 So, if you'd like to stand with me once again, we're going to pray together and we're going to finish our time together today. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for all that you have done today. We thank you for each and every woman here. We thank you for those that are maybe left behind with kids watching them. We pray you bless them and help them now. I pray, Lord, that you would speak once again to our hearts, Lord. May you really reveal to us those common things that you've been trying to show us today and you've been trying to get us to really grasp and to know is truth for our own lives. And Lord, may it really make a difference in our day-to-day lives, Lord, that we would know the truth of your word, Lord, and that it would empower us in this life. And so, bless this time together we have in Jesus' name. Amen. So, I wanted to just introduce myself really quick. So, Marie said I have an accent because I'm originally from England. I moved here when I was 24 and married my husband not too long after that. We have three children. I homeschool my children, which is kind of crazy. I do the women's ministry in the church. You know, life is just busy, busy, as many of you are the same, I'm sure. I was the youngest of five and the only girl, four older brothers. That was tough. And I have been in America a total of about 14 years now. So, my English family say that I sound American and everyone out here says you sound very English. So, I'm in that little tweeness stage. So, it's just a little bit about me so that you know who it is I am. And so, if you want to, if you still have your Bibles open to Philippians 4, we're going to finish up this little section that we have been looking at today. I want to read with you again. I'm hoping that by the time we're done with today, you've got this in your mind and you know these scriptures. But we're going to start from verse six and read through to the end of verse nine. It says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Absolutely brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely and of good report, if there's any virtue and anything praiseworthy, meditate or think upon these things, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. And I feel like that's just an exhortation for us today. The things that you have heard today, all these stories and the faithfulness of God, the testimonies of how great he is, these things, you know, hear them and take these truths and go and do them and then the peace of God will be with you, the God of peace will be with you. Now peace is something that this world is constantly striving for, world peace. It's something everybody wants in this world and it's something everybody strives for in their own hearts and lives. But what actually is peace? Now the Greek word for peace actually means literally to join or bind together that which has been separated. Maybe that's not quite the definition you were thinking in your mind. To join or bind together that which has separated. And then it goes on to convey the sense of an in-arrest and well-being and harmony, what we would commonly think of as peace. But I think this definition is very interesting because of that it's twofold, listen again to that first definition, binding together that which has been separated. It means to no longer be at war or have division of any kind but to have oneness and harmony. And before we talk about this peace that is that in-arrest and that inner tranquility and well-being in the midst of life, I think it's important that every single one of us understands here that we have to know peace with God before we can have the peace of God. And I want to make sure that we are on a level playing field here and talking about what it means to have peace with God because every single one of us here when we were born thanks to Adam and Eve in the garden we were born with this sin nature. Sin was passed down to all mankind and so every single one of us was born a sinner. And this God who is the God of peace is a holy God and a righteous God and he cannot be made one or bound together with sin and unrighteousness. And so then began this war between God and man, holiness and sin. But man was God's creation and God loved man and he was no longer able to dwell with man. And so the whole Bible unfolds this incredible story of redemption. This plan of God to deal with this problem of sin to once and for all separate man from his sin through forgiveness so that we no longer have to be at war with him. We no longer have to be separated but we can be joined and bound together with him. Or in other words have peace with God. So peace is joining together that which is separated and specifically for you and I. It's being united together with God through the forgiveness of our sins and that's by the blood of Jesus because Jesus was God himself came down from all the glory of heaven came down to earth and he humbled himself and gave himself for you and for me. And so he did that so you and I could finally once again be at peace with God. So when we put our faith in Jesus and he cleanses us we have peace with God. It tells us that in Romans 5 1 when it says therefore having me justified by faith or in other words through my faith it's just as if I never sinned then we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and if you're saved here today which I pray that you all are don't ever forget what an incredible gift that salvation really is. If you were dragged here today and you've been just surviving in your seat I pray that you would never want to leave here without having in your own heart what every single woman can have that believes in Jesus. We have love and we have forgiveness joy strength hope courage and peace and he pours that into our lives as believers and I love how was it is it Debbie or Deborah that shared the testimony how she said when she was the her whole life and you just think everything she had to go through and endure and the moment when she said she finally surrendered and asked God for help and he came into her life she felt the peace of God the war was over she was at peace with God and that's what happens to each one of us when we get saved but then the Bible talks about a peace that's supposed to rule and reign in our hearts now that we're believers and that's that inner rest and that tranquility of our souls and our hearts and it's supposed to be ruled and reigned by peace but there could be no peace in a person's heart and life apart from Jesus we just learned that and in John chapter 14 verse 27 before Jesus had died before he had rose again before he had ascended to heaven he says this to his disciples peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your hearts be troubled neither let it be afraid you see true peace can't be found anywhere in this world it can only be found in Jesus Ephesians 2 14 tells us that Jesus himself is our peace now when Jesus did ascend to heaven and after he had died and conquered sin and death and he rose into heaven he said I'm not going to leave you alone but I'm going to send my helper to you and that helper is the Holy Spirit and he lives inside every believer and Galatians 5 tells us that what comes out of our life as a result of the Holy Spirit living in our lives is many things one of which is peace and so peace in our lives is a direct result of having Jesus in our hearts through the Holy Spirit now you may be saying you know well that's all well and good I'm a Christian I've accepted the Lord but I don't feel peace right now I'm in fact I'm very anxious I'm in turmoil I am in unrest I am fearful how do I keep this peace ruling and reigning in my heart well I want us to look back in verse 6 there of Philippians and revisit that again for just a minute when it says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all our understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus so we as believers are told we are to be anxious for nothing which means don't be anxious about anything anything as Sandy said I feel like I could rival her in the in the worry queen title I really could but yet the Bible says don't be anxious for anything it's this it's this command don't be anxious for anything now does the Lord ever tell us to do something and not give us the ability to do it no he doesn't but we live in this crazy world terrible things happen all the time and there's so many things to worry about like Sandy said how can I not be anxious for anything well anxiety it's it's a big issue in our culture today it's it seems to even be the buzzword of our culture you hear people say all the time I can't do that gives me anxiety or don't say that to me it gives me anxiety it's almost like this this new buzzword but really anxiety it's a very very real issue in a person's life it's a serious problem in many many people's lives and it's a serious problem in our society today Proverbs 12 25 says anxiety in the heart of man causes depression and so with the increase in people who are struggling with real anxiety we're seeing a dramatic increase in the number of people who struggle with depression we're seeing record numbers of suicides did you know that suicide is now the second leasing leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer heart disease AIDS birth defects stroke pneumonia influenza and chronic lung disease all combined together more teenagers and young adults that's staggering and it's tragic it is so tragic so clearly this is a big issue that we're facing in the world today and this afternoon we're going to spend the last bit of time that we have together looking at how we can be anxious for nothing how we can have peace in our hearts a kind of peace that's unshakable that's immovable no matter the circumstance we may face today because that's the will of god for our lives Colossians 3 15 says and let the peace of god rule in your hearts our hearts are supposed to be ruled not by anxiety but by peace we're supposed to have an arrest and that quietness of soul that's free from worry and anxiety isaia 26 3 says you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you and i love how we just looked at the mind and how powerful that is in our lives and when we keep our minds fixed on jesus and we look to him he keeps us in perfect peace and we're going to look at two ways in which we can keep our minds on him and we've kind of talked about them already today but the first is found in that scripture we just read philippians 4 6 through 7 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known to god so in order for peace to rule in our hearts we must be women of prayer we must when something comes into your life that seeks to steal your peace the first thing you must do is take it to the lord in prayer i think it was jenette that was saying what do we normally do we call our friend you are not going to believe what just happened or you know what am i going to do you have to help me or whatever it may be we expect our husbands to fix things or you know we expect other people to do for us or then we try and fix it ourselves and we're just left in this whirlwind of turmoil and anxiety and i can't fix it and what am i going to do and oh no and it's hopeless and we're just going spiraling out of control the first thing we need to do before we get there is we need to take it to the lord in prayer in order for peace to rule and reign we have to seek the giver of peace and that's jesus himself only he can keep you in perfect peace only he can replace that anxiety and fear and worry with a deep peace and a deep rest in your heart no matter the circumstance and so we go to him in prayer we make those requests we lay those burdens down maybe it's a circumstance we're facing or it's a fear that we have for the future or maybe it's just that you feel inadequate in life and it adequate for your husband or your kids or your job and that's leaving you feeling anxious about everything every day maybe it's a deep insecurity that was put in your mind maybe as a child or from a bad relationship and there's this war going on in your mind continually and you just want that war to be over you want to have the peace in your mind whatever it may be we need to take it to the lord in prayer and he promises that by his holy spirit that that peace will so invade your heart and your mind that it even surpasses your own understanding like i don't understand how i can feel like this right now with what's going on it's a promise from god and and god's promises are not like man's promise he never fails he's always faithful he's always trustworthy and we can believe that today so many times i feel especially for us women our peace is disrupted like sanny said from what's going on in our heads and what's going on in our minds our minds are that battlefield and we need to guard them so what is this scripture tells us about what god's our minds it says the peace of god god's your mind it's that garrison janette was talking about how it protects your mind or it barricades your mind it shields your mind without it there's a war raging a war ranging with your own flesh and your own minds and your own sinful desires and your own struggles and the enemy exploits those things and can have a field day we have to get our minds and our focus onto the lord and off of our issue because whatever our minds are utterly consumed by anything that's not jesus himself peace cannot dwell there our minds have to be kept on jesus for peace to rule and reign so be a woman who prays without ceasing as paul calls it in first Thessalonians have this constant dialogue with the lord where you're taking those things to him and those burdens and those struggles and and not just taking those things to him but being thankful having that that thankful heart that heart of gratitude it says take your supplications and with thanksgiving when was the last time you sat down and you just thanked the lord he didn't ask for i need this this and this to be fixed but i thank you well thank you that you've given me breath in my lungs and that i have life thank you that i'm here for a purpose thank you that i have eternal life to look forward to thank you that i'm an air to the kingdom of heaven and thank you that this earth is as close to hell as i am ever going to get and that there is a future and a hope we thank him for that Colossians 3 2 says seek those things which are above where christ is sitting at the right hand of god set your minds on things above not on earthly things let me ask you are you setting your minds on things above when you wake up in the morning are you are you setting your mind where it should be on things above are you living for him are you seeking his will and purpose for your life or are you just going about being consumed about yourself doing what you want and what you desire and then and then going to church on a sunday and and saying why am i so anxious all the time we need to keep god first we need to seek him and it guards our minds so we need to be a woman of prayer we need to be and you know what having that constant dialogue with the lord in prayer it makes you aware of his presence in your life and when you're aware of his presence with you continually it affects the choices you make and the decisions you make and the places you go and the things that come out of your mouth and and it changes everything when we're aware that god is with us at all times and having that awareness keeps the peace of god in our hearts and minds and then you come to know him more and you have this relationship that's so close and so intimate that when the big things come you don't doubt that the god of heaven and earth the one who spoke the world and it became into existence the one who rose from the dead to give you new life the one who loves with an everlasting love you don't doubt that he will show up for you song 46 one says he is a very present help in times of trouble i remember my mom one time telling me this story um of i wasn't born yet i have four older brothers and my one brother that's two years older than me he was just a one year old and i think my mom was must have been pregnant with me and um my dad had an appendicitis and um he had this pain in his stomach and they sent him home from the hospital and it burst and he ended up with um what's that what do you get when you get kind of like peritonitis or something i i can't remember what it is but it made him severely ill to the point where the doctor said he might not make it through the night and he was unconscious and he was in the hospital and my mom had four boys and she had never left them really with anybody or babysitters you know her babysitters or anything and she'd left them with a neighbor to go to the hospital and the babysitter calls my mom and said julie steve um just doesn't seem right there's something wrong with him he's he's not he's not well and he was just i think 18 months at the time and she leaves my dad you know on death's door at the hospital and comes home and my brother all of a sudden starts having seizures and seizure after seizure after seizure and he has this high high high fever and they rushed him to hospital and he's 24 hours having these seizures and basically the doctor said we can't stop them we don't know why they're happening like if if you know we don't know if he's gonna have severe brain damage when he wakes up and um my dad was upstairs in the same hospital on death's door and here's my brother and my the nurse is telling my mom that i don't think he's gonna make it and in the space of 24 hours both her husband and her son are on death's door and it must have been a saturday saturday night because the next morning was sunday and they'd been up all night trying to get um had steven to stop seizing and you know my dad was just it was just touch and go and they just had to wait and see and um my dad was like in and out of consciousness and my mom would be my dad and my dad would say no no no just leave me go to steve go be with steve and and so um this one sunday steven was unconscious and my mom just felt like she was supposed to go to church and she thought i can't leave my kids in the hospital i can't leave my husband in the hospital like i don't want to go and the church was really close to the hospital and she walked over there and she knew she wouldn't be able to stay long because she had the specialist doctor was making his rounds and she got there and she worshiped the lord and up came the somebody my dad is a pastor and he was supposed to be speaking and so somebody was filling in and he got up there um one of the assistants and he got up and he read the scripture and and he said call on me in your day of trouble and i will deliver you and my mom said she knew that's why she was at church and she called on the name of the lord in that minute and she was looking at the clock because she was rushing to get back across the street to the hospital to speak to the doctor when she gets back to the hospital the doctor greets her and said steven he's just he's just stopped seizing and she walks in the room and he's looks the healthiest little boy that there ever was and she's he said there doesn't seem to be any damage and and she goes up to my dad and he was up eating and perfectly normal and and my mama said oh she said when did this happen and they said the exact time that the she heard that scripture and prayed to the lord call on me in the day of trouble and i will deliver you and she told us that story as kids because we knew growing up that when trouble came we could call upon the lord and he would deliver us that he would be our helper so much we much of the time we look to people and we look to those around us and we get constantly disappointed or let down but we should never expect great things from people they're human but we do and we should expect great things from god because he is more than able i love how angriam lot says this in her book just give me jesus which is an awesome book if you ever get a chance to read it she writes this nothing is beyond his ability whether it's a problem to solve a marriage to reconcile a memory to heal a guilty conscience to cleanse a sin to forgive a business to save a budget to stretch a mouth to feed a body to clothe a boss to please a captive to free a product protocol to return an addiction to overcome or anything else we could name all are within his power to fix if the living word of god has the power to create and sustain the universe how can you think his power is insufficient for you he is more than able to sustain your marriage to sustain your ministry your faith your finances your hope and your health we need to fix our eyes on jesus we need to keep our minds fixed upon him and we will be in perfect peace so we're to be women of prayer but we're also to be women of the word in order for peace to rule and reign in our hearts we have to be women of the word and i don't know if you've figured this out yet in your life but our minds and our hearts they can lie to us did you know that they can lie to us all the time we can hear things in the world that we think are true but really they're just lies to us and we're influenced so much by the world around us and by people in our in our lives we can be so influenced by that that we can start to believe those lies ourselves and those in of themselves can lead to anxieties and fear and they rob you of your peace that should be ruling in your heart 2nd Corinthians 10 5 as sandy just told us about we have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ meaning those thoughts that come into our minds subject them to the truth of god's word is this truth should it be obeyed and believed or is it a lie that i just need to put out of my mind i i loved as she said like those conversations that are mine we should just put them up on the screen i mean could you imagine like if it's i have you ever text the wrong person the wrong thing by accident you're like oh that wasn't for them oh no i've done that with names that are similar but it's yeah it's like yikes because the things that go in our minds can be so crazy sometimes but we have to subject those thoughts to the light and the truth of the word of god and that comes from knowing god's word reading it daily the more you read it the more it's committed to your mind and then the holy spring it brings those things back to mind i remember one time when i felt like i was utterly gripped by fear do you know that feeling where you just feel like you are gripped by fear and it was this happened many times in my life but this time in particular i remember and it was um one night it's always at night in bed at night do you guys have like have you ever googled uh like a physical ailment in the middle of the night and you've convinced yourself that you're gonna be dead by the morning do that many times garret had to put like do not google that i have to do that but at night is it's like with sand it's when you know the satan likes to play tricks on me and i knew this one night always read my bible before i go to bed and even if it's just a verse or two or you know as well like it's good to start your day in the word but it's good to end your day in the word too and so this night was just one of those terrible days and i was exhausted and i'd hardly slept and i went to bed um really late and i just wanted to crash but it's exactly like sunday so it was so funny i always am so exhausted and i lie there and my mind's like ding and my husband can just literally it's like a switch he can just literally be asleep like the minute he decides to be like how is it possible so so frustrating but this one night i was there lying awake again and my mind was playing overtime i have a daughter who's um eight i don't have time to really tell you about her but she had was born with special needs and it's a difficult long hard road to walk and um she's eight and she can't speak um she can walk a little bit she was getting better at walking but she dislocated her ankles and now it's we kind of backtracked and so she's starting to just take some steps again and the therapies all the time she's sensory issues and she gets panicked and afraid and there's just it was just one day i was just it was a lot and i remembered in my mind i was looking to the future and i was just starting to get very very afraid and it was when i felt like fear was literally gripping my mind almost to the point of panic like what is the future gonna look like what if she can never speak or what if she can never do anything for herself and what if i die and she's left and i just start going down this road and it's never a good road to go down but my mind was consumed by it and there's a lot of things on this journey of miracles that the Lord has done and the things he's given me and the things he's promised me and i'd have peace and and in this instant it's like everything went out the window i can't remember any of it like i was just consumed by this fear and then this one uh uh was like really late at night and my sister-in-law texts me like never texts me this late at night and it was something random and i can't remember what it says but it basically was encouraging me to read my bible in that instance and i was like my husband's like sleeping by the side of me as always blissfully unaware of my turmoil how could he and so i um i think okay well i don't want to turn the light on and wake him up so i'll i'll pick up my phone and i'll just read the verse of the day again i'm so tired and i'd already read it that day for what i didn't realize was that it was just after midnight and i picked up my phone and i opened to the verse of the day and it said this it was isaia 41 10 fear not for i am with you be not dismayed and don't be distressed i mean if i could describe that i was distressed don't be distressed i am your god i will strengthen you i will help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand and i can tell you that in an instant the fear left almost as quick as it came it was like it was just this fear was gripped me and it left because god's word confronted the lies that were going on in my mind that were against things that god had told me in his word and the peace and the goodness and the love and the kindness of god just overwhelmed me and there was peace and it began to rule again in my heart but it was god's word that brought that peace into my mind i think what would i have done if i hadn't picked up my bible or i hadn't read the word and i just was all night long in turmoil and anguish and i think how many times in life don't we do we not turn to the word which is our lifeline and god says i want to speak to you i want to encourage you i want to help you open up your bible that's how you're going to keep the peace ruling and reigning in your life and you know it's sad because we're living in a world today that is telling people the opposite you know there's so many lies that are coming in our world today and you know the world says if you're feeling anxious or disheartened or struggling or hopeless or down the world says you just have to search down deep inside of you and and you can conquer that because you're strong enough and and you just need to find that inner positive woman that's just gonna be able to conquer all things you can do anything you have the power i've literally heard people say you have the power and you can do it oh this is a good one whenever i put a prayer request and my non-christian friends from like high school will say sending positive thoughts and i want to be like positive thoughts like what do you think that's going to do for me did you hear my situation and so i need prayer i need people to pray but this is what the world's saying but what happens when the waves come and they crash and you can't seem to find your feet and you can't find that inner strength that is supposedly deep down inside of you and you start to think well what's wrong with me why can't i conquer this struggle or why am i feeling so down or why why am i not conquering this addiction or worry or fear what's the matter with me and then we start to spiral down and we think i must i must be just weak or or worthless or what you know what's what's really the point in all this and maybe you've even thought you know everyone would just be better off without me and you see how quickly you can spiral down because you believe the lie that you should be able to do all things it's just inside of you and the bible says apart from me it says in john 15 you can do nothing you're never going to find that in you because it's not there it's only there once jesus lives inside of you and then he says with me with god all things are possible you can do all things but through christ who gives you strength that's the truth and that's the difference amen but there's so much of this worldly thinking that's even creeping into the church i was astounded when i heard this women's conference and it wasn't carol chapel it was but it was very well attended um big conference and and you know some of those conferences they don't even like open the bible or they open it and they read something and then they go and talk about something else and it was one of those and um i couldn't believe it but out of literally out of the person's mouth she says you know and if you're here today you're just not happy it's because you haven't learned to really love yourself and this is really a common belief in our culture today it's actually pretty much every non christian if you don't believe this like that you that you aren't happy because you haven't learned to love yourself and these women are literally trying to reach these great heights of self discovery where they're finally able to say i love myself and i'm happy but what's happened is that we're raising up this culture of nothing but self-focused self-centred people that are more unhappy than they've ever been and that's because it's this big lie it's packaged to sound nice by the enemy he's clever but it's a lie and it's come from a world because they've rejected god they've rejected god as their creator and so they don't have any purpose or meaning and so they're searching for it and they try to find it in other people and they get let down so they think well the only person i can really rely on is myself and so they try to find it in themselves and inevitably it just ends up making people feel more alone and more empty and more afraid and more anxious and that's because it never addresses the root cause of a person's issue or a person's struggle it's starting in the wrong place you're saying focus on me and be more self-focused and any theology that starts with me is upside down as believers we should always start with god first a person will never find what she's looking for from others and she certainly won't find it in and of herself true purpose which ultimately is true peace to no longer be at war in your own heart with god and with yourself it can only be found in the lord and too many christians are buying into this worldly way of thinking and it's leaving them filled with anxiety continually lies of the enemy are quashed by the truth and we have to know what that truth is and so when you know the truth of god and you hear these things and and you see this maybe young girl that's believing this you can say you know what the bible says in juderonomy 6 5 you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and all your strength the problem is that you don't not that you don't love yourself enough the problem is that you don't love god enough that's our problem that's why anxiety rules and rains is because we're not loving god enough we're not putting him first and foremost as a of 48 18 says oh that you heeded my commandments then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea there is no quicker way to lose your peace than to disobey god's word because don't forget god's word is for us he lays out what his will for us is because he knows what is the absolute best thing for you and i because he created us and so much heartache and trouble can be avoided if only we would just obey god and his word i love this quote by benjamin franklin when he said sin is not hurtful because it's forbidden but it's forbidden because it's hurtful god has your best interests at heart he wants to save you from the unnecessary pain there's nothing in this world as it is he wants to save you from that unnecessary heartache and so for peace to rule in your hearts and minds which is what god wants for all of us we need to be women of prayer women of the word women who live according to his word obeying his word because you know god made every single one of us inadequate to deal with life and all that comes our way we're all inadequate he never meant us for us to be able to handle all these things by ourselves he he didn't equip us for that but he created us to need him so that when jesus comes into our hearts then we can be adequate for all things through his strength i want to close with the scripture in second thessalonians 3 16 and it says now may the lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation the lord be with you all and that's my prayer for every single person here that you would know the peace of god that passes all understanding that it would shield and guard your mind from all that comes in our lives each and every day that you would wake up in the morning and think i need to guard my mind with god's truth i need to read the word i need to pray to him i need to not be going about my life doing my own thing and forgetting that god is here when he's with me and i'm taking him where i go and i'm forgetting he's there we need to acknowledge god's presence with us at all times and we need to rely on him and we need to seek him because peace only comes from him