The world can be a scary place – so many things that strike fear in our hearts. And yet over and over again, God says “Do Not be Afraid.” What does that mean?  How does that work?

Spiders and Snakes

I don’t know about you but as I look around, it seems to me that the world can be a scary place. Take spiders and snakes – I mean, depending on where you live in this world, they are either dangerous or they’re not. Here in Australia we are seriously over represented in the world’s “top ten” list of most venomous creatures, so when I was growing up as a child I had good reason to be afraid of them. And still today, the idea of a spider crawling into my bed … ! It’s one of the scariest thoughts I can come up with.

Let me tell you a funny story. One of the most venomous snakes on the planet is the death adder – great name isn’t it? When I was in the Army training to be an officer at the Royal Military College Duntroon, we were one day out doing some grenade practice and that meant you had to sit in bunkers and the person who was throwing the grenade would go out and throw their grenade. Now we had New Zealanders as well as Australians at the Royal Military College and in New Zealand there are no venomous animals at all, so when the Kiwis come across the ditch to Australia, they are petrified of our snakes and our spiders.

Well one Kiwi, we’ll call him Rock – I’ve got to tell you this death adder story. He went out of the bunker to go and throw his grenade and we had a dead death adder. So we positioned it in the bunker so he had to sit down right next to it when he came in. Well he came in and he sat down and he looked at it and I’ve got to tell you, his legs were going before his backside was up off the log and he was running out. We can laugh about it now but the world can be a scary place, especially with friends like me. In my defence I was a young man at the time.

So this week we are starting a new series on the programme, it’s called “Do Not be Afraid”. There is a reason for that – there are lots of people in this world who spend much of their lives living in fear. Sometimes it’s because they are living in a war zone – I mean there are plenty of people listening to this programme today who know that only too well. People in the Democratic Republic of Congo for instance, where there is war raging in parts right now – some of those people are sitting in their homes listening to this programme today wondering whether they will see tomorrow or next week or next year.

Other times there are different life threatening things that happen. We can have a health scare. The morning I sat down to prepare this message was the morning of the funeral of a friend of mine. Now, he was just a couple of years older than me and he died suddenly of a heart attack. It’s easy to be afraid – and it rocks our confidence. And yet other people, they just live lives with a real sense of dread. There is always something there for us to be afraid of or to dread. There is always something lurking out there.

For me honestly, if I allowed it, I could be afraid of quite a few things. I mean, I have some things in my life right now that could cause me to experience fear – and that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter who we are or where we live or … whatever, we all go through times of fear. And that fear can rob us of life itself but time and time and time again, you read in God’s Word, these words from God to His people.

He says, “Do not be afraid.” And He speaks them right at the time when the people He is talking to have every reason to be afraid. They have got people and circumstances coming against them and conspiring against them and they’re experiencing fear and yet God wades in and says, “Do not be afraid.”

Now if God doesn’t want me to be afraid when I have every reason to be afraid, you know something? I want to have a piece of His brand of confidence. Don’t you think? I mean, think about it! What’s the point of God saying, “Do not be afraid”, when we have no reason to fear? It’s right in the middle of our fear that we need His confidence. I definitely want that – how about you?

Well, how can we have that confidence? That’s a good question – that’s what today’s programme is about – that’s what this whole four week series is about … ”Do not be afraid.” So I invite you to come on a journey with me. We are going to start that journey with an account of a time when God’s chosen people, Israel, had every reason to be afraid.

They were in exile – they had been living in the Promised Land for about five hundred years and yet they had struggled with God. They had worshipped idols and other gods and eventually the Lord their God lost His patience.

So in around 586BC, the Babylonians, who were the dominant world power of the day, invaded Jerusalem. They destroyed the place – they destroyed the temple, the place where God’s presence dwelt and they took this remnant of God’s people back to Babylon as slaves.

Talk about a crisis of confidence! Think about it – God made all these promises to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob and then when Israel was enslaved in Egypt, He sent Moses and did amazing miracles and the whole Red Sea thing and the exodus and the manna from heaven … everything that got them to the Promised Land. And when they got there, with Joshua as their leader, they fought battle after battle against nation after nation that was bigger and stronger than Israel itself and yet God was with His chosen people and they took the land that God had promised them.

And now … now Babylon wins! God’s own temple is destroyed! Where is God? What happened? Are the Babylonian gods stronger than our God? They have a loss of confidence – it’s a big thing. I mean we hear people talking about shareholder confidence and consumer confidence and that feeling when you go to sleep at night, you know, you get that falling sensation and you wake up in a panic, grabbing onto the bed.

Confidence is the trust that the earth beneath our feet won’t move. It’s the trust that the stock market won’t fall; it’s the trust that the plane we are flying in won’t fall off the sky; it’s the trust that our governments will do the right thing – it’s about trusting, whatever. And then, it’s like the rug gets pulled out from under your feet and you lose confidence and panic and fear set in.

Why? Because we no longer feel safe – we are no longer able to trust in the things that we have always trusted in. That’s where Israel was – there was a complete loss of confidence in their God. Now He was punishing them but they couldn’t quite see that. It was like they were flying in a plane at thirty two thousand feet above the ground and all of a sudden, all the engines are silent – panic, fear! And fair enough too!

So what does God say to them right in the middle of their fear and panic … what does God have to say? We are going to take a look at that next.

I am Your God

So here is Israel in this scary, fearful place. They have in slavery, exiled in Babylon for the best part of three generations – that’s a long time – so only a handful of Israel’s elders who can even remember Jerusalem in its heyday. So what does God have to say to these people of His who are cowering in fear under the yoke of slavery?

If you have got a Bible, grab it and open it up at Isaiah chapter 41, beginning at verse 8 – he says this:

But you Israel, My servant Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corner, saying to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand.

See, the first thing that God does is He reminds them of His promises to Abraham. When Abraham stood in that Promised Land, centuries before, this is what God promised him – just flick back to Genesis chapter 15, verse 18:

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, “To your descendants I give this land; from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.

See, God’s promise is that God had chosen them; God had chosen Abraham, their ancestor, God had promised this land and God said, “I will do this.” Notice it is all about God!

Do not fear, I am with you; I am your God; I will strengthen you. I will help you; I will uphold you with My victorious right hand.

The whole thing that God relies on here in talking to His people in their fear and in their despair, is not who they are or how strong they are or how clever they are, or how well they have done because they haven’t, they are there being punished. No, He is saying to them, “Look who I am, My promise, I am your God, I am with you,” but how does that help them? Isn’t He the God who failed them seventy years earlier? Okay, so He sends them some prophet, Isaiah, to tell them this – BIG DEAL!

And that may well be what you are going through right now. You look at your circumstances – they are so fearful! Okay, so God sends you some joker on the radio with a smooth voice who says “Do not be afraid”, but how can you put your confidence in that?

It was exactly the same problem that the Israelites had. Their circumstances, the Babylonians, looked so much bigger than their God. I mean, you think about it in your head and you know God is bigger than the things that we are confronting but in your heart, it’s so hard to believe in your heart – the fear is destroying any confidence that you might have in God.

God knew that – that’s why He also said this to them: have a listen to this … this is powerful stuff! So let’s pick it up in Isaiah chapter 40 – this is the chapter before the one we have been looking at, verse 18. Have a listen to what God says about Himself:

To whom then were you likening God or what likeness compare with Him, an idol? A workman casts it and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. As a gift one chooses mulberry wood – wood that will not rot – then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.

Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Hasn’t it been told to you from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches the heavens out like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when He blows upon them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

“To whom then will you compare Me, or who is My equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them by name, because He is great in strength and mighty in power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God?” Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint and grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”

Do you see how powerful this is? God is saying, “Look, I am God. I created the whole shooting match. See those trillions of stars up there – lift up your eyes, have a look, who do you reckon put them there? I know the Babylonians worship them but I created them. They are out there every night because I tell them to march out there. This is Me who is talking to you – not some crummy idol like the stuff that Babylonians worship – I am bigger than your circumstances. It makes absolute sense to put your confidence in Me.’

See, God is speaking this stuff into the hearts of His people when they are afraid; when they have no hope and no future, God comes along and says, “Do not be afraid. Not because of who you are; not because of your circumstances, no, do not be afraid because of who I am. I will come to help you; I will fight your battles for you; I will be your God; I will keep My promises to you.”

A Part for God to Play

The hardest thing I think in overcoming fear in life is actually getting to the point where we have a high level of confidence in God; in who God is, what He has done – His might and His power and His sovereignty. That all sounds great in theory but what about the practice; what about when the rubber hits the road, then what?

See, I used to think it was up to me and I guess in part it is, but not completely. That’s just as well because you and I, we’re human. We can’t conjure up confidence; we can’t take this theory about who God is and let the theory somehow wipe away the fear because fear is real. Now, I need something more than that; I need something more than promises on paper and fortunately, that’s exactly what God had planned too.

He didn’t want to leave it all up to us – He wants us to actually experience His peace – not our strength – but a “peace” and a “strength” that come from Him and Him alone.

Let’s pick up the rest of this story in Isaiah chapter 40, beginning at verse 28. This is what it says:

Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.

Great, there was the theory again! But now, watch for what comes next! Verse 29:

He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Do you see the point? The power and the strength, where do they come from – do you or I conjure them up? No, they come from God. He gives those things to us, why?

Even youths will faint and be weary and the young and the strong will fall exhausted, but…..” And here’s the ‘but’ – the glorious, wondrous, powerful ‘but,’ “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not grow faint.”

You know what it means to wait? It does not mean to wait with a bad attitude; it does not mean to wait with grumbling in our hearts and on our lips; it doesn’t mean to stand there paralysed by fear either. No, it means to wait expectantly; to wait on God with the expectation that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He is going to do.

To wait, right in the middle of our fear – boy that’s hard – with our emotions on a rollercoaster; with our enemies around us; with our hearts cast down but with an expectation, never the less, that somewhere deep inside, that God is going to act.

Who knows – will God give us victory over our enemies today? I don’t know! I mean there were more Christians martyred in the twentieth century than in the whole two thousand years before that, combined. We all die sometimes – is He going to heal this cancer or let it take its course? I don’t know! But this one thing I do know, that:

those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

God is saying, indeed He is commanding us through His Word today, “Do not be afraid” instead, wait on Him. You know, when we are waiting in fear and when we are waiting in pain and when we are waiting and it is uncomfortable and unpleasant, we want to grumble and whinge and complain and blame everyone else and have bad stuff coming out of our mouths and have grumbling in our hearts … isn’t that what we want to do? We don’t like being uncomfortable; we don’t like being afraid, we just want it all to finish – “God what are You doing? Come on, move along, let’s get over this.”

But those who wait….who wait expectantly for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

See, come what may, if I am diagnosed tomorrow with terminal cancer, I still am going to put my confidence in God who has given me a life eternal with Him. Because Jesus said to His disciples when they were afraid…..listen to this, John chapter 14, verse 27:

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I don’t give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not let them be afraid.

And yet, so far as we know, each of these disciples, other than Judas, went on to do mighty things for God and then … then they died for their faith.

So often, we are focused on the here and now but God’s plan for my life and for your life is a life eternal. God’s perspective is an eternal perspective and that … that my friend is why you and I can put our confidence in Him. When we are afraid … when we are in this place that is so scary, we can go to His Word and say, “You know what it says – it says here that ‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength’.”

You know, you never feel big; you never feel strong when you are waiting for God. When we are afraid we feel so small – you know, I think God means it to be that way. When we humble ourselves and we just come before God and say, “God, I can’t do this. I don’t know. I’m afraid; I don’t know what to do next. I’m just going to wait on You. I’m just going to wait for You – I don’t know what You are going to do – I don’t know if You are going to show up, I don’t know if You are going to talk, I don’t know. I am going to put my faith in You and I am going to wait on You and I know my emotions are going to go up and down. I know it is going to be hard but I’m just going to wait for my God.”

That’s an eternal perspective – that’s a God perspective. Jesus had to put His faith in God. Jesus lay all His glory aside and He was there in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He was crucified – struggling – He was afraid and He was hurting and He just put His trust in God.

Do not be afraid.

God gives us His peace; that’s what this passage from Isaiah says: “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,” the strength comes from God. The “mounting up with eagles” doesn’t come because we flap a lot; it comes because we waited on God. The ‘running and not being weary’ comes from God. “Do not be afraid” – take God’s peace from Him – go and wait … just go and wait before Him and let Him pour His love and His peace into your life.

It doesn’t matter how big or bad or ugly the enemy is. It doesn’t matter how fearful we are. It doesn’t matter how dire the consequences of this particular situation might be. Why? Because God is the God who created the whole shooting match – every star in the sky, every part of creation -–God created it. God has an eternal perspective and when we wait on Him, He gives us His peace.

That’s the promise my friend! “Do not be afraid.” Let your confidence rest in God Himself and then, let Him do the rest. Wait on the Lord and you shall renew your strength. Wait on the Lord and you shall mount up with wings like an eagle. That’s the promise – it’s a God thing!

Most times, we end up fighting our own battles. But sometimes, the opposition is just – well, it’s overwhelming. Then what?  Well that’s when we can discover that the battle, belongs to the Lord.

I Can Do Anything I Want

In this day and age one of the things that they teach us is to be self reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities.

You can do anything you set your mind to they tell us. You can make it, it’s all up to you.

That’s ok to a point I guess. It’s a good thing to have some confidence in who we are that God made us to be. But you can take this idea too far and it will bring you undone. The positive turns into a terrible negative. See what happens, when the situation we’re in or the circumstances that we’re facing are so far beyond our ability to deal with them, that any idea of self reliance is completely ridiculous.

What happens when the problem confronting us requires skills and abilities that we don’t have. What happens when the career we’ve chosen just doesn’t fit who we are?

What happens when the one we love, our wife or our husband or one of our children is going through some tough times. Something that as much as we love them, we can’t seem to be able to help them through. An illness, a depression, a crisis. And nothing we can say or nothing we can do seems to make any difference.

Well, then what? What happens when a tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us completely outnumbers and outguns us? Come on. Then what do we do?

And this isn’t some theoretical exercise. This is life. It’s my life and it’s your life. Because this happens. It’s real. There are times in our lives when the enemy whoever or whatever that is, when the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive.

It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When sickness hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us.

When a marriage falls apart. It happens when retrenchment hits. When the economy takes a nose-dive. When their isn’t enough food to feed the family. When people betray us. This is life. It’s real life.

Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything that you or I could ever handle, what do we do?

Some people panic and they run around in ever decreasing circles wasting their precious energy on panicking. You’ve seen it I’ve seen it. You know we’ve both probably been their too. Some people pull over and stop because they’re immobilised by fear.

That’s what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook. It’s exhausting. Wallowing in self pity is destructive.

What do we do?

See I’m a pretty self-reliant kind of guy. I like to think that I can handle most things. BUT – there are times when things happen that are completely and utterly beyond anything I can handle.

And in those times to hang on to this notion of self-reliance, this delusion of “I can do anything”, that will only make it worse. It’s OK to believe in ourselves but the reality is that sometimes, maybe this time, we can’t swim against this tsunami. It’s too big. It’s too scary.

I was talking the other day with a young woman. She’s extremely competent and confident in her field. Professionally she’s a class act in every way that you can imagine. We got onto the fact that she had a couple of young kids. And her demeanour changed. See, as someone who’s got kids and now they’re all grown up, I’m well and truly past the stresses and the strains of bringing up young children.

I love telling parents, “Don’t worry it’s the first 25 years that are the hardest. After that it’s a piece of baklava!” It’s my, I guess it’s my gift of encouragement. Right?”

But like any young mother, this motherhood thing was a struggle for this competent, professional woman. It’s so tiring. There is so much that is new and is challenging. There’s so much in bringing up kids. It’s beyond our control.

That’s the key isn’t it. When we’re dealing with things that are under our control and we happen to have the skills and the ability and the inclination to control them, well, it’s all good isn’t it. But the further things are out of our control the more they look like that tsunami and that wave that we can’t ride.

Then, then it gets scary.

I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel’s history. Actually he’s the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. Ok it’s a long name. We don’t use that kind of name these days. But he was definitely one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way, way beyond his ability to fight and defeat.

Let’s pick up the story in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 1.

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; already they are at Engedi. Jehoshaphat was afraid;

See this was an army much bigger than his own. The odds were completely overwhelming and Jehoshaphat were facing absolutely certain defeat. To the king that meant death for his people it meant death or slavery or loss of all their possessions and land. Probably rape for the woman.

The higher the stakes are the scarier it gets, doesn’t it? And for Jehoshaphat the stakes couldn’t have been higher. He was in that place well and truly that you and I find ourselves in for time to time.

I just want to establish here that old king Jehoshaphat, well he was human like you and me. He’s not some super-human king. There were armies coming in against him. He was completely outnumbered and outgunned. This was a life and death situation and it says Jehoshaphat was afraid. Jehoshaphat is just one of us.

I remember as a young boy going to the dentist. I’d walk in the front door and there was this staircase leading up to the dentist. And the smell of the dental surgery the moment you walked in the door. And their was a knot in my stomach sitting in the waiting room.

Fear is something that disables us. It’s not good for anyone when we’re disabled by fear. It’s not good for ourselves, it’s not good for God. It’s not good for those who need our help.

Jehoshaphat was afraid. But it’s what he did in his fear that made all the difference and we’re going to take a look at that in just a moment

What Happens When I Can’t?

Well let’s get back into God’s word and take a look at what happened king Jehoshaphat. What he was facing in this completely overwhelming odds. Have a listen. We’re starting, if you have a bible grab it, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 beginning at verse 3:

Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the LORD. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said,

“O LORD, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you. Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?

They have lived in it, and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying,
‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.’

See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
See Jehoshaphat didn’t let his fear immobilise him. He didn’t get into a flap or into a panic in the face of overwhelming odds he turned to God.

Sometimes that’s the only way that God gets our attention. I’d like to be able to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and understood that Jesus is the Son of God. But if I told you that I would be lying. I needed to be hit across the back of the head with a lump of four by two for God to get my attention.

Overwhelming odds. That’s what did it for me. I turned to God in the middle of fear. And for me it was the last resort but for Jehoshaphat God was his first port of call. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A King like Jehoshaphat should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a comprehensive threat assessment. He should be self-reliant. A man for the people to respect and to follow and to trust for their safety and their future, but listen again to what Jehoshaphat says when he’s praying to God in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 12:

O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

I relate to this. When I stepped out of the secure, well-paid job as a consultant into full time ministry, that was a step of faith. Leaving security behind to serve God and I can’t begin to tell you how many times since then I have been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in.

See I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to be about God’s work, well lit should be easy. And yet so many times people and circumstances have conspired to be against God’s work. Every couple of years our board gets together to do some strategic planning. That’s important and the strategic plan always looks good on paper. Gives us a sense of what direction we think that God wants us to head in.

And then invariably all hell breaks loose because the enemy wants to overwhelm us. He doesn’t want to see God’s will done here on earth as it is in heaven. And that’s what’s going on with Jehoshaphat and Judah. Remember these are God’s chosen people.

The king honoured God and by all accounts and by all accounts he was wise and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds he admitted to God, “We do know what to do.” So was the solution How did he cope with this? And the same sentence, the same breath, he says “but our eyes are on You.”

I wonder sometimes when I see people who profess to believe in Jesus running around in panic wasting so much of their energy complaining and worrying and being afraid. See, it takes a lot of energy to be afraid, you realise. I wonder if they spent even half that amount of their energy having their eyes on God, how much better off they’d be.

You and I, we can’t help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. It’s a natural human, reaction. I’m not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you’re not afraid when fear is rocking you to the very core. That’s ridiculous. But it’s what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference.

When we panic we burn energy, when we frozen and immobilised that’s probably the end of us. That’s what fear does. Stop’s us dead in our tracks. We go nowhere. Had Jehoshaphat done that, he and all his people would have been dead literally.

Or we can just turn and look at God. “You know something Lord, this is so huge, I just know what to do but my eyes, my eyes are on you. I’m just going to wait on you. I don’t know what you are going to do, I don’t even know if you are going to show up, but no matter what, my eyes are on you.”

And here’s the bit that blows me away about this story. It’s this. That God wasn’t Jehoshaphat’s last resort. God was his first port of call. He trusted in the sovereign grace of God. Jehoshaphat was afraid, but he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

I wonder how different if things would be amidst our fear, if instead of running around and spending all that energy on panic or instead of running to the phone to talk to a friend, if we first ran to God.

If the very first thing we did was to take stock and in our hearts, deep inside somewhere – decided to set ourselves to seek the Lord? God, the first point of call, rather than the last resort!

A Powerful Outcome

So how did it end? Was Jehoshaphat’s trust misplaced or well placed? Let’s take a look. 2 Chronicle 20 beginning at verse 14:

Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly. He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”

Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God and you will be established; believe his prophets.”

When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.

For the Ammonites and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; they were corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the booty from them, they found livestock in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days taking the booty, because of its abundance.

Unbelievable I hear you say. How could this possibly happen??

I’ll tell you how. Because Jehoshaphat decided that he would stand and wait on God – no matter what the outcome! That’s the key. That’s the faith that God was looking for. No matter what the outcome. Let’s take another look. 2 Chronicles 20:9-12:

If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.
See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy – they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit.

O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

This is the do or die faith that God is looking for. When we place our faith in God in this way – for things that are completely out of our control – right when that tsunami hits His Spirit and His Word come along and witness His truth to us:

This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:17)

Listen to me. Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you? Then those times of fear are times when we discover what a beautiful thing it is to trust in the Lord, no matter what is coming against us. No matter what the world throws at us. No matter how overwhelming the odds might be.

Those times are the times that we get to stand still and discover in our very own experience that the battle isn’t our it’s not ours at all. But the battle belongs to the Lord.

Can I encourage you that if you feel right now that you’re on death row, as though there is no tomorrow, to listen to the words of apostle Paul from his dungeon as he writes in Philippians Chapter 4 beginning at verse 6:

Do not worry about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

See that’s the word of the Lord for us today. Jehoshaphat knew it and learned it again in his experience. The people of Judah learned it again under the leadership of Jehoshaphat. This overwhelming army came against them. They couldn’t win. It was a no win situation. And they discovered afresh and anew the battle was not theirs but the battle belonged to the Lord. And they listened to God through His prophets when he said, “Stand still to see and to watch what the Lord would do for you.”

Can I encourage you today to remember the battle is not yours. The battle belongs to the Lord. Stand still and watch to see what the Lord will do for you.

Life is full of turmoil and often, often that turmoil breads fear in our hearts. And instead of stopping, we just kind of – go with the fear. Well it’s time to stop and know that God is God.

Our Refuge and Strength

This week is the third message in a series of programmes that I have called “Do Not Be Afraid”. Fear is an incredibly powerful force – for two reasons. Firstly it is a natural response when something happens to threaten us or our loved ones or our possessions, fear grips us. In a sense, it’s a human response. But the more we go through that; the more we experience fear, the more – for many people – they learn the habit of fear. In other words, fear becomes more and more the normal response.

There is an alternative of course; to learn how to deal with fear; to master fear with each new experience. But most people instead of growing through fearful experiences, actually, they go down and down and down into a bondage of fear and life is full of fear and worry. So many people spend so much of their lives worrying about this, that or the other.

Do you think I am over estimating, do you? Do you think I am overstating the problem perhaps? Recently, during the global economic crisis, it was interesting to watch how it was reported – even the TV reporters and the newspaper reporters were fearful. You could see it in their faces on TV – you could hear it in voices on the radio – you could see it in the headlines on the front page of the newspaper – “THE WORST GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS IN DECADES”. “BANKS ON THE BRINK”. “GOVERNMENTS SHORE UP BANKS”.

Sure, it was international; the banks were at risk, but here in Australia at least, we were blessed by a very solid banking system, but if you listen to the media and the government and the banks, oh, it was terrible and they needed to be propped up. And the more they reported fearfully, the more fearful we all became and the worse the world economy became.

See, fear is a downward spiral; fear is about a loss of confidence. On the TV news, one well known crisis counselling service reported a dramatic increase in the numbers of people experiencing not only stress, but in fact, mental illness through the fear of losing their homes – up from just a handful each year to several hundred per week.

Now we generally don’t cope well with fear. When we are afraid we start thinking irrationally. Fear truly grips us – we see all the fearful things and let our imaginations run away with those and we forget to take stock of our assets – the things that we actually have; the things that are on our side.

And so what these four programmes are about, in this series “Do Not Be Afraid”, is kind of giving us an opportunity by looking at what God says in His Word, an opportunity to relearn our response to fear. So what we have to do, instead of resorting to panic, resting in the sovereignty of God. And so today, I just want to look at one Psalm, Psalm 46 which is all about that very thing. Let’s read just the first few verses together:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change; though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam; though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

That’s a good start!

God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble.

And really it’s only in time of trouble that we are afraid. It’s only in those disastrous times that we are gripped with fear and doom and gloom; when the world is against us; when people are against us; when the economy is against us. And now look at the picture that the Psalmist paints – I want you to understand something about the Hebrew culture which is the culture that the Psalmist was writing into – they love picture language, and this language evokes real emotion. Psalm 46, verses 2 and 3:

Though the earth should change; though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam; though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Ever been in an earthquake? I have, just a small one, actually it was some years ago now when my wife Jacqui and I were on our honeymoon on the South Island of New Zealand – one of the most beautiful and picturesque places on the planet – truly – and we were staying at a Bed and Breakfast on a sheep farm.

We were having breakfast in this old country kitchen with a few other couples in this beautiful place – big old blue and white plates on display on the sideboard and the bacon and eggs was cooking away and you looked out the window and there were green fields and white sheep and snow capped mountains in the background.

It was all good – life couldn’t have been better – we didn’t have a care in the world. Then all of a sudden the ground shook – man did it shake – there was this immediate sense of panic.

And that’s the picture the Psalmist is painting here:

Though the earth should change; the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; the waters roar and foam; the mountains tremble with tumult.

See, the Hebrews; they weren’t a seafaring nation. The notion of foaming waters and mountains falling into the ocean was absolutely horrific to them.

And it’s when our life gets shaken to the core like that that fear grips us. It’s not until then that we have a deep need to hear God’s Word in our hearts – “Do not be afraid.”

When we look like losing our homes in a financial crisis, we are shaken to the core. When a loved one is dying, we are shaken to the core. When we discover that the child we love is addicted to drugs or injured in an accident or … or whatever it is – when the mountains collapse into the roaring, foaming sea and the earth beneath our very feet shakes, then … then we need something – then we need an antidote to our fear.

Listen to these few verses again. Listen, let the words sink in: “There is a river”, verse 4, Psalm 46:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of that city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in uproar, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

See, this is the solution to the problem – God is our refuge; God is our strength; God is our very present help in time of trouble. In other words, He is right here … right here when we need Him – no “ifs”, no “buts” – right here. The problem is we can find that so hard to believe – it’s so counter intuitive – it’s so impossible. How can God possibly … possibly make a difference in the middle of my fear? Well!

Gladness in the City of God

In the days when this Psalm was written, nations often invaded other nations – it’s just the way it was. And of course, little has changed in this world. There are still somewhere between forty and fifty wars raging in this world today – here and now. I just had an email from one of our staff in Africa who is having difficulties getting the programme CDs through to a couple of new stations who want to air them, because of the fighting that is going on around in those areas.

Back when this Psalm was written, what the people did was they fortified their cities. They built walls around them to protect them from invading armies. They built defences and towers so the cities were safe. And they were often sited strategically on hilltops or with natural obstacles around to make them much harder to attack. In fact those walls were often so strong that they were impenetrable and so armies who wanted to attack them would lay siege to them. Sieges could last weeks, months, years – the idea was to starve them out of that impenetrable citadel.

We read about one such siege – if you have a Bible, open it at Second Kings in the Old Testament, chapter 6, verse 25. Let’s just read about a siege for a moment.

As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver and one forth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. Now as the King of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord King!” He said, “No! Let the Lord help you. How can I help you – from the threshing floor or from the wine press?” But then the King asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, “Give up your son; we will eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow.” So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, “Give up your son and we will eat him,” but she has hidden her son.” When the King heard the words of the woman, he tore at his clothes.

Desperate stuff, isn’t it? Can you imagine mothers eating their children and the King has no hope? And you see, when there is an army ready to strike you down; when we feel like we are under siege, as these people of Samaria were in their citadel, it’s not enough to have a safe place to flee. We need to have food and water and joy and peace in that place.

You see these Samarians were under siege – they were in a safe place but they were dying of starvation – they had no hope, no joy, no peace. So many people in fear – they retreat to what they think is a safe place; they think it is – they cut other people off, they withdraw, they build defences, they close off the rest of the world and yet this is such a miserable, fearful place. People live for years under siege of fear like that and it ruins their lives.

So come the next four verses of this Psalm. We looked at them earlier; we are going to look at them again now. They tell us about a place of refuge and strength that is quite different. Have a listen again. Psalm 46, beginning at verse 4 – remember the Psalmist just talked about the mountains falling into the sea and the seas foaming and this fearful thing happening. Have a listen to his answer again. But …

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God; the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of that city and it shall not be moved. God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

See, this city … this citadel, is not just safe but it is glad: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” A citadel, God’s protection but also God’s blessing in that place. Rivers of holy water – something Jesus talked about in John chapter 7, verse 38, the Holy Spirit flowing into us and out of us. Here, God talks about His River, of His Spirit and His joy and His peace flowing into our place of refuge when we take refuge in Him.

It’s not only safe but glad because God Himself is in the midst of that city; in the midst of this place and it shall not be moved. It is rock solid! Psalm 46, verse 1 says:

God is our refuge and our strength; a very present help in trouble.

You know something? The worst time when we are afraid is night time – have you ever noticed that – the sleepless nights – tossing and turning and things churning around in our minds and descending into this dark pit of fear, deeper, deeper into the abyss of fear?

And that’s why, here in verse 5:

God will help when the morning dawns.

You know that sick feeling of fear in our stomachs; when we are petrified of what will happen to us? This isn’t just for fruit cakes or losers or people who will never succeed – this is for all of us – we all go through times of fear and God wants us to hear His Words: “Do not be afraid”.

There is such a sharp contrasting picture here – between the mountains collapsing into a roaring fearsome sea; between the earthshaking and on the other hand this rock solid city … this city of God into which flows the river of God’s gladness in which God Himself dwells with us. “The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms are tottering but He utters His voice and the earth melts. The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

The nations may well be in an uproar; there may well be wars raging; the world economic system may well be in meltdown but when God speaks the earth melts – God is with us; He is our refuge. How does God speak? Through His Word! When is God speaking? Right now!

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, the mountains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city and it shall not be moved. God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in uproar, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Problem is how do we believe that? How do we get a handle of that? How do we experience that? How can we dwell in that city of safety and gladness – come on – how?

Be Still

Let me ask you that same question again. The question is: how do we believe in this city of gladness? How do we get a handle on that? How do we experience that? Well, God give us the answer in the last four verses of this Psalm. Let’s take a look together: Psalm 46, verses 8 to 11:

Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire. “Be still and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge

When it comes to fear, we have short memories. We go through something scary and God shows up and somehow it all works out fine. Perhaps we remember to say “Thank You, God”, often we don’t. And then things calm down again. They go along just brilliantly for a while and then the next storm hits and it’s raging and we are afraid and fearful and life’s a mess and we are running around like chooks with their heads cut off and we are living through some excruciatingly debilitating, immobilising fear – fear that comes when the ground moves beneath our feet. And we forget … we forget to look back and remember all the times that God showed up and brought us through those storms before.

And even if we don’t have many of those to look back on; let’s say, worse case, we have none of those to look back on – let’s assume that you and I have just, this moment, come to faith in Jesus Christ – just this moment put our lives in His hands – we’ve not experienced enough to look back on where we know that He showed up, without doubt, but He stepped in and saved us. We forget to look back on the God of the Bible and see how many times He stepped in to help His people. We do! It’s what He does!

And that’s what the Psalmist is reminding us here in these words: Psalm 46, verses 8 and 9:

Come, behold the works of the Lord and see what desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear and burns the shields with fire.

God is saying, “Don’t you realise that this is what I do? I protect My people. I make sure that it all works out. Get a handle on this!”

“But God, how … how can I get a handle on this? You don’t understand; I’ve got all this pain happening. I’ve got all this fear happening. People are after me – my finances are in a mess. My loved ones are sick. My emotions are on a rollercoaster. The mountains are falling into the sea. The sea is angry and foaming and the ground is shaking and the nations are raging … how do I get a handle on this?” Here’s the answer, right here in God’s Word – listen to it, remember it, let the Spirit of God write it on your heart. Psalm 46, verse 10:

Be still and know that I am God! For I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.

It sounds so simple, “Be still and just know.” But you know something? When we are afraid often the last thing we do is get still before God. Even when we are praying, we rant on and we don’t shut up for long enough to hear Him speak – over and over and over again, I have had to learn this one.

I’m like you – this doesn’t come naturally. It is something I have had to learn – when I am travelling through fearful places and situations and times, more than ever, those are the times to take the time to get still before the Lord. Not just once, not just twice … every morning; every time fear grips our hearts – just to draw away for a few minutes and just rest and say, “Lord, just speak to me – just witness Your Spirit to me. Just give me your peace. Lord, I’m here, I’m afraid, I just need to get still before You.”

I want to open a few simple passages … passages that God put there to write His faith into our hearts. We are going at these passages a whole bunch more next week on the programme. This particular Psalm is a favourite of mine – I come back to Psalm 46 again and again when I’m in one of those places of fear and turmoil. But listen to Philippians chapter 4, verse 13:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Romans chapter 8, verse 31:

For if God is for us, who can be against us?

Now when we just get still before God, those two verses are so short, even I can memorise them. Philippians 4:13:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Romans chapter 8, verse 31:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

When we get still before God and we let those two Scriptures ring out in our heart, watch out devil; watch out fear because they are going to go away.

When we just get still and focus on God and wait, day after day, wait! Because of what Psalm 46 tells me is the reality of God’s gladness and His power and His protection – that He is so far above my circumstances. What Philippians chapter 4 tells me – that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. What Romans chapter 8, verse 31 tells me – that if God is for me, who can be against me?

See, God’s Word promises us this! And then, it tells me just to sit still and wait and you know what happens when I do that? I experience the confidence that I need to make it through – not self-confidence, God confidence. I get a handle of the great unseen reality – God Himself – His power flows into me and through me. His peace guards my heart and mind and all of a sudden the panic goes away. All of a sudden the fear is replaced with faith. All of a sudden I have the clarity to think through the problem and to face realities and to do what I have to do and to trust in God for the things that I can’t do.

Let me tell you, ten minutes later – half an hour later, half a day later – the panic wants to come back; the fear wants to come back and when they come knocking on the door of my heart, I get still with God again – I go back to Him again. I wait on Him, expecting and waiting – that’s what it means to live in that city and to drink of the streams of that river that make glad the city of God.

We need to drink … drink Him in; His presence; His Spirit; His Word and then a peace that surpasses all understanding, guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Be still and know that I am God.

It may come as a surprise, but in this world of stress and anxiety God doesn’t want us to be afraid. But how is that supposed to work?

Do Not Worry About Anything

Well, here we are – this is the last message in a series of four programmes that I have called “Do Not Be Afraid.” So many people spend so much time being afraid in their lives. Either it’s a crisis or just an ongoing nagging, ongoing sense that something bad is going to happen – a negativity; a pessimism, always thinking the worst. Always imaging the worst outcome – always expecting the worst.

So often through the Bible, God says to His people “Do not be afraid.” He doesn’t want us living in fear; He doesn’t want us worrying, and so many of us do. Okay, we might have a brave face; we might have a cool, calm exterior but inside, a lot of people are torn apart; shaken to the core by fear and worry.

Well, today we are going to finish up this series by looking at three very practical things that we can do to overcome that. I’m talking about living a life that, by and large, is free from fear and worry. Scary things will still come along at us in life – it’s about living through those things with a calm delight and a resolve, with a deep knowledge that God is in this place with us.

The first thing I want to share with you is this: our mind matters! What we do with our thoughts really matters. Back in 1953 a man by the name of Norman Vincent Peale wrote a classic book – it’s called “The Power of Positive Thinking” and for a long time I pooh-hooed that idea. “It’s not about ‘positive thinking’”; I said to myself, “it’s about trusting in God.” And even when I started reading his book fairly recently, I was sceptical but what he expounds in that book is exactly what God talks about in the Bible.

Basically what he says is that: our mind matters. Let me take you to a passage that I often go to myself – it’s written by the Apostle Paul in prison, on death row in a Roman prison, writing to his friends, the Philippians. Listen to what this man Paul writes from his dank prison cell. If you have a Bible, grab it – we are going to Philippians chapter 4 today – beginning at verse 6:

Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I’m referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.

I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Let me start with just the first couple of verses – let’s look at them again.

Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

How do we not worry? You see, in my experience, worry is just something that happens. I have wanted to turn the worry tap off many a time but this stream of worrying thoughts keeps flooding into my mind. Now, I am as strong willed and disciplined a person as you’ll find anywhere. When I set my mind to achieving something, I invariably do – I have all my life. But you know something? What I have discovered is that I am powerless to turn off the worry tap.

It’s horrifying because when you worry it grips your whole life – you’re waking and you’re sleeping. Have you ever noticed that – you toss and turn at night and you can’t sleep? It is believing in these two verses that have enabled me to end the worry in my life! Can I say that again? It is believing in these two verses in the Bible that has enabled me to end the worry in my life. And you know something? When you stop worrying, you have peace!

That’s exactly what Paul tells us; that’s exactly what God wants to tell you and me today:

Do not worry about anything but in everything … 

How do I stop worrying – not by turning the tap off by myself but by replacing it with something else – with the “but in everything … ” “Do not worry about anything but in everything … ” So what’s the “but”; what’s the thing that we should replace the worrying with?

All that time and energy we spend worrying, what do I do with it? I transfer it to something else – to what else? “Do not worry about anything but in everything …” – that means “everything” – “in everything” that is causing me to worry, “by prayer and supplication” – what does that mean? Praying and entreating God – asking Him, seeking Him – so instead of wasting all that time and energy on worrying, spend it on praying and asking God.

Imagine how different life would be if every time a worrying thought came to haunt the deepest recesses of our mind, we said “Hang on a minute – stop. I am not going to think on that. I am not going to dwell and brood and worry, but instead, in everything I am going to pray.” How….how do we pray? – with thanksgiving – “God I thank You that I am in this place. I thank You that I have the opportunity to trust in You. I thank You that unless You show up, I’m in trouble. Now Lord, here’s my problem, will You help me? Thank You!”

If every time we go to worry we did that, here’s what the Bible promises us – now listen to it very carefully – to this promise … a promise that is going to change your life: “Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be known to God” – here comes the promise, “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your minds in Christ Jesus.” There it is! And you know something? That is exactly what happens! Try it, just for a few days, every time you start to worry about something, go to God, do the ‘but’ thing and here’s what happens – He turns the worry tap off.

No amount of strength or resolve or anything else is going to turn that worrying tap off, only God and it’s an amazing peace; it’s an incredible peace. The storm can still be raging, in fact, circumstances can be getting worse, but you have been praying and entreating and thanking God instead of worrying.

And you think to yourself, “I can’t explain this but I have a peace – how, why, how can this be?” That’s why Paul calls it “a peace that surpasses all understanding” – God turned the worry tap off. He did what you and I can’t do:

and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 The worry can’t get in – there is where the rubber hits the road.

My Mind Matters

Okay, let’s look at another practical thing that we can do to eradicate that fear and worry from our lives. See, it’s more than just having faith – I mean faith is great but there are some practical things that we need to do to participate in God’s plan for us not to worry and not to be afraid.

Back with the Apostle Paul, in that dungeon again, on death row – if anyone had a reason it was the old Paul. We are going to have a look at what he wrote to his friends in Philippi about this whole subject of not being afraid. Pick it up in Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 8. He said:

Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Now I want to start with the second bit of this first. And here is the reason for that: because what Paul is telling us is that he has discovered how to have God’s peace; how not to be afraid; how not to spend worrying. See, this is not some theory lesson. This is a guy on death row explaining how to have peace. “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.”

So Paul is saying, “You know my life; you know how often it’s been threatened; you know how often people have rioted when I got up to speak and they wanted to harm me and kill me. You know that, you have seen me in action and you have seen how I have coped with the pressures and the threats. You want to have peace? You want to live a life free from fear and worry? Then do the things that you have seen in me and the things that I am telling you now and you will have peace too – God’s peace.”

I think that is fantastic because what we are about to have a look at is a proven thing – it works in the direst of circumstances. Doesn’t that excite you? You know, there is not one of us who doesn’t have some reason to worry – not one of us, who isn’t going through some storm right now. And just in case there is the odd person who isn’t, just recognise that it is because you are between storms – the last one has blown out and the next one hasn’t swept in yet.

So what is the practical guidance that Paul gives us in this passage about how to dispense with fear and worry? Let’s take a look: Philippians chapter 4, verse 8:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure and pleasing and commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

You know what he is saying here? What we do with our mind matters! That’s what Norman Vincent Peale wrote in his book in 1953, “The Power of Positive Thinking”. And as I have said before, I used to be very sceptical about this – faith isn’t just positive thinking … positive thinking has a self-help connotation to me – like I can think my way out of problems without God. All I have to do is think positive but that’s not what he meant and that’s not what Paul means here.

Paul is setting out a simple truth – we only have so much brain-band with each day; so much time that we can spend thinking; so many hours to think. Some of our time we spend sleeping, some we spend doing things that require our complete attention so we don’t have time to think about anything else. We spend time “veged” out in front of the TV I guess, not really thinking about much at all.

And then there is the rest of the time when we have time to think and we can think good thoughts or bad thoughts, encouraging thoughts or discouraging thoughts. We can think thoughts that look at our situation, which may be difficult; which may be scary; which may be whatever and what we ‘think’ is going to influence how we see things and how we “feel” them.

The human brain – get this – has about seventy thousand thoughts a day! Busy little thing, isn’t it? And what Paul is say here is: “Look, spend your brain time; your think time, thinking good thoughts – true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent; things worthy of praise – think about these things.” You know something? That makes a lot of sense to me and it’s something we have to teach ourselves.

Here’s how it works for me: a negative thought comes into my mind “You know, that guy just doesn’t get it. He’s never going to get it. He just drives me nuts.” Maybe he doesn’t get it; maybe he has some issues, but I have decided something – if I think that way it’s going to influence how I treat the guy. So when one of those thought comes floating in, I boot it out! It’s not some unrealistic thing where I sweep things under the carpet, but I replace the bad thought with a good one.

“How can I care for him today? How can I support him today? God you love him just as much as You love me, show me Father how I can build him up; how I can develop him; how I can grow him?” That makes sense and it’s a discipline and the more we do it; the more we get into the habit of recognising a bad thought when it comes in and booting it out and replacing it with a good thought – God thoughts – here is what happens: our whole outlook starts to change.

God honours that and where things were once a threat, He gives us the solution. Where things once scared us, He gives us faith and peace and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a habit of resting our minds in good things and all good things come from God and more good things come from that – peace is one of them; joy is another.

Whatever is true, honourable, pure, just, pleasing, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise, think about those things!

A Word in Time

As we come to the end of our series, “Do Not Be Afraid,” I want to share with you the most important thing that I know about banishing fear and worry from our lives. It is the most important thing; the most effective thing and it comes from the last part of this passage in Philippians chapter 4 that we have been looking at today on the programme.

The Apostle Paul is on death row; he is teaching us how to banish fear from our lives, from the most dire circumstances you and I could ever imagine and here’s what he says – beginning at Philippians 4, verse 10:

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it.” Remember, he is writing to his friends at Philippi, he is in his dungeon and he says: “Not that I referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need, for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Paul was an itinerant minister who travelled across most of the known world. A good part of his time he spent in jail and he is writing to his friends here about his physical needs. Obviously they provided for him and sent him money and resources when he has been in need and he is saying, “Thank you” – that’s a good thing.

I love how much of God’s Word is about real, practical things in people’s lives but he takes even this opportunity from his dungeon to teach them something. And I believe that God is taking the opportunity to teach us something. Here it is:

For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have a little; I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need for I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Paul is saying, “You know something, it doesn’t matter what circumstances I am facing – good or bad, plenty or little, full or hungry – I have learned … learned in practice; in my experience, I have learned the secret … the secret of getting through any and all circumstances and that secret is this …” Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

It doesn’t matter what the world throws at me because God is the one who strengthens me. And when I am hanging close with Him; when I am relying on Him, He comes through – He does the things that I can’t do – He saves me, He encourages me.

“And I have been through this so many times”, says Paul, “riots, so many times people have tried to hurt me; so many times people have criticised me, misunderstood me and rejected me because I was telling them about Jesus over and over and over and over and over again.” Paul has learned this truth:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

And you know why this is so important? Because whenever I feel a sense of despair, I come back to this one Scripture. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or hurt or rejected or alone or distressed or afraid, I stop; I clear my mind and I say this Scripture verse: Philippians chapter 4, verse 13:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

This is the Word of God! And so I have a number of Scriptures, some that I have memorised, some I have got on my mobile phone. Another one of them is Mark chapter 11, verses 22 to 24:

Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and be thrown into the sea,” and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you have said will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

I have memorised that Scripture passage, can I tell you? I don’t find it easy to memorise Scripture passages – that one and a few others I have memorised and I go to them again and again and again and again. Those I can’t remember, I look at them on my mobile phone. You may not have a mobile phone – write them down on little cards, stick them in your pocket.

God’s Word changes our hearts and when we are struggling; when we are going through the hard stuff, we need access to God’s Word. This is absolutely the most important thing that I know about living a life that’s free from fear and worry. The more I do that, the more I find myself able to do all things that God calls me to do, through Him who strengthens me.

I want to challenge you today. God’s Word is not something to be trifled with. God’s Word is not something we leave in a cupboard or on our shelves and then we wonder why our lives are full of fear and anxiety and stress. God’s Word brings peace. God’s Word convinces us of the truth of what God is saying:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

You can do all things through Him who strengthens you – through plenty or through little, through hunger or through fullness. The most important thing that I know about dealing with fear is to fill your heart and your mind with the Word of God because it has healing power. It will build your faith; it changes your outlook; it is the stuff of healing and transformation.

God and grab some Scripture verses that really speak powerfully to you – put them on some cards or in your mobile phone or memorise them and go to them again and again and again – every day. When you get up in the morning; when you have a break during the day to get away from the madness, just to pause; when you go to bed at night. I tell you something, you will learn what Paul learned through the school of hard knocks that you can do all things through Him who strengthens you.

You know, I challenge you today. You do this for just a couple of weeks; two or three weeks, and fear will be banished from your life because your perspective changes; you start to see things through God’s Word and all of a sudden you start to live it by faith and your faith grows. It’s not rocket science – this is so practical, anyone can do this.

You can do all things through Him who strengthens you