Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice…The Lord is near. 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. Philippians 4:4-8
I want to call your attention to Philippians 4:4-8. It starts out, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.”
Then verse 6 — “Do not worry about anything…” Another translation says, “Dismiss all anxiety from your mind…” Now this is one the things the Lord wants to teach us.
First St. Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” So when we wake up in the morning, we need to make up our minds and say, “I am going to spend this day obedient to the Lord, and that means that I’m going to rejoice in the Lord today. I am going to dismiss all anxiety from my mind.”
So when anxious thoughts comes to mind – fears, financial woes, family misunderstandings — dismiss them. What does that mean? You make a conscious decision not to think about those things.
Think of Mary sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening to Him. Let your mind rest in the presence of the Lord for a moment, and when you picture Him, leave your worries at His feet. Whatever they are – finances, politics, children, vice, corruption, coworkers, difficulties with your spouse – dismiss them. Tell those thoughts, “Go away. I’m leaving you all at the feet of Jesus.”
The Scripture goes on, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
So you say, “God, You take care of the family, take care of this situation, take care of the government, take care of the poor, take care of our finances, etc.” Choose to be obedient to God in your mind. “Lord, You take care of all these problems. I know You can. I leave them in Your hands, and I’m going to be at peace.”
The Lord wants you to be in peace and happy in your mind.
The final verse is verse 8 – “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.”
Now this is extremely good mental hygiene. This is the Word of God, and it is good mental hygiene.
We need to meditate on these verses (Phil. 4:4-8) until they become habitual with us. Any time, day or night, we ought to be filling our mind with what is true, noble, good, pure, virtuous and worthy of praise.
Now the enemy in our own nature will try to fill our mind with ugliness, sin, corruption, fear, all kinds of junk. But I should be thinking about roses, music, the Virgin Mary, justice, Boston Baked Beans – whatever is good, holy, noble, virtuous, worthy of praise. And by doing this, my mind is always ready to be in communion with the Lord.
At any moment, I can go back to being in communion with the Lord and communion with the beautiful things that He does, because the Lord is going to win! Beauty is going to win. Truth is going to conquer. It’s just a matter of time, and by letting good and praiseworthy things stay in my mind as much as possible, I stay in tune with Jesus, the Victor, who is all beauty, all justice, all virtue, all goodness, all purity, all nobleness.
This is such a beautiful thing that God does not want us to worry, doesn’t want us to be anxious. We give all our problems to Him and say, “Lord, these are Your problems. You can take care of them, and You will take care of them. Amen!”
Emily Paredes-Maurer says
I love this and so needed to hear this!
Thank you!