Dear Church Family:

Last Sunday we had the excitement of starting our study in the gospel of John.  It is an adventure that will no doubt last us for the next few years, all of which I hope will cause us to fall more and more in love with the one true God, the God of the Scriptures, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Last week we began looking at John’s prologue to the book, John 1:1-18, and specifically the wisdom in God’s timing in having John write his gospel at a time in the world when the two main lines of religious and philosophical thought were Judaism and Hellenism (i.e., Gentile thought influenced by Greek philosophers). That sovereign timing of world events allowed John, under the power of the Holy Spirit, to write his gospel explaining the true nature of Christ and allow him to use one word ... logos ... to convey to the Jewish reader and Gentile reader at the same time that the Logos (God Himself) had taken on human flesh in the person of Christ (John 1:14). Lord willing, this Sunday we will continue on with our analysis of John’s prologue, and unpacking more and more of the blessed truths which the Lord has stored therein for our edification and His glory.

ENCOURAGEMENT

If you have been reading along each week in these Pastor Letters, you know that we started two weeks ago looking at Philippians 4:4-9, and what our friend, Robert J. Morgan, describes as “six easy steps” for experiencing the inner peace of God in your heart and mind. So far, we saw that we were to rejoice in the Lord always and in all circumstances; that we are to be gracious in all our speech and conduct no matter what the circumstances; and that we are to constantly remember that the Lord is very near, both in the sense of His Second Coming as well as in the sense of His being with us through every circumstance of life.  Today we come to the next step set forth for us in Philippians 4:6: Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

In chapter 62 of his book, One Hundred Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, Robert Morgan expounds upon this “step” in the process of experiencing the peace of God. Here is Morgan’s account.

In his biography of Sidlow Baxter, E.A. Johnston relates a story about this verse [Phil. 4:6]. When Baxter was 88, he preached in Memphis, saying, “I was over in Scotland and at one point while there I slumped into a deep despondency. Everything seemed upsetting and frustrating and foreboding ....  It seemed as though the promises of the Bible were like pie crust. Was it any use praying longer? I was having trouble with deafness, and all along with that, tinnitus. Loud noises in both my ears day and night .... I went to bed weary with mental wrestling and frustration. And then, somewhere between night and morning, September 6th and 7th, something happened that changed everything. I heard no audible voice, but someone had wakened me amid the curtains of the night; and was speaking with me .... He said, ‘Sid! Sid! Are you forgetting Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7?’ Those verses, 6 and 7, perfectly match September 6 and 7. ‘You’ve been forgetting the thanksgiving. Hand everything over to me, Sid. And start praying again with thanksgiving. And start believing that what you ask for becomes yours. TRY IT, Sid. And if you do, Philippians 4:6 and 7 is all yours.’”

Baxter continued: “Philippians 4:6 and 7 was like an electric bulb turned on. And I saw everything with illuminating difference and clearness .... My whole nervous system had become relaxed. And as I prayed with thanksgiving – I could never forget it – the peace of God invaded my heart like a gentle zephyr.”

Morgan then shares the following account:

Ruth Bell Graham once told of lying awake at 3:00 a.m. in another country, worried about someone she loved who was trying hard to run away from God. As she later recalled, “Suddenly the Lord said to me, ‘Quit studying the problems and start studying the promises.’ Now God has never spoken to me audibly, but there is no mistaking when He speaks. So I turned on the light, got out my Bible, and the first verse that came to me was Philippians 4:6.”

The two words that struck her were these: with thanksgiving.

“Suddenly I realized the missing ingredient in my prayers had been ‘with thanksgiving’. So I put down my Bible and spent time worshiping Him for who He is and what He is .... I began to thank God for giving me this one I love so dearly in the first place. I even thanked Him for the difficult spots which taught me so much. And you know what happened? It was as if suddenly someone turned on the lights in my mind and heart, and the little fears and worries which, like mice and cockroaches, head been nibbling away in the darkness, suddenly scuttled for cover.”

Morgan then ends his chapter with the following quote from John R. Rice:

Those words, “in everything” are blessed .... The Bible here plainly commands us that “in everything” we should make our requests known to God.

Morgan’s account ends there. I trust it serves as a reminder to apply each of the steps we have seen so far, and amalgamating the peace of God in our heart and life will continue on for the rest of our days. It has been said that a heart full of gratitude has no room to be full of despondency. May we approach this day, the Lord’s Day tomorrow, and all of our tomorrows with not only a tremendous sense of gratitude to God for His incalculable blessings, but also practicing the discipline of verbalizing that gratitude back to Him in humble and sincere prayers of thanksgiving. He promises that His peace will grow within us as a result.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Love,

John & Terri
Phil. 4:6