Chains Off, Peace On

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word.

I just want to talk tonight about chains off. Peace on. You'll find throughout Scripture that there's always this tension between where you're at and. And where God wants to bring you. And it's interesting because God doesn't always give you the details.

He tends to have little footnotes. Like when he tells the people of Israel to go into the Promised Land, he doesn't really mention that there's going to be giants there. And, you know, it's just kind of little. Little footnote. Yeah.

You might find some little resistance. And part of the reason why is because he's trying to teach the people of Israel to have his perspective and understand and to trust him. And if God were to make a big deal of the giants, well, what does that say about him and his own power? So he looks at it as like, oh, it's nothing. You guys got that because of the fact that I'm with you.

But for us, coming from the place where we're at, and this happens even with prophetic words, it happens with the promises that God gives you. There's always this tension between where you're at and where it is that God wants to bring you. And there's this moment of tension. It's. It's beyond our comfort zone.

It's. It's the place that we're tested. Usually to. Has to do with. With just anx, with worry, with fear.

What if nothing happens? What if I take this step and just everything falls apart? What do I do? The Lord is teaching us during those moments to trust him and to come to know him even better. And you'll find that there's a place to do this.

And part of what I want to speak tonight is that there's a way to do this to where you can have peace in the midst of your circumstances and to live free from anxiety and from worry. Larry Berdoff writes this as part of the preface to the book that's. That's called Life Without Lack by D. Dallas Willard. And I highly recommend the book, but it says there exists the possibility of a life in which I was never in need of anything at any time from anyone. A life that knows no fear or fluster, no anxiety or angst, no perturbation of any sort.

It was, in short, the Offer of a life without lack. I don't know if you've ever read something like that and go, is that even possible? Is it even possible to live a life free from anxiety and worry? And what would that look like? Is it possible to face and take steps of faith and face whatever obstacle may come our way and actually have peace in the midst of everything?

Is, is it. Is it possible? Can this actually really work? Does the gospel actually work? There's some time ago, years ago, I was working for Target Financial Services and they offered some classes.

I had a bilingual team at my. That I was, that I was leading, and we were in the collection services, so we were trying to collect money. The people that were past due on their credit cards and. But at the same time want to keep them as guests. And they offered a lot of training.

And one of the trainings that they had is how to problem solve. And part of the tagline was that you could solve any problem that you would face. And I thought, well, man, I want that. So I went and I took this class and man, it was great. I mean, they're giving me this matrix and this thing to do.

And I'm thinking in my heart, you know, my mind, I'm like, you know, I'm going to come back home and I'm going to say, heather, give me all the problems that you have. I'm going to solve every problem you have. And, and I'm thinking I'm going to get back to my team and solve every problem that the team has. And, and I'm thinking, even for the gospel in the kingdom, I'm like, man, I'm going to apply this and I'm going to be the great problem solver. And they're giving different scenarios in different cases.

And everything seemed to work great, except by the time I got to work the next day, none of it was really working. It was great in theory, it was great with those scenarios in a classroom, but in real life, it really didn't. It didn't hold up at all. When it comes to even our walk with the Lord, I want stuff that really works. I don't want theory and beautiful ideas and acronyms or what.

I just give me what really, really works. What you find in the life of Paul and what you find in the New Testament is things that really work. Because when he's writing of most of his letters, he's either being persecuted or he's in jail or someplace. And, and he's. He's.

This thing works. He has peace, he has joy in the midst of his circumstances. You'll find even like In Philippians, chapter 4, verse 4, he's selling the church. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice.

The big theme of this letter is rejoice is joy. It's mentioned about nine times throughout the letter. It's one of the ways that the author is able to communicate. What. What is the big.

What's the point of this letter? Well, it's. This is rejoice. And he's not writing this from Cancun or some kind of beachfront thing. And, you know, at the pool.

And he's like, man, I wonder what I should write to these believers. I guess it should be something. Here's a good thing. Let's. How about rejoice.

Just. Just be happy. He's writing this from jail. It's like a pit in the. In the ground and open sewers with rats.

And he's got to depend on others for his own sustenance. He's not in the best of places, and yet he's writing them. And he's saying, hey, I got something for you. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I'm just.

Just in case you didn't it the first time I say rejoice, rejoice. I may not be able to rejoice because of my circumstance, but I can rejoice in the Lord in the midst of my circumstance. I'll always have a reason to rejoice in Him. In him, maybe not because of what I'm going through, but in Him. I can do that.

And notice that this is a command that he's giving the church. He's not saying it would be a really great idea and it would be helpful for you in your walk with the Lord if you just once in a while, smile and rejoice. It's. He's telling them, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say this.

Rejoice. And he's saying it also because he's living this. He's not giving a theory. He's like saying, guys, this. This Gospel, the reality of the kingdom, it works.

And you can make a choice in the midst of your circumstances to rejoice in the Lord. And he says here, always. Now, if you were to look at that in the Greek, and this was written in the Greek, you'll find that the word always means always at all times. Just as, like, all the time. He's like, rejoice in the Lord.

You make the decision to do that. And then he says, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. And that word, their reasonableness is basically saying, don't freak out.

If you're freaking out in the midst of a circumstance at the same level of somebody that doesn't have Christ, what do we have to offer anybody else? It's whenever we're not freaking out and people look at you like, dude, what's up? What's. What's wrong with you? Like, why, what.

Why aren't. You should be, like, losing it by now, and you're not. That draws the attention and the reality of the kingdom in the life of someone. It opens the door. And so he's saying, let your reasonableness, Reasonableness be known to everyone.

In other words, let. Let this show. Let it show that in the midst of the things that you're going through, Paul's not in the jail freaking out and, like, with ulcers and trying to, like, man, I wonder what's going to happen next. He's in there and he's at complete peace in the midst of his circumstance. And that's opening the door for the gospel where he's able to share that with everybody that's there, says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

And one says, well, how? Well, because the Lord is at hand, meaning that he's near. And this idea of at hand, it's like. Like the same where Jesus talks about the kingdom of God is among you or is at hand, is basically saying, it's, it's here. It means that there's resources that are available to you because he's the one that is with you.

And because he's with you is the reason why you can be at complete peace and not be freaking out. It's one of the most repeated things that you find throughout the Bible. It says, fear not. And you could just see this as a command like, hey, stop having fear. But he always gives us a reason of how to do that.

He says, fear not, for I am with you. That's the reason why In Isaiah, chapter 41, verse 10, he says, Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And it's because I'm the one that's with you that you cannot learn to not fear. In fact, the key to this is to be more aware of his presence and the fact that he's closer to me, that he's near with me in the midst of my circumstance. That's what allows me to Walk without fear. If I'm walking in fear and listen, there'll be moments that you'll have different emotions.

The point here is not to have, like, no fear as far as, like, emotions or anxiety. The. The point here is not don't let it dictate your decisions. Don't let it dictate what you do or do not do. You let the Holy Spirit be the one that dictates what you do, not the spirit of fear.

You let him be the one that dictates what you do, says, fear not. I am with you. I don't know if I've told this story before, but growing up in the Canary Islands, my. My brother had a mouth on him, and that used to get him in trouble. I'm the oldest of three, my brother's second, and my.

My sister's the youngest one. And he used to just have zero filter and would say whatever to anybody, but it would get him into trouble, and it would lead to people wanting to beat my brother up. Sometimes I wanted to do the same. But now, being the older brother, the only one that hits my brother is me. You know what I mean?

Nobody else. Don't touch it. I'll do that. You know what? I.

Even to this day, once in a while, I'll just kind of let him know I'm still the big brother. And if I need to, I could take you down in a moment's notice, and I just need to let you know what your place is. And so. But there'd be moments where he'd be saying stuff, and it would just get him into trouble, and people would be coming to me, and they'd be saying, hey, they're about to beat up your brother. And I just come in and.

And. And I would just rescue him. And I didn't care how many people there were. I didn't care their size. It's just like, you just don't.

Don't do that. You don't do that. I noticed one time that he saw me while he was talking, you know, just talking smack, and people are getting ready to kind of come at him, and I just happened to be walking by, and they saw me over his shoulder, and he kind of looked back and saw that I was there. And while it just made him more bold than he was before, and now he's really mouthing off, and you could tell that they wanted to do something, but they saw me in the background. I kind of almost at that point wanted them to do something to him.

I think he really deserved it at that Point. But it's, it's the fact that I was with him that made him more bold. It emboldened him against the other. He could just say whatever and it didn't matter. He knew that there was somebody there that was.

That had his back. When it says here, fear not, for I am with you, it's talking about the creator of the universe that happens to be also your father is with you and that he has every resource available and that he's good. You know, it's, it's. The good news isn't just that God is all powerful because he could be all powerful in and be moody. And so one day he's in a good mood and you're like, oh man, that's great.

And another day he could be in a bad mood. It's the fact that he's good and that his mercies endure forever that makes it good news that he's all powerful. So the fact that he's with you and that he's good means that whatever you're facing at this moment, there's still hope to get through it. That you can still experience something that is supernatural, that goes beyond anything that a pill could ever provide for you. Because our feelings are a product of our thought life.

What you feel has all to do everything to do with what you're putting in your mind. How you view a situation, the, the, the, the. The narratives that you're coming up with, how you interpret the situation, whether it be good, bad or ugly, will determine how you feel about the thing. It's interesting because Gottman, who has studied different marriages and relationships and trying to find what determines a relationship that lasts versus another one that doesn't. And he's cited almost by every other psychological book or books having to do with marriage and relationship.

And one of the things that is, is. Is interesting here that is that one of the things that he mentions is that sometimes when there's an offense that's occurred between a couple, even the stories begin to change. Where maybe at the very beginning everything is seen as beautiful. You maybe didn't have money, but you just took them out. You know, took her out for ice cream and, and everything seen romantically.

Oh yeah, I remember that. And, and you think of it with nostalgia and just how beautiful it was. And, and maybe, maybe they couldn't afford like the, the biggest ring, but it gave you what, what he could. And everything seemed as beautiful and as wonderful. But then when there's an offense towards the person, you begin to despise and, and see that Even with disdain.

And you can even see the very memories and see it in a different light altogether. And it produces a whole other feeling that you have inside. And all these things that are going on around, like listen what you. What where you put your mind will determine what you feel. And even with your walk with the Lord, it's so important to be renewing our mind.

And it's. Martin Luther is, is. Is the one that cited for this. But he says that I can't prevent a bird from flying over my head, but I can prevent it from making a nest on my head. In other words, I may not be able to stop a thought from coming into my mind, but I can determine where I'm gonna put my thoughts.

And where you put your thoughts consistently will determine how you feel. Even when it comes to the things of the Lord, where you put your mind will determine what you feel. And that's why we have to fight to keep our thoughts on what's really real. What is reality? What's the truth of my situation?

What is God in all of this? Who is he in the midst of what I. What I'm going through? In Isaiah, chapter 26, verse 3 says, you keep him in perfect peace. And literally he repeats the word here.

Shalom, Shalom. You keep him in Shalom, Shalom, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Notice how faith is connected to where you put your thought life. If it's only the negative that you're able to see and that's all you look at, it won't be a big surprise why you don't have faith. It won't be a big surprise why you won't.

You won't see the fulfillment of, you know, promises or prophetic words. Isn't it interesting that the people of Israel all received the same prophetic word to go into the promised land. Everybody had the same experience going through the, the Red Sea and, and, and the plagues of Egypt, but not all of them entered in. And it wasn't that God isn't faithful or isn't true to his word, that they didn't respond in faith. And what we see happening in numbers, chapter 13 is that by the time they get to that land, they say, well, surely, yeah, what God said is true.

This is a great land. Milk and honey is flowing through this place. It's wonderful. Absolutely. But there's giants.

There's no way we can do this. We're grasshoppers in comparison to those giants. They were looking at it from their own perspective. And because they Saw it that way. They were never able to enter in.

They never obeyed the voice of the Lord. Their thoughts replace that. In fact, when you read this story, when you have Joshua and Caleb and they're trying to. To convince the people of Israel, like, wait a minute, we could do this. It's bread to us because we have God on our side.

They want to stone them for actually standing with God and for actually validating what God is saying.

And they weren't able to enter in because of where they were putting their thoughts.

Well, there's no way we could do it. It's impossible. You will be faced with that which seems impossible. That's just the nature of faith. To grow in faith and even in the knowledge of God is something that's more than just academic that you put in your brain.

It's something that's experiential, meaning that as you walk, it means that you're going to be faced with situations that seem to be impossible. I mean, if not, then we don't need faith. We could just do it on our own. He will force you into those situations. He will place you in that place so that you can learn who he is and learn that he's faithful, so you can come to know him better, so you can grow in your faith.

Because without faith, it's impossible to please him. He's after that. He's after perfecting even our own faith, purifying our faith. So that means that you're going to be faced with situations that seem to be impossible. And how you respond at those moments will determine if you walk in the fulfillment of those words or not, in the fulfillment of those promises or not.

I think of even Chile, the prophetic words that have been over that nation over years. It was in the 1990s and early 2000s that there was a great revival and still feeling the impact in Argentina.

It tried to start in Chile first.

It had its moment.

The pastors were all fighting between themselves of who got to sit in the front of the rows on the platform and whose ministry was going to be mentioned and whose ministry was going to be leading worship. And all this kind of stuff that the evangelist just got frustrated and just said, forget it, crossed over literally some mountains of the Andes, went over to the other side. Absolute revival breaks out.

Absolute.

God intended that to happen. There's a generation that missed out on everything that God wanted to do because they couldn't get their thinking right.

They were twisted. They were just. Just warped in it. And because of that, they missed out on everything that God wanted to do. I mean, God obviously is moving and was moving then, too, but not, not to the extent that could have been possible.

Part of my prayer has been God that, that opportunity that was given. Then do it again, do it again.

Just having the right thinking on this, understanding who he is. That's what Paul is trying to convey to these believers. I want you to experience this reality. And it starts with rejoicing, making that decision to rejoice in him, always in the Lord. Then he goes on and he says, do not be anxious about anything, man.

Paul, using these words that are so extreme, kind of wish that sometimes it wasn't like that. You wish it would be something like, hey, try not to be as anxious as you were before, right? But he's like, don't be anxious about anything. You kind of want to go like anything, Paul, like, what about my financial thing that I'm going through right now? What about this difficulty that I'm facing?

It just falls under this blanket statement that Paul's making. And he says, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And again, he's telling you how not to be anxious for anything. How do you do it? Well, you begin by presenting this situation to God.

You give it into his hands, and you got to have a faith and a trust that he's actually going to do something with your prayer, that he's actually going to be moving in your life. And that's where the Thanksgiving comes into play. Thank you that you're faithful. Thank you that you fulfill your word. Thank you for your promise.

Thank you that even though I don't see this right now, that you're working and that you're always working, you're just so good. You're going to turn this out for my good. And then he says here that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever thought of, like, what state or what condition God lives in?

Like, is he ever worried, do you think? Is he ever stressed out? Is the very peace that God experiences, He's so, so generous. Is God. In fact, even Jesus, when he's giving his last word to the disciples before going to the cross, he goes, my peace I give you.

I don't give as the world gives. And he tells him, like, in this world, you're gonna have a lot of tribulation. But don't worry, I've already overcome the world. I. I'm gonna give you a peace that this world can't give and therefore can't give it away. Cuz the world is not the source of your peace.

He's the source of your peace. And because he's the same yesterday, today and forever, it doesn't matter what I'm going through. I can experience this peace. But it's not just a piece his very peace. He's sharing something that he is very, his very nature.

He's getting to share with us the peace that God has. And it surpasses understanding. Meaning that you may not be able to explain it, but you're living it. Have you ever lived there? There's been moments where I've been in this peace that surpasses understanding.

And I feel like I'm being irresponsible because of the things that I'm facing. I feel like a more responsible way to, to, to. To. To face the situation. I should be more stressed than I really am.

And I feel like this is very irresponsible on my part. But I'm like really not worried. And I think maybe I should try to be a little worried or pretend to be worried. And I can't because it's this peace that surpasses all understanding. And it says here it'll guard your hearts and it guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Now notice that it doesn't say that it'll guard your thoughts, any kind of thought. It's only your heart and your mind in him, those that are related to Him. And that word guard, I like it because it means maintain a watch. It means to hold in custody. It means it detains.

Sometimes people have even given this idea of it. It's being kind of like a bodyguard that protects your heart and it protects your mind in Christ Jesus. He's committed to protect those thoughts that you've given to him or, or that you placed on him. And he says that if we do this and he's giving us a formula, this is Paul is sharing from his own experience.

How can Paul rejoice and be at peace in the midst of this horrible situation that he's living in? While he's choosing to rejoice in the Lord always, he's choosing to not be anxious for anything at all. He's just throwing all his cares, he's making everything known to the Lord. And that peace that surpasses all understanding guards his heart and his mind in Christ Jesus. And then here's my question.

What, what do you do now that you've dealt with your anxiety?

What is the point of experiencing the peace that surpasses all understanding because it's more than just trying to make you feel better. Obviously there's a product of that, right? If you are experiencing a peace that surpasses all understanding, you're feeling something and it's a real thing that you're feeling, and it's based on the reality of Jesus and His kingdom and His Word. But what do you do now that you're not worrying or that you're anxious for? Some people, they wouldn't know what to do because their whole life has to do with anxiety and worry.

And if they don't have that, then it's like, well, then what do I do, right? What do I do now with all this extra time?

Well, the point that the Lord gives us this peace that surpasses understanding is that now I'm free to experience Christ. Now I am free to know him better because I've dealt with all this anxiety. You know, when you're so anxious about things, it's hard to put your focus on him because this anxiety is calling your for attention. So he's giving you a way to deal with this in prayer. You give it to him and now what do you do?

You've given it to him. You know that he's working. You're faithful. You know, you're you. You trust in his faithfulness.

Well, it, it, it now, now you're free to actually put your attention on him and get to know him more and to experience his presence. You realize that worship starts with intention and it starts with attention.

Most of us live our life in prayer even. It's like we have a cell phone in our hand. Like, God, please speak to me. And we're just scrolling. Some time ago, my son Anthony was talking to me and I was fixing a situation in the church via text.

And I'm just writing furiously and he's talking to me. And I have a really good ability of listening to the last thing that the person said, but not really connecting necessarily with them in the process. So I've tried that with my wife, but she, you know, it works only so far, but. So my son's there talking to me and he's like, dad, I need you to look at me in the eyes. And he puts his hand on my phone and he brings it down, says, I need you to, I need to connect with you on this for, for a moment.

I said, I'm sorry, son, you've got my attention Now. You realize that, that everything with social media are after your attention. That that's the Currency is to get your attention, because it's not long after having whatever has your attention will have your heart, it'll have your thoughts, it'll control you. Isn't it interesting that when you start worshiping God, obviously there's something that is real and dynamic and true of the Spirit when we decide to worship him. But I wonder at times if we're experiencing his presence because we're finally stopping everything else that we've been doing and we've just put our attention on him and we just, God, I worship you.

And all of a sudden we feel his presence. It's, it's, it's, it's attention. Worship starts with attention, which, which leads me to anxiety. Can at times be a form of worship where we're more impressed with the enemy or the circumstance than we are with God.

I've dealt with this a lot and I, I continue to deal with it. I'm, I'm growing in this, by the way. Okay, so I'm, I'm coming as someone that is a co. Learner in this, but had some conversations over the past years with some of the pastors in, in, in overseas and at times I've heard comments that say, like, well, the United States is different because there's a culture of generosity, you know, when it comes to finances or when it comes to just the kingdom advancing and that kind of thing. And I'm, I'm going, oh, like, oh, oh, wait a minute. Yeah, I forgot.

The God of the States is not the God of Chile. Somehow God's power starts in the north, but by the time it gets to the south, it's just like, I only got a few drops left for you. There's nothing else I can do. The, the God that provided for somebody into some other country can't provide for you. Like, like he can't do miracles like that.

Right. So I can do an evangelist, and he has faith to raise people from the dead, but doesn't have faith for finances. And I'm like, that's very curious. That's interesting. Let's, let's talk about, you know, it's like, it's, it's like the God that can do it somewhere, but he can't do it here.

Somehow, somehow, like he's limited in our own situation, in our own circumstances. We tend to see it that way. We tend to see it where my problem is bigger than your problem. And yeah, it's easy in your situation, but you don't know what I'm going through. And, and if you knew what I was going through, you'd see how hard it is and like, it's difficult for God to do in your situation what, what he could do for somebody else.

Some time ago, I was needing a financial breakthrough and this was many years ago, and I was praying and God provided in such a way that was so miraculous. He moved on the heart of. I mean, it was just this way that he provided. I'm like, God, that is so amazing. I will never doubt you again when it comes to finances.

A couple weeks later, there was another situation and I'm all stressed out. And I felt like the Lord's saying, like, didn't you say you weren't going to be worried about this and that you were going to freak out? I said, yeah, but God, this situation's different from the other one. This was a little bit more complex, but he's the same God. It's interesting that we could read about the miracles that he's done.

And we go, yeah, that happened in there and that's great. And it happens maybe overseas, but here it's. It's different. It's just different. Here it's like.

It's like I talk to people and like, their demons are bigger in that area. The demons in Chile are bigger than the demons somewhere else. And then if you go in Chile, the south is worse than the. Whatever the north is. Everybody has their thing and we're.

Sometimes we glorify more what the enemy can do than really taking a step back and saying, God, you, you are great. There is nobody that compares to you. And if I actually knew the Father like Jesus knows him, I wouldn't be experiencing fear or worry or anxiety at all. I could be in this perfect peace, and the perfect peace allows me now to be able to experience more of him. I just find it fascinating that, like in Mark, chapter four, for example, he talks about how even.

Even the things having to do with the gospel and fruitfulness. And this could even apply to prophetic words and it can apply to promises. When you have the parable of the sower, well, one of them has to do with thorns. And he goes, and they hear the word, verse 19. But the cares of this world, the worries, the anxieties, the deceitfulness of riches, meaning that if I had more money, I would have less problems.

It's actually not true. If you do do a Google search of those that have won the lottery ticket, over 90% of them curse the day that they won. Because if they were in debt before, they're more in debt now. If they had problems with their family before. They have it more now.

Money will actually. It's like a magnifying glass. It'll magnify what's already in your heart. The thing that we need is wisdom, right? To solve our solutions and our problems.

They said the deceitfulness of riches and the desires of other things enter in and choke the word. And it proves unfruitful. There's, it's not a problem with the seed, it's a problem with just. We're so worried about other things that there's not a place for that to actually grow. In Matthew, chapter 10, when he talks about even the disciples being brought before magistrates, and I, I, I always find this fascinating.

He's like, hey, when they deliver you over and you're gonna stand before judges and you're gonna stand before kings and, and you're gonna be persecuted when they do it, don't be anxious about how you're to speak or what you are to to say. For what you're to say will be given to you in that hour. At that moment, you'll be given what you need. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. And I think, like, well, then what are you doing with all that time?

If you're not worried, imagine being put in jail and you're going to face a judge the following day. You have a tendency to go, well, if he says this, I'm going to say this. And the whole night, this is all the stuff that you're going through. Isn't it interesting when Peter is, is, is, is imprisoned and he has guards that are literally chained to him, you know, and, and what would you do? And the next day they're gonna, they're gonna kill him, they're gonna behead him.

What would you do if you knew that the following morning you're gonna die?

I think I'd stay up all night. I don't know. I don't know what I would do. Peter's sleeping. He's sleeping and an angel appears.

And he's sleeping so deeply that the angel has to, like, kick him a couple times and just kind of wake him up. It's like, come on, get up. We're getting out of here. He sleeps. On the very last night of his life, he's asleep.

The church prays, but he's asleep. He's at rest, he's at peace. What do you do now that you're at peace? Just get to know him. You get to experience his presence.

If we don't deal with this.

The way to be more effective, even in the kingdom, is learning how to deal with these things of anxiety and worries and fear.

If we don't do that, most of our prayers tend to be more about us. Lord, I don't want to feel what I'm feeling right now. Help me solve this thing. And if you solve this thing, that I will feel better. But then you feel better, and then there's another thing, and then you feel bad and you just go from one thing to the next.

In first Peter, chapter five and verse six through seven, he says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. So the proper time he might exact exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. It's literally throwing it. It's like throwing a coat. You throw it on him because he cares for you.

It has to do with the fact of, you know what comes to mind when we think about God.

And then it says, be sober minded and be watchful. In verse eight, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of things, sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Well, the way to be sober minded is. And to be alert is getting rid of the anxiety.

Cast your cares on him. He gives you grace. He gives grace to the humble. It's an expression of humility to say, I, I, I don't know how to deal with this. Lord, I'm casting it on you.

That's how I live my life. I'm just like God, I don't have no idea how to do this. I'm like, cass, if you don't intervene, I don't know what's gonna happen. You know, something's gotta happen if you don't. If you don't do this now.

And it's like just casting it on him, but, but that allows you to now be alert in the things of the spirit. Could it be that at times the enemy comes and there's skirmishes that are just simply meant to be distractions and that if he can just keep you distracted long enough, then you can't be aware of what actually he's doing? You can't really discern what the spirit is even saying because you're just so caught up in the moment, so caught up in your own anxiety and worries and doubts. It's like the person that's in pain, you know, like some time ago, my, my wife, like, stubbed her toe against, against A couch. And you know those things are painful, right?

It's like just nerve endings are all in your. I don't know what, what's going on there, but it is like really, really painful. I've had that happen and I've told my wife, I'm like, I know now what you've experienced birthing our four children, but I'm teasing. I don't. But it's like in that moment when you're dealing with the pain is not the moment to come up to her and to start having a deep conversation about things.

She's just kind of like, don't talk to me for a moment. Right? Let me just get through this and then we'll, you know, then we can discuss. It's the same thing. If we don't deal with our own anxiety, it's hard to actually move ahead in the things of faith.

So how do we respond to this? Well, just, just number one, I'm just going to just give quickly three things create simulations of faith. As I was working at keyboard guy can. You can get out.

When I was working at Target too, they had this whole department that super nerdy people that created all these intricate mathematical formulas in case scenarios. What would happen if the economy went a certain way? How should we respond? What if this happened here? What if the imports from China, whatever, you know, just had all these scenarios so they could make the best decisions possible.

I think it's a good exercise to do that. We find this in the psalmist, the Psalm 27:3. He says, though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. He's playing a scenario in his mind. Though I'm surrounded by an enemy, I've already made the determination beforehand.

I'm not going to fear the war arise against me, yet I will be confident. In fact, he goes on to say the one thing I've asked of the Lord, this have I demanded. He just wants to be in the presence of God, but he's passing, playing these, these scenarios in his mind of how he's going to respond beforehand. Can I tell you that that's a great faith builder to take a moment and even say, father, even if everything I lose everything. Even if the worst case scenario happens in my life, I want you to know that I love you.

I want you to know that I'm going to serve you. I want you to know that fear will not dominate my heart and my mind. I'm going to continue and I'm going to be faithful and I'm going to reach the end and you're going to call. I mean, you've called me to this. You empower me.

There's grace, there's more than enough. You've given me everything that I need for life and for godliness. Lord, you're with me. I'm not going to fear. If the worst case scenario comes, the worst news comes from the doctor.

If the worst case comes from whatever, whatever situation or scenario. My heart is already planted and I'm firm and I'm established and he's deciding this beforehand. These are decisions that you can make and you can even practice, even in your own heart, so that anxiety doesn't come. Second thing is just one. Watch your words and place.

Where you place your, your, your. Your thoughts decide beforehand. There are moments where things weren't working out. There's one trip that we had that one time where everything was just, it just was not working out. This is during the COVID time and, and we were trying to get to Chile and just one thing and after another was not working.

I'm just like God. We prayed beforehand, we gave you this trip and you know, we knew, we came knowing that you're going to be working. And it's like, it just like one thing after another wasn't working. And I really wanted to complain and I felt like the Holy Spirit came like, no, don't, don't say anything. Don't say that.

I just really, really, really wanted to complain, but no, no, no, no, no, don't, don't, don't say it. And I realized, oh, you're doing something here. You realize it's not always comfortable.

Miracles aren't always comfortable.

In the midst of all that situation, the same thing was happening to my wife. And I was guarding my mouth. I was being careful what I was saying. And I just saw the hand of God intervene in such miraculous ways in our situation and prove one again, once again, how good and how faithful is our Lord. And the third thing is just meditate on the word.

Word. Let it saturate your imagination. Let those scenes just wash over you. Let, let the word just, just, just wash over. Just, just soak.

Just soak in the word. The best way to control your thoughts, it's not to try to prevent or stop a negative thought, is to replace it with something. So when you begin to replace it with something that's from the word, let me tell you, faith begins to rise. There's been moments where I haven't known how things are going to turn out. I'm like, man, I'm so grateful that you're my shepherd.

I lack nothing, Lord. Even now, you're guiding me. And I'm just so grateful. Thank you for being my God. Thank you for being my shepherd.

And these thoughts want to come in and they want to control me and they want to control my emotion. And, you know, some years ago, we were in Dallas and we were pastoring there, and I went through a season. It was so difficult there. Went through a season where I was just getting bombarded by the enemy in such a horrible way. I'd go to bed at night and I had just horrible, graphic, bloody, violent dreams.

I'd get stressed out before going to sleep. Everything with this thought, the church would do better without you. Your family would be better off without you, Finances would flow. It's because of you. You out of the picture, things would be better.

I mean, constantly, I'd wake up in the morning and the thoughts are there. Try to cross the road, and there's a truck coming by and it says, just. Just get in front of it. Just get it over with. I mean, just constantly, constantly, constantly bombarded.

It's the only thing. I mean, I'm trying to bring. I mean, I'm praying and I'd get some kind of. Of peace, some measure of peace. But then it just come back again.

I mean, it was just constant, constant, constant, constant. I don't know why one day, as I'm praying, Lord felt the Lord say, call this person. And I've always called him Uncle. He's not my blood relative, but I've always called him Uncle. Ask him about baptism of fire, because you find Jesus will baptize you with fire and what the difference is between the baptism and the Holy Spirit and baptism of fire.

Just ask him that. I'm like, okay. So I call him. He answers, which is a miracle. He says, well, baptism of spirit has to do with.

With power. Baptism of fire has to do with character, has to do with the fruit of the spirit. And I don't know why. It just dawned on me at that moment. And it's so obvious when I look back at it now, like, oh, this is an attack from the enemy.

Like, duh. Naturally, I'm not like that. And my prayers changed at that moment.

My prayers were more like, God, I thank you for the reality of who you are in me. It doesn't matter even what the enemy does. It's not about the fire. It's about the one who's with me in the fire. I'm gonna come through this and I won't even smell of the fire.

It's not gonna burn anything on me because you're with me. My focus completely changed because my focus changed every time these thoughts came. I just began to praise the Lord. I began to rejoice in the Lord not because of what was happening, but because of who he is and that he's constant. Can I tell you that it strengthened things in me that otherwise I don't know if they would be that strong.

It came out sharper on the other side. I could experience a peace that surpassed understanding in the midst of all this thing bombarding and all the things that were happening. And I could just experience a peace because you know what? It's real. It's real.

And as I focused my attention on him, I began to experience more joy like I've never experienced before. You know what? I feel like that that's what the Lord wants to do with you tonight.

Felt like tonight. The Lord wants to break the chain of anxiety and fear. Some of you, that you take one step forward and it's like you take two steps back and then comes the accuser. It comes as a see. Or maybe it's the thought of somebody else that has said in words over you.

And you've allowed that to have a greater influence over you than even what the word of God says over you. And today the Lord just wants to break that off. He wants to break fear off of your life life. He wants to break anxiety off of your life to where you can experience that peace. I'm not saying you'll never have any problems, but in the midst of the problems, there's someone that is more real than what you are facing, and it's Jesus.

There's something that's more available than you can even imagine, and it's the kingdom of God. You don't lack any good thing because you have him. Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to King's Alaska podcast. God bless you.

For more great content, go to kcalaska. Com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.