“The peace of God which passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4.7)
Our minds are wonderful creations of God. But did you know they need to be guarded? When I was a boy I used to play with Silly Putty. You could do a lot of neat things with it. You could make shapes and even bounce it like a ball. But the best thing to do was to flatten it out, press it on the Sunday comics, and pull up a copy of the comic on the Silly Putty.
Our minds are like that too. They are made by God to pick up everything. If we constantly expose our minds to bad things, they will get filled with bad thoughts and desires.
Prayer points our minds toward God, cleanses our hearts and minds, and fills them with good things. All of this helps to control anxiety.
Prayer is the most powerful tool and least used of any in the history of man. The God who made the heavens and the earth, the stars and the planets, wants us to ask Him for help in time of need. He wants us to talk to Him each day.
I offer these excuses people make for not praying:
We don’t pray because we don’t want to.
We don’t pray because we don’t feel the need to.
We don’t pray because we don’t have to.
We don’t pray because we don’t believe in it.
We don’t pray because we forget to.
We don’t pray because “it” doesn’t work.
We don’t pray because we don’t have time.
We don’t pray because we have too much worry and stress.
Stress, anxiety and worry are the leading causes of stress, anxiety and worry! That may sound funny, but it’s true. Most of the things we worry about could never happen. Most of the things we have anxiety about could happen, but not likely. And most of the things we stress about have already happened.
So that leaves us with now. What you can do now is trust in God and pray to Him. Prayer is not an “it.” Prayer is praying to a person who loves you and who understands you. Prayer is praying to a person who is all-powerful and is all-good. Therefore you are praying to someone who will work everything you pray about to a good purpose.
The problems and stress of life may seem bad, but the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
In other words, do not focus on your problems but always keep your focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and your problems will become “light affliction.” The stress of life is but for a short time. Try to think about where you will be 100 years from now – a thousand years from now – where God will give you blessings you cannot even imagine, peace you cannot describe and peace you can experience now!
Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Prayer renews you day by day. The Lord, through prayer, gives you strength and wisdom for the stress of life. When you can do nothing, the first thing to do is pray! When you can do something, the first thing to do is pray! When you can do everything, the first thing to do is pray!
Watch sermons and read sermon texts and other articles by going to www.tomahawkmbc.com. Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons on WSIP FM 98.9 every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Watch his sermons on Facebook by going to his page.