Philippians 4:4-7 – Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How do we feed our faith and starve our fear? Here are five ways:
- Focus one eye on each track. Most people think of life as being a series of good and bad seasons. But life is more like train tracks with good and bad happening congruently. We need to practice the discipline of also seeing the good track where bad things are happening.
- Make your will your rudder. Your emotions are like a sail. They are drive your life. So when anxious and fearful, let your reasonableness be known to everyone (Phil. 4:5). Reasonableness means making wise, faith-filled decisions that drive you forward into God’s will.
- Replace panic with prayer. When a spirit of fear comes over us, our mind races with all of the possible dangers. Sometimes these fears are legitimate, but often they are lies. Rather than panic, we should pray. Freaking out is not a spiritual gift; faith is.
- Tell the Father what you want. Sometimes we ask God, “What do You want?” and God replies, “I was going to ask you the same question.” In a season of fear when what we want and don’t want needs to be clarified, it is reasonable to tell God what we want and see what He says. Let your requests be made known to God (Phil. 4:6). Sometimes God’s will is to ask you for the desires of your heart.
- Enjoy God’s presence and peace. Like a soldier God will guard the emotional life of our hearts and the thought life of our minds if we stand with Him against the spirit of fear. It is not the absence of trouble that brings peace but the presence of God. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Light drives out darkness, truth drives out lies, and the Spirit of God drives out the spirit of fear.
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For the entire eight-week “Win Your War” sermon series from Pastor Mark, visit www.markdriscoll.org or the Mark Driscoll Ministries app.