Jesus

Friday, September 4th, 2020

‘...there is no reason for you ever to be anxious.  I am telling you when you have a problem, bring it to me in prayer and have joy in your heart.'
Eric Metaxes

TRANSCRIPTION

Hey there, my name is Eric Metaxes, no coincidence that I am the host of The Eric Metaxes Show, you can find it on YouTube and TBN.  I am mainly known as an author.  I wrote a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who got involved in the plot to kill Hitler.  I wrote a book about William Wilberforce.  I wrote a book about Martin Luther, a great reformer.  And I wrote a book on miracles and a number of other things.  But, a lot of these people wonder what it is that pulls everything together for me?  I do a lot of different things.  I have written children’s books and humor and so many different things.  Obviously, it is my faith in Jesus.  More than that, I think we live in a culture, today, that presents a lot of evidence that pushes against the idea that Jesus is Lord, that He loves us, that the Bible is true.  

 

I think we have to make a decision.  Do I really believe what the Bible says? And if you are living in a culture that is constantly giving information not to believe it, you have to really make a decision.  Do I really believe this?  The clearest way, I think you can make that decision every moment of your life, is if you think about the scripture.  Two scriptures from Philippians.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God.”  And obviously it goes on from there.  But I thought, “be anxious for nothing”…all of us every day have good reasons to be anxious.  But somehow, the Lord, in Philippians, through Paul, is commanding us, telling us, as a loving Father, “No. Be anxious for nothing. Not even the salvation of your loved one, or your neighbor.  Be anxious for nothing.”

 

So, take your requests to God.  Okay, so we have problems, we take our requests to God and we thank Him. But I thought, “That really keeps me in line when I realize God is telling me for my own good: be anxious for nothing.”  Decide to know in your heart that I love you.  That I am with you, and that there is nothing that you face…ever…ever that I don’t know about.  And that I am not there to help you with and to hold your hand as you walk through it.  We really need to think about that.  I think a lot of times Christians think, “I have a lot of good reasons to be anxious, and being anxious is a good thing sometimes.”  No.  Not according to the scripture.  The scripture says clearly, “Be anxious for nothing.”

 

Then the other scripture, of course, is, “All things work together for good, for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.”  Think about that.  All things?  All things.  Even the worst thing you can think of, the most terrible tragedy in your life, the Lord says “If you give that to me, totally give it to me, I can use it to do something beautiful.” So, wherever you go, whatever you face, the Lord says, “Be anxious for nothing, but bring me our problems, the things you want to be anxious about.  Bring me those things in prayer and thank me and praise me in the midst of those trials.  And everything you go through will work together for good if you love me.  If you are called according to my purposes.” 

 

That is such an unbelievable thing that God says that to us.  That the worst thing can work together for good.  We need to know that, we need to make a decision in a world that tells us most of the time, “That’s a lot of nonsense, the Bible was written a long time ago by people that blah, blah blah.” No. It really is the word of God, it really is true, and it is the way the Lord, who loves us, communicates with us and says to us, “You are my beloved children.  I don’t want you to be anxious for anything and I know there is no reason for you ever to be anxious.  I am telling you when you have a problem, bring it to me in prayer and have joy in your heart.”

 

The last scripture I’ll use from Philippians is, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Always! There is something the Lord knows that we don’t know.  If we really trust Him, we are going to believe what He says.  “Rejoice in me always. When you are going through a trial, we have a secret joy.  We praise the Lord in all circumstances. I really think that is the mark of a true Christian.  Do you have that secret joy no matter what you are walking through?  Do you really trust Him such that you aren’t anxious about anything?  Or if you catch yourself being anxious, you quickly say, “No, the Lord loves me.  He doesn’t want me to be anxious.”

 

That is about the heart of it for me.  That is what keeps me going through trials and tribulations, and difficulties – which I do experience. But the Lord told me “It’s okay, I love you, and all things work together for good for those that love me and are called according to my purposes.”  I commend that to you, that is what the Bible says, I can guarantee it is true.  God bless you.