Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on 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.    Philippians 4:8-9 NKJV

The last few days we have talked about giving our troubles over to the Lord and trusting in Him to handle them. We also talked about how when we do this the peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds.

The problem is the devil seeks to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). When we have that kind of peace, the devil wants to kill our joy, steal our peace and destroy our witness. Having this kind of peace doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. It takes time to learn to put faith over our fears. It takes time to trust in the Lord. In this process it’s important to be able to grow to the point where we trust the Lord with all our hearts.

When we do this, we can live not according to our circumstances, but according to our faith. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that we walk by faith and not by sight. This means that we don’t live on that emotional roller coaster riding the waves up and down. We live with our trust in our Lord and Savior. This gives us unending joy. It gives us peace that passes all understanding.

In order to maintain that we must focus on all that is good. We must first focus on Jesus. When we focus on Him, we also can focus on all the good things the Lord has done for us.

In our Scripture passage for today, Paul is encouraging the Philippians to focus on all that is good. He is telling them to focus on what is true. Nothing is truer than our God. Matthew 6:33 says we should focus on God and He will take care of all we need. We should focus on what is noble. Noble can refer to having high moral principals or values, no one is more noble than Jesus Christ.

We should focus on whatever is just. We know that we serve a just God. He is a God of vengeance, and He will execute judgment on those who practice evil.

We should focus on whatever is pure, no one is purer than Jesus Christ who never sinned. He was tempted but never sinned. We should focus on the example He set for us.

We should focus on whatever things are lovely. This can include sunrises and sunsets. It can include our children and grandchildren or our relationships. God gives us many lovely things, but we sometimes miss them by worrying and being upset.

We should focus on things of good report. There are so many negative things in the news and social media. Turn that noise off in your head and focus on the good. Read your Bible, there are many things of good report found in there.

We should focus on things of virtue or behavior showing high moral standards. Focus on doing what is right in the Lord’s sight. When Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, it means we should strive for our behavior to be virtuous.

And last but not least, Paul tells them to meditate on anything that is praiseworthy. Think about the times that God has protected you, blessed you and walked with you through the fire. He didn’t bring you this far to drop you now. Be thankful for all He has done for you.

Paul encouraged the Philippians to follow the example he had set for them. Paul was blinded, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and jailed numerous times but he always praised the Lord in all these things.

If you really want to reduce or eliminate your anxiety focus on Jesus and all the good He has done for you. Let go of all the negative things in your life. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Have a great day!