Rick Warren - Lord, Protect My Mind and Strengthen Me Today Prayer for Peace

It's not easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy

to pray about everything. It's not easy to thank God

in everything. So where in the world am I gonna

get the energy to do these things that reduce the

stress in my life? God says this, you come to me.

You come to me. This week as I was traveling

between appointments in Seattle, Chicago, Lenox, Massachusetts, and Charlotte, I

read a headline that said, that personal stress worldwide is

now at near record levels. Near record levels. The highest

it's been really since about World War II. So I

decided to do a little research on this. And I

found out that today, suicide has now passed car crashes

as the number one injury death in America. The number

one injury death in America is now suicide. I read

another statistic that the top seven stresses in life are

number one, your job, number two, money, three, health, relationships,

poor diet, media overload, lack of sleep, and parking at Saddleback.

I made up that last one, obviously. Maybe you can

identify with this. I got this note, Pastor Rick, A

few weeks ago, I went to a doctor for some

chronic aches and pains that seemed to be getting worse.

I don't sleep well, and I live in a constant

state of fatigue. I told my doctor that I started

a business seven years ago that's become very, very successful,

but I now must force myself to go in to work.

I feel overwhelmed. I feel overloaded. So my doctor asked

me to list the stresses in my life and then

think of some possible ways to reduce those stresses and

then write down a plan of attack. I'd like to

know what the Bible says about stress management. I hope

you're in the service today because today we're going to

look at the classic text in the entire Bible on

how to keep from stressing out. We've been in this

series through the book of Philippians, and as we come

to chapter four, Paul gives us in verses six to

13 the classic anti-stress management recipe. If you have a Bible,

you can open to Philippians chapter four. If you didn't

bring a Bible, that's okay. Just pull out these notes.

All the verses we're gonna look at are inside your

bulletin on this text passage outline. Now, the key to

this is that this passage actually comes with a stress

management guarantee. And it's not guaranteed by a doctor, it's

guaranteed by God. So you really wanna pay attention to

this one if you wanna lower the stress in your life.

In verse seven we have the promised guarantee. Here's what

it says. If you do these things, you will experience

God's peace. There you go. You will experience God's peace.

which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

The Bible calls this the peace that passes understanding. How

do you know when you have the peace that passes understanding?

You're in a situation when you have no logical reason

to be at peace, and you are. That's the peace

that passes understanding. When you're in a situation where you're

in total chaos, total meltdown, total stress, total tension, Everything

is going wrong at the same time, and yet you're

at peace inside. That is the peace that passes understanding.

God says, I guarantee this to you. If you do

these things, you'll experience God's peace, which is far more

wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will

keep your thoughts quiet and keep your heart at rest.

Wouldn't you like that? To have your thoughts quiet and

your heart at rest. as you trust in Christ Jesus.

Now God promises a more peaceful, less stressed mind. Is

anybody interested in this? Yeah, yeah, I think so. You

know that there are over 7,000 promises in the Bible.

But with every promise, there is a premise. God says,

if you do this, then I'll do this. There is

a condition. And I want you to circle the premise

for this promise. And it is those first several words.

If you do these things, circle that. If you do

these things, it's gonna keep you from stressing out. You

will experience God's peace. His peace will keep your thoughts quiet,

keep your hearts at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

If you do these things, what things? Well, that's what

we're gonna look at today. And there specifically are five

things that God says to do in this passage. He says,

I want you to worry about nothing. I want you

to pray about everything. I want you to thank God

in all things. I want you to keep your mind

on good things. And I want you to be content

in all things. Now we're gonna look at these in detail.

So let's get right into it. If you're taking notes,

here's the first step. If I want to keep from

stressing out, number one, refuse to worry about anything. Refuse

to worry about anything, why? Because the number one source

of stress in your life is not work, it is worry.

You may be overworked, but it's more likely you are

over worried. Work doesn't keep you up at night, worry does.

And most of you are over worried. Now God is

very clear in the Bible what he thinks about worry.

And that's the first verse, verse six, The first part

of the first verse, verse six, Philippians four, it says this.

Never worry about anything. Now circle never and circle anything.

Never worry about anything. Question, is there any wiggle room

in that verse? Yes. No. Is there any exception? No.

Is there any exemption? No. Is there any reason where

God says, it's okay to worry in this circumstance? No.

Never worry about anything. That's about as big a blanket

statement as you can make. He says, in no, what about, no,

never worry about anything. But what about, no, never worry

about anything. But what about, no, never worry about anything. Now,

Jesus thought worry was such an important topic that he

spent a major section of his most famous sermons, called

the Sermon on the Mount, talking about worry. And in

that Sermon on the Mount, he gives us the four

reasons you should never worry about anything. You might want

to write these down. Number one, Jesus says about worry,

worry is unreasonable. It's illogical, it is unreasonable, it doesn't

make sense. In verse chapter, Matthew 6, 25, Jesus says this.

Don't worry about your life. Don't worry about your life.

What you'll eat or drink or about your body or

what you wear. Is not life more important than food?

And is not the body more important than clothes? He's

saying this is not logical. You got your priorities out

of order. It's irrational. It doesn't make sense. It's unreasonable.

Now why is worry unreasonable? Well, there's a couple reasons. First,

because worry exaggerates the problem. It never makes a problem smaller,

it always makes it bigger. Have you noticed, somebody says

something bad about you, the more you think about it,

the bigger it gets. Or you got a problem you

start worrying about, the more you worry about it, does

the problem shrink with your worry? No, it always gets bigger.

Worry exaggerates, it's irrational, it's unreasonable. It makes it bigger,

it grows the problem out of proportion. And not only

is worry exaggerating your problem, worry doesn't work. It never

has worked. It is worthless. It is stewing without doing.

It doesn't make any difference in your life. You see,

to worry about something you can't change is useless. And

to worry about something you can change is stupid. Just

go change it. In either case, worry is not the answer.

Worry doesn't work. It's unreasonable second uh jesus says worry

is unnatural it's unnatural why because in the entire universe

the only creations of god that worry are human beings

birds don't worry cows don't worry dogs don't worry cats

don't worry cats create worries but they don't worry Worry

is unnatural. What do I mean by that? Because you

weren't born with it. There are no born worriers. You

might think you are, but you're not. You're not a

born worrier. You learned it. Worry is something you learn.

Now the good news is if you learn to worry,

it can be unlearned. Now you learned it, and actually

to get good at it, you gotta practice it. Some

of you are pros at worrying. You have practiced it

so much. You are so good at worrying. You get

the PhD. If they had Olympics on worry, you'd get

a 10. Because you have practiced it so much. But

it's learned. Worry is not natural. No baby is born worrying.

They pick it up from everybody else. Now Jesus says

in Matthew 6, 26, look at the birds of the air.

They don't sow or reap or store away in barns.

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not

much more valuable than they? If anybody's on God's welfare program,

it's birds. They don't do anything except birdy things. Tweet,

that's it. Well, I tweet, but maybe they tweet too.

Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow

or reap. But he says, your heavenly father feeds them.

Notice your heavenly father. He's not talking about the bird's

heavenly father. He's saying your heavenly father. Now if God

is your heavenly father and you are his child, children

get special privileges. And children of royalty are treated royally.

And he says, what are you worrying about? Birds don't

worry and they're not even, God's not their father. God's

their creator but not their father. God's your father. Don't

worry about it. He says, birds don't worry. Animals don't

worry either. Verse 28 and 29, Jesus says, and why

do you worry about clothes? Why do you worry about clothes?

Look at the lilies of the field, the field lilies.

They don't worry about theirs. Yet King Solomon in all

his glory was never clothed as beautifully as they are.

He's saying in all of God's creation, in the entire universe,

only human beings worry. Animals don't worry. Plants don't worry.

We are the only thing God made that doesn't trust him.

He says worry is unnatural. God says you're valuable, more

valuable than these things. I take care of them. By

the way, since worry is unnatural, it's also unhealthy. Your

body wasn't designed to handle worry. It wasn't designed. When

people say I'm worried sick, they're telling the truth. And

doctors say a lot of people could leave hospitals today

if they knew how to get rid of guilt, resentment,

and worry. Because that's what puts most people in. And see,

what I'm saying is, it's not so much what you eat,

it's what eats you. It's what eats you that makes

you sick. It's the worry in your life. It's not

just unnatural, it's unhealthy, causes all kinds of health problems.

Let me show you a couple of verses. Up here

on the screen, the Bible says this, Proverbs 12, 25,

an anxious heart weighs a man down. Boy, you know

that one. And you feel like you're just pulled down

by the worries. You know the word worry actually comes

from an old English word which means to strangle or

to choke. That's what worry comes from. To strangle or choke.

And every time you worry, you are strangling and choking

the life out of your life. An anxious heart weighs

a man down. Look at the opposite here on the screen.

Proverbs 14, 30 says, but a heart at peace Gives

life to the body. You want to be healthier? You

need to stop worrying. Never worry about anything. Why? It's

unreasonable and it's unnatural. The third thing Jesus says, it's unhelpful.

It's unhelpful. Worry cannot make you one inch taller. Worry

can't make you one inch shorter. Worry can't take 10

inches off my waist. If it could, it would have.

Worry cannot lengthen your life. It can shorten your life though,

we know that. Worry cannot change the past and worry

cannot control the future. All it does is make today suck.

It messes up today. That's all it does. It doesn't

change the past. It can't change control of the future.

It just messes up today. It's kind of like sitting

in a rocking chair. You expend a lot of energy

but you don't make any progress. You're just, it's useless.

The only thing that worry changes is you. It makes

you miserable. It has never solved the problem, it's unhelpful.

And then the fourth reason why the Bible says never

worry about anything is because it's unnecessary. God says what

in the world are you worrying about? Don't you think

I'm gonna take care of you? Don't you think I'm

gonna meet your needs? I made you, I created you,

I saved you, I love you, I put my spirit

in you. Don't you think I'm gonna take care of

your needs? It's unhelpful, but it's also unnecessary. There's no

need to worry. Jesus says this in Matthew 6, 30.

You know, if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that

are here today and gone tomorrow, think of all the

beautiful flowers that are never seen by human beings, but

God takes care of them. He said, if God cares

so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow,

won't he most surely care for you? Oh, you of

little faith. You're as happy as you choose to be.

If you're unhappy, it's because you're choosing to be unhappy.

Don't blame your husband, your wife, or anybody else. It

is a choice. And so is worry. Worry is a choice.

Nobody's holding a gun to your head. You don't have

to worry. And so the first step in stress management

is to refuse to worry about anything. Why? Because it's unhelpful, unreasonable, unnatural,

and unnecessary. The Bible says this, 1 Peter 5, 7.

Unload all your worries on God since he is looking

after you. And I love that word unload because literally

in the original Greek it means to just drop. It's

not like take a long throw of it like you're

throwing a baseball or throwing a rock across a lake.

It just says unload, it means let it go, let

it go. And God says, you know all those things

you're stressing about this morning, all those things you're anxious,

you're worried, you're fearful, you're uptight about, let it go.

Let it go. Never worry about anything. Because it's not

going to do any good anyway. So what do you

do anyway? You do the next step. And that's the

second part of this verse. First part of verse six

says never worry about anything. The second part is talk

to God about everything. That's the second step. You talk

to God about everything. Don't panic. Pray. Don't worry about Worship.

Stop talking to yourself about all the stuff that stress

you out and start talking to God. Talking to yourself

won't do anything, but talking to God will. He's saying,

talk to God about everything. This is the second part

of this verse, Philippians 4, 6. Never worry about anything. Instead,

in every situation, let God know what you need in

your prayers and in your requests. You know, I got

to thinking yesterday, if you prayed as much as you worry,

you'd have a whole lot less to worry about. And

by the way, since God has promised to care for you,

if it's not worth praying about, it's not worth worrying about.

He says, talk to God about everything. God knows what

you need in your prayers. You know, when I was

a kid, anytime I had a need in my life,

I'd go talk to my dad and say, Dad, I

need this. And sometimes it was something that cost something.

It was expensive. And I said, Dad, I need this.

I can distinctly remember that not once as a kid

when I said, Dad, I need this, never once did

I worry about where my father was going to get

the money. Never once. Because that's not my job. It's

my dad's job to figure out where the money is

going to come from. It was my job as a kid,

as a child, to simply ask. It's not your job

to figure out how God's going to do it. It's

your job to ask. To ask your Heavenly Father, Father,

I need this help. You see, when you worry instead

of asking, when you worry instead of asking, you're acting

like an atheist. Worry is practical atheism. That's what it is.

It's acting like I don't have a Heavenly Father in

my life. It's acting like God doesn't exist. It's acting

like I'm a spiritual orphan. Worry is practical atheism. God says,

I'll take care of you. It's acting like God can't

be trusted. Now here's what the Bible says. Look in

your outline, James 4.2. You do not have because what?

You do not ask. You do not ask God. So

here's the second key to stress management. Worry less, ask more.

Worry less, ask more. Instead of worrying, pray. Worry about nothing,

pray about everything. You say, well, I don't want to

bother God with, this little bitty tiny little thing. There's

nothing tiny to God. Every problem in your life is

tiny to God. There's no big problems in your life,

there are no little problems in your life, because all

of them are tiny to God. Now here's what the

Bible says in Romans chapter 8, 32. Since God did

Romans 8 · chapter mention

not spare even his own son, Jesus, but gave him

up for us all, he died on the cross for us,

Won't he who give us Christ also give us everything

else we need? What's he saying here? Follow the logic.

Your biggest problem is getting into heaven because heaven's perfect

and you're not. And neither am I. I stopped batting

a thousand about breath number three. And so God came

up with plan B. He came to earth in human

form and he said, I'll live a perfect life and

I'll die for you and you can get into heaven

on my ticket. It's grace. I don't work it, I

don't earn it, I don't deserve it, I don't buy it,

it's just grace. I told you last week that one

of my mentors was Peter Drucker and I asked Peter

one time, Peter, at what point did you step across

the line and accept a relationship with Jesus? He said,

you know, Rick, the day that I understood grace for

the first time, I realized I'm never getting a better deal.

There was no way I'm getting. into heaven on my goodness.

I'm not good enough. He says, if God did not

spare his own son, but gave him for us, won't

he give us everything that Christ has given to us?

Won't he give us everything else we need? If God

solved my biggest problem, everything else is small by comparison.

And if God loved you enough to die for your sins,

don't you think he loves you enough to help you

with your finances? Don't you think he loves you enough

to help you with your health, with your relationships, with

a career decision, with closing a deal, with making a sale? Yeah.

There is no area of your life that God is

not interested in. The Bible says he has the hairs

on your head number. Now, for some of us, that's

not too hard. But God knows every hair on your

head and even the ones you left in the sink

this morning. That's how detailed, I don't even know how

many hairs on my head, but God does. God says

I'll care for you and I'll care for all of

your life. So one of the dumbest things you can

say is God I'll handle this. Really? When he's offered

to take care of every area of your life to

say God I'll handle this, why? You want to lower

the stress in your life. Worry about nothing and pray

about everything. Number three, the third thing he tells us

to do is to thank God in all things. Thank

God in all things. Now it doesn't say thank God

for all things because there's a lot of things you

shouldn't be thankful for. There's pain in the world. There's

evil in the world. Somebody gets cancer. You don't have

to thank God for cancer. Somebody dies. You don't have

to thank God for their death. But it says in

all things give thanks which means even in the bad

times I can find something good. Now here's the third

part of that verse. Philippians 4, 6, he says, you know,

worry about nothing, and then he says, when you ask

God for what you need, also thank him, circle that,

thank him for all he's done. Always ask with a

thankful heart, today's English version said. You cannot be happy

and ungrateful at the same time. Happy people are grateful people,

unhappy people are ungrateful people. Study after study after study

has shown that the healthiest emotion known to human beings

is the attitude of gratitude. And the more you build

gratitude in your life, the more happy and the more

healthy you're gonna be. In fact, studies show that having

an attitude of gratitude actually raises your immunities. And being

ungrateful and being resentful actually lowers your immunity to other

things in life. We know that gratitude is one of

the remedies for depression because it gets my eyes off

myself and gets it on other people. And instead of

looking at what I don't have, I look at what

I do have. It's a stress reliever. It gets the

focus off me. Ungrateful people are unhappy people. He says,

when you ask God, don't just ask, but also thank him.

Always ask with a thankful heart. Now the fact is,

I can always find something to be grateful for. We've

talked about this before on the cover of Kay's last

book on choosing joy. There is a pair of railroad

tracks and it's representative of life. In your life, you've

got two rails at the same time. One rail are

the good things that are happening in your life and

the other rail are the bad things that are happening

in your life. Now I used to think that life

was a series of hills and valleys, mountaintops and And low,

low times. And you know, you have all of these

good times and you have all these bad times. But

that's not really true. The fact is you get them

both at the same time all of your life. In

other words, there's no time in your life when everything

is good and there's nothing bad in your life. And

there's no time when everything is bad and there's nothing

good in your life. No matter how good things are

going on in your life, there's always something you need

to be working on And no matter how bad things

are in your life, there's always something you can be

thankful for, be grateful for. And so I can always

find something, and this is the third step for stress reduction,

be thankful and thank God in all things. This is

exactly what the Bible says. First Thessalonians 5, 18 says this. Everything,

circle that. It doesn't say in most things. It says

in everything. Not for, but in everything. Give thanks for

this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

You know, people ask me all the time, Rick, I'm

just trying to figure out what God wants me to

do with my life. What is God's will for my life?

There it is right there. This is the will of

God for you. And before God shows you step two,

you need to take step one. God does have a

will and a plan for your life, your marriage, your career,

your education, and everything else. But before we get to

those specifics, God says, let's work on the general. The

first thing is, I want you to learn to be

grateful in every situation. This is the will of God

for you. Number four, the fourth step we find in

the next couple verses, and it's this. If I want

to reduce the stress in my life, I worry about nothing,

I pray about everything, I thank God in all things,

and number four, I think about good things. I think

about good things. Now this is extremely important because the

stress and your war with stress in your life, that war,

that battle is going on between your ears. The stress

isn't out there, it's in here, it's inside, it's between

your ears. The battle is in your brain. It's in

your thought life. It's in your mind. And your war

with stress are won or lost in your mind. And

what you fill your mind with will determine the level

of stress in your life. If you want peace of mind,

now listen closely. If you want peace of mind, you're

gonna have to start controlling what you allow in it.

Most people, their mind's like a freeway. Anything can drive

through it. And they fill their mind with poison and

garbage and stuffing and all kinds of things. And you know,

the mind is like a computer. It's G-I-G-O, garbage in,

garbage out. Whatever you put in your mind is gonna

come out in your life. And so they go and

they see movies they shouldn't see, and they watch shows

they shouldn't watch, and they read novels they shouldn't, and

they listen to gossip they shouldn't listen to, and they

just let anything in their mind. They worry about water pollution,

they worry about food pollution, they worry about air pollution,

but they're not worried at all about mind pollution, and

yet that's the most serious pollution. They say, well, I'm

just trying to be open-minded. Some people are so open-minded

their brains fall out. And they will allow anything into

their lives. Now here's what the Bible says, Philippians 4.8.

Fill your mind with those things that are true and

good and right. Think about, there it is, fill your mind.

Think about things that are pure and beautiful and respected.

If anything is excellent, If anything is worthy of honor,

think about those things. Now notice, the Bible gives us

eight tests on whether we should allow something in our

mind or not. It says if you wanna lower the stress,

you're gonna have to change what you think about and

control what you allow into your mind. And the eight

tests are, before I listen or watch or talk or

say or hear this, I should say, is it true?

Is it good? Is it right? Is it pure?

Is it beautiful? Is it respected? Is it excellent? Is

it worthy of honor?

Doesn't that just sound like television? No, no. And television

is getting worse and worse. I mean, because the heroes

today on television are, in order, zombies, vampires, serial killers

like Dexter, crack addicts, corrupt politicians, and perverts. And you

call that entertainment? I got enough of that in the world.

You would never invite somebody over and say, hey, come

on in here and sit in my living room and

kill 19 people. But you'll do it on the televisions. Now,

he says here, think on things that are good and

pure and right. Let me give you a verse to

write down. Proverbs 14, nine. This isn't in your outline.

Proverbs 14, nine. It's here on the screen. It says this.

Fools make fun of sin. That's foolish. That's foolish. Now,

when you think about these things, true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy,

you know what that is? It's a picture of God.

And what he's really saying is, think about God. Here's

what Isaiah says. there on your outline. You, Lord, will

keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live in

perfect peace? Wouldn't you like to be less stressed out? You, Lord,

will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,

whose thoughts are fixed on you. If you fix your

thoughts on God, he says, I will keep you in

perfect peace. You see, what you think about is gonna

determine how stressed and how worried you are. You know,

I've told you the story of Corrie ten Boom. Corrie

ten Boom was a Dutch Christian young woman during World

War II. Her family, the ten Boom family, her dad

was a clockmaker, and they lived in Amsterdam during World

War II. And they made a story, she wrote a

book about it and they actually made a movie of

her life called The Hiding Place. And during World War II,

the Ten Boom, this Christian family, took in Jewish friends

and hid them in what was called The Hiding Place

in their house for many years to prevent them from

being captured by the Nazis and shipped off to death camps.

One day, the Nazis found out and not only took

the Jewish friends but took Corrie and her family And

they were taken to death camps in Poland. And Corrie

lost her entire family. She was the only one that survived.

And it's a very wonderful story. And in it, she

says something I've never forgotten. She said, if you look

at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within,

you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll

be at rest. It all depends on what you have

your eyes on. You know? People say, well, look within. Well,

I did. I didn't like what I saw. I don't

want to look within. I want to look without. I

want to look at God. I want to look at Christ.

Think about good things. Now, there's one other step. That's

number five. Be content with anything. The Bible tells us

to be content with anything. This is the fifth key

to living a reduced stress life. When God says, if

you do these things, you'll have God's peace in your life.

Now let me explain contentment because a lot of people

misunderstand the meaning of contentment. A lot of people think

contentment means I have no ambition. No, no, no, no, no.

Paul who wrote this book, remember, he's probably one of

the most ambitious men who ever lived. He single-handedly takes

the good news, the gospel, all across the Roman Empire.

He's one of the most ambitious people ever and he says,

I've learned to be content. So it has nothing to

do with ambition. That's not contentment. Contentment is not laziness.

Contentment is not apathy. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment is

not fatalism, what will be will be, que sera sera.

Contentment is not lacking ambition. Here's what contentment is. It's

enjoying what I have right now rather than waiting for

something else to happen in order for me to be happy.

Does that make sense? It's enjoying what I've got right.

Doesn't mean I don't want to progress. Doesn't mean I

don't have goals. The Bible says you should have goals.

It means I'm not waiting for something to happen in

my life in order to be happy. Contentment is the

opposite of coveting. Coveting is when and then thinking. When

this happens, then I'll be happy. When this happens, then

I'll be happy. And when that happens, then I'll be happy.

That's when and then thinking. Coveting. Contentment is actually independence

from circumstances. It means my joy is not connected to

what's happening in my life right now. My joy, my

happiness is not based on my happenings. It's not based

on my circumstances. It means I've learned to enjoy whatever

I've got right now and I'm not waiting for something

or someone to make me happy. Now here's what Paul

says in the next two verses, verse 11 and 12.

He says, I've learned to be content. Circle the word learned.

Contentment is not natural. I'm by my nature content. You're

not by nature content. You have to learn it. Just

like you have to unlearn worry and you have to

learn happiness, you have to learn contentment. Something that we

get educated on. I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

He says, I know how to live on almost nothing.

Or I know how to live with everything, and in

the original Greek here, he said, I know how to

live in poverty, and I know how to live in luxury.

I know them both. He said, I know how to

be happy in either, in poverty or luxury, in nothing

or with everything. I've learned the secret of contentment in

every situation, whether I'm well-fed or hungry, or whether I

have more than I need, or when I don't have enough. Now,

he says there, I have learned contentment. To be content.

How do I learn contentment? Let me give you a

couple of three ways. You might just write these down.

They're not in your notes, so just write them down.

The first way you learn contentment is this. Stop comparing.

Stop comparing. That's so important. Because the source of all

discontent is comparison. I remember many, many years ago when

I was a little boy and Got up on Christmas

morning and my parents had given me the gift of

my lifetime. A stingray bicycle. With these butterfly handles. Get

your motor running. Banana seat. I thought it was so

cool and I thought I was so cool until I

saw my neighbor got a better one. and my happiness

went out the door. Now, the Bible tells us over

and over and over, it is stupid, it's dumb, it's

foolish to compare yourself to anybody else.

Why?

Two reasons. One, you're always gonna find somebody who's doing

a better job than you, and somebody who has more

than you, and you're gonna get discouraged. Two, you're always

gonna find somebody you're doing a better job than, and

you have more than, and you get full of pride.

Either way, you're dead in the water, God takes you

out of the game, and you sit on the sidelines

for the rest of the game. Discouragement and pride are

the two things that take you, knock you out of life.

So he says, don't do that. God says, I called

you to be you. I made you to be you.

If you don't be you, who's gonna be you? When

you get to heaven, God isn't gonna say, why weren't

you more like your sister? Or why weren't you more

like your mom or your dad? God's gonna say, why

didn't you be you? I made you to be you.

Most of us start off as originals and end up

as carbon copies. God never makes copies of anything. No

two snowflakes are alike. No two human beings are alike.

You have a unique thumbprint, handprint, voiceprint, footprint, eye print.

You are unique. Even identical twins aren't really identical. They're

different in millions of ways. God never makes a repeat.

Man makes clones. God never makes clones. When God made you,

he broke the mold. God wants you to be you,

and if you don't be you, who's gonna be you?

Now if you're gonna be somebody else in life, God

may as well kill you. Because he doesn't need two

of that person. He made you to be you. And

he wants you to be you. And so he says,

stop comparing. Because when you compare, you get jealous and

you get envious. Now the Bible says this, look at

this verse on your outline. Peace of mind makes the

body healthy. But envy is like a cancer. In other words,

it eats you up. It will eat you alive if

you get envious. Now that phrase, peace of mind, makes

the body healthy. That word, peace of mind, actually, in

other translation, is the word contentment. Contentment makes the body healthy.

So stop comparing. Here's a second little tip for learning contentment.

Stop thinking that having more is better. You see, there

are three myths that we're taught by advertising in society.

Having more will make me more happy. Having more will

make me more important. Having more will make me more secure.

None of those are true. They're all lies. Having more

will not make you more happy. Having more will not

make you more valuable. And having more will not make

you more secure. First place, you can lose it all.

You can lose a billion dollars in a lot of ways.

And your value is not based on your valuables and

your net worth is not based on, your self-worth is

not based on your net worth. It's based on who

you are, not what you own. So stop thinking that

having more will make me more happy. Having more will

make me more important. Having more will make me more secure.

None of those are true. You need to find your

security in something that can never be taken from you. Well,

if I put my security in my job, it can

be taken from me. If I put security in my

bank account, I can lose that. If I put my

security in my health, I can lose that. Or my

good looks, I can lose that. It has to put

security in something that can't be taken from me, and

that is my relationship to God. I'll never forget Viktor

Frankl standing in a death camp. If you've never read

his book, A Man's Search for Meaning, it's a terrific

book and he says you know they stripped me naked

they took away everything including my wedding ring and then

he said I realized that there was one thing that

could never be taken away from me my ability to

choose my response you cannot control everything that happens in

your life but you can choose how you respond that's

your freedom Now here's what the Bible says, Ecclesiastes chapter four.

It's better to only have a little with peace of

mind than to be busy all the time with both

hands trying to catch the wind. It's what I call

the Saddleback Syndrome. We go out and we buy things

we can't afford with money we don't have to impress

people we don't even like. And then we get in debt,

we have to become workaholics to pay for all the

things we bought. And if you own something, and God

told you to give it away, you don't own it,

it owns you. A lot of people are possessed by

their possessions. There's nothing wrong with possessions. Nothing wrong with them.

But unless you make it your God. And you cannot

be possessed by your possessions. And he said, you know,

if your whole life is trying to work harder to

pay for stuff, he says you're missing the point. A

third thing, and I'll end with this, is learn to

admire without having to acquire. I found this personally fun

for me. Learn to admire without having to acquire. In

other words, I have learned that I don't have to

own it in order to enjoy it. The fact is,

with ownership, ownership's a lot of pain a lot of

the times. I mean, you gotta insure it, you gotta

maintain it, you gotta store it, you gotta haul it.

I mean, let me give you an example. and my

kids and my grandkids, we like to jet ski. And

we like to go down to Mission Bay in San Diego,

particularly in jet ski. We've done it on several vacations.

We'll go jet skiing. And because we've done this a

lot as a family, I've often thought, well, maybe I

should go buy some jet skis. And then I think,

why in the world would I do that? I mean,

then I gotta insure it. Then I gotta maintain it.

Then I gotta store it. Then I gotta haul it

back and forth. If it's just down there, I'd go

down there and use it. Rent it for an hour

or two. I'm gonna give you a true confession. I

know this is gonna shock you. I have never spent

one hour of my life scraping barnacles off my boat.

Because I don't know one. I just use yours. You

got a lodge at Aspen, I'll jump up and down

on your bed. You can ensure it, maintain it, and

store it, and haul it. Learn to admire without having

to acquire. Learn that I don't have to own it

to enjoy it. That's part of contentment. Now, these five

strategies that I've just mentioned, they're very easy for me

to explain, but they're very hard to do. It's not

easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy to pray

about everything. It's not easy to thank God in everything.

It's not easy to think about good things. And it's

not easy to be content with anything. So where in

the world am I going to get the energy to

do these things that reduce the stress in my life?

God says this, you come to me. You come to me.

And I will give you the power and the ability

to do what will help you do what is best

for you. Paul ends this passage with verse 13. One

of the most famous verses in the Bible is verse 13.

I have the strength to face anything and everything by

the power that Christ gives me. I can do all

things through Christ who strengthens me. I can worry about

nothing when Christ strengthens me. I can pray about everything

when Christ strengthens me. I can thank God in everything,

in all things, when Christ strengthens me. I can keep

my mind on the right thing when God strengthens me.

And I can be content with anything when Christ strengthens me.

What we're talking here is not about a religion, but

a relationship. You may be Buddhist, you may be a Baptist,

you may be Catholic or Protestant or Jewish, you may

be Muslim or Mormon, or no religion at all. God

has never made a person he doesn't love, God has

never made a person he didn't die for, God has

never made a person he doesn't have a purpose for.

And he says, if you'll come to me, I will

help you. I'm gonna close with this last verse, Job

Job 22:21

22 verse 21 says this, obey God, and be at

peace with him. This is the way to happiness. You see,

the real reason you're not at peace is because you're

at war with God. And until you make your peace

with God, that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus

to do, is to make peace with God for us.

When you make peace with God, then you get the

peace of God, and then you can have peace with others.

There's not gonna be peace in the world till the

Prince of Peace is reigning in our hearts. So in

order for you to have the peace of God, you

have to first have the peace with God. And let's

close with that. Let's bow our heads. Would you bow

your heads with me? And I'm gonna lead you in

a prayer. My blessing on you this week is Romans 15, 33.

It says, I pray that God who gives peace will

be with you. So would you pray this simple prayer?

It doesn't really matter what your words you say. If

you just say, as I say this, you say, me too, God,

me too. Say, dear God, I don't really want to

be stressed out. I want to learn the habits of happiness.

And you have promised that if I do these things,

I will experience your peace. So I'm going to hold

you at your word. Now, I don't have the strength

to do these, so Jesus Christ, I need you to

give me that strength. Help me to worry about nothing.

To remember it's unreasonable and unnatural and unhelpful and unnecessary.

You're gonna take care of me. Dear God, help me

to worry about nothing. And dear God, help me to

pray about everything instead of talking to myself to talk

to you. Help me to thank God in all things.

Help me to think about the good things. And God,

I ask you to help me to be content with anything. God,

I want to have peace with you so I can

have the peace of God. Jesus Christ, I don't understand

it all, but as much as I know how I

say yes to you, I don't want a religion, I

want a relationship. I just want to get to know you.

And so I open my heart as humbly, God, I say,

make yourself real to me. And I pray this in

your name, amen.