A PRESCRIPTION FOR LIFE

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 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 you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7.

Such familiar words, almost as familiar as John 3:16! We can repeat them parrot fashion and often do, but what do they mean?

Paul’s prescription for life is encapsulated in these three verses. If there was ever a “Four Easy Steps to Successful Living” statement, Paul did not need to write a book to make it. This is it!

Step one: Rejoice in the Lord always.

This is both a positive and negative prescription because no one can both rejoice and be miserable at the same time. If we allow our circumstances to dictate our moods, we will live an emotional yo-yo existence. When things go well, we are happy. When we hit a rough patch, we descend into depression. Up, down, up, down – depending on what each day brings. What a way to live, but many, even believers, do live like this!

What’s the solution? Simple! Rejoice in the Lord! He is the most stable, unchanging, and reliable person in our lives. It’s all about choices. If we choose to dwell on Him and His promises instead of riding the roller-coaster of circumstances, our emotional storms will calm down. What appears to be disaster will become just another step in our journey of faith in Him. Rejoicing in the Lord prepares us for the next step.

Did you notice how Paul said “always”? Not just sometimes or when circumstances are favourable. God works in “all things” for our good. “Rejoicing in the Lord always” tells Him that we are willing to trust Him when we cannot see the way ahead. That’s when we have to exercise our faith muscles.

Step two: Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

What’s this about? When life goes sour on us, there is a tendency in all of us to dump our emotional pain on other people. We are moody; we lash out; we withdraw into ourselves; we erupt for very little reason; we punish those closest to us for the way we feel. Don’t we all do it? It’s our coping mechanism, but is doesn’t work. We build an emotion wall between ourselves and other people, and ourselves and God.

Paul’s answer, again, is simple. Stop focusing on your circumstances and set your mind on God. He hasn’t gone anywhere! He is near. What’s the problem? When trouble hits, we lose sight of God. Stress replaces rest as though God has suddenly lost control or gone somewhere where we can’t reach Him. Remember Job? His complaint was, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him,” but He was there all the time!

Step three: Do not be anxious about anything. It’s all very well, Paul, to tell me not to be anxious, but how can I stop being anxious when my whole world is falling apart? My child is deathly ill. My finances are in ruins. My husband has been retrenched. My house is being repossessed. The list of adversities is endless.

Again, we cannot experience two conflicting emotions as the same time. We are either anxious or at peace. The one cancels out the other. If we practise rejoicing in the Lord, our circumstance will lose their power to terrify us, and our hearts will be prepared for the next step in the crisis. What do we do with our anxiety which threatens to overwhelm us when we are staring down the barrel of a gun?

Step four: In every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

What is prayer? Not bringing our grocery list to God every morning and expecting delivery the next day! Prayer is, firstly, changing our awareness. God is near but we are more aware of ourselves than of Him. Why must we change our awareness? Because everything looks different when we see things from His point of view.

Instead of rehearsing our anxieties and dwelling on our fears, Paul said, “Be real with God. He knows how you feel, but He wants you to open up to Him. Expose your heart to Him, Spill your guts!” It’s amazing what happens when we stop telling God what we think He wants to hear and start being honest enough to tell Him the truth in all its ugliness. Tell Him about your anxiety – everything! Bitterness, hatred, insecurity, fear, guilt, shame, even your mistrust of Him. Offload!

When you have got rid of all the rubbish, something awesome happens – peace that transcends understanding replaces all the garbage you have offloaded onto God. It’s an exchange. You have given to Jesus all the trash He died for, and He’s taken it from you and given you the priceless gift of peace. And guess what? What was so big before has shrunk to nothing because it’s no longer your problem.

(I am indebted to Andy Stanley in his DVD series called “He’s Still Got the Whole World in His Hands” for a fresh understanding of these verses).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.