male announcer: In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on “In Touch,” “How to Protect Our Peace.” Dr. Charles Stanley: When is the last time that you could ever remember experiencing absolute peace in your heart? How long did it last? Why did you lose it? Is that kind of peace something that just comes once in a while in your life, or is it something that is there most of the time? Would you say that your life is characterized by one of peace or would you say it’s rather by disturbance,

anxiety, fretting, caring, sometimes even to the point of being angry over your circumstance? Whatever happened to that peace that you experienced, and you thought this is absolutely wonderful. Could you explain it? Could you determine why you were so peaceful at that moment? Was it something because of your outward circumstances that everything at that moment seems to be in such perfect order in your life? But why did you lose it? And could you have kept it? And can peace really be an attitude and an experience

and a joy in your life that’s there most of the time and not just sometime? Is it only there when you get some spiritual high? Or is it that you just don’t believe that’s the way life is? Have you finally concluded that somehow peace is just something that comes once in a while and certainly in this perturbed world that we live in, peace is a very rare commodity and therefore don’t expect it lest you be totally disappointed in life.

Well, I want to tell you, you don’t have to look at life that way. And I want you to turn if you will to Philippians chapter four. And here is the answer to how to protect that peace. Here’s the answer to understanding what it is and how to protect it, and how you can live in it daily. This is not written by somebody who’s lying on the beach, who’s very wealthy and very prominent, this is written by a man who’s a prisoner.

He’s in a prison in Rome, chained to a Roman soldier twenty-four hours a day. There unjustly accused and there possibly at any moment could lose his life. And yet in these four chapters he writes to the Philippian church, he keeps on talking about joy and rejoicing in the Lord and saying, “Yes, and again I say rejoice.

” And talking about peace. He’s a man who say I have learned that in whatever state I’m in, I’ve learned He says to be content. How could anyone have peace chained to a soldier twenty-four hours a day? And how could anyone have peace just being in prison itself? And how could He be talking about rejoicing when here He is unable to do what the Lord has called him to do around the world? Well here’s the answer.

And if you’re one of those persons at which peace seems to be always just beyond you, I want to tell you how you can find it and I want to tell you how you can keep it. Let’s look, if you will beginning in this fourth chapter, and let’s just start with verse four. And Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

The Lord is near.” And then he says, “Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” What kind of peace is this? Is this real, or is this just some idea? This is real. It is very real.

God would not put in His Word something that’s not real and untrue. He will not place in His Word and make you a promise of something and then not let you have it. It is a matter of choice on our part as to whether we experience and live in peace, or live in this, with a disturbed mind and heart throughout our life.

So, let’s look at the peace that He’s speaking of here and the nature of it, because the very word peace means to bind together something that has been disjointed. To bring it together. Now the Bible says that you and I have peace with God when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior for the forgiveness of our sins.

The moment we do that, believing in the testimony of His Word, believing that our confession and our repentance He will respond to that by forgiving us of our sins, not based on our conduct, behavior or promises, but based on the death of Jesus at Calvary that makes that forgiveness possible. Then, when you and I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, something very wonderful happens in our heart.

And what Paul is speaking of here is a peace, listen, that will be tried often times in life because we live in a world that’s very unpeaceful and warlike. It is not dependent upon any particular circumstance in our life because the peace that He gives is beyond and above our circumstances as He says.

It is the absence of worry and doubt and fear, but it is a very stabilizing, restful kind of peace. Now, somebody says, “Well but you, certainly you ought to be, you’ve gotta be concerned about things. Now there’s a difference being concerned and being anxious. Concern is a caring about things in which you also recognize God has a part in that.

Anxiety is something totally different. So are we gonna be, are we gonna be caring about things? Yes we are. You care about your family, you care about how you look, you care about your work, you care about doing a good job in your life. So, there are those legitimate concerns in life which all of us have. And certainly, our Lord would expect us to.

Nowhere does He tell us to act irresponsible. But we’re to live in peace and we are–we certainly will have cares and concerns in our life. Now, somebody says, “Well, you talk about concern and you talk about anxiety. How am I gonna know that my caring has really become anxiety?” Well, I want to give you three little ideas you might want to just jot down because you can test them on yourself because we all hit those moments in life and we think, “Okay, Lord, how are we gonna deal with this?”

There are three things I’d say about this. Number one, and that is you’ll know that your genuine legitimate concern and caring has slipped over into anxiety when first of all you’re more concerned about what you desire than the will of God. When you’re more concerned about what you want than the will of God, and you–and then what happens is you’re gonna become anxious.

Because if you’re not concerned first of all about the will of God, you’re concerned about your desires, what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna start thinking about how to manipulate your circumstance. What can you change? What can you do, what you cannot do, what are people gonna think, how’s this gonna work? Suppose that happens, suppose this doesn’t happen.

And before long you have become very anxious about the circumstance. So number one, when your concern becomes more about what you want and what you desire than the will of God. A second thing is this. When you find yourself being hurried into making unwise or ill decisions. That is, when you find yourself being shoved, pushed, hurried into making a decision, you have lost your, you have lost your sense of concern and caring.

You’ve moved it, moved over into the anxiety field. And that is God does not want us making unwise decisions. He does not want us making decisions rushed into and shoved and pushed. And, and somebody says to you must do this, you ought to do that, you should do the other. What does God want you to do? What’s the will of God? What is the purpose and plan of God at this moment in your life? What about this circumstance from God’s viewpoint? Listen.

You see, the reason Jesus had such perfect peace all the time, it certainly had nothing to do with His circumstances. The Judaizers were on his case all the time. The reason was this. Jesus was always seeing things from His Father’s perspective. When you and I learn to live in peace, here’s what’ll happen.

We will find ourselves seeing, observing, evaluating our circumstances on the basis of how does the Father see it? Now if I know that He’s omnipotent and has all power, I’m gonna see this as, listen, very much in His control. If I know that He’s omniscient, I’m gonna see this, that He knows every single detail of it, so He, I may have forgotten some things.

I don’t know all the truth and I don’t know all the details but certainly He does. And if I see Him as a loving Father, I know that in this circumstance He’s only going to do what is best for me. He’s only gonna do what’s right and good and best, what pleases Him, honors Him and what’ll bless me.

And so once you begin to understand that, you begin to understand when it moves from concern over into anxiety. And then I think there’s a third reason and that is when we find ourselves being constantly agitated and constantly perturbed about something, you have moved from a genuine concern into anxiety.

What does he say? Don’t be anxious about anything. So if I’m more concerned about what I want than the will of God, I’m headed for trouble. When I find myself being pushed into making a decision and I’m not certain about, not sure about disturbed about, I’m into the anxiety realm. And then, when I find myself constantly agitated and concerned, and you see people get that way.

They somehow can’t make a decision. They don’t know what peace is all about, and when they come to work in the morning, you know how they’re coming–long face, things are bad. They’ve been bad, is bad all night. I woke up in the middle of the night. Bad today, bad yesterday, bad the week before, bad tomorrow.

In other words, you know people who live in the state of agitation and anxiety. Anxiety will kill you! Besides cheating you out of your peace. It isn’t the plan of God, it isn’t the will of God, it isn’t the purpose of God. That’s why, notice, he didn’t says, “Don’t be anxious about several things.

” Ho-ho! He said, “Don’t be anxious about anything.” And I know what people say, you say, “Well now, listen. You mean to tell–” No, remember what we said? We don’t, we’re not talking about escaping reality. We’re not talking about escaping the struggles. We’re not talking about denying the fact that there are difficulties.

We’re talking about being able to view them from the view of the Lord Jesus Christ and protecting our peace. So, the big question is this. How do I protect this peace? How do I–how am I able to live? In the midst of difficulty, trial, heartache, attacks, and accusations and your job and all the things you have to deal with.

Maybe sometimes ill health. How can you–how is it possible to protect our peace? Is it really and truly possible? And I want to tell you, yes, it is. Yes, it is. As I’ve said before, if I were about twenty-one years of age and told you that, here’s what you’d say, “This guy just hasn’t lived.

That’s his problem. I mean, he hasn’t even got his feet wet, twenty-one years of age. I mean, he doesn’t know what the waters of life and the storms of life are all about.” So, you know what? You wouldn’t listen. Because all of us have had enough trials and heartaches and enough anxieties in our life to say, “Look, you’ve gotta give me something that works.

You got to show it to me in the Word. And you gotta show me how it works. And I’ve got to know that it works in your life, or I can’t believe that.” Well, I want to show you something that works. I can guarantee you, this will work, no matter what you’re facing in life. This will work. Listen to what Paul says.

“Be anxious for nothing.” Now remember, that doesn’t mean you escape reality. Doesn’t mean that you retreat from responsibility, doesn’t mean you’re not gonna have any knocks and bruises. Doesn’t mean you’re not gonna have any tests and trials. He says, “But don’t be anxious about it.

” Listen. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything,” not some things, not most things, everything. No matter how little, you see, anxiety often starts with something little, and then it grows. Don’t be anxious about anything. “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

” Now what is He saying? Now watch this or you’ll just run right across this and miss it because you’re gonna say, “Well, it can’t be that simple.” I didn’t say it was simple, I’m just saying what the Apostle Paul said works, it’s practical or He would never have said later on in that chapter, “I’ve learned in every circumstance to be content,” which means I have been able to experience peace no matter what I’ve faced in life.

Now, remember this. There is no promise of peace to people who are living, and outside the will of God. There’s no promise of peace to anybody who’s deliberately, willfully, knowingly disobeying God. So, let’s just put this down to begin with. Here’s the answer but the answer must be prefaced by this.

You’re outside the will of God for your life, you’re not gonna have peace. You living disobediently before God, no peace. You deliberately sinning against God? No peace. You plan to sin against God, no peace. You’re living, listen, you’re living with past guilt and you won’t deal with it, no peace.

You’re angry toward someone, bitter toward someone, hostile toward someone, blaming God for something in your life. No peace. There’s not gonna be any peace until you deal with the issue of obedience in your life. So now what Paul is doing, he’s writing these Christians and he’s complimented them greatly already in the earlier chapters.

And so what he’s about to say, he’s basing this on this truth. He’s basing it on the fact that we choose to live an obedient life, that we choose to live, listen, we choose to live in the will of God. We choose to walk in His ways and His will. And we choose to experience His peace. Now, when we are hit with those things that would naturally, normally cause us to be anxious, we either lose our peace at that moment, or you know what happens? It may wobble us for a second, but we move on in absolute

perfect peace. And Isaiah, he says, “He will keep those in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on Him.” Now watch this. So, what happens when you get hit with something? Bad news, incident, whatever it might be. Listen to what he says. Now watch this. He says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer supplication thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

” Now what is he saying? Now watch this carefully. He’s saying when you are tempted, or suddenly you’re hit with something, and you get that overwhelming sense of, “Oh dear God!” The first thing you do is you lift your heart to the Father and you pray. Now watch what’s happened. What happens is instantly, immediately your mind gets off of what has caused you the trouble and gets it on God.

Now this is the God who is sovereign, in control of everything. This is the God who’s omniscient, knows all about all the details. This is the God who loves you unconditionally. He’s gonna do the best thing. So, what you do, he says, “Don’t be anxious about, in everything, but everything by prayer and supplication.

” Now watch, he uses four different words, all of which refer to prayer but they have a little different, a little different emphasis. First of all he says the word “prayer” here, and notice he says “prayer and supplication.” So, let’s divide them up. First of all, prayer. That word is general prayer.

That’s your general, that’s your praying each day and reading your scriptures, for example, telling, meditating upon the Word of God and so forth. And what he’s saying is this. And this is why I often times bring it to you. One of the best preservers of your peace, a guard for your peace, is your own personal private meditation every day.

And that is talking to the Father about your life, about your schedule for that day. And you see, this is why in the morning before you get out of bed or thereafter pretty soon, you oughta talk to Him about what’s gonna happen today, that is what you know is gonna happen. And then you oughta talk to Him about things you don’t know are gonna happen.

The things that those interruptions in your life, those possible emergencies, those difficult things that you can’t even foresee. Talk to Him about it. And what you’re doing is you’re reminding Him that He’s in control of your schedule today. He’s in control of your life and you can thank Him for what He’s going to do, and you’re trusting Him.

That’s your prayer. Then the second word is “supplication.” Now we’re coming down to things that are very intense, those things that would cause you to feel desperate. Those things that would cause you to cry out to God about. Those things, for example, that would cause you to feel an intense desire to pour out your heart.

Now listen. You can cry out to God without losing your peace. Because there are lots of times I cry out to God about things. I cry out to God if I see specific needs in the ministry. Cry out to God if I’m thinking about some particular nation that I want us to get into. And cry out to God to send us those people who will translate the message in that particular language.

Cry out to God to open a door, whether it’s radio or television. Cry out to God for people, for example, that I love, that I’m concerned about. And so you and I can cry out to God in supplication, in deep concern for people and situations and circumstances, without being thrown into the category of anxiety because we don’t want our way more than we want God’s way.

We’re not pushed into some ill-will decision. None of those kind of things. We’re just crying out to Him. There’s an intensity, there’s an intensity of our plea to the Father. So that’s what he’s talking about in supplication. Then if you’ll notice he says with thanksgiving. Why would he add that in there? Why would he say, you know, with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving? Because thanksgiving, again, gets my mind off of what is trying me at that moment onto God.

And reminding me of what? Reminding me of how He’s blessed in the past. Reminding me of the promises of the present. Reminding me that He’s a God who can and will take care of this situation, this circumstance. And so it’s reminding us. And, and what is it doing? You–listen, you can’t be in the dumps praising God at the same time.

And listen, you can’t be at peace, listen, if you are praising the Father and you are giving Him glory and honor, in those moments what’s happening? You have a sense of peace in your heart because, listen, your mind and heart is God-centered. It’s God-centered. It’s not situation-circumstance-centered.

It’s God-centered. When you and I are God-centered, we’re gonna have peace. So, he says with thanksgiving. Then he says, “Let your requests be made known to God.” And this word simply speaks in terms of specific. Listen, boldly coming to Him, asking for example, he says this is the confidence that you and I have in Him.

That if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. If we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petition we desired of Him. And therefore we can come boldly, confidently, specifically asking Him for a particular request. Listen, with great thanksgiving in our heart for what He has done, what He’s going to do.

Crying out to Him, telling Him the intensity, the concern of our heart, the deep burden we have on our heart for this person or this situation, this circumstance. And lifting them up to Him with absolute confidence. Listen, He says, “You want to protect your peace?” When you get hit with something, the first thing you do, he says, “Don’t be anxious about it.

” He says, “Bring it to God! Bring it to the Father immediately, and you will not lose your peace.” You know what the problem is? We are too earth-centered. We are too earthly minded. We’re so earthly minded, that what happens is when some earthly circumstance develops, we can’t get out of the mud of the earth and get our minds and our hearts up there where they belong and that is, focused on God.

You focused on Him? You’re gonna have peace no matter what. Let me ask you one question. Now listen carefully. Name me one circumstance. You can use all the adjectives you want to. Name me one single circumstance in life. Difficult, trying, hard strenuous, sorrowful, perturbing and penetrating and painful circumstance in life.

Just one that God can’t handle. Hm, not a single solitary one. He can handle it. And Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled.” And Paul put it this way. “Don’t 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 will so garrison your heart around, so cover you and so surround you. Listen, so surround you with a peace that is past all human understanding, it will guard, protect your mind from being allowed to be carried off into anxiety. Your heart from becoming anxious and unruly, in Christ Jesus.

Now his whole key is that last word, “in Christ.” You know what that means? It means this is for believers only. You’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior? That’s not gonna work. Because you see, you don’t seek the Father that way. You don’t have that kind of relationship with Him.

If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior– listen to me carefully. You have all the money, all the position, all the prominence, all the praise, all the position, all the power you want in life and you know what? You’re gonna end up miserable, unhappy, with no peace. There is only one peace-giver, and that’s Jesus.

And the only way you receive His peace is by receiving Himself by faith and the confession of your sins and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Then you have the gift of peace. And the question is this. Do you want to sustain it? Now watch this carefully. Listen to me carefully. I like to put a hole in the top of your head, pour this in, and seal it down real tight so you couldn’t ever away from it.

But I can’t do that. Listen carefully. Peace is a gift that you can enjoy no matter what the circumstance may be. This is why I can stand by the hospital bed with someone who knows they don’t have but a few weeks or maybe a few days to live, and this awesome sense of tranquility, this awesome sense of peace and restfulness on their face.

Not anxiety, but perfect peace. You know why? Because they’ve not allowed their circumstance to penetrate their mind and heart and steal from them what God has given them. It is a decision that you make. Do you want His peace? It’s yours for the asking. But listen, here’s the key. When anxiety hits you, the first response is: Father.

And if you’ll make that your first response, it’ll be like a blip on your emotional heart, but you’ll move on with perfect peace and you’ll not be thrown off base, you’ll not lose your peace, and you will learn just how loving God is in your life. And Father, how grateful we are that You make some things so simple and we try to make them so complicated.

And I just pray that the Holy Spirit will take this message and so apply it to each one of our hearts that, Lord, we would allow You to apply it to our heart. We want to apply it to our heart so that each one of us can test it out to see if it’s real. And we don’t have to worry about being embarrassed, Father, because we know that you don’t teach anything that’s not real.

You’ve not given us any principle that doesn’t work. There are no exceptions to it. There’s no one who’s an exception. And so it fits all of us in some fashion. And I pray that right now, people who are undergoing great turmoil in their lives, full of anxiety, to ring in the hearts, ring in the hands, would understand there is a peace that passes all human understanding that will listen–guard and protect heart and mind.

Father, thank you that every person would be willing to listen and to say, “Yes, Lord. Yes, yes, yes. That’s what I need. That’s what I want.” In Jesus’s name. Amen. ♪♪♪