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December 16, 2023 15 mins

Summary

In this episode of the Ray Sanders Leadership Podcast, Ray Sanders discusses the topic of worry and how to live with less of it. He shares insights from the book of Psalms and the book of Philippians, highlighting the importance of finding refuge and strength in God, turning worries into prayers, being still and knowing God, and not relying on our own abilities. Sanders emphasizes the power of leaning on God and the peace that comes from trusting in Him.

Takeaways

Find refuge and strength in God during times of worry. Turn worries into prayers and communicate with God. Practice being still and knowing God's presence. Avoid relying solely on your own abilities and understanding.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction 01:29 Finding Refuge and Strength in God 05:24 God as an Ever-Present Help 06:00 Being Still and Knowing God 09:20 What Are You Leaning On? 11:43 The Power of Four and Six 15:30 Conclusion

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ray (00:00):
I have a few questions for you today. Hey. Are you a
worrier?
Do you ever get anxious about how things might turn out?
How much of what you worry aboutever actually comes true? You
know, for a lot of us, thechallenges and struggles of
everyday life have a way ofstealing our peace and robbing

(00:20):
us of our joy. We go throughlife fretting and sweating all
the uncertainty of what might beand what could be and what might
happen. Well, on today'spodcast, I wanna let you in on a
little discovery I made and howI learned to live with less
worry.
Stay with me, stay tuned, andyou will learn how the numbers

(00:43):
46 can lead to a more worry freelifestyle. Hello, everyone. I'm
Ray Sanders, and you'relistening to the Ray Sanders
Leadership Podcast. Podcast.Welcome back to the Ray Sanders
Leadership Podcast.
It really means a lot to me thatyou would spend some time with

(01:04):
me here on this podcast. Ireally enjoy the time together,
and I hope you do too. As partof my daily routine, I have a
time of meditation andreflection. Some of you may
refer to that as your time ofdevotion or just some quiet time
to set aside as you begin yourday. You know, I recently came
across an interesting piece ofancient literature in my time

(01:26):
that really caught my attention.
You probably heard of this guy.His name was King David, and he
was one of the most belovedkings that ever lived, and he
was the king of Israel. Youknow, it's fair to say that as a
person and leader, he had manyups and downs. He had all types
of screw ups. He had a lot ofvictories.
But one thing's for sure, heprobably had a lot of reasons to

(01:47):
worry. When you're taking careof so many people, your wife,
your kids, your warriors, yourentire country, you have to
think that as a leader there's alot of things that are going on
throughout his mind. What'sinteresting is he wrote an
entire book that really is aseries of his personal journals,
journals entries that he madeabout his personal life, and we

(02:10):
get to get a peek of thoseentries through the book of
Psalms. One such entry reallycaptured my attention, and it
was on the passage of Psalm 46.And that's where I began to see
a unique pattern and theme inthe numbers 4 and 6.
Now hang with me. I know you'reprobably thinking, where is he

(02:30):
going with this? Well, I thinkby the end of this podcast,
you're gonna see it's prettyneat how it all came together.
So King David, he wrote Psalms46. And I love this passage.
It says, God is our refuge andstrength and an ever present
help in time of need. Holy cow.What was David thinking when he

(02:54):
referenced God in such a way? Hesaid, God is our refuge. He is
our strength and an and an everpresent help in time of need.
I have to think that thatprobably came during a time that
he was worrying and fretting andwondering what to do. But what
he discovered was that thecreator of the universe, and I

(03:14):
don't know where you stand, Idon't know what you think about
all those kind of things, but Ithink if you've been hanging out
for me or with me long enough,you know that I kinda have a
spiritual perspective on the wayI go about my life. And I
really, kind of like David,looked to something outside of
myself and he was looking to Godfor his refuge. What is a
refuge? A refuge is a safeplace.

(03:36):
A lot of times when I thinkabout a refuge, I think about
how I feel when I come into myhome after a long day of work or
if I've been anywhere, I've doneanything. It's just my safe
place. Isn't that great to knowand to think that the creator of
the universe is a safe place? Somany times, we don't think of
God in that way. We think of himas somebody who's out to get us

(03:59):
or someone who's trying to we'retrying to live up to a certain
standard.
But David, when he was worrying,when he was trying to think
through things, he began tothink about God as his refuge,
his safe place. The second thingI see here is he looked at God
for his strength. Now that's akey key point that we're gonna
pick up on. It wasn't so muchthat David depended on his own

(04:22):
strength, but he began torealize that if he was willing,
god would strengthen him withthe strength that came from him
alone. And then I love thisthought.
And I think this is where Ipersonally begin to mess up and
maybe you do too. When I get alltied up and I'm worried about
decisions that I wanna make andI'm worried about how things
might turn out, I forget thispoint that he makes, an ever

(04:44):
present help in time of need.Ever present, always, right
there with me. Someone I canlean on. Someone I can lean
into.
Oh, that I would realize thatthat ever present help is always
with me. Even that, just thatthought makes me think, what

(05:05):
am I worrying about? He's right here with me. He's going
through it with me. He's willingto strengthen me. He's my
refuge.
I'm in a safe place. It alreadybegins to help me calm down and
begin to relax and realize thatI'm not alone. Interesting thing
about Psalms 46 is how it ends.It says, to be still.

(05:29):
Oh, I'm a man of action. Be still?
Are you kidding? Let's get with it. Let's get going. Saddle
up. We're burning daylight asJohn Wayne would say.
But this passage ends by Davidsaying, be still. He's saying
that the Lord is saying
to him and has told him over and over again, David,
David, David, remember, I'm yourrefuge. I'm your strength. I'm

(05:52):
an ever present help in time ofneed. Be still. And what's the
second part
of that verse? And know and know that I'm god. Oh, my
goodness. If I just be still andrecognize what god wants to do
and that god's god's got this,no wonder
I can be still. It's kind of like being out in the middle
of an ocean with a big storm,and everything's going on around

(06:14):
me. Lightning's striking. One ofmy sons is a producer on a, on a
television program you may haveheard of The Deadliest Catch.
And if you've ever watched thatprogram, you know that the the
rough seas can be really crazy.
And he's let us know of timesthat he was literally rocking
back and forth in his boat. Allof his crewmates were being
shaken from one side to theother, and guys are about to

(06:35):
fall off. And can you imaginethe cap the captain coming over
the loudspeaker? Hey, everybody.Just be still.
Calm down. God's got this. Butthat's what
God's saying. Be still. I've got this.
Here's what I think. I think as a
leader, King David learned to lean. He learned to lean.

(06:56):
Where did he learn to lean?Well, as a leader, what are you
leaning on? I think King Davidlearned to lean on God.
He learned to lean on God. Heleaned on God. We all lean on
something. What are you leaningon?
I was inspired by Psalm 46 and I was even more encouraged
when I was reminded of anotherpassage during the same

(07:18):
meditation time and it alsoreferenced these numbers 46. Can
you guess where this passage isfound? You have probably heard
of it. It's Philippians 46. Sothink about this.
Psalms 46, god is our refuge andstrength and an ever present
help in time of need, and itconcludes by saying be still and

(07:41):
know that I'm god. It's almostas if there's a threaded
conversation that leads you toPhilippians 46
and ties it in with this passage that says, do not
be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by
prayer and petition withthanksgiving, present your
request to god And the peace ofGod, which transcends all

(08:04):
understanding, will guard yourhearts. It's almost as if David
and the writer of Philippianswere together and they were
having a conversation and Davidends by be still and know that
I'm God. And then we we hearthis this other author step up
and say, yeah, don't be anxiousabout anything. We're just gonna
be still.

(08:24):
So do do you catch it? Did youcatch it? Both of these passages
reference the numbers 46, Psalms46, Philippians 46. And they
give us clues to overcoming ourworries as leaders. And like I
said earlier, the key is to lean on God. Again, I ask you,

(08:45):
as a leader, what are youleaning on? You're leaning on
something. Are you leaning onyour own understanding? It's
sure tempting.
We live in a time of allknowing, doctor Google, you
know, search Google, Bing this,search that, gain knowledge,

(09:07):
gain understanding.
I'm gonna lean on what all I can figure out. Are you
leaning just on your ownunderstanding? We all have a a
capacity. We all have certainaptitudes, and we all have
certain limitations. And ifwe're not careful, if we lean
too much on our ownunderstanding, we can we have a
reason to worry because we don'tknow.
We don't have all the answers.Or how about this? Are you

(09:27):
relying on your own abilities oryour own strengths? As I've
reflected on these insights,another ancient check another
ancient text came to
mind, And that's probably why I wanted to
share this with you today. I started off by reading Psalms
46, and then I went toPhilippians 46. And then I began
thinking and reflecting on mylie on my own life asking

(09:48):
myself, well, why am I worried?What am I relying on? What am I
leaning on?
And this passage
came to mind, and and this passage says it well. And it's
back into the old testament, andit's from a prophet, the, the
prophet Zechariah. In Zechariah46, it says this, not by might

(10:09):
nor by power but by my spirit,says the lord.
Now can I just tell you I'm a driven dude? I'm the kind of
guy that, you know what? If it'sgonna get done, let's make it
happen. I'm about action. Let'stake initiative.
Use the skills you've got. Let's roll, soldier, up the
hill. March on. But if I'm notcareful, I can begin to rely on

(10:33):
my own strength and get out ofsync and what I've soon learned
is I'm not enough. I'minadequate.
And now, I really do have reasonto worry. So again,
I ask you, as a leader, what are you leaning on? Are you
leaning on your ownunderstanding, your abilities,
your own strengths? How aboutthis, are you relying on your

(10:56):
bank account? Money. Are therepeople in your life that you're
really leaning on and countingon?
Do I think the numbers 46 holdsome sort of magic or mysterious
power or is it some kind of codefor deciphering worry? No. I
don't think that. But in my ownpersonal life, my own personal
walk, my own personal devotiontime, these numbers came up in 3

(11:18):
different passages and it reallydid impact me and they all tied
together. But I do think thisancient wisdom points us to the
key to overcoming worry.
And let me sum it
up for you. What are the keys? This is what I think. Four
points. Realize the
god of the universe serves as a source of refuge. He's

(11:42):
safe. He cares for you. He lovesyou. He welcomes you home.
You're safe in his arms. He'sready to listen and he'll give
you his strength.
And he's an ever present help in time of need. Ever
present. Always. He's there.
Number 2. We can gain relief from our anxious thoughts

(12:04):
when
we turn those thoughts into prayers. And what does
that mean? Do we have to hold a certain posture? Do we
have to be down on our knees? Dowe have to bow our heads and
close our eyes? No.
All can you imagine? I don'tthink King David I mean, he
certainly did these things, butI have a feeling that when you
have an ever present help withyou, you're talking to him. It

(12:27):
might have been in a chariot oron his horse or walking down a
path. He was just basicallytalking to God, expressing
himself. So here's another ideaon that line.
Don't just think about it, prayabout it. Talk to God about it.
He's there. He's willing
to listen. And then be still. Be still. Be still and

(12:49):
watch what happens. Sometimeswith my clients, I'll ask them
that question
or ask them this question. I'll say, when was the last time
that you were still? If we hadtime and weren't wasting the
airwaves, I would probably justsay, hey. Let's be still for 30
seconds. That's silence.
It's amazing what happens inthat 30 seconds of silence. You

(13:12):
should try it. You should justbe still. Don't listen to
anything. Don't watch anything.
You should just set and be stilland see what happens. Don't
require yourself to think. Justbe still and see what happens.
And then number 4, don't lean
on your own abilities, your understanding, or your strength.
Count on him to lead you throughand strengthen you as you yield

(13:35):
to that still small voice, thatspirit, not by might, not by
strength, not by, you know, bymy by my own power, but by the
spirit, that still small voicethat whispers in our ears, I'm
with you. I got you, kid. Let'sdo this. There's no need to
worry.

(13:56):
Be still. I'm with you. Here'swhat I
think will happen. When you do, there is a peace, and I
can't explain it. No. I don'tthink it's magic. I do think
it's spiritual.
But this is what I think you'llsoon discover the more you
practice this this this ideathat David had and this approach
that he took. There is a peacethat will come that is hard to

(14:18):
explain. You won't know whyyou're so peaceful. In fact, you
might be thinking, I I have a
whole lot to worry about. But, my friend, that is what I
refer to as the power of 46.
Hey. I hope this has been helpful for you today. Thanks
for stopping by. And if you'reencouraged or inspired with what

(14:38):
you've heard, we'd love for youto hit the like button. We'd
even like for you to subscribe.
Hey. And better yet, why notshare this podcast with a
friend? Reach out to
us at ray sanders.com. We'd love to hear from you. And that
pretty much sums it up today.Don't be
a worrier. Turn those worrying thoughts into prayers.
Be still. Realize that it's notall about you, and you can't

(15:01):
probably fix it all anyway. Andlean on the lord.
He's an ever present help intime of need. Thanks for joining
us on the Ray Sanders LeadershipPodcast today, and remember,
we're in your corner for lifeand work.
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