Spiritual Stability, Part 4: Thankful Prayer (Philippians 4:6b–7) John MacArthur

Some of you know that a week ago, Patricia  and I had the privilege of being on a ship   and we were sailing up to Alaska. It was  planned by The Master’s Communication,   our radio and tape ministry. We had about 270  people on this ship who were there because   they wanted to study God’s Word in the beauty of  God’s creation. And so as we sailed along through   Alaska’s inside passage in southeast – area of  Alaska, we were teaching the Word of God. We had   services each day and we had time in the Word and  great fellowship as we shared those days together. These are people who come from all across America  who are really a part of our radio ministry.   We had a number of our dear friends from  Grace Church with us as well. But we made some   marvelous new friends. About two days into  the trip, we made friends with some people,   a couple who were across the hall from us, and  had occasion to sit down and hear their testimony,   how that they had been involved in Christless life  for a number of years and four years ago had come   to faith in Jesus Christ, and after having come to  faith in Jesus Christ, they floundered around in   the wrong kind of teaching and finally got  in His grace, got them plugged into sound   Bible study, and more recently they started  listening to “Grace To You” and getting tapes.

And they just came on the cruise because  they wanted to meet me and to find out if   there was a way in which they could even grow more   in their Christlikeness. Just two hungry,  hungry hearts. This couple was from Colorado.   And so we shared some brief fellowship with  them during the week, and they were a great   encouragement because of their zeal for the Lord.  They told me their daughter would be coming to The   Master’s College next fall and how thrilled and  excited they were, having visited the school. On Friday as I sat down for an evening  meal, it was about 8:00 when we were   able to eat our dinner, and we sat down and  one of the stewards came to me and he said,   “Sir, you must come immediately.” And I said,  “Well, why?” And he was Indonesian and so I wasn’t   able clearly to understand what he was trying  to say but he just said, “You must come,” that   much he could say, and so I said, “Fine,” and I  excused myself and I followed him. And he took   me down into the stern in the whole of that  massive, 45,000-ton ship to the infirmary.   And I walked through the doors of the  infirmary, and I saw an amazing scene going on.

That infirmary is there for emergencies while  at sea, usually sort of heavily involved with   people who are seasick or dizzy or have some minor  accident or whatever. But when I walked in there,   I was immediately informed by the doctor, the  emergency doctor that was there on the ship, that   there were three major heart attacks going on and  three patients near death in critical condition.   And there were three nurses, emergency room  nurses, who were moving as rapidly as they   could move between these three rooms, taking  care of these three serious heart patients.   There was not enough monitoring  equipment to handle them, and so   I volunteered the services of a medical doctor  friend of mine who was with us. Went upstairs,   got him from his dinner, and he came down and  sat and manually monitored one of these patients. One of them was this gentleman that was across the  hall that I had met, a very dear and gracious man   with a great name, Thaddeus. And I went  in and, of course, the doctor said to me,   “You know, he’s nearly dead and we’re trying to  save him.” And he said, “I believe strongly in   the power of the mind, so you get in there and you  strengthen him.” So I went in the room and I took   his hand and I began to pray for him, and his wife  was praying and pleading with the Lord as she was   by his side. She exhibited great faith and great  trust in God. And then some others came down,  

Jim Rickard was there and Don Hescott and some  others who were with us there, Mel Hankinson,   our coach at the college, and there was this vigil  going on and some of the wives came down, and   people were praying for this dear man and for  his life, which was hanging in the balance. Well, of course, they injected him with the  things that they do, lidocaine and morphine,   and they were giving him oxygen and endeavoring  to stabilize his very, very unstable heart.   He had had two prior heart surgeries,  so he had a very unstable heart.   And now it was threatening his very life. Well, after there was some stabilizing and his  color began to come back, God was gracious and he   passed the crucial point where they really thought  they were going to lose him. The doctor whispered   to me in the hall that they didn’t think he was  going to make it. And so he came through that.   It was kind of interesting, the doctor said to  me, “Look,” he said, “you had a good effect on   this guy. Go next door to the next guy and pray  with him.” And so I went next door and I said   to his wife, this lady who was sitting there,  and I said, “I am a minister and I just would   like to pray for your husband.” I said, “I’m just  wondering, do you have any religious background or   what is your relationship to the Lord?”  And she said, “Oh, we’re Methodist.” And I said, “Oh, do you believe your husband is  trusting in Christ for his salvation?” She said,  

“Oh yeah, all that good stuff.  We believe all that good stuff.”   And I realized that she didn’t  know what was really going on,   but I went in and I talked to him for a few  minutes and I told him I’d be praying for him,   and amazingly enough, he started to get better.  This was very, very significant, I think. He   started to get better and the third heart attack  patient was the one that my friend, the medical   doctor, was personally monitoring and praying  for himself, and he improved and stabilized. Well, all of this is very important  pre-evangelism for the doctor,   who is, you know, watching all this going on   and assessing us. He said, “You know, most of the  time, I’ll throw people out in a situation like   this because I have to tend to all of them because  they’re all in a state of disarray because of the   anxieties.” But he said, “I want you all to  stay and just keep doing what you’re doing.” Well, after Thaddeus had become stabilized and  the whole time he was fighting for his life,   I was praying with him and talking with him  and he was saying to me, “Don’t worry, John,   it’s all right, don’t worry, it’s all right,  everything is fine, the Lord is in control.”   And he was saying to his wife, “Now, dear,  you know we’ve got to stand with John and   if I’m gone in heaven, you’ve got to stand with  him.” “Yes, dear, I’ll stand with him and we’ll”   – and she would say yes to  everything that he would say.   And finally, the nurse came in that had been  attending to him and he said something to her and   she leaned down and lifted up his oxygen mask and  he said, “Mary, do you know the Lord?” And she,  

wanting not to distress him said, “Yes.” Later  conversations indicated that perhaps she didn’t. And then he called the doctor and he wanted  to speak to the doctor and the doctor came in   and he began to evangelize the doctor and give  him the gospel and ask him if he was saved.   It was really remarkable. And then he called  me over and he wanted to talk to me, and he had   some exhortation for me to remain faithful in the  ministry, and he said, “You know, I want you to   take the material that you’ve done on the Lordship  of Christ and I want you to put it on videotape   and I want you to broadcast that across America.  That is the message that this nation needs.” And   he was getting pretty excited, so he was just –  he was functioning mentally and from his spiritual   perceptions on all cylinders, even though he was  nearly dead. He at one point went into shock and   the doctor called me in the room to rub his legs,  and so we had an all-night vigil, as it turned   out. And he was busy evangelizing and making  major plans for the future of the ministry that   his wife was going to have to carry out if he was  gone or he was going to carry out if he remained.

And the marvelous thing about it was that he was  so spiritually stable. Here he was at the greatest   crisis of his life, a man only 52 years old, at  the greatest crisis of his life in total peace,   total calm, tranquility of heart, ready to meet  Christ, content that the Lord had allowed this to   happen, very concerned about the salvation of  everybody there, very concerned that I remain   faithful to the Lord, that his wife covenant with  him that she would help support the ministry,   totally at rest before the Lord. And  he even said to me later on, he said,   “It’s so good that all of this happened,  God’s purpose was brought through to me.” And by the way, God was gracious and the captain  of the ship decided to run at full speed,   so he fired the ship at full speed, which  they don’t like to do for a couple of reasons,   one being that it’s hard on the engine,  two being when you’re winding your   way through the islands of the inside  passage, it can get pretty interesting.   And we were down there hearing the churning  of these great engines all night long.

We stayed with him until – through the whole  night. And in the morning got off into the   ambulance and went to the hospital with him. And  they got him in the hospital and I stayed and   missed my bus, missed my plane, everything, but  felt like I couldn’t leave because he insisted   that I stay and pray with him and fellowship  with him, and it was really incredible. Yesterday   was the first day I could talk to him on the  phone. He’s feeling much better now, everything   is stabilized, he’s on the way to recovery, and  he’ll be heading home next week and he’s really   praising the Lord. And as soon as he gets his  strength, he wants to come out here and spend   some time fellowshipping with me and planning  how God can use his life in a greater way. But it was wonderful to see this man’s stability,  and the doctor could see it. The doctor could see   the unique trust that he had, the strength that  he had. During the middle of the night at one   particular point, a few of us men were standing  around – Don will remember this – and he began   to point at everybody’s stomach, the doctor.  The doctor was quite a specimen, and I think he   was probably in his late fifties, about six foot  two, weighed about 215, had about a 30-inch waist.   He was really something. He trained underwater  scuba paramedics and parachute paramedics for   rescues at sea and flew across the Yukon territory  in the winter, landing on a ski plane to treat the   tribes of Indians. Really a rough guy, just  amazing guy. But anyway, he began to point   at everybody’s stomach and say, “You’ve got to  get rid of that, you’ve got to get rid of that,   you’ve got to get rid of that.” He said, “See  all these people here, this is what happens,   you see. You’re 40 percent higher risk if  you have that.” And he gave this speech.

And after a little while I went up to him –  by now we’d become friends because we’ve been   kind of working together there – and I said to  him, “Doc,” I said, “you know how concerned you   are about our physical condition?” He said,  “Yes, sir.” I said, “That’s how concerned I   am about your spiritual condition.” And he  hit me, said, “Fair enough, fair enough.”   So he said, “Let’s talk about it, let’s  talk about it. I want to tell you about my   spiritual pilgrimage.” And so he did. And he said,  “I’m still in process, I’m still in process.”   We had a great talk. And by this time now,  he is the happy recipient of a box of tapes   which have, no doubt, arrived at his place.  But the thing that was so encouraging to me was   the spiritual stability that was demonstrated  by Thaddeus as a testimony to that man,   the strength that he demonstrated, the strength  that his wife demonstrated, the strength of the   others who were there. And afterwards, he  commented to me quite at length about that.

All of us, I think, would  like to be able to face death,   to face the most difficult circumstance of our  life, with spiritual stability, wouldn’t we?   I mean we would like to think that we have the  strength to do that. How can we be spiritually   stable in the very most trying times? I believe  the answer is in Philippians 4. Let’s turn to it. We’re studying the 4th chapter of Philippians, and  we’re learning about spiritual stability – what it   takes to be strong in the trying times, times of  great temptation, times of great trial, times of   persecution, times of great loss in our families,  times of confusion, times of distress and illness.   How can we be spiritually strong? How can  we have that stability that looks death   right in the eye and doesn’t flinch and doesn’t  waver and doesn’t equivocate and doesn’t doubt?   How can we have that kind of calm, that  kind of contentment, that kind of peace   in the midst of grave difficulty? I  think every Christian hungers for that.   And that is precisely why every one of us should  learn the great truths in this 4th chapter.

Now, the key is in verse 1. Remember now  our key phrase, and this is part four in   our study of these first nine verses, the  key phrase is: Stand firm in the Lord.   Stand firm in the Lord. That’s what the apostle  Paul is really after with the Philippians.   He wants them to be strong. He wants them  to be rooted and grounded. He wants them to   act like men, to be courageous and bold  and strong as they stand for the Lord.   Then you’ll notice the little word “so.”  “So stand firm.” That means “thus” or “in   this way” or “here’s how I want you to stand  firm, here are the components of a firm life,   here’s what it takes to be spiritually stable  against everything that can be thrown at you.” Now, as we start in verse 2, we begin to  see the principles of spiritual stability.   The first one – and this is by way of review. The  first thing that is required to be spiritually   stable is to be in an environment of peace  or an environment of love in the fellowship.   You are to be a peacemaker, cultivating peace in  the fellowship of love. And I won’t go back over   that point, except to say verses 2 and 3 call  for harmony in the church. Why? Because loving,   peaceful harmony is a stabilizer. When you are  in an environment of harmony and an environment   of love and an environment of peace in the  church, you are stabilized by that environment.

On the other hand, discord, disunity, chaos,  division in the church will always produce great   insecurity, and it will destabilize  people. We went into that in detail.   So the first thing that must be cultivated  if you’re to be a stable Christian   is you are to cultivate peace in the  fellowship of love. In other words,   you are to enjoy the unity of the church, you are  to do everything you can to be a peacemaker so   that in the peace of the church and in the loving  bond of the church, you find spiritual strength. Second – the second element in spiritual  stability is maintaining a spirit of joy.   Verse 4 says that we are to “Rejoice in the Lord  always, and again I say rejoice.” And this joy   is based upon our relationship with the Lord, not  our circumstances. We are to rejoice in the Lord.   In other words, our joy is because of our  privileged, permanent union with the Lord.   It transcends circumstances. It transcends  difficulties, trials, temptations, persecutions,   or whatever. We must cultivate that deep-down  joy that comes when we understand, contemplate,   and live in the light of a privileged  union with the living Lord Jesus Christ.

So spiritual stability comes, then, to those who  are experiencing peace and love in the fellowship.   It comes to those who have maintained a spirit of  joy no matter what the difficulty is because they   can focus on their relationship with the Lord,  which is always a cause for joy no matter what   difficulty comes. Thirdly, spiritual stability  requires learning to accept less than you deserve,   learning to accept less than you are due.  And here is the spiritual grace of humility.   This is contentment. Verse 5 says, “Let your  forbearing spirit be known to all men.” That   means your contentment, your humble graciousness.  It’s the idea that you expect nothing, you demand   nothing. And if you expect nothing and demand  nothing, and if you rightly assess your sinfulness   and know you deserve nothing, then you don’t mind  when you get nothing. That’s the bottom line.   That’s the essence of humility. But if I  wrongly assess my worthiness and assume   that I am worthy of much and deserve much, if  I don’t get much, I’m very upset and unstable.

But in true humility, when I have no  demands and I seek nothing for myself   and I know I deserve nothing for myself, I  will never be disappointed when I get nothing   for myself and when I am mistreated. You can be  spiritually stable in the most difficult time,   when you are hated, when you are despised,  when you are rejected, when you are persecuted,   if you understand that as an unworthy sinner  you don’t deserve anything anyway, and you   should be grateful for the grace of God, which  is yours, and not expect anything beyond that. Then fourthly, and last time we noted this in some  detail, spiritual stability demands resting on a   confident faith in the Lord. It demands resting  on a confident faith in the Lord. Verse 5 says,   “The Lord is near;” verse 6 says, “be  anxious for nothing.” That’s sequential.   We’re talking about here “near,”  eggus, in the sense of space,   if we can use that as a designation, as opposed  to time. It is true that the Lord is near in the   sense of His second coming, but that’s not really  the priority here. The Lord is near in terms of   His presence. And because the Lord is near, we’re  not anxious for anything. So spiritual stability,   then, is predicated on a confident faith  in the Lord. That’s the bottom line.

Remember what we’ve been saying?   The way you handle problems, temptations, trials,  difficulties, is a reflection of your view of God.   If you understand the Lord and who He is and  all His power and all His promise and all His   resources and purposes and plans toward you  and you also understand that He’s always near,   then where’s the cause for anxiety?  What are you going to be anxious about? If you understand that God is sovereign, God is  loving, if you understand that God is in control   of everything in your life for His glory and your  good, if you understand that nothing is beyond the   purview of God’s control, if you understand that  He’s orchestrating everything for eternal purpose   and you can rest in that confident faith,  then you’re going to be stable in the most   serious times. In fact, Thaddeus was  saying, “God has a purpose in this,   this is the Lord’s doing, God has a purpose  in this. We must see the Lord’s purpose.”   That is exactly right. That kind of faith  will hold you through the gravest difficulty.

The Psalmist really extols God as the strong  protector and emphasizes his faith in many of   the Psalms, but perhaps none more strongly and  firmly than Psalm 31 where he writes, “In Thee,   O Lord, I have taken refuge, let me never  be ashamed. In Thy righteousness deliver me,   incline Thine ear to me, rescue me quickly, be  Thou to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to   save me, for Thou art my rock and my fortress,  for Thy namesake Thou will lead me and guide me.   Thou will pull me out of the net which they have  secretly laid for me, for Thou art my strength.   Into thy hands I commit my spirit. Thou  hast ransomed me, O Lord God of truth.”   In other words, “You’re true to  what You say and I trust in You.”   That confident faith is the bottom line  in your ability to deal with difficulty. When people have difficulties that they can’t  solve, when they get into problems that debilitate   them and raise their anxiety level and cause all  kinds of personal trauma, the right answer isn’t   “You need to go to someone who can talk about  your problem.” That is not the right answer.   The right answer is “You need to better understand  the God who is sovereign over your problem.”   That is the answer. It is a fallacy to assume  that some kind of careful human analysis of   the problem is going to provide the solution. The  solution is to understand “I am a fallen person,  

I live in a fallen world, it is cursed and I bear  the mark of that curse in my own fallen flesh.   This is what is to be expected. I will rest in  the confident faith that my God is sovereign over   all this fallenness to effect His own eternal  purposes.” That’s the solution to the problem,   that perspective. An adequate knowledge of God is  essential in the matter of spiritual stability. The Scripture, for example, is the revelation  of God so that in knowing Scripture,   we know God. In knowing God, we  can predict how He is acting,   we can predict what His purposes are and  thus be content. In fact, in Ephesians 6,   when the believer gets into intense spiritual  combat with the forces of the enemy, spiritual   wickedness in the heavenlies, principalities,  and powers, when we’re in hand-to-hand battle   with demons, it says that our feet are shod  with the preparation of the gospel of peace.   The feet of a Roman soldier had to be prepared  with something and they wore a hobnail boot.

This boot was leather and nails were driven  through from the inside. Those nails would   grip the ground like a football or a baseball or  a track shoe would grip the ground in athletics,   only in that particular situation, you were  in hand-to-hand combat for life and death. It   wasn’t a game; it was real. And so they had these  boots that they were able to anchor in the soil   and not slip and slide and thus cause  a great amount of vulnerability. Now, what Paul says is that what makes you stand  firm, what anchors your feet, is the gospel of   peace. “What do you mean by that, Paul?” “What  I mean is that you are a participant in the good   news that you are at peace with God.” Another way  to say that, “God’s on your side.” What anchors   you in battle is the confidence that God is on  your side. He’s not your enemy; He’s your friend,   He’s your resource, He’s your power. So I am  anchored in spiritual battle by the confidence   that I am at peace with God; therefore, God is  at peace with me; therefore, God is on my side   to be my defender, as the Psalmist said, my  rock, my strong defender. That’s stability.   You can be stable in any situation if you  understand your God and you understand His   sovereign control and His sovereign purposes and  His great omnipotence that can overpower anything.

Now, let me just digress for a  moment to share a burden on my heart.   One of the curses on this culture, this Christian  culture in which we live in America today,   is really the reflection of traditional Arminian  theology. Traditionally, through the years,   the Arminian theology and the Calvinistic  theology have sort of been at opposite poles.   Arminian theology is distinct from Calvinistic  theology in terms of principle. For example,   traditional Reformed theology that we  call Calvinism says God is sovereign.   Arminian theology, in effect, says man is  sovereign. That’s the primary difference. Now, Arminian theology is pervasive in our  culture today. It’s pervasive in the church,   and even in some churches that wouldn’t say  they believe in it, it’s still pervasive.   More subtly so, but it’s there. Arminian theology  says that man is sovereign. God is hopeful   and God is helpful, but man is sovereign. You’ve  got to find it in yourself to come to Christ,   you’ve got to find it in yourself to stay  with Christ, you’ve got to find it in yourself   to accomplish your spiritual goals,   to win your spiritual victories, with the  knowledge that God is hopeful that you will   because He’d like to see you in heaven if  you could work it out and He’s also helpful.  

Given the right conditions on your part,  He’ll come along and give you some assistance. So what happens in this kind of theology?  Well, the first thing that happens is   that a man may profess Christ,  think himself to be a Christian,   and never experience the shattering  of his own confidence in himself.   In other words, the typical Arminian  person – and I don’t say that in the   racial sense but the theological  sense – a typical Arminian person,   a person who believes that salvation is  something he chooses to do on his own,   is going to come to salvation and say,  “Wasn’t I” – what? – “smart to do that?”   I have heard a testimony recently, as recently  as a few months ago, where a guy said,   “I had the sense to commit my life  to Christ.” Oh, you did, did you?   So what happens is this person is now professing  Christ without ever experiencing the shattering   of his own confidence in himself. He believes he  has the power to choose salvation. He believes   he has the power, by the way, to unchoose  it. He also has the impotence to lose it.

Can you imagine facing death? Lying on a  bed and realizing that you had the power   to choose Christ if you wanted or thinking that  to be true and you had the power to lose Christ   if you failed and wondering how in the world  you were facing God at that particular moment?   Can you imagine battling in your heart  the feeling that you might be saved or   you might not be saved if you committed  too many sins and got disqualified?   There wouldn’t be a lot of security in  that – there might be a lot of anxiety.   But, you see, this particular kind of person who  believes that they choose to be saved on their own   and it’s sort of all up to them  to stay saved and to fight their   spiritual battles has never experienced  the shattering of confidence in himself.   Therefore, he does not understand  what it means to totally trust God. Furthermore, because he knows God in reality only  as hopeful and helpful rather than sovereign,   he does not totally trust God. Consequently,  he lives with tremendous anxiety.   He doesn’t understand a sovereign God;  therefore, he doesn’t understand sovereign   grace. He doesn’t understand the total divine  working power of the eternal God on his behalf.   He doesn’t understand that he was chosen by  God, that he was redeemed by God, that he is   kept by God, that he’ll be glorified by God, and  that every trial of his life is under the total   control of God. If his trouble is a result of his  sin, then it’s chastening to make him perfect.  

If his trouble is not the result of his sin, it  still fits the purpose of God for his own good   and God’s glory in some way that he may at that  moment not understand. But it’s all in God’s plan. But see, if you don’t ever understand the  shattering of your own confidence in yourself,   which then abandons you to God, then you’re not  going to totally trust God. And that’s why I   say what I’ve been saying all along: If you are  going to be stable in the tough times of life,   it is born out of an absolute distrust  of yourself and a total trust in the   sovereign God of grace and power. And  if you trust that God, you stand stable. So believers who really know their God can say,  “My God is in this; my God has His purposes.”   Spurgeon once said, “If you believe that  everything turns on the free will of man,   you will naturally have man as the principle  figure in your landscape,” end quote.   Now, you’re really stuck with a dilemma  because you know how weak man is   and you know how fickle man is, so you  have every reason to be full of anxiety.   People with right theology  shouldn’t have anxiety problems.   People who believe the truth – I really believe  that this pervasive sort of Arminian theology that  

exists in the church today is the precursor to all  this anxiety of people who still believe they’ve   got to orchestrate their life and it’s sort of on  their own. They’ve got to try to do it with the   help of some well-meaning people who’ve got some  formulas that might work. This is foolishness. One manifestation of it is this new thing  about binding Satan, binding demons.   What are you doing – people running around  saying, “I bind you, Satan,” “I command you,   Satan.” I hear them doing that all the time. I  read it in books, I see it on the television,   I hear it on Christian radio and  preachers binding Satan. Listen,   let me tell you two things. Number  one, Satan doesn’t listen to you.   What do you think you’re doing? You don’t have  any power to tell him to do one thing. And why in   the world would he do it anyway? Who are you? You  can’t even get your kids to do what you tell them.   Who are you kidding telling Satan  what to do, telling demons what to do?

Do you know even Michael the archangel in Jude  wouldn’t bring a railing accusation against   Satan. That was territory he didn’t  even belong in. That’s foolishness.   Who do you think you are? You see, that comes  out of a theology that says man is powerful,   and that is again an Arminian theology that does  not have the shattering of man’s confidence in   himself. I’ve got nothing to say to demons.  I’ve got nothing to say to Satan. In fact,   there’s no illustration in the Bible in the New  Testament that anybody ever talked to Satan.   Nobody goes around, “Satan, get away,” “Satan,   you do this,” “Satan, I’m commanding you”  – you don’t do that, that’s ridiculous. Furthermore, what it tells me is you must be very  powerful because the One who does have control of   Satan is whom? God. And if you’re running around  taking over for Him, boy, you’ve got an exalted   view of yourself. You better get back on track,  my friend. You better have a shattering of all   confidence in your own flesh and total trust in  a sovereign God, and if you’ve got a complaint   with the powers of darkness, then go to the One  who is over them, and that’s our living God.   This is absolute folly on the  part of these people who do this.   See, they don’t understand the weakness of man,  they think they’ve got some kind of great power.   They run around throwing this weight around as if  all the demons were scurrying at their command.   Foolish. They neither understand the  weakness of man nor do they understand  

the great power of a sovereign God. They  play silly games of a weak theology.   Spiritual stability comes to those who  understand their God and understand   that He is near and that everything is  in His plan, and there’s no anxiety. So spiritual stability is the result of  strong peace in the fellowship of love,   the result of a rejoicing heart in all  situations because of our relationship to Christ,   the result of humble acceptance of every  difficulty and inequity because we know we   don’t deserve anything anyway, and the result  of a strong confident faith in our great God. Number five – this fits. We’ve already  talked about the virtues: peace,   love, joy, humility, faith. Here’s another  virtue of a stable Christian: gratitude.   This point is spiritual stability calls for  reacting to problems with thankful prayer.   Reacting to problems with thankful prayer. Verse  6: “In everything by prayer and supplication   with thanksgiving let your requests be made  known to God,” and we’ll stop at that point.   Here is the antidote to worry,  here is relief from anxiety.

By the way, this section does not  emphasize the theology of prayer;   it emphasizes the importance of  prayer and the attitude of prayer.   It’s not really a study of the theology of prayer.  There are three different words for prayer used   here. They’re translated prayer, supplication,  and request. They all have to do with petitions,   and the assumption is that when you get into a  problem, you’re going to cry out to God, right?   I mean that’s natural. You’re  going to cry out to God. But what Paul is saying is, instead of crying  out to God in your difficulty with doubt,   with questionings, with dissatisfaction,  with discontent, blaming God,   cry out to God with what attitude? Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving. Well, you say, “Why?” Well, because   you know that He’s the God of promise who has  promised that nothing’s ever going to come in   your life that’s too much for you to bear, that  He is the God of promise who is working all things   for your good. He is the God of promise who is  causing you to suffer a while in order that you   might be made perfect, that you might be settled,  that you might be established, 1 Peter 5:10.

In other words, you see in all the  difficulty God’s purpose and you thank Him,   and you thank Him for the available power you know  is there. And you thank Him for the promises which   He never will violate instead of questioning God,  doubting God, sort of shaking your fist at God.   He says “in everything.” That’s like 1  Peter 5:7, “casting all your care on Him.”   “In everything.” When you pray and supplicate  and request to God, in the process of doing that,   do it with thanksgiving, thankful for His  purposes, thankful for His providence,   thankful for His power, thankful for His  promise, thankful for His perfecting work,   thankful for the hope of relief, thankful for  the hope of glory, thankful that it is His Will,   thankful that He’s doing exactly what He wants  in your life to accomplish what He wants,   thankful for past mercies that are  the foundation of future blessings.

You see, prayer should  always be with thankfulness.   This immediately releases me from fear and  worry because I see God’s purpose in it.   I never question His purpose. I know my  God is sovereign. I know He orchestrates   all things for my good – Romans 8:28 – and  His glory. I know that. Whatever may come,   He can turn to His own praise and to my growth  and so I’m thankful. I’m thankful that He knows   the problem. I’m thankful that He can deal with  the problem. I’m thankful for His knowledge,   His power, His promise – all of that. All three of  those words, by the way, refer to specific direct   requests – prayer, supplication, request. They  all assume that in difficulty, you go to God,   but the issue here is the thankful  heart. And if you really know your God   and you can thank Him in the midst of all  of this, you have spiritual stability. I’m – this is so basic, folks. I watch people who  are worried and fretting and anxious and troubled   about everything, and the bottom line is they do  not trust that everything is under the control   of God for their good and His glory. They can’t  handle that. Either they don’t understand their   God or the sin in their life has caused them  to have a weak faith in the God they do know   to be a sovereign God. If you understand that my  God shall supply all your needs, if you understand  

that God knows everything in your life and cares  about it, if you understand that God has the power   for every difficulty, if you understand that  God is perfecting you to be like Christ, if you   understand that nothing escapes God and nothing  is outside of His tolerance and His purposes, then   why would you fear and be anxious about anything?  I mean get in touch with the reality of it. Now, what is the result of a thankful heart?  Verse 7. Verse 7: “And the peace of God   which surpasses all comprehension shall guard  your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I   would venture to say that everybody with a problem  would like to find peace, right? We’d like to find   tranquility, we’d like to find contentment, some  kind of inner calm in the midst of the difficulty.   Would you please note that that’s  precisely what verse 7 promises?   Now, I need to just give you a  little bit of a thought here.   In the middle of difficulty, when you’re  pleading and supplicating and praying to God,   and you have a thankful heart, the answer is not  the issue. Did you hear that? The answer is not   the issue. It doesn’t say that if you will pray  and you will supplicate and you will request to   God with thanksgiving, God will answer your  prayer the way you want. Doesn’t say that.   It says nothing about the answer. It says  whatever the answer may be and whenever  

the answer may come, God will give you what?  Peace. That’s the issue – that’s the issue. What is the peace of God? Well, it’s the  peace which God possesses and gives to us.   It’s inward peace, Godlike peace given to us.   That’s what provides the calm. Would you please  note again it is a gift from God to one who prays   thankfully? This is building to a spiritual  crescendo. As you exist in an environment of love   and peace, be a peacemaker, as you focus  on your relationship to the living Christ,   as you have a humble heart, not demanding  anything, as you begin to know your God,   understand your God, and trust your God so that  in the middle of grave difficulties when you’re   pouring out your prayers before that God, you can  do so with thanksgiving. God, in response to that   kind of heart attitude, dispenses His peace.  That’s the promise. He grants you His peace.

Listen to Isaiah 26:3: “The steadfast of mind Thou  wilt keep in perfect peace because he trusts in   Thee.” That’s it. You trust in God, you get  a steadfast mind, God keeps you in peace.   That’s how to face life with stability. So much wrong advice. So much trust in man’s  ability. So much distrust in God’s sovereignty   that we have sent people down the wrong path.   Beloved, I don’t care what the problem is in  your life. I don’t care what the difficulty   is that creates anxiety, psychosis, neurosis –  whatever it is. If you understand who your God is,   if you can take every issue of life with a  thankful heart as you pray and ask him for   deliverance, in the midst of it all, the promise  of the Word is that God will give you peace.   Now, what kind of peace is it? Please notice verse  7. It is peace which surpasses all comprehension.   What does that mean? It’s  not human, it’s not rational,   it transcends intellectual powers, it transcends  analysis, it transcends man’s insights,   it transcends man’s understanding,  man’s definition, man’s explanation.   It is not human. You don’t go to man to get  it. Did you hear that? You go to God to get it.

There’s no counselor in the world that can give  it to you. There’s no therapy in the world that   can give it to you. There’s no technique in the  world that can give it to you. It is a gift of God   to a believer who so confidently understands and  trusts his God that he is thankful in the trial,   and out of his thanksgiving, God responds  by granting him peace – supernatural peace. Boy, are there a lot of cheap  substitutes being offered for that today.   It is beyond any approach that  attempts to reason your troubles away.   It is superior to human scheming, superior to  human devices, superior to human solutions,   superior to any so-called human security.   I can simply sum it up by saying the real  challenge of Christian living – please note   this because it runs cross-grain to our  culture – the real challenge of Christian   living is not to see if you can eliminate  every uncomfortable issue in your life.   The real issue of Christian living is to  see if you can trust your infinitely holy   sovereign and powerful God in the midst of  every situation and have His perfect peace.

People are running around trying to create  a perfect world so they’ll be happy.   They don’t like the way they look.  They don’t like the way they’re shaped.   They don’t like the way their mother treated them.  They don’t like the way their father treated them.   They were abused. They were misunderstood. They  weren’t treated properly. They don’t like the   way their husband treats them. They don’t like  the way their wife treats them. They don’t like   the way their kids are turning out. They don’t  like the place they live. They hate their job.   And out of all of these things  come all these petty anxieties.   Sooner we should learn we are fallen  people, we live in a fallen world –   that’s the way it’s going to be. And the great  reality is that our glorious sovereign God has   overruled our fallenness. It says it – doesn’t  it? – in John 16:33: “In this world you shall   have tribulation but be of good cheer”  – what? – “I have overcome the world.” When are we going to start living on  the supernatural plane and accepting   that we live in a fallen world and wait for the  overcoming God to do His perfect work in us here   and someday in the glory to come? I must accept  the fact that I’m a fallen person living with   fallen people in a fallen world and there are  manifestations of that fallenness all over the   place. There will never be the tranquility  I would like circumstantially in this world,   but I will find my peace from God as I  entrust everything confidently into His care.

Now, notice what this peace does, verse 7.   “The peace of God which surpasses all  comprehension shall guard your hearts and your   minds in Christ Jesus.” Guard you from what? From  anxiety, from doubt, from fear, from distress.   This is a great truth. That term “shall  guard” is a military term. It literally   means shall keep guard over, shall protect. The  Philippians lived in a garrison town where Roman   soldiers were stationed to watch out for the  Roman interests in that part of their world.   They knew what a sentry was, what a guard  was, what a garrison was – a protector.   And what Paul says – look, he says, if you know  your God and you know your God is near and you   confidently trust your God in the midst of any  trial, knowing that it is effecting His purpose,   and then being thankful in the midst of that  for the purpose of God even in the difficulty,   you are granted the peace of God, that peace  will guard you and protect you from anxiety,   difficulty, distress,  dissatisfaction, discontent, doubt.

Bunyan had a beautiful picture of this. You  remember in Holy War, he has the picture of   the city called Mansoul, and it’s representative  of the soul of man. And he has the prince, Prince   Emmanuel who, of course, is Christ, and then he  has this special character called Mr. Godspeace.   And Mr. Godspeace is in the town of Mansoul,  he’s on patrol, and his job is to guard the town.   Bunyan writes, “Nothing was to  be found but harmony, happiness,   joy, and health so long as Mr.  Godspeace maintained his office.”   And Bunyan talks about how the town Mansoul  grieved Prince Emmanuel. Prince Emmanuel left   and Mr. Godspeace laid down his commission   and chaos resulted. That’s what  happens in the Christian life. When Christ is out of our thoughts, when we  no longer see things in the light of how He   views them, when we no longer are under, as  it were, the confidence in His sovereignty,   then all of a sudden Mr. Godspeace doesn’t  function anymore and we’re left with troubled   minds and troubled hearts. But where we  have that confident trust in the Lord,   so much so that we can thank Him  in the midst of our petitions,   then we have Mr. Godspeace on duty, and he  is the protector of the peace of our souls.  

That couldn’t be a clearer perspective  for all of us to understand. Now, why does he mention hearts and minds? Some  say, “Well, there’s a distinction.” I think not.   I don’t think he’s trying to delineate between  the heart and the mind; he’s just trying to make   a comprehensive statement. We could say the heart  is the seat of personhood and the mind is the seat   of thought, and whatever, but I think he’s just  saying your hearts and minds in a general sense,   saying he’ll guard your whole  inner person, this Mr. Godspeace.   He’ll guard them in Christ Jesus. Because you’re  in union with Christ, you have this guardianship. So – spiritual stability. How can you  face the inevitable day of your death?   What if you had a coronary? What if you’re told  that you have cancer? What if one of your children   is tragically taken from you? What about the  difficulties that you face right now in your   life, how do you face them with spiritual  stability? How do you stand your ground?

First of all, it requires, I believe, the  stability of the church. I believe we all   have to hold each other up. And where you have  a strong, unified, peaceful, loving church,   you find great strength in the individual members.  Secondly, you must maintain a spirit of joy,   and that means constantly cultivating your  relationship to the living Christ so it’s the   source of joy for you all the time, no matter  what may be going on around you. Thirdly, you   have to learn to be humble and not expect anything  because we don’t deserve anything anyway and not   feel like you got cheated or dealt a dirty deal  or that God gave you the short end of the stick,   we who are so utterly unworthy of anything. And  then you must rest on a confident faith in the   Lord you understand and trust Him to be consistent  with Himself as revealed in Scripture and then   react to your problems with thankful prayer, and  the promise of God is that peace will guard you;   peace, tranquility, contentment. Well,  Paul has a couple of other things to   say but he won’t get to say them until  next week. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Our Father, we thank You for the  confidence we have, confidence in You.   I thank You also for the lack of  confidence we have in ourselves.   We thank You for the shattering  of our own trust in ourselves   that causes us to totally trust in You.  O God, we do commit our lives to You   and we do long to pray with thanksgiving, no  matter how difficult that might be because we   know that You have an overarching purpose that  is coming to pass for our good and Your glory   and thus to know the peace  which You alone can give.   May we live in such tranquility of heart  that the world around us will be as amazed   as that medical doctor was on that ship at  the peace in the heart of a man facing death.   Give us that stability to stand confidently,  joyfully, thankfully, no matter what.   We love You. We entrust ourselves again to  You for the outworking of Your holy purpose   in the Savior’s name. Amen.

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