“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”
Philippians 4:8
ESV
What has been on your mind lately? Your health? Your family’s health? Your job? How you are going to pay your bills? Our current political climate? School? Just to throw out a few… Each of us has something to worry about right now, and mental health professionals are all in agreement that social distancing has increased the number of people who are suffering from anxiety and depression. We are isolated from our support groups, but we are not isolated from the constant barrage of contradictory information and scary news stories. It seems impossible to feel emotionally stable when we are being inundated on social media and news outlets, all the while many of us are suffering from this sickness and the loss of our financial security. Anxious thoughts rush through our mind on never-ending loops, making it impossible to stay calm enough to make decisions. So how do we combat these thoughts? The Bible, in Philippians 4:4-9, tells us:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
In this passage the Bible gives us four different things we can do to combat our anxious thoughts!
Rejoice - This verse commands us to rejoice because the Lord is with us! He is here. He has not gone anywhere in all this craziness. He has not left you, and His plans for your life have not been thwarted by anything going on in this world right now.
Pray - These prayers are honest prayers, that tell God how you are feeling and what you worried about. It is also asking God for what you need! God asks us to talk to Him. He wants to hear our thoughts, our feelings, and our needs!
Be Thankful - This verse tells us to present our prayers to God in thankfulness. Thankfulness for what He has already done for you, what He will do for you, and that we can come to Him in our time of need. You will be amazed at what making a practice of thanking God will do for your thought life.
Think on these things - “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise” What God is asking you to do here, is to think about Him and his word! Thinking on the truth of God’s word, and the goodness of His character is a good way to replace our anxious thoughts!
In the middle and at the end of this passage we are given the same promise: If we do these things, the peace of God, which is beyond our understanding, will be with us, and will guard our hearts and our minds.
My Prayer For You
Father, I pray that you would give us peace in these troubled times. Help us to think about You and Your goodness above all else. Thank you for being near to us in our time of need. Amen.
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Our staff would love to pray for you. Please go to www.fhlcarlsbad.org/request-prayer to submit your prayer request or schedule a time for one of our staff members to pray with you!
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