Most people have anything but true peace of mind. That seems to be one of those things we all search for, but never really find, right?
I heard an advertisement that said if you purchased their product, you could have total peace of mind, because if it didn’t work, you would get your money back. First of all, if a store tells me to buy something, then follows it up real fast with how it might not work, you can bet I will have peace of mind because I won’t buy it.
But, if I asked every person in here if they had total and true peace of mind, I doubt if very many would raise their hands. We want it; we search for it; but too many things seem to always get in our way of having it, don’t they?
Let’s go into the Word to see what God wants us to know about having peace of mind.
1. The first key to having peace of mind is to rejoice.
In PHILIPPIANS 4:4, we read where we are to
‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.’
Paul is so emphatic about it, he repeats it by saying, “I say it again – rejoice!’ Now, the one very important part of this verse is not the rejoicing part. It is the rejoicing “in the Lord” part.
What I have always wondered is how a person can be full of joy if they are not also full of laughter. I feel that a Christian needs to be happy and I doubt if a person can be happy if they do not have a smiling heart.
A few years ago an Evangelist from South Africa got the idea that there needed to be more laughter in church. Perhaps he took it too far when he identified himself as "God’s Bartender," but the response he got was nearly overwhelming. Soon after he got up to speak, he was able to get a few people laughing, it began to spread, and soon most everyone in the meeting was doubled over, or falling on the floor laughing.
Many years ago, a man by the name of Norman Cousins was diagnosed as "terminally ill" - he was given six months to live, and his chance for recovery was one in 500. Then he got the idea that perhaps laughter would help his cause, so he began to watch and read anything he could find that was funny, and he asked his friends to call him whenever something funny happened to them or whenever they came across anything humorous.
Previously his pain had been so great he could not sleep, but now he found that by laughing for 10 solid minutes, the pain was relieved for several hours so he could sleep. Eventually Cousins fully recovered from his illness and lived another 20 happy, healthy and productive years.
Since this groundbreaking work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, the mind and the emotions. The lesson is this: laughter is sound medical advice so indulge in it as often as you can.
2. The second key to peace of mind is showing off.
Now, I know that most Americans are so conservative they can’t show many emotions, even in church, but if we want true peace of mind, we must be willing to show off.
In verse 5, it says,
‘Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.’
‘Let everyone see’ means to do just that. Act in such a way as to show everybody who you are and what you feel like. I have said before that if we can feel comfortable enough to go bowling and hoop and holler when someone makes a strike; or if we can enjoy going to a football game and jumping up and down and yelling when our team makes a basket, we should be comfortable enough in church to raise our hands and shout out a hearty “Amen” to the Lord’s message. And, we should feel comfortable enough and bold enough to show our Godly manner to everyone around us – all the time.
Jesus supported this idea, too. He even instructed His disciples to let their lights sine before men in MATTHEW. Doing "random acts of kindness" should be the normal life-style of all Christians.
3. I think the third key to having peace of mind is found in prayer.
Back in PHILIPPIANS 4:6 we read,
‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.’
If we look at this verse closely, we will see that it clearly states that we offer up both needs and requests as we pray. I have heard too many people say that they feel uncomfortable asking God for things that are not truly needed, such as a promotion, or healing for themselves, etc. God wants us to pray about everything. He says to tell Him what you want, not just what you need.
When we are in prayer, and we thank God for our many blessings that will also remind us of all the joy we have from Him, too. Someone once said that thankfulness and joyfulness are like Siamese twins; you can’t have one without the other.
A church was in the middle of a building campaign, and a member asked the pastor to have a prayer garden available, complete with flowers, waterfall, and pond. She said that if they had a prayer garden like that, they could just go in and pray with peace of mind, having left all their problems outside such a serene place. The pastor then asked her what she would pray about if she left all her troubles outside.
Peace of mind in God is not attained through forgetting your problems. When we go to the Lord with our problems, and with the problems of other people, our faith is lifted so that we can face them with confidence. They will usually not disappear instantly, but we are given the strength to see them through.
4. The fourth key to having peace of mind has to do with how we think.
In verse 8, it says,
‘Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.’
Jesus said, ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’ But, as we all know, getting from here to there is sometimes not easy. If we are going to find any trouble in our life, it will generally be found in our mind.
Americans seem to have everything but peace of mind, don’t we? The AMA has reported that one out of every six Americans suffer from some level of depression. Women are twice as likely to be depressed as men. I wonder if living with men has anything to do with that.
Most of our problems are somehow connected with the thought processes - if we could only get our thinking straight, we would have more peace of mind. That’s why the Apostle says, "Think on these things." It’s time we took responsibility for what goes on in our own minds.
Of course there are many different ways we use our minds: We use our minds to remember and to hope; we use our minds to invent and we use our minds to pass judgment on others.
5. The fifth key given by Paul is simply to follow the example of a worthy mentor.
Verse 9 reads,
‘Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.’
In 1 CORINTHIANS 4:16, Paul writes,
‘So I ask you to follow my example and do as I do.’
Paul is not being arrogant in these verses. In 1 CORINTHIANS 11:1, he says,
‘And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.’
The lesson here is simply this: If we want to be a successful and prosperous Christian, we need to find someone who has been, and continues to be, faithful in following Christ and be like them.
Quite often we hear people say, "Don’t follow man, follow Christ." In the world the message is similar, "Don’t be a copy-cat, be your own person." When a child begs a parent to do something considered questionable, he or she might say, "But all my friends are doing it," to which the parent quickly replies, "I suppose if your friends jump off the bridge, you’d want to do that too!"
But we take this anti-copy-cat mentality too far. If you can find someone who, like Paul, is content in all situations, who has the peace that surpasses all understanding even while sitting in a damp Roman prison, then learn from him, and copy his attitude.
Here are, what I believe, are the five keys to having true peace of mind in Christ.
· Laugh a lot (rejoice always)
· Show off (your Christian fruits)
· Pray (let God know EVERYTHING that is on your mind)
· Think right (keep focused on the Lord)
· Copy smart (follow the lead of other true Christians)
At this point, I would like to go back to the fourth point; the one about thinking right by keeping focused on our Lord.
Paul spoke a lot about prideful hearts.
In GALATIANS 6:3, he said,
"If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."
In ROMANS 12:3, he went on record as saying,
"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment".
And as much as Paul warned us about pride, he also gave us much hope. He wrote in ROMANS 12:2,
‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.’
Thoughts are so important; they can lead either to our salvation or to our damnation. In GENESIS 6:5, we read where the flood came about because of evil thoughts.
In MARK 7:21, Jesus identified the thoughts of man as what brings forth all kinds of sinful actions.
Where are your thoughts today? Are they set upon Godly things or are they set upon the worldly things? Are you full of thoughts about God, or are you full about thoughts of yourself?
It is easy to focus so much on what you might be going through, that you end up acting in ungodly ways. Does that describe you today? Right this very second, are you focused on God or are you focused on you? If the answer is God, I say keep on keeping on. If the answer is you, I say you better make a decision really quick.
As the old saying goes, “Garbage in – Garbage out.” What are you putting in your mind lately? And, who is it from?
Remember this; just as this church is holy ground, so is your heart and mind and soul. Just as God will not want us to tolerate any kind of sin or quarrelsome attitudes in the church, he does not want you to tolerate any in your mind, body or soul, either.
If we find it in the church, it would be ungodly to let it stay, no matter what the situation. And, if we find any in our personal temples, it would also be ungodly to let it stay. That is why we must always strive to focus on right thinking.
Wrong thinking can be anything from having a dispute with someone to having wrong thoughts about your spouse, or any one of millions of sin that the devil has thrown out there waiting to snare us. Be very careful on where your thoughts are. Your thoughts will lead to your salvation or your damnation.
It is okay to go through your life by not worrying and being happy, but it is necessary that you do so only in the Lord. However, it is never okay to go through life with a smile that has turned upside down. That shows the fruits of your heart, and it shows those fruits are not from our Lord.
God wants you to have peace of mind. But remember that the only peace of mind you will find is only found in God. It isn’t found in the world or in our own thoughts.
INVITATION
