It's one thing for someone to say, hey, don't
worry. But the reality is disease, finances,
the future, uncertainty, we're all living in
a worrisome world. Today, I want to show you
from Scripture how God can give you a tool that
when worry knocks on the door of your heart,
prayer can answer. Stay with me. Thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. we are an international teaching and
discipleship ministry that encourages and equips
christians to live like christians well in just
a minute chip will pick up where he left off
in our series i choose peace now last time he
unpacked how worry can consume our hope and joy
so today he unpacks why it is vital that we put
our entire trust in god especially when life
throws us curveballs but before he gets going
let me encourage you to use our message notes
while you listen They contain Chip's outline,
scripture references, and a few fill -ins to
help you remember what you hear. Download them
under the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge .org.
App listeners tap fill -in notes. Well, with
that, let's join Chip for part two of his message
in anxious moments from Philippians chapter four.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, what
did he say? When you pray, say, our Father, oh.
So in the midst of all the craziness of the world,
the one who created all that there is, the one
who sent his son to die for you and rise from
the dead, the one who's the sovereign king, who's
all wise, all powerful, and all knowing of every
circumstance, real, possible, and potential,
he's your papa. And say to him, who art in heaven?
You're not pulled into this or that. You're the
creator. You're in control. Holy is your name.
I can know 100 % of the time that God will never
lie to me. God's always going to be pure. His
intentions. So it's this moment where you pause
and you get a high, clear view of God. When anxiety
knocks at the door of your heart, let prayer
answer it. And the first prayer is worship and
adoration. So I have a habit. As I'm laying in
bed, I either pray slowly through Psalm 23 or
the Lord's Prayer or parts of it. And then I
don't look at my phone. I don't check my email.
I have coffee already made because that's a very
important part of my early morning. And the dog
and I are friends, so I let the dog out. And
every morning I take my cup of coffee and my
dog's out running around. And I stand in my patio
like I did this morning. And I look up and I
see these stars. And I force myself out loud,
almighty ever -living creator, little people
like me have stared at the sky for thousands
and thousands of years and you created them.
And this is just the Milky Way. There's a hundred,
maybe 200 billion stars in this little galaxy.
And they didn't know there's another couple hundred
billion galaxies. And the one that placed these
in the sky at this moment on this day, I am the
object of your affection. I don't know how to
pull off or what's going to happen, but I'm going
to go in and I'm going to talk to you and read
what you want to say to me. But I'm going with
you, the creator of the world, at my back. Here's
what I can tell you. As you get a really big
God, you will get really small problems. If you
have really big problems, you have a very small
God. See, what happens, take thought of, it means
to focus on, get obsessed with. Okay, here's
a problem. Okay, maybe 85 % or 90 % of your marriage
is pretty good, or at work you really do have
a good job, but there's a supervisor, or maybe
you're single, but you have some really good
friends, but whatever the part that really makes
you anxious or there's uncertainty, here's what
you do. You focus on it, you focus on it, you
focus on it, you focus on it, you focus on it,
and pretty soon you look at all of life through
this thing, this anxiety. And then as you look
at all in life, the way we're made is then your
emotions and your physiology begin to respond.
And then your body and your world gets messed
up because you think this is the world. He says
when anxiety knocks at the door of your heart,
let prayer answer it. And the first thing you
do, this is the God that can deal with that.
You think God can heal someone of cancer? We've
seen it. You think God can give people grace
to go through cancer? You think God can actually
take someone that you love to heaven and you
recover from it and be okay knowing you're going
to see them later? You bet. You think God can
give you a new job if you don't have it? You
think God can get into the heart of one of your
kids that's not walking with God? Do you think
God can? Of course he can. Intellectually, you
believe that. But it doesn't experience it until
you worship him. Put a little A. The left of
where it says prayer and circle it, and I'll
tell you why later. The second is petition. This
is the second most common word in the New Testament.
It's focusing on your need. It's a prayer that
expresses my need or my want before I ask. It's
a sense that I, it's the awareness that I am
unable, that I have limitations in this situation,
that I need you, God. I can't handle this. Much
of anxiety is about here's a problem or here's
an issue and the resource you unconsciously look
to is what am I going to do? What am I going
to do? How do I fix it? How do I fix it? And
the more it's overwhelming or the more it's out
of your control and the more you realize you
can't fix it, guess what happens? It just grows
and grows and grows. And so the kind of prayer
that answers the door when anxiety knocks and
causes you to run to your father is first adoration.
And this is confession. God, I can't handle this.
I don't know what to do in this marriage. I've
tried everything under the sun. I can't get one
of my kids' attention for the life of me. You
know what? Unless you like transfer my supervisor
to Siberia, I don't, you know, he doesn't like
me. She doesn't like me. I feel like I can't
handle this. Lord, I need you. You know what
that is called in scripture? Humility. Dependency.
And you know what? You can't cast your cares
on Jesus as long as you're holding on to him
and assuming that some way, somehow, my ability,
my moxie, my personality, my brains, I'm going
to solve this. And so the kind of prayer is first
worship and then confession. And you say, You
care for me. I can't handle this. And then it
positions you to begin to ask him, to really
ask him for help. The third word is thanksgiving.
It's a very interesting compound word. It means
to be good or well and combined with grace. I
love one commentator. He says the way this is
phrased, it's like sprinkling like salt and pepper
into the rest of your prayers where you're constantly
giving thanks. I mean, I find myself when I look
at the stars, when I'm worshiping God, all of
a sudden he'll just bring to my mind, you know,
you've got almost 40 years with your wife after
all that you guys have been through. And, you
know, think about what that day when your one
son was in ICU or, you know, you thought this
was impossible problem. God, thanks. So I'm worshiping,
but I just sort of fall into thanksgiving. Or
how about when you're confessing, I can't do
this, I can't do this, I can't do this. You know
what God reminds me? Hey, remember like two years
ago or three months ago when it was an impossible
situation and you couldn't do it? Do you remember
what I did? Oh, yeah. You were faithful. Thank
you. In fact, let me show you a little tool.
And I know some of you are not writers. You're
not verbal processors. I don't think people need
to keep a journal to be godly, okay? But if you're
a little ADD, You know, like in services like
this, sometimes we say, I want to ask you a question,
but don't raise your hand. Can I try the opposite?
I'm going to ask you a question, and I'm going
to ask you to raise your hand. Does anybody else
except me, does your mind wander when you pray?
Oh, my gosh. It's just. And then I feel so guilty.
I mean, I've been out in the stars. I've worshiped
him. I'm reading the Bible. God, I can't do this.
And then my mind's all the way over to here.
And then it's over to here. And then it's over
to here. Oh, my God, no. And what I realize is
I can't concentrate very well. So when it comes
to, I'm just, and then I get paralyzed. And then
I feel bad that I can't concentrate. And then
I tell God I'm sorry. And then it's like confession.
Sometimes I just give up. And the anxiety doesn't
leave. And here's what I've learned to do. I've
learned when I'm going through that, I realize
that anxiety and biblical prayer cannot coexist.
And anxiety can't live with thankfulness. So
for example, I just couldn't concentrate. Lord,
I'm overly aware of what I am not in varying
degrees of what awaits me. I was away for a few
days and what I returned, you know, I had like,
Right, anxiety, like 200 emails, three meetings.
Holy Father, please forgive me for my self -focus
and please renew my heart and my mind. I'm viewing
things through a negative lens and it's producing
negative emotions. And so this is what I did.
Thank you for the rest, the walks, the time to
read, relax, and laugh with Teresa. Thank you
for Teresa that she said she's feeling better
physically than she has in a long time. Thank
you for the long and beautiful pool to swim and
rehab my back. Thank you that I rarely had to
take Advil for the last few days. I mean, can
you imagine thanking God for no Advil? Here's
what I'm trying to get. This is how life really
works. It's in the details of life where you
say, well, no, that's big. Thank you for the
insight and encouragement to listen to the book
by John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted.
and the resilience and encouragement it's brought
to my heart. Thank you for the God impulse to
help people that we've met on the streets that
are poor. Thank you that despite all the unpleasantness
I see in my life, my mistakes in leadership,
personal struggles and failures, as a Christian,
as a husband, as a father, and as a leader, that
you love me, delight in me, and have exceeding
mercy upon me, my family, my life, my ministry,
and that you're not surprised or shocked that
I don't measure up. You remember even when I
forget that I'm but dust. I cannot in this life
measure up. I am in need of your mercy and your
grace every moment of every day. The truth is,
many of the things that bother me about me, they
bother me because they're true. Anybody else
have that? And so, but you know what? When I
got done, I was at peace. See, part of all your
psyche stuff is, I don't measure up. I got to
do this. Sometimes just being honest. And you
know what? This is who God is. I have great need.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. I'm going to thank my way into
the presence of God. And then the last word is
a powerful word. And the last word he talks about
is, so what do you do? It's requests. You outline
your specific needs. You're listening to Living
on the Edge. And we'll return you to Chip's message
in just a minute. But let me quickly share with
you, God has called us to do incredible ministry
work all around the world. And when you regularly
give to Living on the Edge, you're a part of
what we do. So consider becoming a monthly partner
today and visit livingontheedge .org. We appreciate
your generous support. Well, with that, here's
Chip. I mean, this is like... You know why some
of you don't experience much of God? You pray
prayers like this. Lord, bless my family. Help
me have a good day. Help my children. Help me
someday, someway, somehow to meet someone. Lord,
cause me to grow spiritually somehow, someway.
I mean, that's like my wife sending me to the
grocery store and say, could you buy some food
that we will all like and that I will cook well?
I mean, she would go, oh my gosh. Whenever she
sends me, and if she was here, she'd say, she
doesn't send me very often. Then I got a list,
and then it's like, here's the label. It's got
to be organic. It's got to be this. She wants
very specific things. Once you have, this is
who God is. This is your need. I'm thanking him.
What do you want? God, I ask you specifically
to move in my supervisor's heart to give me favor
with him and that I would have great affirmation
in this meeting. God, I'm asking you for X amount
of dollars because this is what's happening in
our family situation and I need that. God, I'm
asking you for the best doctor in all the Bay
Area. Help me bring someone in contact. How do
we deal with this cancer? Write specific things
and expect specific things and then like a grocery
list, give them to the God who's all wise, all
knowing and you're his son, his daughter and
he'll help you. My little, the next thing I do
in my journal is this is my, I pray once I've
gotten there, these are all little boxes. I turn
all my concerns, all my anxiety into prayers.
Here's a box, there it is. Here's a box, here
it is. And I'm turning them into requests. And
this is a month old. All but about two have.
Check marks next to the box. You know what I'm
experiencing? God's alive in my life. God is
showing up. I'll guarantee he's showing up in
your life. You just don't know it. You don't
track it. You don't pray specifically. Here's
what he's saying. When anxiety knocks at the
door of your heart, let prayer, this kind of
prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving,
supplication. Let prayer answer it and then run
into your father's arms. Run into your father's
arms. It's like, remember for some of us when
you had small kids or some of you have small
kids, when they have a bad dream, what do they
always do? Like they're four, they're three.
They have a bad dream. They get up. They run
and what do they do? They're at your bedside.
What do they want to do? They want to get in
bed with you. So what do you do? Open the covers
and go, brother. You know, because they take
up the whole bed. And then they lay next to you,
and 30 seconds later, what do you hear? You think
that's an accident? See, they think that their
parent loves them, is in control, and it's a
safe place, and they're at peace. And the God
of the universe says, come. Come. Stop fretting.
Stop worrying. Stop trying to figure out how
you can solve it all. In fact, the promise here,
peace and anxiety cannot, write the word coexist.
Peace and anxiety can't coexist. Second, anxiety
and biblical prayer cannot coexist. Now, I'm
going to give you a little warning because, you
know, I hope some of you are going, wow, okay,
I get it. I ask you to put an A. A. Okay, anxiety's
coming into my life. A, adoration. The next,
put the letter C next to that one under the petition,
confession. T for thanksgiving. And then S, supplication,
what I'm actually gonna ask. So A, C, T, S. So
it's just a little ax. This is my, when anxiety
knocks at the door of my heart, I'm going to
let an ax kind of prayer, adoration, confession,
thanksgiving. and supplication, I'm going to
let it answer, and I'm going to run into my father's
arms. Now, here's the deal. If you never played
golf, or if you never went bowling, if you never
played an instrument, or if you did it like 35
years ago, would you expect to go and roll a
300 or shoot par? Or would you expect it is a
skill to learn about, a skill to practice, a
skill to develop, and that over time you would
get better and better and better and better?
You don't have to live an anxious life, but you
have built, and I have built, lifelong habit
patterns to respond to anxiety in ways that are
very dysfunctional and very painful, and they're
bad for you, your soul, your relationship with
God, your family, and with other people. So what
I just described, you're gonna have to go into
training and begin to practice. So when you feel
peace leaving, because by the way, you can do
all four of those kind of prayers in about three
or four or five minutes, right? You can take
a break. I've had situations where I've been
in a situation, I'm anxious like this and I don't
know what to do. Excuse me, I gotta go to the
bathroom. I've gone to the bathroom while I'm
washing my hands. God, help me to remember. And
I'll just walk through that and ask the peace
of Christ. I need your power. I need to abide
in you. I need your peace and your power. And
Jesus said he's given it to us freely. To summarize
on the very back, biblical prayer is God's antidote
to anxiety. It's simple and yet profound. Biblical
prayer is the antidote to anxiety. Every time
you feel anxious this week, here's the word picture.
When, can you fill it in even without me saying?
When anxiety pounds at the door of your heart,
let... Father, forgive them. They know not what
they do. Okay, let's try that again. That's the
most unaffirming response to someone speaking
I've ever had in my whole life. And I know you
were deep in thought. Are you ready? Let's try
this again. When anxiety pounds at the door of
your heart, let... Oh, they're beautiful, Lord.
Answer it as you run into your father's arms.
What I understand is there might be some people
that grow up like me, is if God is not your father,
if you've never received him as your savior,
this doesn't work. Because these promises aren't
for people outside of Christ. And so the prayer
that relieves the biggest anxiety, it was my
most amazing experience. Even though I'd been
to church, even though I intellectually believed
in God, I didn't realize I needed to turn from
my sin, my self -will and running my life. And
I need to turn and say, Lord Jesus, I believe
that you came from heaven, that you are in fact
God and you died upon the cross. And as you hung
upon the cross, you paid for my sin. and you
covered or atoned for my sin. And what you have
said is that as many as believe and would invite
you into their heart and life, you would literally
take up residence and that's how your peace starts.
If you've never done that, we would love to help
you on your journey to make that decision because
he brought you here today because you matter
and he loves you. Before we go any further today,
I want to ask you exactly what I asked the people
that were in the room when I taught this. I'm
not asking you if you're a nice person or whether
you're trying to be moral and kind to others.
What I want to ask you is, have you ever placed
your faith in Christ, where you would say to
God, Lord, I don't just believe in you in some
generic sense or that you're a deity out there
or there's some systems and forces at work or
there's positive or negative energy, but I believe
that you are the creator of all the world and
the universe. and that you, God the Son, came
and lived a perfect life on this planet, and
you lived upon the earth, and you helped the
poor, and you spoke words of life, and you healed
people to reveal and declare what God the Father
is really like, and that you and the Father are
one, and Jesus, what you did was to come and
show me what God is like, and then to give your
life on the cross to pay for my sin. But then
you told me that I need to receive that as a
free gift. If you have never done that, could
I urge you? The greatest anxiety in the world
is what happens after you die. And Jesus says,
I want to give you peace. My peace I give to
you. And the peace he wants to give you first
and foremost is to say, come to me just today,
right now. Call upon me. Ask for my help. Just
say, Lord Jesus, I need you. I have sinned. I
know I've done things wrong. Will you forgive
all my sins right now? And will you please come
into my life? I believe you died in my place.
I believe you rose from the dead. And I'm receiving
your gift of eternal life right now. And then
thank him. In your heart of hearts, Lord, thank
you so much. And then what Jesus would say to
you is, You don't have to worry. You don't have
to worry about what happens after you die. You
don't have to worry about the economy. You don't
have to worry about your family. You don't have
to worry about your health. You are mine. I'm
going to take care of you. It doesn't mean that
everything's going to be easy. It doesn't mean
that everything's going to, quote, go your way.
But I am now with you forever and ever and ever.
And here's what he wants you to know. He wants
to speak to you. He wants to give you power.
He wants to help you. And the way he does that,
he speaks to you through his word, the Bible.
And so let me encourage you to open the Gospel
of John. Just get a New Testament and begin to
read it. He wants to love you and encourage you
through his people. So he wants you to find a
group of fellow believers, a good Bible -teaching
church, and say, hey, you know, I just prayed
to receive Christ. I don't know much about this.
I know I need love and support. Will you help
me? And find a group of people that say, yes,
he has them near you. I guarantee it. And then
finally, Go to livingontheedge .org, and I personally
have some free resources just to help you understand
this step you've taken. And so, Lord, I pray.
I pray for the courage of my new brothers and
sisters who've prayed and ask you for forgiveness,
and I thank you that you've granted it. In Jesus'
name, amen. Thanks, Chip. Well, if you prayed
to receive Christ, we do have a free resource
we'd like to put in your hands that was created
specifically for new believers. This tool will
help you understand what it means to trust in
Jesus and what to do next. Request this free
resource by calling 888 -333 -6003 or visiting
livingontheedge .org and clicking the New Believers
button. That's livingontheedge .org or call 888
-333 -6003. Let us help you get started in your
faith journey. Well, Chip's still with me in
studio. And Chip, you had a quick word you wanted
to share with our listeners. And we do have a
few minutes left. So why don't you go ahead and
do that? Dave, I appreciate that. I just want
to stop and pause with a very select group of
people. You're people that pray for Living on
the Edge. I know because you write and tell me.
And you're people who give financially to Living
on the Edge. And as I have communicated the gospel
of Jesus Christ, it is the power of God to salvation.
And we know that when we share the gospel like
this on a broadcast, literally hundreds and hundreds
of people come to Christ. And so you're a part
of that. And we have reaped, not because we're
special, but because the gospel is the power
of God to salvation. But I want to just celebrate
that reward and thank every one of you who pray
and thank every single person who gives to this
ministry. People's lives will be different forever
and ever and ever because of you. Thanks so much.
Thanks, Chip. Well, if you'd like to join us
in spreading the gospel and discipling fellow
believers, consider becoming a financial partner
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That's 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
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Well, thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave
Drewy, and I hope you'll join us again next time.