Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Fill You Mind with God's Thoughts- Minister Max Lucado

Transcript

Fill You Mind with God's Thoughts- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

0:02
Speaker 1: Where you can win this war on worry. You really can.
0:06
Speaker 1: You can say goodbye to anxiety. You can say farewell
0:09
Speaker 1: to fret. Anxiety does come with life, but it doesn't
0:13
Speaker 1: have to run our lives. God has a solution. God
0:17
Speaker 1: has a prescription for anxiety, and it's found in the
0:21
Speaker 1: Book of Philippians. And this summer, we're going phrase by
0:24
Speaker 1: phrase through this wonderful promise. The words are about to
0:28
Speaker 1: appear on the screen. Maybe you've memorized the passage by now,
0:31
Speaker 1: so you don't need to look at the words. Just
0:33
Speaker 1: say it. If not read the words, let's all say
0:36
Speaker 1: the passage together. I encourage you to sit up straight
0:39
Speaker 1: and fill your lungs with air and your heart's with hope,
0:42
Speaker 1: and say this passage like you mean it. Are you ready?
0:47
Speaker 1: Here we go. Rejoice in the Lord always. The Lord
0:57
Speaker 1: is at hand. Be anxious for nothing but in everything
1:09
Speaker 1: and the peace of God. Whatever things are true, whatever
1:24
Speaker 1: things are just great. Job. Before I pray, I want
1:41
Speaker 1: to say thank you on behalf of Delon and myself
1:45
Speaker 1: for the prayers and encouragement. Our Delon's mom went to
1:50
Speaker 1: be with the Lord. Just a few days ago. We
1:52
Speaker 1: said goodbye to her last Monday, and we appreciate so
1:55
Speaker 1: much your encouragement and thoughts. Roma Deane Preston was a
1:59
Speaker 1: one of a kind who didn't have to change much
2:02
Speaker 1: to become a resident of heaven. She was already angelic.
2:06
Speaker 1: We miss her, but we're looking forward to seeing her soon.
2:10
Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord for great people like her. Thank you
2:13
Speaker 1: so much, Father for this opportunity that you've given us.
2:17
Speaker 1: We bless you, Lord, and ask that you forgive our
2:20
Speaker 1: speaker his sins, her too many to count. We pray
2:23
Speaker 1: that you'd have mercy upon us, that we might see Christ,
2:26
Speaker 1: just Christ, and through Christ, we pray, and all the
2:31
Speaker 1: Church said. In her short thirteen years, Rebecca Taylor has
2:37
Speaker 1: endured about with severe pancreatitis that has resulted in more
2:42
Speaker 1: than fifty five surgeries and procedures, approximately one thousand days
2:47
Speaker 1: in the hospital, and all in all, a ride on
2:51
Speaker 1: a roller coaster that never stops. Kristen, Rebecca's mom, talks
2:57
Speaker 1: about pancreatic complications with the ease of a surgeon. The
3:03
Speaker 1: vocabulary of most mothers includes phrases like cafeteria, food and
3:08
Speaker 1: cell phone and slumber party. Kristin knows this vernacular as well,
3:14
Speaker 1: but she's also acquainted with words like blood, cells and scents,
3:19
Speaker 1: and most recently, hemorrhagic stroke. A few months ago, she
3:24
Speaker 1: wrote these words in her blog. This past week's new
3:28
Speaker 1: landmine was the phrase hemorrhagic stroke, a phrase I heard
3:34
Speaker 1: dozens of times by numerous physicians, over and over and over.
3:39
Speaker 1: I was hit with a possible affliction that filled my
3:42
Speaker 1: mind and consumed my thoughts, and affliction that not only
3:46
Speaker 1: had not happened, but might not ever happen, and yet
3:50
Speaker 1: emotionally crippling. Nonetheless, this past Sunday, our preacher Max Locato
3:56
Speaker 1: started a very fitting series on anxiety, and we reviewed
4:01
Speaker 1: the familiar Philippians four six passage, do not be anxious
4:05
Speaker 1: for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
4:10
Speaker 1: present your request to God. I presented my request to
4:14
Speaker 1: the Lord, as I had done so many times before.
4:17
Speaker 1: But this time, this time I needed more, and so
4:22
Speaker 1: using Philippians four eight and nine as a guide, I
4:25
Speaker 1: found my answer. Finally, Brothers, whatever is true, what was
4:32
Speaker 1: true in my life at this particular moment? Answer the
4:36
Speaker 1: blessing of all my family members eating together, whatever is noble,
4:42
Speaker 1: the blessing of enjoying each other's presence outside of a
4:45
Speaker 1: hospital room. Whatever is right, The blessing of experiencing my
4:50
Speaker 1: two sons' daily lives, whatever is pure, The blessing of
4:55
Speaker 1: all three children laughing and playing with each other, whatever
4:59
Speaker 1: is lofe. The blessing of watching Rebecca sleep peacefully in
5:03
Speaker 1: her bed at night, Whatever is admirable. The blessing of
5:07
Speaker 1: an honorable team working tirelessly on Rebecca's care, if anything
5:12
Speaker 1: is excellent, The blessing of watching a miracle unfold or praiseworthy,
5:17
Speaker 1: the blessing of worshiping a Lord who is worthy to
5:20
Speaker 1: be praised. Think about such things. I stopped the dreaded
5:25
Speaker 1: phrase heemorrhagic stroke from sucking joy out of my life.
5:30
Speaker 1: Its power to produce anxiety was now rendered impotent. And
5:35
Speaker 1: when I dwelt on the bountiful blessings in my life
5:38
Speaker 1: happening at this very moment, the peace of God, which
5:42
Speaker 1: transcends all understanding, did guard my heart and my mind.
5:47
Speaker 1: In Christ Jesus, a true, unexpected miracle. Thank you Lord.
5:55
Speaker 1: Now did you see what Christen did? She practiced thought.
6:00
Speaker 1: She stopped the dreaded phrase from sucking joy out of
6:03
Speaker 1: her life. She took time to think about what she
6:06
Speaker 1: was thinking about himorrhagic stroke was a phrase hovering over
6:13
Speaker 1: her life like a South Texas thundercloud. But rather than
6:17
Speaker 1: think she had to stay with that thought in her life.
6:21
Speaker 1: She took that thought and walked it to the exit
6:24
Speaker 1: door and told it to leave. I think the Apostle
6:27
Speaker 1: Paul would have been very proud. You probably know this,
6:32
Speaker 1: but in case you don't, I'm so happy to let
6:35
Speaker 1: you in on some good news. You select your thoughts,
6:42
Speaker 1: you do. You didn't select your birthplace. You didn't select
6:47
Speaker 1: your birth date. You didn't select your parents or siblings.
6:51
Speaker 1: You don't determine the weather. You don't get a vote
6:53
Speaker 1: on how much salt goes in the ocean. There are
6:57
Speaker 1: many things in life over which you and I have
6:59
Speaker 1: no say, But the greatest and most important activity in
7:04
Speaker 1: your life is one over which you have absolute dominion.
7:08
Speaker 1: You get to choose what you think. You are the
7:13
Speaker 1: air traffic controller of your mental airport. You determine which
7:19
Speaker 1: thoughts get to land and which thoughts need to leave.
7:22
Speaker 1: You sit in the control tower, directing the mental traffic
7:25
Speaker 1: of your world. If a thought lands, it is because
7:30
Speaker 1: you gave it permission to do so. If a thought departs,
7:34
Speaker 1: it's because you commanded it to do. So you select
7:38
Speaker 1: your thoughts for that reason. The wise man urges be
7:44
Speaker 1: careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.
7:52
Speaker 1: Thoughts have consequences. Do you want to be happy tomorrow,
7:56
Speaker 1: then so seeds of happiness today. Do you want to
8:02
Speaker 1: be cranky and irritable and downcast tomorrow, then just crawl
8:08
Speaker 1: into the mud pit of anxiety and guilt and negativism.
8:13
Speaker 1: Today we become what we believe. This was the teaching
8:19
Speaker 1: of Jesus. A couple of blind men once asked him
8:22
Speaker 1: for healing, and he responded by saying, do you really
8:27
Speaker 1: believe I can do this? They said, why yes, Master,
8:32
Speaker 1: and he touched their eyes and said, become what you believe.
8:38
Speaker 1: We become what we believe. Healthy thinking results in healing,
8:48
Speaker 1: or another way of saying it, healing begins with healthy thinking.
8:54
Speaker 1: Your challenge is not your challenge. Your challenge is the
8:57
Speaker 1: way you think about your challenge. Your problem is not
9:02
Speaker 1: your problem. Your problem is the way you look at
9:04
Speaker 1: your problems. The issue is not the traffic. The issue
9:08
Speaker 1: is the way you're thinking about the traffic. Your problem
9:14
Speaker 1: is not your boss. Your problem is the way you're
9:17
Speaker 1: processing life with your boss. There are many circumstances in
9:22
Speaker 1: life that we simply cannot change. What we can change
9:27
Speaker 1: is the way we think about our challenges. We are
9:31
Speaker 1: the sum of our thoughts. Now Satan knows this. For
9:36
Speaker 1: that reason, the devil is always messing with our minds.
9:40
Speaker 1: He is he has one aim, and that is to
9:43
Speaker 1: pollute your thoughts. And he traffics and lies. He traffics
9:48
Speaker 1: in deceits. He fills the sky with airplanes that carry
9:52
Speaker 1: nothing but anxiety and fear. And he is doing his
9:56
Speaker 1: best to convince you and to convince me, to let
9:59
Speaker 1: these planes land in our mind and unload their stinking
10:05
Speaker 1: cargo into our thought process. He promotes a fraud or
10:10
Speaker 1: a false wisdom that the Bible describes as earthly, unspiritual,
10:17
Speaker 1: and even demonic. Did you know Satan has never spoken
10:21
Speaker 1: a word of truth. He has never never spoken a
10:28
Speaker 1: word of truth. He lied to Eve in the garden.
10:31
Speaker 1: He lied to King David in the throne room. He
10:34
Speaker 1: lied to Judas in the upper room. He lied to
10:37
Speaker 1: Peter at the night of the Trial of Christ. He
10:40
Speaker 1: lies to unbelievers by blinding their minds. He lives a
10:45
Speaker 1: lie Jesus said about Satan, he has always hated the
10:49
Speaker 1: truth because there is no truth in him. Just as
10:55
Speaker 1: God cannot tell a lie, Satan can tell anything except
11:02
Speaker 1: a lie. He is a living lie. He is the
11:07
Speaker 1: master of deceit. But the good news is he's not
11:11
Speaker 1: the master of your mind. You are, and God will
11:17
Speaker 1: help you direct your thoughts. You have God on your
11:20
Speaker 1: side and you have God helping you learn to manage
11:25
Speaker 1: your thoughts. High on the priority list of God is this.
11:29
Speaker 1: He wants you to think and act like Jesus. He
11:36
Speaker 1: wants you. He wants to transform you into a new
11:40
Speaker 1: person by doing what Church, by changing the way you
11:45
Speaker 1: want think. He's going to get inside your mind and
11:49
Speaker 1: he's going to help you think healthy thoughts. One of
11:53
Speaker 1: the ways that God helps us do this is by
11:56
Speaker 1: equipping us with Satan's playbook. Yes, we know exactly what
12:01
Speaker 1: Satan is up to. Every one of his thoughts fits
12:06
Speaker 1: into one of three at least one of three categories, godless, negative,
12:14
Speaker 1: and amplified. All of the thoughts of Satan are godless, negative,
12:23
Speaker 1: and or amplified. So anytime you find yourself thinking godless thoughts,
12:35
Speaker 1: you know where they come from. A godless thought is
12:38
Speaker 1: something like, well, God doesn't care, or God does not exist,
12:43
Speaker 1: or if he does exist, he's not near, or he
12:47
Speaker 1: can't help me. Anytime you find yourself wading into a
12:52
Speaker 1: difficulty without consulting God, then the devil is doing to
12:57
Speaker 1: you what he did to even convinced Eve to make
13:01
Speaker 1: a decision about the Forbidden Fruit without consulting her creator.
13:06
Speaker 1: This was his first and this is his oldest trick.
13:09
Speaker 1: He wants you and me to face problems without facing God.
13:13
Speaker 1: He does not want God included in the conversation because
13:17
Speaker 1: once God is included in the conversation, out goes the devil,
13:21
Speaker 1: in comes hope. So the moment you sense that you're
13:26
Speaker 1: in the middle of this negative thought pattern and you
13:29
Speaker 1: haven't thought about God in moments, days, months, then he
13:34
Speaker 1: has you where he wants you, because his thoughts are
13:37
Speaker 1: always godless. Also, the thoughts of Satan are always negative.
13:44
Speaker 1: He has never encouraged anyone any time. His goal with
13:52
Speaker 1: Job was to so consume Job's sadness that Job had
13:57
Speaker 1: no friends and Job had no hope. His goal with
14:00
Speaker 1: Judas was to lead Judas to a place that was
14:04
Speaker 1: so dark that Judas finally took his own life. Here's
14:09
Speaker 1: what Jesus says about Satan. He comes with the soul
14:15
Speaker 1: intention of stealing and killing and destroying. He wants to
14:21
Speaker 1: lead you and me to a dark place and convince
14:25
Speaker 1: us that no light will ever come into this dark place.
14:31
Speaker 1: Some of you are there today. You think no window
14:35
Speaker 1: will ever open, no light will ever come. That is
14:37
Speaker 1: a lie that comes straight from the pit of hell.
14:41
Speaker 1: It's a lie. No life is irredeemable, No life is irredeemable,
14:47
Speaker 1: no person is unlovable. No problem has absolutely no solution.
14:54
Speaker 1: It may come with difficulty, But Satan wants us to
14:59
Speaker 1: stay in this negative world that is dark. And once
15:02
Speaker 1: he has us there, you know what he does. He
15:06
Speaker 1: turns up the volume. And the thoughts he distributes are
15:11
Speaker 1: not only godless and negative, they are amplified. They are overstated,
15:20
Speaker 1: They are exaggerated, They are irrational. They are inflated phrases
15:27
Speaker 1: like I'll never get out of this We'll never get
15:31
Speaker 1: out of debt, I'll never get a job, I'll never
15:35
Speaker 1: lose this weight, I'll never have friends. Those overstatements, those negative, overwhelming,
15:43
Speaker 1: amplified statements, those are the mark of the Beast himself. Now,
15:50
Speaker 1: maybe you've never had those thoughts, but most of us have.
15:54
Speaker 1: Satan wants to leave us in this kind of thought pattern. Yes,
15:59
Speaker 1: we are the some total of our thoughts, and some
16:03
Speaker 1: people lead thoughts that are nothing but godless, negative and amplified.
16:08
Speaker 1: What kind of person would these thoughts create? An anxious,
16:14
Speaker 1: troubled person. They have nothing but godless, negative, anxious thoughts.
16:24
Speaker 1: They are surrounded by a swarm of gnats everywhere they turn.
16:34
Speaker 1: They've got gnats everywhere, and they follow them wherever they go.
16:39
Speaker 1: Do any of you have gnats buzzing in your head? Well,
16:45
Speaker 1: now you know where they come from. Now you know
16:48
Speaker 1: you don't have to think them. Did you know that
16:52
Speaker 1: just because you have a thought, you don't have to
16:54
Speaker 1: think it. That's a nice idea, isn't it. Just because
17:01
Speaker 1: you have a thought, you don't have to think it.
17:05
Speaker 1: You don't have to let it in. Just because that
17:08
Speaker 1: plane of negativism or godlessness, just because that plane full
17:12
Speaker 1: of amplified impossibilities and irrational thoughts, just because it's circling
17:17
Speaker 1: over its head, you don't have to give it permission
17:20
Speaker 1: to land. You can do what the apostle, Peter says.
17:23
Speaker 1: Peter says be alert and a sober mind. Your enemy,
17:27
Speaker 1: the devil, prows around like a roaring lion, looking for
17:30
Speaker 1: someone to devour. Resist him, resist him, standing firm in
17:36
Speaker 1: the faith. In other words, don't let him get into
17:39
Speaker 1: your head. Fix your thoughts on what is true and
17:45
Speaker 1: honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think
17:51
Speaker 1: about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
17:56
Speaker 1: Remember you're their traffic controller of your mind. And if
17:59
Speaker 1: a thought comes into your world is because you permitted it.
18:03
Speaker 1: You are not a victim. You are not left without protection.
18:08
Speaker 1: God has empowered you to control the thoughts which come.
18:12
Speaker 1: And since belief proceeds behavior, you can correct your behavior
18:17
Speaker 1: by creating the right beliefs. And your most important job
18:22
Speaker 1: is to keep Satan's thoughts out and bring God's thoughts in.
18:28
Speaker 1: So we resist the thoughts of Satan. We identify them,
18:32
Speaker 1: and we resist them, and then we welcome the thoughts
18:36
Speaker 1: of God. The thoughts of God are easy to identify,
18:41
Speaker 1: because just as the thoughts of Satan are godless, the
18:45
Speaker 1: thoughts of God are what God centered. The godly thought
18:52
Speaker 1: quickly calls God into the situation, quickly consults God, quickly
18:57
Speaker 1: turns attention to God, saying, God, anxious, would you help me? God,
19:01
Speaker 1: I'm anxious? Are you sovereign over this? God, I'm guilty?
19:06
Speaker 1: Is your grace big enough? You go quickly into the
19:09
Speaker 1: throne room of God. You don't dwell out here without
19:11
Speaker 1: involving God. You talk to God before you talk to
19:15
Speaker 1: anyone or anything else. You go quickly to God. It's
19:19
Speaker 1: not a matter of taking the problems to the bar.
19:22
Speaker 1: It's not a matter of taking your problems out on
19:24
Speaker 1: your kids. It's a matter of taking your problems quickly
19:27
Speaker 1: into the presence of God and leaving them there. Be
19:31
Speaker 1: anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication.
19:34
Speaker 1: Let your request be made known to God. So God
19:39
Speaker 1: is quickly involved into the conversation. You can do this,
19:42
Speaker 1: and I can too, So godly thinking I'm sorry. Thoughts
19:46
Speaker 1: from God are quickly God centered. Thoughts from God are
19:50
Speaker 1: always inspirational, always inspirational. God quickly brings hope. He is
20:00
Speaker 1: the Lord of hope. He is the Lord of light,
20:03
Speaker 1: and he wants to bring encouragement into your world. And
20:06
Speaker 1: he does so by using this book right here, the Bible.
20:13
Speaker 1: He equips you with scriptures that will give you strength
20:18
Speaker 1: with which to stare down the thoughts of the devil.
20:22
Speaker 1: So when these fearful, anxious thoughts come, you turn quickly
20:27
Speaker 1: to some passages. Jesus you said, if anyone is weary,
20:32
Speaker 1: let him come to me and I'll find and he'll
20:34
Speaker 1: find rest. Okay, Lord, here I am you said that. Lord. Lord,
20:38
Speaker 1: you said you taught us to say. The Lord is
20:41
Speaker 1: my shepherd, and I shall not want Will you be
20:44
Speaker 1: my shepherd? Right now? Will you walk me through this?
20:46
Speaker 1: You have said, Lord that even if I walk through
20:49
Speaker 1: the flood, I will not drown, even though I walk
20:51
Speaker 1: through the fire, will not be burned. I'm going to
20:52
Speaker 1: stand upon that. Lord. Your word says that you can
20:55
Speaker 1: take that which is evil and you can redeem it,
20:57
Speaker 1: and you can turn it into something good. At the
21:00
Speaker 1: very moment Satan is buzzing around you with all of
21:03
Speaker 1: these gnants. You are waiving those thoughts away by using
21:07
Speaker 1: truth out of the scripture. And God brings inspiration, and
21:13
Speaker 1: he also brings the truth. His thoughts are always factual.
21:22
Speaker 1: The first thing the apostle Paul says is meditate on this.
21:27
Speaker 1: Whatever is what truth, whatever is true. The devil wants
21:33
Speaker 1: you to go down a path called possible assumptions. Well,
21:38
Speaker 1: if this happens, then that's gonna happen. Then that's gonna happen,
21:41
Speaker 1: and then that's gonna happen, and then all this it's
21:43
Speaker 1: gonna be terrible. That's where Satan wants you to go. Paul,
21:48
Speaker 1: inspired by the Holy Spirit, says no, just meditate on
21:50
Speaker 1: what is truth? What's factual? What's the truth? Well, the
21:55
Speaker 1: truth is I messed up. I did. But the truth
21:58
Speaker 1: is God's grace is greater than my sin. Does that
22:01
Speaker 1: makes sense. The truth is we're really struggling to pay
22:04
Speaker 1: the bills. But the truth is God still loves us,
22:08
Speaker 1: and he's gonna help us. He's gonna walk us through this.
22:11
Speaker 1: The truth is, the sermon is long today, nothing but
22:17
Speaker 1: the truth is there's something in here I want to learn.
22:21
Speaker 1: And so we focus on the facts. We don't. Oh,
22:24
Speaker 1: if only we could learn this, We don't allow Satan
22:28
Speaker 1: to lead us down these rabbit trails of possibles and
22:32
Speaker 1: what ifs. And this is gonna happen. In all my goodness,
22:35
Speaker 1: he wants to lead us into this world full of
22:38
Speaker 1: alarm and anxiety. There is no joy out there. There
22:46
Speaker 1: is no joy out there, But there is peace right here,
22:52
Speaker 1: So don't let Satan take your thoughts down that trail
22:55
Speaker 1: of assumptions. Jesus said, the world has enough trouble today,
23:00
Speaker 1: has enough trouble in today. Don't worry about tomorrow. So
23:05
Speaker 1: these are the thoughts from God. Where Satan brings nothing
23:10
Speaker 1: but nats. God brings what gifts? Aren't I clever? He
23:17
Speaker 1: brings gifts? And this clever? Yeah, go ahead applaud that.
23:21
Speaker 1: That's just wonderful. I'm just didding. But the choice is yours.
23:28
Speaker 1: Every day, you and I have the choice. Are we
23:30
Speaker 1: gonna live surrounded by nats? Are we gonna live surrounded
23:34
Speaker 1: by the gifts of God? Okay, here's how this works.
23:39
Speaker 1: So tomorrow morning, a message is left on your cell
23:42
Speaker 1: phone and it's from the doctor's office, and the doctor says,
23:47
Speaker 1: or his assistant says, a doctor Jones would like you
23:50
Speaker 1: to come into the office because your tests are in.
23:55
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do with that? What are you
23:58
Speaker 1: gonna do with that? Well, Satan is right outside the door,
24:04
Speaker 1: and he wants to creep in, and he wants to
24:06
Speaker 1: bring with him a swarm of nats. He wants you
24:11
Speaker 1: to go down the godless path. The godless path says, well,
24:16
Speaker 1: if there is a God, he doesn't care. Things have
24:18
Speaker 1: gone haywire. I gotta fix this myself. Oh no, I
24:21
Speaker 1: must be being punished for something. He wants you to
24:24
Speaker 1: engage in a self conversation that does not include God.
24:30
Speaker 1: He wants to lead you into a path of negative thinking. Oh,
24:35
Speaker 1: I just knew it was gonna happen to me. You know,
24:37
Speaker 1: my dad got sick, my mom got sick, my grandma
24:40
Speaker 1: got sick, my grandpa. I guess it was just a
24:42
Speaker 1: matter of time. You know, I have been noticing blurry
24:45
Speaker 1: vision lately. I bet I have a tumor. Oh my goodness. Now,
24:48
Speaker 1: who's and then this negative thought is going to lead
24:51
Speaker 1: to what amplified thoughts? Amplified thoughts like who's going to
24:58
Speaker 1: raise the kids? Who's going to pay the bills? I
25:02
Speaker 1: don't think my insurance is going to handle this? Oh
25:05
Speaker 1: my goodness. All this happens just as a result of
25:09
Speaker 1: one phone call. This person, if they're not sick, is
25:13
Speaker 1: going to be sick by the time they get to
25:16
Speaker 1: the doctor. Do you know that the Bible says anxiety
25:21
Speaker 1: weighs down the human heart. Anxiety itself can make the
25:27
Speaker 1: heart sick. But there's a better way. In This better
25:31
Speaker 1: way is prescribed by God again through the pen of
25:34
Speaker 1: the apostle Paul. He says, capture every thought and make
25:39
Speaker 1: it give up and obey Christ. Well, you talk about
25:44
Speaker 1: an empowering verse. You can do what Christen did. You
25:47
Speaker 1: can capture the thought hemorrhagic stroke comes into your mind. Well,
25:52
Speaker 1: I'm going to capture that thought, and I'm gonna make
25:55
Speaker 1: it give up. I'm gonna make it surrender to the
25:58
Speaker 1: authority of Christ. So when these thoughts of anxiety come
26:01
Speaker 1: into your world, you slap handcuffs on them, right, instead
26:05
Speaker 1: of just letting them come in, you slap handcuffs on them,
26:08
Speaker 1: and you say, well, wait just a second. Now, I
26:10
Speaker 1: don't know if you're from Christ or not. And so
26:13
Speaker 1: you take that anxious thought and you march it over
26:17
Speaker 1: before Jesus himself, who has all authority in heaven and
26:20
Speaker 1: on earth, and you just asking Jesus is this anxious
26:24
Speaker 1: thought from you or not? And he always tells the truth,
26:30
Speaker 1: and he will help you say to that thought, Satan,
26:33
Speaker 1: get thee behind me. He will tell it to leave.
26:36
Speaker 1: And when Jesus removes an anxious thought, he always replaces
26:41
Speaker 1: it with a godly thought, and he will bring a
26:45
Speaker 1: different thought process. And instead of over reacting to a
26:50
Speaker 1: phone call about needing to go to the doctor, you
26:53
Speaker 1: will respond like this. You'll respond with God's sinnered thinking.
26:58
Speaker 1: Before you call your mom, before you call your kids,
27:03
Speaker 1: before you call your neighbors, You're gonna call out to God.
27:07
Speaker 1: I mean, you've not even hung up the cell phone,
27:09
Speaker 1: and you're saying, well, Lord, I'm gonna need you on
27:11
Speaker 1: this one. Oh, I need health. I'm feeling some fear coming.
27:15
Speaker 1: But I believe Lord that You're mightier than this. And
27:18
Speaker 1: then you turn quickly in the Holy Spirit, who has
27:20
Speaker 1: assigned the task of guarding your heart and mind through
27:24
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, and to give you a peace that passes understanding.
27:27
Speaker 1: He will bring to your mind verses some of which
27:31
Speaker 1: you've memorized, some of what you've heard a preacher say,
27:34
Speaker 1: or some of which you've seen on a wall you know,
27:36
Speaker 1: hanging in somebody's house. These verses will come to your mind,
27:40
Speaker 1: and you will stand on those promises, be anxious for
27:44
Speaker 1: nothing but in everything by prayer and petition, unless your
27:46
Speaker 1: requests be made. Know it. Okay, God, I'm gonna stand
27:48
Speaker 1: right there. I'm gonna be anxious for nothing. But here's
27:51
Speaker 1: my prayer, here's my petition. Would you please give me
27:53
Speaker 1: that peace that passes all understanding, and you'll begin to
27:57
Speaker 1: receive this inspiration. It's not that it's easy, please, but
28:01
Speaker 1: it is that it's possible. And it's certainly that anxiety
28:05
Speaker 1: and getting caught up in the anxiety is an option.
28:09
Speaker 1: Anxiety comes with life, but it doesn't have to run
28:13
Speaker 1: your life. And so the god less thoughts are replaced
28:19
Speaker 1: with God's centered thoughts, and the negative thoughts are replaced
28:22
Speaker 1: with inspirational thoughts, and all those amplified thoughts are replaced
28:26
Speaker 1: with what with the truth, with the fact. Here's the
28:30
Speaker 1: fact the doctor called, that's the fact. I don't know why,
28:38
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to chase the assumptions. I'm not
28:41
Speaker 1: going to assume something as bad when it's not. For
28:44
Speaker 1: all I know, he may have good news. For all
28:47
Speaker 1: I know, he may think I'm such a picture of
28:49
Speaker 1: health he wants to take a picture of me and
28:51
Speaker 1: put me on a poster. For all I know, he
28:54
Speaker 1: may send me on a funded tour so I can
28:57
Speaker 1: inspire other people to be as healthy as I am.
28:59
Speaker 1: Why do we assume that bad is going to happen.
29:06
Speaker 1: Why do we assume that bad is going to happen?
29:08
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. Because there is a devil who
29:11
Speaker 1: prowls around like a lion, looking for someone whom he
29:15
Speaker 1: may devour. But we're going to resist him and be
29:17
Speaker 1: firm in the faith. And when those thoughts come, we're
29:20
Speaker 1: going to stand them down. We're going to take every
29:22
Speaker 1: thought captive and make it submit to the authority of
29:26
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And we're going to receive not the gnats,
29:30
Speaker 1: those buzzing insects of the devil. We're going to receive
29:33
Speaker 1: the gift of God, which is a peace that passes understanding,
29:38
Speaker 1: and a gentleness that is made evident to all. Which
29:41
Speaker 1: would you prefer me too. I've never liked nats to
29:45
Speaker 1: begin with. Kristen and her family have found this level
29:51
Speaker 1: of peace. Just a couple of weeks ago, the family
29:55
Speaker 1: went back to Minnesota, where earlier in the year, Rebecca
29:58
Speaker 1: received a transplant. Seven months ago, Rebecca was barely surviving. Now,
30:04
Speaker 1: just the day before her thirteenth birthday, Rebecca was full
30:08
Speaker 1: of life. She was vibrant. She had gained a remarkable
30:12
Speaker 1: thirty pounds her liver was steady and her health was improving,
30:17
Speaker 1: and she was named the Transplant Teams Walking Miracle. The
30:22
Speaker 1: doctors could not imagine, with such complications that she would
30:25
Speaker 1: be doing so well. Kristin made another entry in her blog.
30:32
Speaker 1: She wrote, just a few days ago, I watched these
30:35
Speaker 1: interactions with a silent sense of awe. It is easy
30:39
Speaker 1: to praise God during seasons of wellness, but it was
30:42
Speaker 1: during my greatest distress when I felt the Lord's presence
30:45
Speaker 1: poured upon me. And it was in those heartbreaking moments
30:49
Speaker 1: I learned to trust this God who provided unimaginable strength
30:55
Speaker 1: during unimaginable pain. The apostle Paul calls that a peace
31:00
Speaker 1: that passes understanding. Amen, Lord, this is our prayer today,
31:06
Speaker 1: that you would grant us a new way of thinking,
31:09
Speaker 1: that we would not be the victim of thoughts, but
31:12
Speaker 1: that we would take our thoughts captive before they take
31:16
Speaker 1: us captive, And that Heavenly Father, we would let our
31:20
Speaker 1: thoughts be God centered, we would let our thoughts come
31:24
Speaker 1: and bring inspiration from your scripture, and that we would
31:27
Speaker 1: let our thoughts be factual, built on truth, and that
31:32
Speaker 1: we would receive this gift that you so want to
31:34
Speaker 1: give us. Father, I'm very excited to offer this prayer
31:37
Speaker 1: because I know you will answer it, because this agrees
31:40
Speaker 1: with your will and so a and.
34:12
Speaker 2: Loving you alone feels so beautiful, and yet.
34:22
Speaker 1: It hurts the most.
34:28
Speaker 2: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
34:33
Speaker 2: to say. Every smile you gave so freely took my
34:39
Speaker 2: breath a little away. I held this love like fragile glass,
34:46
Speaker 2: so precious, soft and true, but every being inside my
34:51
Speaker 2: heart was only reaching out.
34:54
Speaker 1: To you.
34:56
Speaker 3: Unspoken. Love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain.
35:04
Speaker 1: Let's end the whole.
35:05
Speaker 3: Bial so tightly while it slowly breaks me loving you
35:12
Speaker 3: from just one side. Now leave my soul in silent blue,
35:18
Speaker 3: because the deeper that I fall along, the lonelier I do.
35:27
Speaker 2: I can blame my heart for choosing someone.
35:31
Speaker 3: It could never keep, so I smiled through hidden heartache.
35:37
Speaker 3: Hell love you quietly spoke in. Love is sweet and painful,
35:45
Speaker 3: like honey mixed with rain. Let's end the whole bial
35:50
Speaker 3: so tightly, walid slowly it breaks me loving you from
35:56
Speaker 3: just one side. Now leave my soul in silent pool.
36:02
Speaker 4: Because the deeper that I follow, the lonely I do,
36:25
Speaker 4: maybe loving you in silence.
36:29
Speaker 3: This is the.
36:29
Speaker 1: Closest dye can stay.
36:32
Speaker 3: The leaves behind the sorrow that may never fast away.
36:42
Speaker 3: Spoken loud is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain.
36:49
Speaker 3: A tender whole bile hold so tightly wald slowly breaks
36:56
Speaker 3: me loving you from just one side.
36:59
Speaker 1: Now leave my soul in silence.
37:02
Speaker 4: Lod because the deeper that I followed.
37:09
Speaker 1: The lorl her to