Live Free with Josh Howerton - Turn Your Worries Into Prayers | Ep. 63 | Wednesday May 3, 2023

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want you to struggle with your worries on your own. He cares for you and is there to help. But do you actually tell Him what is on your heart? Tune in to today’s episode as Pastor Mike reminds us what to do when anxiety rises. We pray this episode encourages you today! For more information, text DRIVE to 20411.

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, text Drive to 20411. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? I'm Mike Bro, and welcome to the Daily Dry Podcast. We're just trying to learn how to walk with God and let his truth and his wisdom guide us along the way, especially as we navigate this non-little issue called anxiety.

If you were with us yesterday, we introduced the word calm as a pathway to finding peace for our anxious minds. We talked about how the letter C stands for to celebrate God's goodness. You shift the focus from, oh, man, what in the world am I going to do to, you know what, he's got me? So I will celebrate His goodness, his kindness, his strength. I'm going to find my joy in Him today. Well, we've been walking through chapter 4, this little letter called Philippians, is tucked in the back of the Bible. And Paul, writing from prison, throws this out.

He says, beginning in verse 4, we'll read it again. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all, because the Lord is near. In the midst of this broken world, in the midst of your anxious thoughts, shift your focus to him. Choose to celebrate his goodness and his grace, his 24-7 presence in your life,

his unfailing, relentless love for you. Let the truth that he is a good, good father wash over you. And then he goes on to say this. And I like the way the new living translation puts verse 6. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he's done. Then you will experience God's peace,

which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. We said the C and calm stands for Celebrate God's Goodness, and today the A stands for Ask God for help. Again, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. Open up, unpack your heart, ask him for help.

Talk to him in those anxious moments. Tell him honestly how you're feeling. Ask him. Please, God, calm. me down. Ask him, please, God, just point me to the truth. Ask him to help me see the bigger picture and then relax in his sovereignty and his love. I found a great way to do that regularly. It's a little serenity prayer that a lot of my buddies in recovery often close their meetings with. It's the prayers many of you've heard is, God, grant me the serenity to accept the things

I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. See, as you're all we talked about yesterday, as you're learning to build a better, boat, you're still asking for serenity in your heart, and you ask him for courage, and you ask him for wisdom. I've discovered, at least in my life, that one of the biggest reasons for unanswered prayer is prayerlessness. And Jesus said one time, you have not, because you ask not. I found myself saying, I was going to talk to God about it, but I got distracted, and you know what, I never actually did. So Paul is saying, talk to him. Ask him for help. Pour out your heart, get honest, and talk the way.

you talk because he's your father, he's your Abba, he's your daddy. I told you last time that these verses have been my go-to when anxiety is starting to rise up in me. In fact, there was a time in my life, I had them physically plastered all over the place, had them on my bathroom mirror, had them on the refrigerator door, had them on a post-it note stuck to the dashboard on my truck, and if you're old enough to remember how we used to have like a screen saver for our computer, you had programmed something to scroll across your screen. These were the verses that were constantly scrolling on my computer. These were the verses that also made it into the recesses of my heart during the most intensely stressful time of my life.

I was trying to transition and lead a growing church, and we were out of space. We were in the middle of a building project. And I was trying to pastor, I was trying to teach, trying to inspire, trying to help people, try to lead our staff well. And I was trying to make a difference in our community. I was trying my best to be a great husband and a great dad. I was teaching two kids how to drive at the time. I was coaching basketball as well. I mean, it was a crazy season.

You ever felt like one of those plate spinners in the circus? You know the guys I'm talking about? They get the plate going on the stick and go, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. They run to the other one because it's wobbling. Man, I had so much going on that lots of anxiety start to pile up inside of me. And added to all that was a season I was just not prepared for.

It's a season when the parent becomes the chance. child and the child becomes the parent. See, my parents had me when they were older, and I'm an only kid. So I became the primary caregiver for my parents during a very challenging time. My dad was bipolar, so you've heard me talk about him before, but at this point in his life, he totally got off his meds, and he was a challenge. At the same time, my mom had advanced Alzheimer's. And it was extremely stressful, and I can't tell you how much these verses of scripture

meant to me, not just because I saw him posted all over the place, but because I actually started putting these into practice. Gang, I had to humble myself and ask for help. I had to hand this plate to this person, that plate to that person, and I found out they were so much more gifted in spinning those plates that I was anyway. And honestly, I had to let some plates fall, because in reality, I shouldn't have been spinning them in the first place. And I started leaning into God like never before.

I talked to him like all the time. got honest with my feelings, with my fears, with my frustrations. I started really like depending upon him for everything, started trusting his heart from me. I started living in the awareness of his 24-7 presence in my life that he's not just with me, but he was actually in me. And even though it was one of the most challenging times in my entire life, I can tell you that I experienced more joy, more peace, and more calm

than I ever have before. And if you've experienced, you know that, that sense of peace, like Paul says, is pretty unexplainable. It really does transcend human understanding. Kind of wraps you up like a warm blanket on a cold night. His peace just comes and settles you down.

It takes your heart rate from like deaf leopard to John Legend, from Aerosmith to Adele to Metallica to Mozart. It just quiets your mind. So I'm not telling you all this from a dark prison cell like Paul was in. But I am telling you this from a heart that was locked

up with anxiety and fear. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. Ask him for help. I'm genuinely praying for you today. And I'll see you back here tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. standard time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, text drive to 20411.