Philippians 4:6-7 - Summer of Scripture

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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we're releasing a short daily devotional for your marriage. Over these 66 days, we'll be sharing one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talking about how it applies to your life and marriage. Listen to all 66 episodes of these and you'll have a better understanding of God's Word and His perfect plan for your marriage. Let's dive in to today's scripture.

Hey friends, welcome to day 50. We're in the book of Philippians, Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, and I'm gonna read to you the scripture that according to Amazon.com is currently the most highlighted passage in all of their Kindle ebook Bibles all around the world. So every time you highlight something in an ebook, somebody's keeping track of that, apparently. And right now, this is the most highlighted thing. And so it tells me that we live in a world that needs this reminder. So I love this. Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 and 7. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And then the very next verse goes on to tell us more about how to get that peace. And it's about fixing your thoughts on that which is good and pure and excellent and worthy of praise.

So.

So we have a lot of control over the peace in our lives because Paul wrote this again from a prison cell. I mean, he wasn't writing this sitting on a beach somewhere sipping a margarita. Like he wrote this with chains on his hands, scars on his back, hungry and cold. And he's saying, you don't have to worry. God's in control. You can have peace. You can affix your thoughts on the good. And he was living that. He was living that truth.

I love these verses so much, and they've helped me so much in my battle with anxiety and depression. I know I've referenced that quite a bit, but I. I mean, these verses literally got me through really hard days. I mean, this is another verse that I would write on pieces of paper and put where I could see them so I could meditate on His Word day and night. Because it just shows us that God is not a distant God from our pain and from our struggles. And he knows that we're prone to anxiety. He knows we're prone to worry. And I just. I love that he addresses that. I mean, that's why it's addressed in the Bible so much. And I really cling to that. Like, I really cling to knowing that he's with me and that. That I can fix my thoughts. Like you said, the verses that follow, I can fix my thoughts on the things of God. Like, again, we cannot control necessarily what random thought pops in our head, but we get to control what stays. You know, I've heard. I think, actually, I think it was Martin Luther who said that, you know, as far as demonstrating this in the mind, he said, you know, you can't control what birds fly over your head. Like, there's. Imagine, like, how thoughts are birds flying over your head. You can't control what birds fly over your head. But. But you get to control what bird or what thought gets to make a nest in your head.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I love that picture because that is so true. And I, at that time was just letting every random bird, every sinister bird, every, you know, bad thought, whatever, make a big old nest in my head. And it was bogging me down and. And I could, you know, it was just a. That image really stuck out to me because that's how it felt. I felt like, I can't shake this. I can't shake it out. But when I read those verses and really put it to practice with the renewing, you know, allowing God to renew my mind, it's like he's removing those nests, those nests that don't need to be there, and replacing it with his words, with his truth. And I just think that that's such a powerful image.

It really is. You know, I've heard Max Lucado in his book Anxious for Nothing, which is built on these verses as well, a great book. He takes that same metaphor and describes it in modern terms, saying, you're the air traffic controller of your.

I love that.

And you get to control which thoughts or planes in his metaphor have to fly away, which ones get to land. You control that More than you realize. And the Bible talks a lot about the power of our thought life. So don't act powerless over your thought life. Don't act like a victim. Well, I can't control what goes on in my head. Well, you have more control than you realize. The Bible says we can take our thoughts captive for Christ. And if you're fixated on worry, then you're gonna be worried more. And sometimes you're feeding your mind worry without knowing it. If you're binging the news and negative social media, like it's going to make an impact in your mind, and it's going to be. You're inviting a lot of those negative planes to land in your head. If you're just watching negative news over and over and sometimes just turning off the news and going on a walk or reading some scripture or doing what you're doing right now, listening to a podcast that's based on scripture, that's wise. What you're doing, even this moment, is wise. Not because of any wisdom we have, but because we're talking about the Bible here, right? So you're intentionally putting yourself in a posture of receiving God's word instead of a lot of the negative stuff that's out there. So keep doing that. Keep doing what you're doing. It makes a real difference.

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Wow.

It makes such a difference. You know, I've heard it phrased like, well, what are you consuming? We think about food consumption, but really media, social media, just different shows that are out there. You know, whatever entertainment we're taking in, we're also consuming that daily. Even the friends we choose. Like, do you have a bunch of toxic friendships? Like friends who maybe you've had for a long time, but they're just negative all the time, or they're saying negative things about their spouses and you find yourself saying negative things about your spouse. Or they're always down on life, down on God, down on everything and critical of everything. And you find yourself doing the same thing. You're consuming that, like, you become who you hang around with the most and what you consume the most. And so again, you also have control over that. And so I would have a really honest conversation with your spouse and allow your spouse to speak into your life and you speak into their life and really talk about, you know, what are some places where we're consuming things that aren't good for us. Whether it be with relationships, like friendships you have, whether it be through social media, through shows, through just different parts of your life. Really think about that. And then, you know, listen to what your spouse has to say too. Cause sometimes it's really hard for us to recognize that we can sometimes. Like, sometimes we just. We know and we're still doing it, but sometimes it's a blind spot. And so you gotta allow your spouse to, you know, maybe speak into that in a loving way, of course, and then be willing to make adjustments, like be willing to not be around that negative person as much and be willing to put some boundaries in place. Maybe don't listen to so many true crime podcasts and start listening to more Christian podcasts. I mean, I've made that change in my life. Cause that I didn't realize it, but those dark stories bogging me down, you.

Know, if you're like 10 murders a day into.

Well, I was never listening to that many.

But, you know, true crime can be addictive.

It's the most popular podcast it can get you.

If you too much of it can just put your mind in a dark place. Anybody's. I mean, yours personally, I mean, anybody's.

Yes.

And so you do have to be intentional. I mean, maybe just listen to something lighthearted. A comedy podcast, even comedy worship music. Yeah, worship music. It makes such a difference what you're putting into your mind. So feed your mind the right things. And for more on just biblically developing a great thought life, read the Book of Philippians. It's a short book, the whole thing, I think it's just four chapters. And it is. It's a joyful book written from difficult circumstances. And I think it would help you a lot. So we just pray God's blessings for you and your spouse today. Join us tomorrow. Day 51. We'll be in the Book of Colossians. We'll see you soon.