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FOCUS THROUGH PRAISE

A. Introduction: We are working on a series about the mind. The Bible has much to say about it what we as
Christians are supposed to do with our thoughts and mind.
1. Christians are specifically told that our minds must be renewed or renovated. Rom 12:2—Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (NKJV).
a. Rom 12:2—Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (NLT); Your
whole mental attitude must be altered (Barclay).
b. All of us grew up in a world that is in rebellion to God and we were shaped and molded by that
system, both by the information we received and the experiences we went through.
1. When we come to faith in Jesus, we have thought patterns, attitudes, opinions, and morals that
are contrary to God, but we don’t necessarily know it. Isa 55:8; Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:18; etc.
2. If we are going to live in a way that is pleasing to God, our thinking (the way we think, how we
think, and what we think about) must come into agreement with Him, because the way we live
(both our character and behavior) is a reflection of the way we think.
3. Prov 4:23 says: Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life (NCV); Be
careful how you think. You life is shaped by your thoughts (Good News Bible).
c. In addition, all the information you’ve received about reality since you were born has come to
you through your physical senses. But there is more to reality than what your senses can perceive.
1. God, who is invisible, presides over an unseen kingdom of full power and provision, the
kingdom you now belong to if Jesus is your Lord and Savior. I Tim 1:17; Col 1:16; II Cor 4:18
2. We must now learn to live by or according to these unseen realities. God gives us access to the
unseen realm through His written Word, the Bible. One of the main purposes of the Bible is to
show us the way things really are according to God.
2. One of the main reasons for reading the Bible is to renew or renovate our mind (our thinking, attitudes,
and perspective). The Holy Spirit renews our mind through God’s written Word. II Cor 3:18
a. There are two main aspects to renewing your mind. One involves changing your perspective or
your view of reality. This change takes time and effort. The other involves getting control of your
thoughts and emotions when they’re stirred by circumstances while your mind is being renewed.
b. In the last few lessons, we’ve been talking about how to get control of your mind in the moment
when troubling, anxious thoughts torment you. We have more to say in this lesson.
B. All of us long for peace in our mind, or freedom from disquieting thoughts and emotions (Webster’s
Dictionary). Peace of mind is one of the many blessings that God offers His people. But experiencing this
peace is not automatic. It is conditional upon us doing our part.
1. God promises peace of mind to those who trust Him and whose minds are fixed on Him. Isa 26:3—You
will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you (NLT), whose thoughts
often turn to the Lord (TLB).
a. The Hebrew word that is translated trust expresses the feeling of safety and security that is felt when
you can rely on someone or something. Fixed has the idea of leaning upon or taking hold of.
b. You can’t arbitrarily trust someone or something. You must have a basis for your trust. God
inspires our trust in Him by revealing Himself to us through His written Word.
1. Ps 9:10—And they who know Your name [who have experience and acquaintance with Your
mercy] will lean on and confidently put their trust in you (Amp),
2. The Bible shows us God’s character and works. It gives historical accounts of how He helped
people in impossible circumstances. It reveals the love that He has expressed to us by taking
on a human nature (incarnating) and dying as a sacrifice for our sins. It shows us the future
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that He has for those who belong to Him. All of this inspires trust in Him.
3. Peace of mind comes from knowing that you can trust or rely on Him to help you. However, to
experience this peace of mind, you must fix or direct and hold your attention on God, since He
is the source of and inspiration for your trust, confidence, and faith.
2. It takes time and effort to get to know the Lord through His Word. And, it takes effort to keep your
attention on Him because there are constant distractions that pull our attention away from Him.
a. We need to realize that even though we’re sincere and believe in Jesus, our mind doesn’t necessarily
go toward Him in the moment—not because you’re a bad person, but because you’re constantly
receiving information from your physical senses, and your mind automatically focuses that.
b. Jesus, in the context of how effective His Word is in the lives of people, said that “the cares and
anxieties of the world, and distractions of the age…choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes
fruitless” (Mark 4:19, Amp),
c. Added to this is the fact that God is invisible, and the effects of His work in our lives are not always
immediately visible. So we must trust in Someone we can’t see for help that we do not yet see.
3. We made the point in earlier lessons that when we face situations that give us genuine reason to be
worried or afraid, an automatic process takes place that further draws our attention away from God.
a. Your physical senses (what you see and feel) communicate information to your mind, and thoughts
and emotions are automatically generated. You also begin to talk to yourself about what you see
and how you feel. And, at that moment your focus is fully on what you see and feel.
b. You can’t stop this automatic process, but you can get control of your mind and get your focus back
on Almighty God and His Word, by harnessing your mouth with praise to God.
1. We think of praising God as music. However, in its most basic form, to praise someone means
to acknowledge them by commending them for their character and or their behavior. It has
nothing to do with music or how you feel.
2. I taught history in a public high school for many years, and there were times when it was
appropriate to praise a student for his character or his behavior. It didn’t matter how I felt or
what was going on in my life. I praised them because it was appropriate.
c. It’s always appropriate to praise the Lord for who He is and what He has done, is doing, and will do.
1. Ps 107 says four different times: Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the children of men (Ps 107:8, 15, 21, 31, KJV).
2. The Hebrew word that is translated praise in each of these passages means to acknowledge, to
praise, to give thanks, to confess. The essential meaning of the word is an act of
acknowledging what is right about God in praise and thanksgiving.
4. In previous lessons we’ve referenced several psalms written by Israel’s great King David, because they
give us a view of his mental and emotional state as he faced numerous hardships and challenges.
a. David is a good example of a real person who had serious struggles but stayed faithful to God.
Note this New Testament comment about him: David (is) a man about whom God said, ‘David son
of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to’ (Acts 13:22, NLT).
b. David wrote Ps 56 when he was captured by the Philistines while running for his life from King
Saul. The Philistines were a fierce people who were a constant threat to Israel.
1. Ps 56:1-2—O God, have mercy on me. The enemy troops press in on me. My foes attack me
all day long. My slanderers hound me constantly, and many are boldly attacking me (NLT).
2. Ps 56:3-4—But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you God. O God, I praise your word. I
trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me (NLT)?
3. Ps 56:8-9—You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. On the very day I call to you for help, my enemies
will retreat. This I know: God is on my side (NLT).
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A. Note that David didn’t deny or rebuke his fear or pretend that he wasn’t afraid. David
reminded himself that God knew his struggles, was with him and for him, and that God
with him is bigger than anything mere man can do to him.
B. Note that instead of recounting his problem over and over (obsessing), David put his focus
on God. David harnessed his mouth with praise to God for His Word (His promises).
C. The Hebrew word that is translated praise means to shine, to make a show, or to boast.
The word trust is the same word that Isaiah the prophet used in Isa 26:3. It expresses the
feeling of safety and security that is felt when one can rely on someone or something.
5. Jesus made some important statements about peace of mind to His twelve apostles the night before He
was crucified. He told them: Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives
do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27, NKJV).
a. Jesus told them that He was giving them peace or freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts
and emotions, but that the peace He gives is different than what the world gives.
1. Note that the peace He gives is not automatic. He said we must do something to insure that we
have peace of mind: Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid—stop allowing
yourself to be agitated and disturbed (John 14:27, Amp). Troubled means to stir or agitate.
2. The word heart (kardia) is used only figuratively in the New Testament. It means the seat of
desires, feelings, affection, passions, impulses—thoughts or feelings.
b. Remember the automatic process—what you see and hear generates thoughts and emotions and you
begin to talk to yourself about what is happening and what you should do about it.
1. You can’t stop the process from starting, but you can make it worse by stirring or agitating
yourself further through the way you talk to yourself and the thoughts you allow to run through
your mind.
2. But you can harness your mind by filling your mouth with praise to God. You can’t say one
thing and think something completely different. James 3:2 says—Those who control their
tongue can control themselves in every other way (NLT).
c. Notice that Jesus said the peace He gives is not like what the world gives. The world gives us peace
of mind when everything looks and feels good. But that peace comes and goes depending on our
emotions and circumstances, depending on what we see and how we feel.
1. The peace that Jesus gives comes from knowing who He is, and what He has done for us and
will do for us—information that comes from His Word. Jesus also said at this Last Supper:
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace (John 16:33, NKJV).
2. This peace comes to us through God’s Word because the Bible tells us the way things really are.
Nothing can come against us that is bigger than God. He is with us and for us and He will get
us through whatever we are facing until He gets us out.
C. Let’s look at a New Testament example of getting control of thoughts and emotions in a difficult situation
through praise to God. Acts 16:16-26
1. Paul and his ministry partner Silas traveled to Philippi, a city in northern Greece, to preach Jesus. One
day a demon possessed slave girl began following them and shouting, “These are men of the Most High
God”. This went on for a number of days until Paul finally cast the devil out.
a. The girl’s masters were furious because the demon enabled her to tell fortunes and they made money
through this “gift”. The men reported Paul and Silas to the city authorities and falsely accused
them of teaching people to do things against Roman customs. A mob formed and a riot broke out.
1. The authorities ordered Paul and Silas to be stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison. The
jailer wanted to be sure they didn’t escape and put them in stocks in the deepest part of the jail.
2. Acts 16:25—Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
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other prisoners heard them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken
to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off (NLT).
b. Paul and Silas were no different than you and I, in that both of them would have experienced the
same automatic thought processes we all experience when we face hardship, injustice, and pain.
1. What kind of thoughts might they have had? What sort of things might they have said to
themselves and each other? Here are some possibilities: This is your fault, Paul. You
shouldn’t have cast the devil out. This is your fault, Silas. It was your idea to come to the
city. Both Paul and Silas: We’ve given up a lot to serve God. How could He let this happen
to us? We did a good thing (set a captive free) and now we’re being punished for it…etc. etc.
2. Instead, they chose to put their attention and focus on God by acknowledging Him through
prayer and praise. Perhaps they sang from Psalm 119—Evil people may tie me up with ropes,
but I won’t forget to obey your law (your Word). At midnight I get up to give you thanks
because your decisions are very fair (Ps 119:61-62—NIRV).
2. We get insight into Paul’s interior world (his mind and thoughts) from something he wrote while he was
imprisoned at another time and facing possible execution. He wrote to the church in the city of Philippi,
to the Christians who witnessed Paul’s experience in and deliverance from their city’s jail.
a. Phil 4:11-13—I have learned to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or
disquieted) in whatever state I am (Amp). I know how to live on almost nothing or with
everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or
empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the
strength I need (NLT).
b. This is a man whose mind is renewed. His view of reality (his perspective) has been changed and
he sees his circumstances in light of the fact that God who is invisible is with him and for him.
1. Paul wrote these words in Rom 8:38-39—For I have come through a process of persuasion to
the settled conclusion that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things about to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing
will be able to separate us (me) from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Wuest).
2. Paul was truly convinced that God was with him and for him, and therefore he had nothing to
fear, no matter what his circumstances. Therefore he had peace of mind no matter what.
c. This is the long term change in our thinking that we all can and should develop. But this kind of
change takes time and effort to achieve. We’ll say more about this long term change in perspective
in later lessons. But we can bring peace to our mind in the moment through praising God.

D. Conclusion: No one starts where Paul was when he wrote the words quoted above. But all of us can reach
that point with time and effort. This process of persuasion begins with getting control of your mind and
mouth in the moment through praise to God. We have more to say next week, but consider these thoughts.
1. Most people truly believe that they praise God because they listen to praise music, get into the worship at
church, and thank Him when something goes right.
a. But the time you most need to speak God’s praises is the time you least feel like doing it, the time
when it seems like the most ridiculous thing you could possibly do. David wrote: I will praise the
Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises (Ps 34:1, NLT).
b. I encourage all of us to have a Sight on Savior (or SOS) phrase, something that in the moment when
thoughts and emotions are raging, we can begin to speak out of our mouth to and about God—Praise
you Lord.
2. Ps 50:23—Whoso offers praise glorifies me (NKJV) and he prepares the way so that I may show him the
salvation of God (NIV); he makes it possible for me to show him that I am the God who saves (NIRV).
3. By praising God, you change your focus, acknowledge Him, and open the door to His peace.