#85Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking II(13/07/03)

By Robert A. Schuller

MESSAGE/PRAYER - ROBERT A. SCHULLER
"Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking - Part II"

So this morning my father and I are continuing our message series on "Peace Through Possibility Thinking." And this morning I'm going to be sharing with you how the mind and the heart can find peace through Jesus Christ.

Because the mind constantly is invaded with the negative thoughts. It's kind of like the birds flying over our heads. You can't stop them from flying over our heads. You know that. They fly and they fly and they fly and they continue to fly. And you can't stop them from flying over your head anymore than you can stop negative thoughts from coming into your mind from time to time. But, you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. You can prevent those negative thoughts from taking root and sinking into the emotional interior of your heart. In emotionalizing these negative thoughts and allowing them to generate those feelings of fear, worry, anxiety, jealousy, envy, hatred, bitterness, resentment, or lack of self-esteem.

Now if you want to know the secret and the key to keeping those negative thoughts up there flying around and not allowing those things to penetrate into the emotional heart. There is a Bible verse I'm going to read with you, which shares with you point by point what to do. Here it is Philippians 4:4-7. Says it very clearly.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all that the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus."

Step by step. Three simple steps. Right straight from the text. If you can't remember what the text is all you have to...if you can't remember what the points are all you have to do is go back and read the text. Its found in Paul's letter to the Philippians, the 4th chapter verses 4 through 7. And it begins by saying what? Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. Not just once in a while. Not just when it feels good. But all the time. Rejoice.

This is the most beautiful prescription for our spiritual, psychological, and emotional wellness that I have found in the Bible. It begins so simply and so concisely outlined, rejoice in the Lord always. Be anxious about nothing, and pray with petitions and thanksgiving. And it begins with simply, rejoice in the Lord always.

How many know that camp song, "rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." How may know that song? Some of you do? Ok, let's sing it. "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice and again I say rejoice. That's not bad. Yeah.

But you know you're supposed to sing it in a round. Is Don Neuen still here? Do you do camp songs Don? No, doesn't do camp songs. He's leaving it all up to me. Ok, we've got the girls and the boys. So let me see, who wants to start off, the guys or the gals? The guys got it. Sorry girls, you're too slow. So here's.. I'll get the guys started and then the choir, you can come in with the girls. Ok, Don, that's what you get for being a little late there. Ok, so we'll sing the first stanza and they come in. Ready guys, here we go: Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice and again I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice. That's ok. You know. Just having a little fun and remembering those words, rejoice in the Lord always because it's something that we can sing.

We're driving down the freeway and somebody cuts us off, the last thing you want to do is "rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." The Bible tells us that to rejoice in everything. It doesn't tell us that the peace that we find in Jesus Christ doesn't mean that we're going to avoid all persecution, we're going to avoid all kinds of tribulations, but instead that through the persecutions and the tribulations we're blessed. It specifically tells us in Matthew that you're blessed when you are persecuted. You are blessed when you're insulted. You're blessed when you are falsely accused. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. The text goes on very clearly to day be anxious about nothing.

I have to make a confession. I was very anxious a couple weeks ago. I was waiting for my son's wedding. And I had all kinds of anxieties. After all I saw "Father of the Bride," not once but twice. I saw "My Best Friend's Wedding." Oh my goodness Oh what's the other one? "The In-Laws." I saw "The In-Laws." And I saw all these other movies, you know, all these negative things which they show that can go wrong with the weddings and the anxiety and the fear and the trepidation of things that could happen. And I was anxious.

And I'll never forget all of the fears that I had that never materialized. There are fears of human dynamics, of family tensions and family dynamics, and what was going to happen when different combinations came together. And there wasn't a dry eye in our family when my son had his picture taken with his family. My wife and I were divorced twenty years ago and my son is twenty-one. And he had a family picture taken with his entire family for the first time in his life, all of his half brothers, all of his half sisters, his stepparents and his step grandparents. And as he was getting his picture taken, afterwards he said, stop, stop, wait, everyone wait right here, I have to see this. And he jumped out of the picture, and he just stood there and looked at all of his family for the first time. And I don't think there was a dry eye among us. And here all this anxiety and this worry that I was so concerned with was poof gone.

Be anxious about nothing. Why do you worry, oh ye of little faith. You know we turn on the news on and what do we hear? We hear all the bad news. Why do we hear all the bad news when we turn to Fox and CNN and regardless of what station because it's the only thing newsworthy. There's so much good news going on that there's no way to report it. The only thing newsworthy is the bad news. So that's the only thing they can report. It's easy for us to feel anxious and anxiety.

I can mention three letters and you'll become anxious today. I'm going to tell you now easy it is. I R S. You are all anxious aren't you? Just naming those three letters and all of a sudden the blood pressure goes up. Oh my goodness. Gentleman was audited recently by that wonderful agency we all admire so much. And in that audit they explained to him the benefits of living in the United States. And they said you know, because of the freedoms we enjoy here and because of all of the benefits we have as citizens of this great country, we expect you to pay your taxes with a smile. He said, oh I'm so relieved, I though you were going to ask for money.

You know it's so easy for us to feel anxious about things that take place and yet they rarely even happen. And when we realize that the Father of God, our Father, our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, just continues to spill His love on us and care for us. We discover that we can rejoice in the Lord always. That we don't have to be anxious about anything. And that prayer is the anecdote to worry. It goes on to say pray, petition and give thanks to God. And I have discovered that prayer is not necessarily something we do. For me prayer is a state of being. It's a state of consciousness, it's a state of awareness so that I am constantly in this understanding of the presence of Jesus Christ. And I think that's what Paul meant when he said that we should pray without ceasing. How do you pray without ceasing, if you have to get on your hands and knees, you have to fold your hands, and you have to say something? I believe that praying without ceasing is a spiritual awareness that God is near, that Jesus is here, that He's all around us, that His spirit is everywhere. That when we breathe, we breathe in the spirit of Christ. When we think, we can think the thoughts of God. When we walk, we can walk in the footsteps of the Holy Spirit, that everywhere we go, Jesus is there, God is here. Now that's an understanding of that reality and that presence. But then beyond that, it goes on, pray with petitions.

Now that's a different story. When we pray with petitions, we go and we tell and ask Jesus and God what we want, what we need, what we desire, what our hopes are, what our dreams are, what our goals are, what our aspirations, what we would do, if we had enough faith in Him, and we petition God. But then it also says, we pray and petition God with Thanksgiving, which means that as we speak it, we give thanks for the reality that God is in control, that He's going to help us and He's going to make it happen. And as a result, it's a step of faith, giving thanks always in all things, in every way.

This past Thursday, the first Thursday of June, I participated in an event called WorldWide Cancer Prayer day. I've been doing this now for six years when a friend of mine first established this prayer day. His name is Daniel Kennedy and he's just a wonderful man of God who is interested in people who have cancer. And so he started this World Wide Cancer prayer day to introduce people to prayer because cancer is at such epidemic proportions today there's rarely a family in America who hasn't been touched in one way, shape, or form, by cancer. I know my mother had cancer several years ago, so our family, my immediate family has been touched with it.

So in this time of prayer, we get together and we pray. We pray for the families. We pray for those with cancer. We pray for the eradication of cancer. We pray for the prevention of cancer. And then we pray with thanksgiving. We pray with thanks for the reality that God is at work, that God uses this incredible fear.

I don't think there is a disease on planet earth that creates more fear than the word cancer, unlike a heart attack. A heart attack seems to come and then if you survive you go on living. But cancer, you've got to fight the thing. You've got to go through the chemotherapy, the radiation, the surgery. There seems to be no end. And so there's this fear.

There are many people who are living with cancer. But you aren't dying of cancer you're living with it. And that paradigm shift is seeing the reality of the glass half full as opposed to half empty, often rejuvenates and gives people the ability to conquer the otherwise impossible task of cancer.

I know twenty years ago, there was a member of my church, Sid Griffin, who came to me and I was talking with him. He said, yeah, I have liver cancer. I said you're kidding? He goes no, the doctors told me I have two weeks to live. I go oh, that's terrible Sid. He goes, I know, they told me that about ten years ago. I said, really? That was twenty years ago. He's still living. He's almost ninety years old and if he isn't. We buried his wife five years ago. She died of natural causes. And Sid just keeps on ticking like the Eveready battery.

You hear these words, and the anxiety flows, but then through prayer, petition, and giving thanks to God, we learn how to deal with the anxiety. We learn how to deal with the bad news. And we turn the bad into good. And we filter out the negative thoughts and we allow the positive thoughts to sink their roots down into the very core of our being into our hearts and there we live with wonderful, wonderful peace.

When peace like a river attendeth my soul. When sorrows like sea billows role. Whatever my lot Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul. And we sing these powerful words of God it is well with my soul. It is well. Rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all that the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Dear Heavenly Father we thank You that You have given us a prescription for spiritual and emotional wellness that transcends our understanding. We don't know how well it works until we try it, until we feel it, until we experience it. And then the peace flows, like a river attending my way. And so I thank You God for this day. Amen.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord grant you His peace in your lying down and in your rising up; in your labor and in your leisure; in your laughter and in your tears until you come to stand before Jesus in that day in which there is no sunset and no dawning. Amen.