Joy Challenge Video Devotional - Day 19: Pastor
Click here to watch the video in a new window!
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, 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 such things.”
Philippians 4:6-8 (NIV)
Congratulations, you’re more than halfway through The Joy Challenge! Way to go! I hope these weekly teachings have encouraged you to choose joy each day. If we’re honest, though, choosing joy is a challenge. There are so many killjoys out there, from negative and critical people to uncontrollable circumstances. We may not be able to control what happens to us, but we can control our response to them and keep them from stealing our joy. In his letter of joy to the Philippians, the apostle Paul offers us four ways to keep our joy. You’ll find them in Philippians 4:6-8 (NIV) where he writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer, and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, 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 such things.”
Let’s see if we can dive deeper into this passage and discover four ways we can always be joyful! We’ll cover the first two today and the final two tomorrow.
First, “Do not be anxious about anything….” Another translation says, “Don’t worry about anything.” Worry is a killjoy. It will drain your joy tank and leave you feeling anxious and afraid. In order to not worry, I need to identify what it is that is making me anxious. What do you worry the most about? If you’ve ever watched Dr. Phil on television you probably laugh out loud when he offers counsel to some poor soul that is trapped in self-destructive behavior and doesn’t know what to do. That’s when Dr. Phil looks right into his eyes and with a shout, says, “JUST STOP IT!” If you’re hitting your head against a wall and it hurts, quit doing it! Remember the definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing while expecting different results. If you want to keep your joy, you must stop worrying. I know that’s easier said than done as I have struggled with anxiety in my own life. If Paul left his counsel with just don’t do it, we would have a command without the capacity to carry it out. That leads us to his second way to keep our joy.
Second, “… in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” I like the way the New Living Translation puts this second step: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.” What is it you can pray about? EVERYTHING! There’s nothing too big for God’s power to handle or too small for His concern. If it’s big enough for you to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about. I can never let my worries go if I don’t give them to God in prayer. Let Him worry about it. Like the guy who was known as the town worrywart. This guy worried about everything and if he didn’t have a worry, he would worry about that! Finally, people began to notice that he seemed different, carefree and joyful. He wasn’t worrying! When asked how he did it, he told them he sold all his worries for $10,000.00 to the town beggar. Someone quickly reminded him that he didn’t have $10,000.00 to which he responded, “Well that’ll be his worry won’t it?” You don’t need to sell your worries, you just need to give them to God in prayer.
If you want to keep your joy, practice these first two ways that Paul gives us in Philippians 4:6 (NLT), “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything!” Tomorrow we’ll look at the other two ways Paul says will enable us to keep our joy no matter what happens.
Printed copies of The Joy Challenge devotional are available at The Joy Challenge - Kerry Shook Ministries.