The Word To LIve By: 5-8-26
Phil Waggoner
Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
The Word To Live By: Yesterday we talked about the commandments, precepts, and instructions of the Lord and that how respecting them opens the door for help from the Lord. There are only two commandments in the new covenant for a born-again believer in Christ. Love God with all your spirit, soul, and body. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. Now there is a ton of information in those two scriptures that if we unpack, will end up being doing the precepts and instructions. Philippians 4:1-9 happens to be precepts and instructions. The problem I come across a lot and it has been my problem for a long time is we do verse 6 and nothing happens to our worries. So then someone comes up with a false doctrine like; “God doesn’t always answer all our prayers,” or “Sometimes the answer is no,” or my personal favorite, “Sometimes God puts things on you to teach you something.” None of which line up with total scripture. Let me fix that right now. FEAR AND WORRY THAT TORMENT ARE NOT FROM GOD! Let’s look at the total instruction that Paul was giving us in Philippians 4:1-9 on how to handle worry. Verse 1; Stand firm in the Lord. How do you do that? 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast your care upon the Lord for He cares for you.” You say, “Lord this is not my problem. I cast the care, the worry, the anxiety of it onto you. I refuse to talk about it or even think about it anymore. (We’ll get to the thinking about in verse 8. There are more steps before that.) Find a promise of God that covers what you are anxious about and every time you are tempted to worry, say no because … Verse 2; Get along with people. Read Luke 6:31 and claim it daily as your number one position in the body of Christ. Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” “Yea, but I’m right and they’re wrong!” You know that and God knows that so just walk away. I’d rather lose an argument than allow strife into my life. Where there is strife there is disorder and every evil thing. (James 3:16) The thing you are worried about probably falls under that headline. 1 Peter 5:6 says to cast your care upon the Lord you need to humble yourself first. Walk away from strife and learn to get along with others. Next is verse 3: Help somebody who is less fortunate than you. (Or more fortunate than you.😊) Take your mind off of your problem and go help somebody else. It’s amazing how that changes your outlook. We’ve got five more steps in this process. I’ll see how far I get tomorrow.
Read through the Bible in a year: Acts 18; Judges 9; Job 38;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 8, Luke 20: 1-24, Hebrews 13
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160