Study Notes

I.      Relax, Be still, know that He is God

A.    Psalm 46:1-11-Be still and know that I am God

1.      1-Refuge-Shelter from danger, trust; Help-Succor, assistance, one who helps; Trouble-Distress, adversity, tribulation, affliction

a.    2-Therefore we will not fear/be troubled – That’s in response to verse 1

b.    Who gets the help? Who gets sustained? – Psalm 55:22, Hebrews 4:14-16

2.      3-In response to all this turbulence (changing earth, mountains carried into the sea, roaring waters, shaking mountains) we will not fear

a.     Selah-Pause, Calmly think – Stop and think about that; We will never be afraid

3.      4-This river that is making glad the city of God (in the midst of all this turbulence) is pointing us back to Jeremiah 17:7-8; It’s our ability to be taken care of by God, prosper, and have success in the midst of even the worst circumstances – We have another source

4.      6,7-He uttered his voice, the earth melted – The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge – Think about that, this is the God that’s with us

5.      11-When God said be still, that’s empowerment to be still – This is not just encouragement it’s empowerment

a.    CEV-Calm down and learn that I am God; GW-Let go of your concerns-NET-Stop your striving-VOICE-Be still, be calm, see, and understand I am the true God

6.      4 Reasons why you should be still/4 things to know that He is God

a.    1.Hebrews 4:13-All things are exposed and defenseless to Him 2.Genesis 18:14-Nothing is hard for him 3.Psalm 118:6-He’s on your side 4.Hebrews 13:6-He will not fail you

B.     We got to relax if we want to be sustained-Psalm 55:22-Relaxing demonstrates that you’re trusting and it puts your faith on display

1.      Matthew 6:30 MSG-What I’m trying to get you to do here is to get you to relax.

2.      Jude 1:1-2 MSG-Relax, everything’s going to be alright; rest everything’s coming together

3.      Proverbs 1:33-MSG-First pay attentqion to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy – you’re in good hands

4.      Proverbs 3:25-VOICE-Stay calm; there is no need to be afraid of sudden disaster or to worry when calamity strikes the wicked

5.      Nehemiah 8:11-Be quiet, calm down, this is a special day. Don’t be sad.

6.      Exodus 14:14 ERV-You will not have to do anything but stay calm. The Lord will do the fighting for you.

C.    How do I do that? How Do I relax?

II.     Whether or not you walk in peace (relax, remain calm, stay cool) has everything to do with what you do with your mind

A.    The places you let your mind go has everything to do with whether or not the peace flows

1.      Isaiah 26:3-The person who walks in peace has their mind stayed on God (John 1:1-The Word was God)

2.      Romans 8:6-To be spiritually MINDED is life and peace (John 6:63-The Word is spirit and life)

3.      Philippians 4:7-8-Fix your mind these things and the God of peace will be with you

a.    How long should you be thinking about the evil report? You heard it that’s enough, you don’t need to talk or think about it

B.     Here’s why that is – Your peace is connected to your faith (Romans 15:13, Isaiah 26:3) and the level of your faith is determined by what you feed through your mind into your spirit (Romans 10:17-Hearing-Attending to, Considering what’s been said)

1.      Your level of peace is affected by your level of faith and your level of faith is affected by what you give your mind to

2.      If you allow your mind to feed on the evil report your faith is going to wane, fear is going to come and you will be troubled and have no peace

a.    1 Samuel 17:11-When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

b.    Jeremiah 49:23-24-Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

c.     Matthew 14:30-But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid – His faith and peace were affected by what he gave his attention to

3.      Isaiah 26:3-Why is he trusting? Because he kept his mind stayed on the Lord and fed and what God said and didn’t give His mind to the evil report – If you let your mind go and feed on the evil report it will rob you of your faith and without faith/trust you will have no peace

a.    Because he kept his mind stayed on the Lord his faith was strong and his trust supplied him with peace

4.      The absence of peace is evidence of mishandled thought life; This lack of peace, this heaviness, this sorrow and discouragement is the result of our disobedience to do what God said regarding your thought life

C.    Can you help what you think on?

1.      My mind is my mind and I can think on anything I choose to think on-2 Corinthians 10:3-5

2.      If you want to walk in peace you better have a bouncer at the door – Every mind needs a bouncer at the door

III.   Psalm 39:1-2-An inactive mouth will lead to a sorrowful heart

A.    1-Should you and I pay attention to what we are doing? What you are doing has everything to do with what you are getting

1.      There’s too much aimless living and not enough analytical awareness of what’s going on  

B.     1-He doesn’t want to miss it in what he says and that is a good thing-James 3:2

1.      CEV-I’ll be careful not to sin by what I say and I’ll muzzle my mouth when evil people are near

2.      ERV-I will be careful about what I say. I will not let my tongue cause me to sin. I will keep my mouth closed when I’m around wicked people

C.    When he wouldn’t speak good with his mouth sorrow was stirred in his heart (Sorrow-Pain (mental and physical), sorrow)

1.      There’s a time to say nothing, but there’s also a time to say something; When the wicked is before you in the form of Satan bombarded you with negative thoughts that is not the time to say nothing

2.      Being quiet when negative thoughts are raining upon you will only cause the sorrow and distress to deepen and grow worse; Sitting there listening to the enemy talk and not responding to that in faith will cause you’re sorrow to be stirred

a.    AMP-I was mute and silent [before my enemies], I refrained even from good, and my distress grew worse; ERV-So I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even say anything good, but I became even more upset; ISV-I was silent as a mute person; I said nothing, not even something good, and my distress deepened; NLT-But as I stood there in silence – not even speaking good things – the turmoil within me grew worse; VOICE-I kept my mouth shut; I had nothing to say – not even anything good – which came to grieve me more and more

3.      Here’s how to be troubled? When the enemy says something to you say nothing back – When the mouth grows silent sorrow will permeate the heart

a.    The severity of silence

D.    When you muse it causes the fire to burn (Muse-Deep thought, close attention or contemplating, To gaze, to stand idle, To study in silence); When you quietly gaze at the problem and stand idle and study it in silence you’re feeding the fire of sorrow; It’s like wanting the fire to go out but throwing more wood on it; If you stop throwing wood on it, it’ll stop burning

1.      You energize what you give energy to

2.      CEB-My heart got hot inside me; while stewing over it, the fire burned; CEV-I felt the fire burning inside, and the more I thought, the more it burned; ERV-I was very angry, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became; GNT-I was overcome with anxiety. The more I thought, the troubled I became; HCSB-As I mused a fire burned; YLT-In my meditating doth the fire burn; NIRV-My heart was deeply troubled. As I thought about what was happening to me, I became even more troubled – Don’t think about what’s happening to you then

IV.   You have to talk to your mind/soul to walk in peace

A.    Psalm 4:4-8-You’re not subject to the whims of your mind, your mind is subject to you

1.      1-The Lord can enlarge you in a time of distress-tight, straits, trouble, vex, harass

2.      3-He is confident – The Lord WILL hear when I call, KNOW that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself

3.      4-Speak to your heart and be still – SELAH – Speaking to your soul will enable you to be still

a.    Commune-Speak, utter, to answer, to command; Heart-Inner man, mind, will, emotions; Be still-To make quiet

b.    You have to answer your mind when it says something wrong and command it to do what you want it to do

c.     5-Put your trust in the Lord – Speaking to your soul promotes trusting in the Lord

4.      8-He has perfect peace-I will lay down in peace and sleep for you Lord make me dwell in safety-Security, careless, assurance, confident, trust, to feel safe, be careless; 6-You have put joy in my heart

B.     Psalm 116-In the time of distress he did two things (1) He called upon the Lord (2) He talked to his soul

1.      3-Sorrows of death, Pains of hell, trouble and sorrow, deliver my soul – He’s experiencing pressure on the inside

2.      It’s good to talk to the Lord, but some people need to spend more time talking to themselves

a.    Psalm 116:7-VOICE-O my soul! Return and relax; MSG-I said to myself, “Relax and rest; ERV-My soul, relax! The Lord is caring for you.

3.      8-10-His soul got delivered and he stayed in faith 

C.    Psalm 42:5,11, 43:5, Psalm 103:2-He is specifically addressing his soul

1.      The activity of the mind feeds the heart and the heart displays itself on the face

V.    If you are going to walk in peace there are just certain places you can’t let your mind go and they way you don’t let your mind go there is you open up your mouth and speak something that contradicts where your mind is trying to go

A.    The way to keep your mind stayed on the Lord is to keep your mouth full of the Word

1.      Your mind was created to stop and listen to what your mouth has to say-Matthew 6:31

B.     Here’s where people miss it where this is concerned – You can’t live this like without a spirit full of the Word

1.      If you’re don’t put bullets in your gun you can’t fire it; We’ve told people to shoot the gun (cast down imaginations), but didn’t tell them to load it first

2.      Your mouth is connected to your spirit you can’t consistently speak with your mouth what you don’t have in your heart

a.    Matthew 12:34-For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

b.    Proverbs 15:7-The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish does not so

c.     Proverbs 16:23-The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and adds learning to his lips

d.    Proverbs 17:20-He that has a froward heart finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief

e.    Proverbs 24:2-Their heart studies destruction and their lips talk mischief

f.      Proverbs 26:23-24-Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hates dissembles withis lips and lays up deceive within him

g.    James 3-What you say is connected to your level of spiritual maturity; That’s your words being connected to what’s going on inside

C.    We should endeavor to deal with negative thoughts the same way the master did

1.      Every time the enemy spoke Jesus spoke; He answered every negative thought by speaking words out of his mouth; This is a snapshot of how Jesus lived everyday of his life; He NEVER let a thought pass through his head that didn’t line up with the Word of God without casting it down

2.      You have to answer every negative thought by saying what God says