From Richard B

Do you speak to yourself?

Good morning everyone. How are you today? Let’s read Philippians 4: 1-7 together:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Martyn Lloyd Jones, a minister of a former generation, wrote this:

“Do you listen to yourself or do you speak to yourself?”

What he meant was: when you wake up in the morning and (for instance) sense that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach – do you listen to that or speak to it? So when we are in that situation, do we “hear” the ache that is in us, then listen to it and then react to it and go round and round the ache again and again. Then we go around our daily business carrying that ache. A bit like that character in a comic who always had a cloud over their head.

Or rather than listening to ourselves do we speak to ourselves? So do we say, yes there is this problem that is eating me up, but wait a minute: I have a roof over my head, food on the table, friends.

(I just set my timer on my phone for two minutes and wrote down what I was grateful for and managed a list of 39 – no doubt if I had more time it would have been a longer list)

In our reading today, Paul says: “Do not be anxious about anything.” But before Paul got onto anxiety, he recommended a course of rejoicing.

Rejoicing is not a synthetic smile across our face whilst we churning up inside. Rather it is a filling of our minds with God. An attitude of gratitude.

When I was at school, we were taught in science: Displacement Theory. I don’t remember too much about it except that to get rid of one liquid, another liquid had to be poured in until there was no room for the first liquid.

That’s a really helpful picture as we wake up filled with anxiety; displace it by rejoicing.

However, sometimes we don’t feel like that. We don’t feel we have the energy or the get up and go; it’s all too much. Or the waves of anxiety seem to swallow up what little joy we have.

So speak to yourself. Preach to yourself. Take yourself in hand.

But just to add one further point we need to remember – when we speak to ourselves – when we dwell on all that God has done for us and we trust now in what John Piper calls the future grace of God, that God is greater than the greatest anxiety. We are not replacing one set of thoughts with another – but filling up with what is good and Godly.

Our God is greater

Our God is stronger

God you are higher than any other

Our God is healer, awesome in power

Our God

Let’s pray together:

Lord God, you are indeed greater than any other. Draw us away from our anxieties with the far superior promises we have in you. Call us back into rejoicing in you. May our rejoicing flow out of us as we live our lives today.

We pray this in the lovely name of Jesus.

Amen


Category: The Bridge , Thought for the week