This is a simple lesson on how to get your head together. Have you ever felt the need of that? So many people who come for counseling need to learn how to think, feel, and react the way they should. They do not know which problem or responsibility should have priority or whether they should just ignore them all. These problems invade the field of personal relationships, business, schooling, and everything for which a person wants counseling. They would like to know what the word of the Lord is.
Philippians 4:4–9 shows us a few things that are very important. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 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 comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you. Right here we have the basic pattern for your thinking and your attitude. I have noticed how the spirit of anxiety often hangs like a cloud over a person and distorts his judgment, so that he does not think straight at all. You cannot do the right thing or come to accurate decisions or conclusions if a spirit of anxiety is upon you.
First let us deal with the negative aspect. Verse 4 says: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! What happens if you do not? There is a repelling force which the morbid, melancholy spirit possesses. These people always feel as if they have no friends, but they do not realize that they are setting out a pan of poison to every little dog that wags its tail at them. They deliberately kill that which they need the most. This morbidity that grips people is almost a compulsion toward unhappiness. It is a decision made in the inner mind that they are going to be unhappy. Sometimes they feel that they deserve to be unhappy, so they set about punishing themselves, or accepting their unhappiness as God’s punishment over them, when that is not so. In His presence there is fullness of joy.
Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. The spirit which is not forbearing always lives in tension and in a state of crisis. He does not believe that the Lord is really near or that He is going to help him in everything. Instead of being forbearing and able to ride through a trial, enduring the cross and despising the shame because the Lord is near and there is a joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2), he makes himself very miserable by precipitating and continually living in a crisis that is unnecessary. This is the negative side, the reaction of one who is not a forbearing spirit.
Be anxious for nothing. It is possible to be anxious about everything, until you completely lose your sense of proportion or emphasis. I have seen people who worry themselves sick over tiny details. When an anxious spirit prevails, you will find yourself under a cloud. You may get up in the night to see if you locked the door or turned off the light. There is an anxiety. Little details suddenly loom up because you have lost all sense of proportion. When you allow anxiety to take over, you do not know what is important anymore.
Now let us review this passage positively. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” Regardless? Perhaps you are thinking, “You don’t know the troubles I have.” Yes I do, and I will guarantee that I have more troubles than you have. What am I going to do? I automatically cast them upon the Lord, because this is the Lord’s Kingdom and the Lord’s business, and I have determined that I am going to rejoice in the Lord. I am going to bear the burdens and carry the load that He wants me to carry. God wants me to be His servant. I am not the head over the Kingdom; I am only His bond-servant. This revelation has to be in my heart first. Paul called himself first a bond-servant, then an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1). The salutations at the beginning of the epistles reveal the apostles’ awareness that they were bond-servants. The vision of being an apostle without the vision of being a bond-servant can leave you in a terrific bind, because you feel the heavy obligation to be an apostle. The obligation is to be the bond-servant; the apostleship takes care of itself. I rejoice and I serve God with joy and rejoicing, and He takes care of the other areas of ministry because that is His business.
Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. Nothing will attract success and proper relationships to you like having a forbearing spirit. I believe that women especially look for this in a man. A woman is constantly looking for a man with that forbearing spirit. She does not care if his approach is one of strong authority, or whether his thinking is well put together. That is not the real issue. She does not really care if he is handsome. I think a man attributes more to a woman’s looks than a woman does to a man’s looks.
You could find some ugly little old man, waddling along, who is far from handsome; but he may have a gentle, forbearing spirit. And if that is known, men, women, and children alike are drawn to him.
This spirit has a universal appeal. You enjoy talking to someone in whom you can feel that forbearing spirit. He trusts God to bring everything out right. There is no tension present which throws his situation into a crisis. Doesn’t it make you nervous to be around someone who is continually in a state of crisis, who is tense every minute? Relax and let the Lord bless. People draw from that.
Be anxious for nothing. Are there some things to which this does not apply? Do you think a mother is justified in worrying and being anxious about her children? Being anxious in your spirit is not good. In the first place, you are anxious about something which you either can do nothing about or are doing nothing about. In either case, it is wrong. Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you (I Peter 5:7). There is a way in which you can bring your cares to the Lord and cast them to Him. I often minister to one anxious individual after another, and watch as my faith and trust are transferred to them. I believe that one person who trusts God can quiet the fears of a hundred people round about him. On the other hand, when people minister to each other without a forbearing spirit, but with anxiety, they contribute to one another’s spiritual delinquency. If you are of an anxious heart, you seem to agitate that anxiety in another person. Somebody with a very nervous disposition will say, “Oh, I was around So-and-so tonight, and he was so nervous and upset that I am just fit to be tied!” The truth of the matter is that both of them were already upset and were just upsetting each other more. An anxious spirit seems to draw more anxiety to itself.
When you are not anxious, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving you let your requests be made known to God, you are acknowledging that He is on the throne, taking care of you. Then the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension shall guard (a very literal Greek translation is “referee”) your heart and mind. In other words, the peace of God will be there to blow the whistle on your mind if it gets out of line. The peace of God not only keeps your heart and mind, but it comes to referee your thoughts and emotions and hold them in abeyance to what the Lord wants.
Your mind has thousands of compartments. We could compare it to a microfilm viewer which is able to scan hundreds of printed pages reproduced on a single slide. You select the topic you want and then put the focus on it. That is the way your mind works. What are you going to think about? This depends on what dominates your mind. Is it the old nature or the spirit of anxiety and fear? You can find many fearful things to think about, but we are going to focus on the good things. Paul is saying, “Finally, brethren, this is the way you think.” … Whatever is true (and by that he does not mean some juicy bit of gossip that may be true), whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. That is where we put the focus. There are many things to read on a little slide of microfilm, but you focus on the thing that is best. Meditate upon the good report, the lovely thought.
I heard of a sweet old lady who always tried to have a good thing to say about everybody. So one smart-aleck asked, “What about the devil?” And she replied, “One thing you’ve got to say about him—he works hard at it.” I wonder if that was the same woman who prayed for bread. An atheist heard her and climbed up on her roof and threw a loaf of bread down the chimney. She said, “Oh, thank You Lord, for sending the bread.” Then the atheist knocked on her door and said, “You thought God sent you that bread. Well, I gave it to you.” She answered, “Thank You Lord, even if You used the devil to deliver it.” There is always time to give a little praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.
God is working a good thing in you through the trials and the battles. The devil is just the unwilling servant of the Lord. Trust God; then all the devil can do is to help work out the will of God in your life. The Lord will bring you through the many trials and tribulations. If you suffer with Him, you are going to reign with Him (Romans 8:17). There are so many things upon which you should focus, instead of dwelling upon the bitter, negative thoughts.
Are you a little heavy or anxious? disgusted? irritated? Open your heart to the Lord and trust Him to deliver you of your anxiety. If you are crabby or discouraged and depressed, get your mind focused on the wonderful grace of our Lord. Turn your heart away from the oppression and serve Him with rejoicing, with forbearance for all, and with God guarding over your heart with His peace.