different kind of prison cell that we've got to guard against.

The invisible chains of anxiety. Of fearfulness. Of panic.

If you look at the plaque over the door of this jail cell, you know, you imagine there's a bunch of cells that you could get into, and here it is. You read that plaque and initially it says, oh, anxiety and worry. And you're trying to get pulled into the chains of that jail cell.

But you look a little more closer and carve deep into the wood. It says the jail cell. What's the jail cell's real name? It's not anxiety and worry.

According to Jesus in Matthew 6, what's the real name of that jail cell? Unbelief. Faithlessness is what's really the name of it. Living as though God were not near and could not be trusted.

Because when we think God's not near and God can't be trusted, guess what happens? The anxiety, what we're anxious about, all of a sudden seems to have validity. What was that first statement? Leading into do not be anxious. The Lord is what? The Lord is at hand.

The Lord is near. Paul wants us to think about not being anxious in the same context of thinking about the nearness of God. Yes, the nearness of His second coming.

He's coming back at any moment and everything's going to be wrapped up. But even just His general nearness to us as the Christian. And so in our text, Paul commands us not to be prisoners in this cell.

He writes, do not be anxious about anything. Do you know what that means? For Paul to make this statement, it means no circumstance in your life, in my life, has the right to walk up to you, handcuff you, and command you to enter the jail cell of anxiety. It means if you go in the jail cell of anxiety, ultimately, who puts you there? It was a self-inflicted decision.

Isn't that a right conclusion? Does the Bible give Christians commands that are impossible to live out? For Paul to say, do not be anxious about anything, is he mocking us? Or is he actually giving us a statement that by the grace of God, not our own power, that the God who has all these riches, verse 19 says, is actually going to give us grace. The God who in chapter 2 is working in you to will and to work for His good pleasure. If God has pleasure in you and me not being anxious and fearful about what's going on in our lives, then isn't that God who gets pleasure in that going to give us the grace to not be anxious? It's available.

It's available. We have a higher command. Do not be anxious.

And you might ask, not be anxious about what kinds of things? Paul already said it. Don't be anxious about anything. This is a sweeping command.

Not some things, not most things, but anything. That includes anxiety about the past. Some of you might be here right now.

You're anxious about things that cannot be undone. How much time have you added to your life being anxious about what has already happened? What's Jesus say? You cannot add a single hour. How much time have you gained by being anxious about what's going to happen next week? You can't add a single hour to your life.

Think about Jeff's sermon in the first hour. What was Abraham anxious about as they were approaching? They're going to take my wife and kill me. He had an imaginary fear.

There's nothing that indicates that was actually going to happen. And what did Abraham do with his anxiety? He acted in unbelief. He should have trusted the Lord that God can send a dream.

God can kill the king in the middle of the night and protect my wife. See, he had an imaginary fear. Why should we not fear? Why should Abraham not have been afraid about his wife? Because there's no situation by which God is not in control.

God is in control. But often, what do we say? You say, well, James, my circumstances are terrible. My circumstances are just complicated.

But wait, is it really circumstances? Right before this in verse 5, Paul reminds them the Lord is at hand. That's your circumstances. God is near and He knows what's going on in your life.

So, are circumstances the problem that lead to anxiety? What do circumstances do? They pull out what is on the inside. You can't blame the circumstances. They put you in a more vulnerable spot to give in to certain sins like anxiety.

But we can't excuse our response based on our circumstances. Circumstances may expose that we're not trusting the Lord. What was one of the reasons why the Lord put Israel in the wilderness for 40 years? To test them to know what was where? What was in their hearts.

The peace of God guards what? Your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. It benefits God to know what's really in our hearts. It actually benefits you too.

What if there's a present trial that you're in or I'm in, and part of God's design of putting you in this wilderness is to see what's in your heart. And you don't like what you're seeing cropped up in your life right now. That's actually God sanctifying you, Christian.

You should be willing to step back and say, Wow, that's all going on in my heart? I had no idea. That's something to thank God for. Because He's going to use it to make you more like Christ rather than to run from it.

So, Paul commands us not to be anxious. He's given us a command that actually can be lived out by the grace of God. Now, what is our call to action here? Paul says it right there.

Look at the text again. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. God wants you to make known to Him that which He already knows.

Let your requests be made known to the all-knowing God. Fancy that. God wants you to make known to Him what's happening.

God wants us to be a people who are honest, bearing our every fear to the Lord. That's the call to action. Meaning, you should look at every circumstance where you're fearful or anxious as a summons to do what? Every circumstance where you feel anxiety coming upon you, Paul is saying it's a summons for you to do what? To pray.

Why would he say in 1 Thessalonians 5? He says give thanks in all circumstances, but what else does he say to do in all circumstances? To pray without ceasing. Same idea here. So every circumstance that tempts you to worry is actually a summons to pray.

That's how you need to view it. Part of your mind being guarded, or part of, let's actually not your mind being guarded, but verse 8, whatever is true. Brothers, whatever is true, think about these things.

Okay, here truth is. Here truth is to think about here. God's in control of everything.

Here truth is to think about here. God's peace is there. Here truth is to think about the problem isn't my circumstance.

Right, those are all truths we need to be thinking about. Here the truth is this is a summons for me to pray. And what happens when you pray? God gives peace.

Huh, I don't know, is that true? How many of us have prayed and do all of a sudden you have peace? Does it happen every time? An anxiety comes. When you go into praying, when you're feeling anxious, what's your expectation sometimes? What's a wrong expectation you can have? Say again. That God might give you whatever you want or that God might do what instantly? Might remove the difficult circumstance.

That's a false expectation. Might change how you subjectively feel. Is that what it, that might happen.

You might now have a greater subjective felt sense of peace. But who's really a good judge of how they feel? I don't know about you, I find it easy to be deceived by my feelings. And that's the last place I need to look.

I by faith need to be looking to the Lord. So what happens when you pray? I mean the text says God gives you peace. And He says it's a peace that surpasses all understanding.

So it sounds like it's pretty miraculous we should be feeling what's happening, right? And I'm not saying that doesn't happen. It does. We should expect a supernatural peace to come over us.

A peace that should lead to what happening? Verse 4. Rejoicing in the Lord. If I say I have the peace of God, but I'm unwilling to rejoice in my circumstances, then do I really have the peace of God? Apparently I don't. I mean Paul's saying in the same area, I should rejoice always, I should pray always, and I shouldn't be anxious.

So he expects us to be rejoicing, not being anxious, and to be prayerful. Meaning the praying about the anxiety should be leading to some form of joy, even in difficult circumstances. In Acts 5, they were beaten and persecuted, and they left the council doing what? Rejoicing that they were found worthy to suffer for the name.

They had a right view of the trial. Wow, God found us worthy to actually get beaten up? When you get beaten up for the gospel, do you look at that as God finding you worthy? That's how they viewed it in Acts 5. So this well-known text is more than just a command to stop being anxious. If that's all you get, it's not going to help you.

And it's more than just a command to bring every request to God. Right? It's more than that. There's a gracious promise here that when your anxious heart turns into a praying heart, that God is promising He's going to give peace to guard your heart and your mind.

God promises that. We should expect that He's going to be true to His Word. The circumstances, they might not change at all, especially things that have already happened in the past that cannot change.

But your heart and your mind, in the middle of a storm, all of a sudden, there's a call. Not overwhelmed with a fear. Right? Paul said in Philippians 1, he wanted these people to be fearless.

And that that was a clear sign to the world of their salvation. Meaning he wanted them to not be an anxious people. Isaiah 26.3. What does Isaiah 26.3 say? Who can quote that? Keep them in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on what? On the Lord.

And then he goes on and says, For the Lord your God is an everlasting rock. The Bible keeps hitting this again and again. Where is your mind? Where are your thoughts? That's really where this battle is at in so many ways.

It's a battle of the mind. And so he says right here, verse 7. In the midst of your taking your anxiety to the Lord, you're letting your request be known to the God who knows everything already. He wants to hear from you.

He says, and then the peace of God, he describes it. It surpasses all understanding. And he says it will guard your hearts and your minds.

Let's think of that word, guard. Guard for a moment. Guard, meaning it's going to protect you.

It's going to defend you. The word guard in verse 7 is a military term. It means to protect by posting soldiers around something that is incredibly valuable.

Right? And to God, your mind and your heart is valuable. And to God, it's worth protecting. And God wants to protect your mind.

And He wants to give His peace. Not peace from a person, but from Him. Think of Solomon.

Think of King Solomon and his royal carriage in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3. It says this, Behold, it's the carriage of Solomon. Around it are sixty mighty men, all of them wearing swords, experts in war, each with his sword at his thigh, against the terror by night. So, I've never used an Uber before, but imagine you're in this city, and you've got to get an Uber.

It's in the middle of the night. You get an Uber driver. It's kind of a strange person.

There's some fear there. Would you feel more comfortable if sixty soldiers with swords from the Lord were surrounding you in that Uber car as you got to your hotel? Yeah, a whole lot more peace right there. That's the image he's using.

I feel anxious. I feel fearful. It might be a physical threat on the mission field in Nicaragua.

Someone trying to get a bribe out of the chancellors or something like that and threatening them. There's different stuff like that that happens in Mexico. You take this request, you make it known to the Lord, and He's sending His peace.

Not a physical army to defend you, but peace to defend what matters most in a trial, your heart and your mind. That's the thing you don't want to lose stability on. You don't want your heart to sink into despair.

You don't want your mind to give in to anxiety. He says, the peace from God stands guard over the people of God. You guys remember that letter of the missionary in Iran years ago? He walked out of a house.

He realized they were probably coming to arrest him. And he remembered Psalm 34, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him. And his situation, like in the Old Testament with the prophet, he even saw for a moment angelic beings surrounding that area.

And then they disappeared, and all of his fears were gone. He realized God's here. God sees everything.

There's a war going on in the invisible realm. There's things we cannot see with the naked eye. We're living this life by faith.

Proverbs 12, 25, Anxiety in a man's heart, what's it do to him? Weighs him down. But a good word makes him glad. Rejoice always.

What's the good word? There's peace from God when you make a request made known to God that He's going to send us a garrison to guard your mind. He's going to deal with those anxious thoughts. He's going to deal with the fear that's causing you to panic in the midst of this trial.

He's promising to do this. That's a good word that can make you glad. Another way to put it is, believe God is in control.

Believe that if He so clothes the lily of the field, how much more will He clothe you of little faith? Right? I mean, Jesus dealt with it at the root of the issue in Matthew 6. This is about, I really believe God's loving care for me. What is Peter saying in 1 Peter 5? Casting all of your anxieties on Him, what's the reason? Peter's saying, you've got to believe. Christian, God cares for you.

That's what the enemy's wanting to attack. He's wanting you to doubt God's loving concern and care for you. By questioning, why? Why, Lord, did you put me in this situation? That's what he's going after.

He wants us to doubt the Lord's care. So you might be thinking, well, James, you're just saying pray and everything. I'm saying be more than a prayerful person.

Be a thinking person. Think. Think with your mind about truth.

Whatever is true. Live out verse 8. Live out all of these verses. Don't just isolate this one verse.

We need to be people of faith. Trusting that God has not lost sight of us. If I go and I'm praying to the Lord about an anxiety, but I'm holding on to wrong thoughts about God's character, should I expect to have peace flood my heart? No.

If I'm thinking that God is withholding a good thing from me, when He says in Psalm 84, 11, no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly, and I'm praying to the Lord, should I expect peace to flood my heart? I've got to repent of the bitter thought of God's neglectful care in my estimation of me and acknowledge that He is actually loving me in the most perfect way possible. I just can't understand it right now. And I've got to say, blessed be the name of the Lord who gives and He takes away.

I've got to acknowledge Him. Now I know it happens when a pastor preaches on a text like this, like I'm doing right now. Some of you who are genuinely battling anxiety are sitting here right now and my message, you know what it's doing to you? It's making you anxious about your anxiety.

I mean, you're getting anxious about being anxious. And you're thinking, I've got to fix this anxiety problem here. Man, I've got to overcome.

You do need to overcome. But you're getting anxious about overcoming. Is that the path to overcome? I've got an anxiety problem, so let me get anxious about the anxiety problem.

That's a death pit. Don't do that. If you feel exposed and vulnerable, you might be thinking that.

Let me cut that spiral off right now. The enemy would love nothing more than to use this sermon to make you feel condemned and heavy and have more anxiety later tonight about how much you get anxious and you just go beat yourself up. Don't exchange the sin of anxiety for the sin of self-pity.

Both come from a heart that is not trusting the Lord by faith. Brethren, the enemy wants you to do that. You know what you can do? In everything, you can pray.

Brethren, everything includes your anxiety about your anxiety. If that ends up being the thing you're struggling with in two hours is anxiety about your anxiety, then take that. That's under the everything.

Take it to the Lord in prayer. Is it a health problem? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Is it a problem with one of your children? Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Is it an issue with parenting? Take everything to God in prayer. And God already knows all of it. But He says right there to make it known to Him.

Let your requests be made known to God because the Bible says you have not because you ask not. The Lord wants to know about it. And He already does know about it.

He wants you to show Him that I trust you, Father, that I will go to you. There's things I know about my kids and I'm waiting for them and then they come to me and I'm ready to hear them out. That doesn't mean they don't come because, well, Dad already knows about this anyways.

No, I want to hear from them. That means something when they come to me and they're honest and they share with me. That means a lot to me.

Even if I already knew about it. It's how much more our Father in Heaven. Bring every failure to trust God straight to God.

Well, how do I pray? Just be honest with God. Don't think of how to pray, then you're making it a formula. The Bible does not endorse formulas.

The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 is not a formula. So am I going to give you a formula? No, but Father, you know I'm trusting. Lord, I'm trying to trust You.

And I have these doubts that are in my mind. Just be honest with God. Remember, the realization of your anxiety is a summons to do something.

To do what? Pray. I want you to remember, anxiety is synonymous with prayer. And prayer, what is prayer? Prayer is being totally honest with God.

Prayer is not just some ritual. You're bearing your heart and your soul to God. All the fears.

Make it known to your Father. Alright, a few more thoughts. Here an objection is that some of you might have.

You might be reading this and thinking, you know what, I read Philippians last week. Paul's words in chapter 4 do not add up with something he stated earlier in the letter. Okay, interesting.

Let's look at that. Chapter 2. Chapter 2, verse 20. He's talking about Timothy and he says, For I have no one like Him who will be genuinely concerned.

Remember, the word anxiety or anxious is care. Being careful. Some versions, they even put in here the word anxiety.

Kind of like in 1 Corinthians, Paul, it says he was anxious about the daily pressures of the church. Anxious about the daily pressures of the church. For I have no one like Timothy who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth. I was a son with the Father.

He served with me in the Gospel. Then you even go down a little further. You get to Epaphroditus.

Look at verse 28. I am more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I might be less anxious. Wait.

Paul's saying less anxious, meaning he is anxious. And he's just telling you and me to do not be anxious. Paul, are you a hypocrite? You've given us a standard that you're not even living up to? Let's not get lost in this.

Paul is not a hypocrite. And Paul is not toning down the words of Christ in Matthew 6. The world loves to tone down anxiety and make things in self-pity and these things that are so-called respectable sins and make them justifiable in all sorts of ways. That's just my personality.

You know what you and my personality are apart from Christ? We are dead in our trespasses and sins. We are passing our days in envy and malice, hated by others and hating one another. It's only because the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior that appeared, and Him saving us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy by the washing and regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

That's the only reason we can have victory over any of these things. Yes, when I was lost, I didn't think much about anxiety being a sinful response to a trial. You'd think that's a joke or something like that.

Yeah, lying is a sin, but anxiety, the world, and even some professing churches want to minimize these things and say they're not really that sinful. You can go get drunk on alcohol, and you can go get drunk on anxiety. You can go intoxicate your mind with alcohol and affect your mind, or you can go get drunk on anxiety being so intoxicated with your fears and your anxieties that your mind is going all over the place.

So, Paul here praises Timothy because he's genuinely anxious, concerned for the welfare. And then just a few verses later, he talks about sending Epaphroditus who was sick, and Paul says he's sending him that he might be less anxious. So does he command us to do something? No, the confusion clears up when you look at the language.

In the original text, the word for anxiety can also be translated as care or deep concern. So depending on a Bible translation that you're holding right now, chapter 2 might say, as it does in ESV, he genuinely cares for you. Paul is showing us there's a massive line between a wholly loving care that you should have, bear one another's burdens, and a sinful anxiety.

There's a right weight. If I'm bearing your burden, there might be times I look way down because I'm bearing your burden. I'm bearing a weight.

There's a difference between that and me being sinfully anxious because what am I doing with the burden? It's a summons to do what? To pray. To go to the Lord. Godly concern brings the heavy burden to the Lord.

So what you're concerned about, are you taking it to the Lord? Sinful anxiety carries the burden as though the Lord cannot be trusted. Godly concern prays. Sinful anxiety just broods over it.

It's always thinking about it. It's just worried, worried, worried. It's not taking it to the Lord in prayer.

So that's one thought, or one observation. Another. We've already hit on this some, but secondly, why must the heart and mind be guarded? An unguarded mind is a factory for anxious thoughts.

We dream tragedies into existence, and then we tremble before what we've imagined. Have you ever done that? You're sitting there, and you just start imagining. Maybe you can't go to bed.

You imagine some possible future situation happening, and then you start thinking about it so much, all of a sudden it feels like it really is going to happen, and now you're anxious about something you imagined. We're vulnerable people like that. Especially when you're physically sick.

You've got the flu. Does anyone feel real spiritually sharp when you're vomiting and have the flu? No, it's a real vulnerable time. And even there, take it to the Lord in prayer.

Think on what is true. Practice these things. Third thing here.

Notice Paul tells us to pray with thanksgiving. And others have preached on this. By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.

He doesn't say pray with grumbling. He doesn't say pray with bitterness. He doesn't say pray while accusing God.

But pray to the Lord without any secret grudge, with a thankful heart. That Lord, everything You're allowing in my life, I might not understand it. I might not comprehend it.

But Lord, I'm going to give thanks that You're in control of that which I cannot see, and I'm going to trust You in the midst of this. And you know what? Now I'm anxious about how I go to the Lord in prayer when I'm anxious, but I can't give thanks. Tell that to the Lord.

Tell it. Father, I'm struggling to thank You right now for this lot in my life. I'm frustrated with this lot in my life.

Why? Tell your Father that. Be honest with Him. A fourth thing here.

This peace is for those who are in Christ. Verse 7, who guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. This peace is not promised to everyone.

Jesus says, I'm John, My peace I give. Right? There's no peace of God guarding the heart unless a person first has peace with God through Jesus Christ. And John Wesley, before he was saved, he did what other radical, lost, professing Christians have done.

He said, I'm going to go become a missionary. And he went to America as a missionary without trusting in Christ for his justification before God. He's trying to earn favor with God.

And there on that boat in the middle of the storm, John Wesley was terrified of dying. And below the deck, he went down and all these Moravian Christians were sinning. And they had peace.

And it scared John Wesley. They got peace in the storm. I'm terrified.

Because he wasn't in Christ yet. He couldn't find peace. And the Lord plucked him out and saved him as a bran plucked from the fire.

God gives His peace to His people. Verse 9, Practice these things, the God of peace will be with you. Again, just a quick note on verse 9 again.

There might not be peace in your life because you're not practicing some truth in the Bible that the Lord has taught. I mean, what's a truth He already taught in Philippians 2? Let each of us look not only to the interest of others, or let each of us look not only to our own interest, but also to the interest of others. Because holding others' interest is more significant than our own.

I can go pray all day until I'm blue in the face. But if my life is full of not being consumed with the interest of others and serving them, is the peace of God going to be with me? I'm not practicing imitating the life of Christ. The more we focus on serving others and the needs of others, it's so much easier to have peace that surpasses all understanding in your life.

When we're so me-centered, it's very easy to be full of anxiety, brethren. Alright, a fifth thing here. Verse 5. I mentioned I'd comment on this a little more.

He says right there, the Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. In view of the Lord being at hand, do not be anxious.

Why is that the secret to defeating anxiety? It's one of the secrets. Because it means the days are numbered. If this is speaking, which I think it is in a primary way, this language is used to talk about the second coming of Christ.

Days are numbered. For every single thing keeping you awake at night, it's days are numbered. For every fear, for every burden, every sorrow, guess what? It has a predetermined expiration date.

And that expiration date is tomorrow. Because a thousand years to the Lord is one day. It's all going to be over before you know it.

I mean, he wrote this 2,000 years ago and the Lord is still near. The Lord hasn't come back yet. Christ is going to come and He's going to put an end to every affliction.

There's going to be no more tears. No more sorrows. So why would I allow my mind to be held hostage by a temporary storm when the Master of the wind and the waves is already at the door about to end everything? The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything. It's all temporary. It's all got an expiration date, brethren.

Anxiety is a big liar. It treats the darkness as if the sun has been extinguished forever and there's no hope. It makes you spend your entire life terrified of shadows, forgetting that the dawn is already breaking.

Faith sees the shifting shadows and says the Lord is at hand. So brethren, your trial, it might be incredibly dark. But that trial is not sovereign over your life.

It better not be sovereign over your mind. That trial is not permanent. Christ is coming.

And when He arrives, the night is going to end. It's going to be over. It's going to all be over.

And even with eternal consequences of heaven and hell and souls that we love being cast into the lake of fire, even there, as insensitive as it could sound, we're going to be in heaven in a glorified state and there will be no tears there for God's perfect justice has happened. And as hard as it can be for us to bow the knee and the heart to that in this life, it's not going to be hard in the life to come. So brethren, when anxiety comes knocking on your door, or maybe you've already self-inflicted yourself this week with anxiety and you're in the jail cell right now.

Maybe you're here cuffed up. When unbelief tries to drag you back into that self-inflicted jail, it demands you spend another night weighed down in your sorrows. You don't need to go.

Don't go. Don't put yourself there. It doesn't need to happen.

The promise is here. There is a peace that surpasses all understanding. And all your father is saying is just pray.

Make your request known to Me. Yes, practice these things. That's true.

But brethren, don't overthink that. Just cry out to God. Trust in the Lord at all times.

Psalm 62 says, Psalm 55, cast your burden on the Lord. Roll the burden on the Lord. He will sustain you.

He will never permit the righteous to be moved. 1 Peter 5, casting all, not half, not a third, all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Oh, the Lord doesn't care for me.

He wouldn't allow me to... He does care for you, Christian. Is not His Son's blood being spilled on the cross? The greatest testimony of love that your Father cares for you? That He slaughtered His own Son and poured out His wrath upon Him? May God help us to trust the Lord. Brethren, all of us, we've got things in the past we could be fearful about, things in the present we could be anxious about, and things in the future.

Those are all summons to be a prayerful people. Not too long ago, we were driving to get some food and the coolant coil, it burst. And the engine check light's like, pull over right away.

It didn't say it like that, but you're going to destroy your engine. I was amazed the car had that built-in warning system. Right? You know what? Doesn't the Spirit do that to you? Pull over? You've got to get things fixed? You know what we pulled over? It's like, I've got one vehicle, I've got a lot of kids, and I need my 15-passenger bus to not break down.

But you know what? We prayed. And then I did call David. Did I pray before I called David? I don't know.

It's easy to just say, David, can you fix this? But you know what? We did pray, and David was part of that answer, but a guy who knew me, drove by, saw us, he works on cars, and he stopped by, and he helped out. You know, what could have been a miserable situation, and I had, I think, six of my kids with me, so it wasn't just me with a broken-down car. I had six of my kids with me.

The Lord helped. But I look back on that, brethren, I'm so thankful that we prayed. And we didn't just pray, Lord, help us.

We prayed for opportunity, and the guy who stopped by, there was something going on in his life that he needed counsel on, and I was able to give him counsel. That's just one example recently in my own life, where I'm reminded, James, don't be so focused on the trial. What happened in 1 Peter 4, 12? Do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

Take it all to God in prayer. So what are you not taking to your Father in prayer right now? What are you bearing, Christian? God cares about you. And you can say, I've prayed and it's not worked.

Brethren, don't ever believe that lie. Bear your heart to your Father. Father, Lord, we thank You for this promise.

Lord, not just a promise, we've got a command. We've got a command here from Paul. Do not be anxious about anything.

And we've got a command here in everything of thanksgiving, prayer, and supplication. Lord, to let our requests be made known to You. Lord, You are the One who said it.

Paul said it of You. My God will supply all of my needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Lord, I pray You'd do that.

Father, I pray that those in this precious flock, Your blood-bought ones, who they can say, man, anxiety and being fearful that just an enemy in my life keeps getting me down. Lord, I pray that You would help them in a way where they would know it. Father, shouldn't we expect that if this is a peace that surpasses all understanding? Shouldn't that be our expectation? That it is felt? There is a sense where we're like, I don't feel anxious now.

And so Lord, I pray You'd remove fears. That we could be a people worthy of the Gospel. Not anxious or fearful in any situation.

Lord, that it would be a clear sign to our neighbors, to our families of Your power at work in our life. And so Lord, I'm just grateful that You care about us in such a way that You want us to make known to You everything. Lord, the areas my brothers and sisters have made, they've attempted to make known to You and Lord, they're still trapped.

Lord, I pray You'd encourage them to believe You. Lord, You do clothe the lily of the field. The flower.

Lord, You feed the birds. How much more? What a statement. How much more are You concerned about us? Lord, help us to believe that reality.

Help us to be gripped with Your great, deep, loving concern. And Father, we don't have to look that far away. We just look to the cross.

And nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Pray this in Christ's name. Amen.