Untangling Life Without Losing Your Peace – Part 2

when faced with conflict or criticism. Today, Mark continues his powerful message titled Untangling Life Without Losing Your Peace, where he's showing us how to navigate these challenging situations using wisdom from the book of Philippians. Yesterday, Mark explained Paul's instruction to rejoice in the Lord always so important that Paul actually says it twice. Let's join Mark now as he continues teaching us how to maintain our peace while untangling life's most challenging relationships.

head bitten off. It means that there is a sense of calmness about our spirit that says, I'm willing to listen and hear you out. That I can dialogue with you and that I'll listen to you and that we can reason together. Can I be honest? There are some of you that people whisper around you, and I believe

that many of us have a combative spirit. The Bible says, hey, listen, if we're going to get along with people, you need to learn to step back, to listen, to check your insecurities, to realize that we need to dialogue about things, that we have to be, that there's blind spots in our life and that our gentleness, our willingness to listen, our ability to dialogue about things should be evident to all. The question I ask you is this the last time

someone came and pointed something out in your life? How did you respond? Was it? Thank you. Let me think about that. You may be right. Or was it? Seriously? You're going to tell me? Have you looked at your own life? Dude, you're a lot. Let me tell you. I got a couple of things to tell you about, too. That's combativeness. And the apostle Paul is saying, you know, some of us are combative and and and we need to check our attitudes. We need to default to an

attitude of joy. Secondly, we need to check our combativeness. So we have the ability to listen to people as people express grievances or issues in our life. And thirdly, he does a little statement. This is staccato rejoice in the Lord. Let your gentleness be evident to all. And then another staccato statement he says, the Lord is near. Now why would he say that? I believe that he says, the Lord is near. To remind us That life is short.

You know, the Bible talks about if you if you're not been exposed to a lot of Christian teaching, the Bible talks about the imminent return of Christ. So the believers in the times of Jesus, we don't talk about it as much today, but we are 2000 years closer to the coming of Jesus than they were. The Bible talks about the imminent return of Christ. In other words, that Jesus Christ could return at any moment, at any time. And the early believers lived with an expectation that Jesus

Christ could come again anytime, any moment. You say, well, I believe that, you know, this prophecy has to be fulfilled and this has to happen in Israel and the temple needs to be rebuilt. Okay, you could die of a heart attack at any moment. The point is, life is short. And if life is so short, There are things that are extremely petty in our relationships that one day we'll have to stand before God, and you're going to look at the petty things that you argued against.

You're going to look at the things that you were divided over, and we're going to have to give an account before God. So I believe that the Apostle Paul is reminding us, listen, rejoice always, be gentle, and remember life is short, so get things right as quickly as possible, because some things really don't matter that much. How about it? You've heard the word maranatha. The Aramaic equivalent to the Lord is near is Maranatha. Maranatha means come, Lord Jesus

or the Lord is coming soon. Maranatha. Then the Apostle Paul tells us, not only resolve your conflict quickly reset your attitude. Then he tells us in verse six, practice stress releasing prayer, stress releasing prayer. I know that if you look on different websites and so forth, and you are plagued with some anxiety, that there is a lot of talk about meditation and a lot of talk about breathing slowly and posturing and emptying your mind and so forth.

I believe that the Bible does talk about meditation, but not meditation. Maybe, as you are explained from other secular pagan sources, but I believe there is a place for powerful, stress releasing prayer. In fact, let me say this he starts out in verse six and says, do not be anxious about anything. Can I tell you that we live in a epidemic of anxiety? In fact, as I just say that here, probably the great majority of this auditorium has been affected by anxiety to one degree of severity

or another in the last few months. There are more people now struggling with severe anxiety than almost at any other time that we have noted or surveyed it in history. Some people attribute it primarily to what we went through during the pandemic. There was fear of death. There was isolation. Some people attribute it to our disconnectivity because of our social Devices. And so we scroll through our screens but have less and less physical. Eye to eye verbal contact

with people. We are at an all time epidemic of anxiety. What does that look like? It looks like I'm unable to sleep at night because my thoughts start to race and race, and I start thinking about everything I have to do. And suddenly my thoughts start to merge into one another and my mind starts to race at a speed that I cannot control. And before you know it, my heart starts to palpitate and I can't sleep. And I'm restless and I wake up and I'm sweating. And

or it can lead to anxiety attacks. Panic attacks where you feel like your pressure's going up. Something's happened to me. It can lead to severe panic attacks. So people are paralyzed or I can't get out of bed, or I start fearing being around people. I have social setting anxiety. I have anxiety about my deadlines, anxiety about people that I meet, anxiety about the future, anxiety about death, anxiety about finances. Anxiety about who am I going to marry?

Am I going to be left alone in life? I have anxiety about a lot of things, but my mind races, my peace evaporates, and I feel myself constantly. By the way, anxiety and depression are cousins, so one gives way to another. Oftentimes, depression is the result of anxious thoughts that I can't continue to control. And so for it leads me down this dark hole of depression. Huge today. And if you're struggling with anxiety today, let me tell you you're not alone.

And the Apostle Paul is very clear about there is something that you can do about it. And I want you to listen up because this is really powerful. Do not be anxious about Anything you say, pastor. I try not to be anxious, but I just can't control it. So he tells us what to do when your mind starts to default to anxiety. Oftentimes our anxiety is a result of tension and relationships. Not always. He says, but instead of being anxious about things, here's what I want

you to do, he says. But in everything. Anytime there's anxiety, anytime you're worried, anytime you're burdened, anytime you're frustrated, anytime you're stressed, he says. I want you to take advantage of this incredible power and position that you have to enter into the throne room, where there is more peace and authority than anywhere in the universe. And that is

the throne room of the Most High God. So he says what I want you to do when anxiety starts to come upon you, I want you to go into prayer. Some of you are new at praying. Prayer for Christians, uh, regardless of the background that you come from, prayer for Christians is coming before God the Father, having been given access by Jesus Christ the Son, who's the mediator. And you're empowered to pray and know how to pray through the spirit that's inside of you. God the father, through

Jesus the Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit. So you come into the presence of God Almighty and you say, well, pastor, I pray and it doesn't help me. I get worse. I would advocate and say, maybe it's because you're praying in the wrong way. You see, first of all, I think we need to understand what prayer is and how to pray the right way, especially when it comes to anxiety. The Lord's Prayer teaches us to address God as a father, a loving father that cares not as a judge that's

seeking to demand something. So you have access to the father through Jesus Christ, the son, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And then it says, I want you in everything by prayer and petition. So you bring your requests before God. You say, God, this is something that's stressing me out. I don't know what to do about it. I have no control over this. But God, I'm bringing it to you and I'm asking you to intervene. I'm putting it in your hands. I'm asking you to do something about it.

I believe that some of us do that, but I think that some of us miss one of the powerful components of this by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. I think some of us our prayer is more like a complaint session. Have you ever had complaint sessions before God? I have. God. I'm just tired of this. Sick of this. I can't believe they do this. They're doing this and it's going to happen to that. And I'm just expressing my negative thoughts before God. That's complaining in the presence

of God. But when you're praying, you're actually saying, God, I have these issues and I am overwhelmed by it and it does bother me, but I'm bringing it before you. I don't know what to do about it. I have no control. It's stressing me out. It's stressing my family out. And then the Bible says, listen, I want you to notice the secret ingredient with thanksgiving. You see prayer petition wrapped in thanksgiving. You have a prodigal son or daughter.

Maybe a son that's really troubled you. Uh, that that maybe they're struggling with addiction or making bad choices, going in the wrong direction. They don't listen to you anymore. You're overwhelmed by it. You're just waiting for a phone call in the middle of the night telling you bad news. And so it stresses you out. And so instead of just worrying about it, the Bible says, bring it before God with thanksgiving. I bring my petition. But then I say,

and thank you, God, that you're in control. And thank you, God that you care about my son more than I care about him. And thank you that you're awake 24 hours a day watching over them. And thank you that you're working behind the scenes and have a purpose and a plan. I don't even know of your purpose in your plan. Thank you, Lord Jesus. So I commend them to you and I bless you, God, because you've listened and heard and that you hear the the, the prayers

of the people that call upon your name. God, I entrust them to you, bless you. Because when he was born, I knew you had a purpose and a plan for his life. So I entrust Trust them into your hands. That's what. Thanksgiving. And listen. Hear me? Well, this is what the Bible says. When you do this and you present your request before God with thanksgiving, he says, the peace of God. This means the contentment, the inner tranquility

that comes from God. This is not your peace. This is the peace of God, supernatural, divine, heavenly created in the heavenly realm, the peace of God. Listen. Will which transcends understanding. In other words, there's a peace that you have in the middle of circumstances where you should be worried. You should be anxious, but it defies logical explanation. It

guard the peace of God. That kind of peace. Look, it says, and the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That term guard is a military term. It's used of military people that guard the entrance of a city. They determine what comes in and what goes out. The peace of God becomes militant guardians of your mind and your heart. So when anxiety tries to make its way in, the

peace of God aggressively fends off anxiety. When, when when anxiety tries to get Ahold of your heart or your mind, the peace of God says, you're not allowed in here. They they aggressively push out thoughts that would attribute to your mind, or feelings that would attach yourself to the heart, and they become the guardians, the supernatural spiritual guardians of your heart and mind because they are the peace of God. And lastly, redirect your thoughts. Notice what it tells us

in verse eight through seven of Philippians chapter four. Finally, brothers, whatever is pure, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about these things. Some of you are stressed out because what you allow your mind to think of consistently. Can I just be honest with you? Some of you are news junkies. And let me just tell you something about our news channels.

I think we need to know what's happening around the world. But the way that networks and stations get high ratings is by addressing bad news. 90% of the news or more is bad. It's the war that's happening. It's the plague that's going to happen. It's the crisis in the economy. It's the crime that happened down the street. Seldom, if ever, do you hear the good news when it comes to relationships. If you're married, you allow some sort of conflict in

your relationship to sour you. It's not dealt with. A little resentment starts building up, and you start looking at your spouse through the lenses of disgruntled. They're at work and you're thinking that old. They didn't even kiss me when they went by. What are they doing? Why did I marry them? They're probably doing this. You start comparing, you start negative, you start projecting. You start looking at them in the wrong way, and they come in after a long day of work and they say, hey, honey,

how you doing? Don't honey me. You know what? Because you just filled your mind with everything that's negative, bad. Anything that you can think of or conspire to think of is in your mind. And here's listen what the Bible says. Listen. The Bible says, I want you to be clear about this. He's talking about guarding our thinking. He's talking about reducing stress. He's talking about fighting anxiety.

If it's true, if it's noble, if it's right, if it's pure, if it's lovely, if it's admirable, if there's any excellence or praiseworthy fill your mind with those things. Basically, what the Apostle Paul is saying is you need to start focusing on other things. You say, well, I want to. I'm a realist. I'm a realist too. But listen, in my orchestration and understanding and schematics of the universe, when God is on the throne and he is in control,

then there is always good news. The world may be difficult, but God is good and he's in control. The world may be tough, but the God of the universe, who is just and kind and forgiving and loving and and generous and gracious, he's in control of all things. So therefore we have a lot to be grateful for, a lot to thank God for. We have a default to

joy in our life because God is in control. And sometimes what we need to do is we need to take the remote of our thoughts and click to the next channel.

you that you would put into practice what God says. Yeah, pray about the situation. But he says with thanksgiving, so start thanking God for what he's already doing. Begin to bless him that he's in control and it says the peace of God will start to descend. So, father, I pray for that person right now that is just stressed over relational tension. I pray for that person right now that is anxious because they have a situation at work that they're not sure how to solve, or because they

have tension with their spouse or siblings or sons or daughters. God, I pray in Jesus name that they would pause right now and that they would give it to you and start thanking you for your involvement, thanking you for what is right. And I pray God that you would redirect their thoughts to those things that are pure and good, that they would change the channels. I pray for peace where there's been worry, stress and anxiety and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

The study will challenge and inspire you as Mark explores how our faith in Christ transforms every aspect of our lives, from relationships to circumstances and even our perspective on life's biggest challenges. You'll gain practical insight and encouragement that can help you step into a new season of bold faith. So don't miss out on this uplifting message that could change the way you approach your life. To find out when and where you can hear Bold Steps weekend, just

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I'm Wayne Shepherd wishing you a wonderful weekend. Make plans to join us again Monday when Mark continues our series on untangling relationships with a new message titled The Trap of Unforgiveness. That's coming up Monday right here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.