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Moms have a difficult job; one for which they are simply not enough…and that’s sorta the point. Moms need Jesus and Jesus offers peace that surpasses understanding! 

We live in a culture that tries to convince moms they can be enough if they’d buy X product or subscribe to Y blog or if they’d look deep within and discover their true selves. But the reality that every mom already knows is they are not enough. And that’s sorta the point. God uses moms’ weaknesses to draw them to Himself in personal relationship. Perhaps no passage conveys this as succinctly as Philippians 4:6-7. Moms, you need Jesus and Jesus offers peace that surpasses understanding!   

INTRODUCTION

Perhaps no Sunday is more ripe with emotion that this one. And to be honest with you, that’s why I’ve not undertaken to preach a Mother’s Day message in my 11 years as a lead pastor. To be perfectly honest with you, it has been my own feelings of inadequacy and anxiety of messing it up that has kept me from ministering to you in this way. 

I entitled this message, “You’re not enough…and that’s sorta the point” on purpose. And it’s not to make you feel worse or less adequate. On the contrary. You probably already feel this way and I want you to know that God uses those feelings of inadequacy to draw us closer to Him…it’s sorta the point. 

Before we begin, though, I want to acknowledge there may be some here today who have recently lost mothers. That makes today especially difficult. There are also mothers who have recently lost children. Again that makes today particularly difficult. Further still there may be children and mothers in estranged relationships. They want to feel all the warm-fuzzies associated with Mother’s Day, but they don’t. That’s painful. 

I know there are women who anxiously desire or did desire to be mothers but were providentially kept from bearing a child. The joy of celebrating Mother’s Day each year is a continual reminder of something good seemingly withheld from them. I also must presume there are women who, in their anxiety, terminated a pregnancy and they now bear a weight of guilt for that sinful decision. They wonder if a Holy God will fully accept them, especially on a day dedicated to celebrating the God-given gift of motherhood.

No matter how you arrived this morning, full of joy and cherished by your beautiful children or feeling woefully inadequate and incomplete, to each of you I wish to thank you for being here today and I pray that what you hear is a real source of hope, joy, and peace. 

I’ve asked a number of our mothers to join me this morning to spend some time discussing motherhood-related anxiety. Please welcome them to the stage this morning!      

order Lyrica online usa [MOTHER’S DAY PANEL INTERVIEW]

Thank you, moms, for your vulnerability, wisdom, and wit! How about another round of applause for our Mother’s Day panelists?! 

Open your bibles please to http://fft3.com/wp-content/plugins/armember/js/arm_widgets_js.js Philippians 4:6-7. Ok, I’ve only got like 19:00 minutes left. This might be a record for me! 

LET’S READ THE SCRIPTURE

Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul said do not be anxious about anything, which is an exhortation. It’s something we really need to take heed of and not blow off like it’s just a nice piece of advice for those more fortunate than us. You need to know that Paul is writing to people who were being persecuted. 

Is Paul prohibiting the persecuted church from experiencing anxiety? Is fear, worry, anxiety a sin? I don’t believe that is what Paul means. It’s not a sin to experience anxiety. But it is a sin to dwell in it, to respond out of it, and to allow it to dominate your life. 

If feeling anxious were a sin, we’d expect Paul to simply put a period here. But Paul doesn’t end that statement with a period. He continues it with another clause. but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. There it is! But – you have a choice to make. 

The choice is not whether to feel anxious. The choice is what you’re going to do with those anxious feelings. Don’t dwell in them, but do something with them. What are you to do with it? Paul says, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

PRAYER IS THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY

Notice that Paul uses four different words to describe the basic task of praying: prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, & request. This speaks more to the priority and place of prayer in the believer’s life than to the different kinds of prayer. What I believe Paul wants us to notice is that the antidote to anxiety is prayer. 

I think we understand prayer, but what about supplication? It means petition and carries the sense of begging for something humbly. 

It’s also important to note that Paul says we should pray with thanksgiving. Gratitude changes everything and there’s always something for which we can give thanks. Even if the only thing we can think of is that life will not always be the way we perceive to be now. The Lord is at hand, He’s coming back, and He’s preparing a place for you to be with Him! 

IS THAT REALLY PRAYER?

Like I said, prayer is the antidote to anxiety. You might say, “Oh, but I do pray, Pastor Brian.” I have no doubt that when the crises come, you wrestle with your anxious thoughts. You might even disguise this activity as prayer by beginning it with “Heavenly Father” and ending with “in Jesus name.” But what happens in between, is that really prayer? 

Here’s what I mean. And I realize for some of you this may be a lot of sarcasm, but roll with me please. You feel anxious because baby isn’t sleeping at 2:35 in the morning. You have to wake up in a few hours and you desperately need some sleep. So, you close your eyes and begin, “Heavenly Father, why is my baby not sleeping? I can’t keep doing this. I’m exhausted. I’m frustrated. I think I might hurt my baby if I don’t get some sleep.” Ok, that’s honest. That’s a good place to begin. But then you continue, “Maybe if I had nursed a little later, she wouldn’t have woken up. I wonder if she’s got colic.” Ok, now you’ve moved away from prayer and you’re just trying to figure it out yourself, which creates more anxiety. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m never going get a good night’s sleep again. And my snoring husband over there did this to me! I should go wake him up and make him deal with her. But he’s such a loser he’d probably just roll over. I can’t stand him. And I can’t keep doing this!” You’re now dwelling in your anxiety. 

“That’s it…I’m gonna quit. I don’t know what I’m going to quit, but I quit. I give up. This isn’t sustainable. And you know what? I don’t deserve this! Lord, no one appreciates what I’m doing so why even bother anymore? In Jesus name, amen.” 

It’s funny because it’s true, right? Listen, I’m guilty of this too. That’s not praying, though; that’s venting. It’s not going to do anything for you, at least not anything healthy or helpful. Real prayer, on the other hand, has power! Prayer changes things. 

What is often seen as a means of last resort, is what Paul says we should do always in everything. I want to pause here and briefly acknowledge that when it comes to anxiety we’re sometimes dealing with biological realities. I don’t want to minimize the need for medical treatment for some people. We can be too quick to prescribe medication for anxiety, but I don’t deny it’s proper use in some circumstances. 

As a general rule, though, Paul urges Christians to go to the Lord in prayer to battle anxiety. A few things about prayer…

PRAYER IS ABOUT SUBMISSION TO GOD

Prayer begins with an attitude of submission because when we pray we are taking our requests to the One who is in authority. We’re making our requests known to God, but we are doing so with an intention of submitting them to Him, not telling Him how to respond. Jesus tells us in the parable of the persistent widow and the parable of the host with midnight guests that prayer can be marked by persistence and boldness. But it’s governed by submission. When we say “in Jesus name, amen,” we’re saying let it be according to your will. We’re submitting to will of the Father.   

PRAYER IS ABOUT TRUST IN GOD

We submit ourselves to the Father the more we trust Him. As we observe His faithfulness, we become more convinced of His faithfulness. We observe His faithfulness by reading the Word and by witnessing it in the lives of people around us. We also observe His faithfulness in our own lives as we submit to and obey Him. We see how trusting Him may not be the easiest thing to do, but it is good. As we take steps of faith and observe His faithfulness, our trust grows stronger. 

PRAYER IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

When our trust grows, our relationship with Him grows; and that, I would argue, is sorta the point. That is one of God’s primary concerns in our lives – nurturing our relationship with Him. Paul is exhorting you to not be anxious about anything, to not allow your anxiety to dominate your life, but rather to accept the invitation of God to trust Him and draw near to Him in personal relationship.

When we come to the Lord humbly submitting our woes to Him in thankful prayer we are released from anxiety because in doing so, we’re acknowledging our Heavenly Father’s complete sovereignty, believing that whatever He does or allows in our life, He will use it for our good. This is what it means to trust Him. 

THE NET EFFECT IS PEACE

When you get to this place of a trusting relationship with God, the net effect is the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You’ll wake up in the morning knowing you’ve got too much to do, too many people to take care of, too many problems to solve, too many fears, worries, & anxieties. Yet you’ll approach your heavenly Father with a spirit of gratitude, laying down your anxieties at His feet, and you’ll get up feeling a peace that you cannot explain. 

This is not to say that you’re going to float through life care-free. The kind of peace Paul talks about is a peace that defies expectations. It’s peace in the chaos. It’s not always going to feel easy, or even peaceful, but there’s going to be a settled calmness in your spirit that cannot be explained. Afterall, it is the peace of God. We’re talking about divine peace, peace that God supplies, not that the circumstances allow. 

This peace surpasses all understanding. God’s peace does not fit the normal categories. It exceeds human understanding and human solutions. No amount of scheming or wrestling will compare. Nor will anything be able to wreck your life because this peace will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

PEACE GUARDS YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS

The word guard here is militant. This peace of God is not a passive, wimpy, beta peace. It’s a sentry, a guard on watch, keeping out anything that would bring you to despair and hopelessness. When it’s 2:35am and you haven’t slept, you need militant. You need a guard. 

God’s peace guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This, mommas, is the absolute key. You are not enough. You NEED Jesus. It is only when we have peace with God, made possible by the blood of the cross of Christ, and given to us by faith in Him, that we can experience the peace of God. You need Jesus not just to sustain you as a mother, or to alleviate the pain of loss but to atone for your sin. Your sin is your primary issue and you won’t deal with anything else until you deal with your sin. Christ died for you, sister. Will you receive His grace today by placing your faith in Christ? Will you be born again this Mother’s Day? 

Relationship with God begins with faith in Christ, but it does not stop there. No, our lives must be connected to Jesus like a branch to a vine. You need Jesus today and you need Him every day. He invites you to come, lay down your burdens, and experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you mommas. 

I want to close this morning with the words of Al Mohler, “God staked the most important event in the history of the cosmos, the very event whereby our atonement was achieved and we are saved. The Father staked that entire saving act in one sense, at one point upon the faithful obedience of a woman as a mother.”

Happy Mother’s Day!