How to Live in the Peace of God - Miller Ministries

In our last episode, I discussed with you how I personally overcame fear and anxiety in my life. Now that was more than 30 years ago when I was attacked with panic. And from that day until this, I have had the blessed privilege of living in the peace of God. And so if you didn't have a chance to hear that message, I encourage you to go back and listen to it because it will really help you. And it'll especially help you to locate maybe where you're at in life. You know, one of the things that I said is this whole world is fallen. We're born into this fallen world. And there is no such thing as a person who has no dysfunction at all in their life. And so even though our parents do the best job, they know how to raise us. They have their own dysfunction. And so that can carry over into our lives. And then we suffer from some disorders at times. And, you know, if you don't know Jesus and you're not part of the kingdom of God, your only hope is just try to cope as best you can or go see a physician and get on medication. Now, I am not saying that people should not be medicated, but I'm telling you there's a better way and there's a higher way. And that's called God's way. If we will take his word on this subject and put it into practice, we can be guaranteed to live a life of peace, a life that's free from worry and a life that's free from anxiety. But it will take some diligence and it will take some discipline. And so I shared how I got to the other side of that, but I did it by the word of God. And so I want to expound a little bit on that today, because I think knowing some of these scriptures is going to help you get to the other side as well. Now, Jesus actually had some things to say about the subject of worry. We're going to look at Matthew chapter six and verse 25. And Jesus said, therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Now, let me say something about that, because Jesus is admonishing us not to worry about food or clothes. Now in our society, and especially in the United States, we really don't worry about food because you can get food at almost any food pantry if you don't have money. And there's really no reason to go hungry if you don't want to. But what he's trying to say is if you're not to worry about the simplest things like food and clothes, then why should we try to worry about bigger things? Anyway, let's go on. He says in verse 26, look at the birds for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And of course the answer is yes, you are more valuable than a bird. And you know something, birds don't worry about anything. And so if we're more valuable than them and God takes care of them, then we have to trust that he's going to take care of every situation we face. And therein lies the problem, my friend. People worry because they're not trusting God. They're not trusting that he values us the way that he does. Now let's go on. He says which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? In other words, you can't change a thing. You can't add one inch to your height. You can't add one dollar to your pocket. You can't change your health condition by worrying. As a matter of fact, you'll make it worse. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? So what Jesus is saying here is that when we're worrying about things, that means we have little faith. But the good news is you can develop your faith, you can build it, and it can grow. And when you have great faith, you'll have little worry. So don't feel like, oh woe is me, because there are answers for all of these situations. Then he goes on to say, therefore do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. Now he's talking to the Jews primarily here because that's who he was called to to start with. But if we want to take this scripture and use it in today's context, we could say after all these things the world is seeking after. You know the world's seeking after money, they're seeking after clothes, they're seeking after food, they're seeking after housing, they're just seeking after everything. But it's the opposite of what God tells us to do. But he says your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things that you're worrying about are going to be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about the things of itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Really worry is just another way to describe anxiety or anxiousness. And Jesus is saying don't do it. As a matter of fact the amplified version of verse 25 says, therefore I tell you stop being perpetually uneasy, anxious, and worried about your life. Do you know you can actually stop it? I think so many people have thought I can't stop this, I can't control this, I can't do anything about this. Well you may feel like it's out of control, you may feel like you can't stop it, but I'm telling you Jesus wouldn't ask us to do something that we're incapable of doing. And if you'll go back and listen to my last episode you'll find that you can do something to stop it, because I did and it stopped. Now I can't promise you it'll stop in an hour, I can't promise you it will stop in a day. It really depends on how long this has been going on in your life, and sometimes it takes a while to slow that train down and get it going the other direction. But if you'll stay with the Word of God I can guarantee you you will not have to live with fear, anxiety, or depression the rest of your life. As a matter of fact God wants you completely free from it, and that's good news because it's what he wills that brings faith into our lives. Now Jesus said stop it so we can stop it. You know there's such an epidemic in our world today of anxiety and depression, and as I shared last episode it's because there's really a rise in information. You know the more you hear the more potential there is for fear to come. And if you're someone who's on social media all day, or if you're watching 24-hour news, I can guarantee you you're not getting good news. And yet the Bible says that the gospel is the good news. So if you give more time and attention to what the world is saying than what God is saying through his Word, you're going to be getting mostly bad news, and bad news always leads to fear. You know people in the world they fear things because they don't know there's a way out. But those of us that know God, those of us that have his Word, we have a way out where people in the world don't. So first of all we should be consoled in the fact that we can get free from this, that we have answers. Now thank God he's given us instructions on how to do this. We're going to look at Philippians chapter 4 in the Amplified Translation, verse 6. It says, do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, everything means nothing left undone, by prayer and petition, which is definite requests, with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not just giving thanks to God, but even worship. Continue to make your wants known to God. That means when you bring your request before God, you're expecting that he hears you and that you have the answer. And then God's peace shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul, assured of its salvation through Christ. So you see when you're assured that he's heard you, when you're assured that he watches over his Word to perform it, when you're assured that his power is working in you and he is setting you free, then you will fear nothing from God. You'll be content with whatever earthly lot that you receive in life. Whatever comes your way, you don't have to be afraid because you know you're coming through. That peace, which transcends all understanding, shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So God is saying, I have a peace for you. It's different than the peace of the world. See, the peace that the world gives is temporary. It's always dependent on circumstances. So if the circumstances are favorable, I'm relieved. But as soon as the circumstances change, you get worried and you get fearful again. But when you have God's peace, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how many times they change, you can stay in peace because you know your Father cares for you and you know he's taking you out of that situation into victory, if you'll stand on his word and trust him. And so it's a shield, it's a guard. Now verse eight says this, for the rest brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things. I love this part of the Amplified, fix your mind on them. So God is not just telling us to not fret or have anxiety about anything, but then he's telling us what we're to set our minds on. I can guarantee that if you watch news, secular programming, if you're on social media, that most of what you're seeing doesn't line up with this description of what we're supposed to think about. Most of what you're watching or listening to is not true, it's not worthy of reverence, it's not honorable, it's not seemly, it's not pure or lovely. And so you know you could see that if you spend too much time with these things, it's a gateway for the devil to put worry and fear into your life. And we learned last time, 2 Timothy 1.7, God has not given us the spirit of fear. That means it doesn't come from God, it comes from Satan, and he works through the world system, he works through the world's programming. So you know you have a free will, you have a choice, you can listen to whatever you want to listen to, but if you continue to listen to bad news, if you continue to listen to things that are influenced by Satan, you'll continue to worry and fear and have a troubled mind. And I'm telling you, it's just not worth it. Life is too short, there's too much to accomplish, and we want to do it in peace and in victory. So we're to fix our minds on these things. Well these things, you're only going to find them in the Word of God. So you really have to become a person who spends your time meditating in God's Word, just as he instructed Joshua in Joshua 1.8, to meditate on his Word day and night. Be thinking about God's Word, be meditating, picturing yourself with what God says about your life. You know, few things in life are worth worrying about because all of it is resolvable by the Word of God and by prayer. And if you can get to a place where you're just dwelling in the secret place of the Most High God, Psalm 91, that means you're dwelling in his Word, you're dwelling in his presence, you're spending time worshiping him, and you're developing trust in your Father God. As you trust him, you have a confidence in you that all will be well. I don't have to worry about where the money's going to come from. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay my mortgage. I don't have to worry about the doctor's report because it's subject to change, and it will change if I believe the truth. You know, there are so many lies in the world today, and people are having a hard time discerning what's a lie and what's not. You know, just because someone gets on television and they, in a convincingly way, tell you this is the fact, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, doesn't mean it's the truth. We have people that don't agree on just about every subject, and so depending what slant you get in the news, and if you listen to it long enough, that will determine your belief system. And we can find ourselves believing things that are absolute lies and not even realize it's a lie. But I'll tell you what, if it's leading to anxiety and fear, that's a good indicator that it's a lie. And so I just want to encourage you today, develop a lifestyle of taking control of your thoughts. As Jesus said, stop worrying. That happens by controlling your thoughts. You have to get to the place where you recognize when a thought is of God and when it's not. And the moment it comes, if you recognize that thought's not producing peace, that thought's not of God, you cast it out. You say, that's not my thought. I refuse to think that thought. And then you command Satan to go from you in Jesus' name. And then you quote what the word says about that out loud, and you meditate on that word, and then you just start worshiping God. You know, worship is powerful. I have found that when the devil tries to bring thoughts that would produce anxiety back into my life, that if I'll just take time to worship God, I can't think those anxious thoughts and worship God with my words at the same time. So worship takes precedence. And then I begin to put my trust in him and all is well. Those anxious thoughts will disappear. And so really what I'm saying is, even though I got completely free from anxiety and panic 31 years ago, the devil will always try to revisit you by bringing wrong thoughts again. And so we just have to spend our lifetime policing those thoughts. But know this, it's not too hard. It is worth it. Every moment you spend meditating in God's word and taking captive those thoughts is worth it for you to live in perfect peace. Now, if you're watching me today and you're finding that you're troubled by worry, by anxiety, by depression, by fear, I want to pray with you before we close. God has answers for you, and he has a peace that passes your understanding. So Heavenly Father, right now, I pray for those that are watching that are looking for relief from fear and anxiety. I command fear to go from you in the name of Jesus. I speak life into your mind. I speak the peace of God into your mind. I call for God's word and his peace and his presence to consume your thinking and your mind. And Father, I thank you that that peace that you provide is now overtaking their thought life in their mind and bringing them into a place of victory. Father, we thank you that as they trust in you, that they are living free from all turmoil. And we give you praise for that now in Jesus' mighty name. Well, I hope that you were blessed and encouraged today. I would also like to ask you to like and to subscribe to our channel for more episodes along these lines. And until next time, I want to remind you, God has a purpose for your life, and it's far greater than you know. God bless you.