Skip to content How to Keep from Stressing Out - pt 2 (worry, prayer, habits) May 15 · 24 min ...more
How to Keep from Stressing Out - pt 2 (worry, prayer, habits)
May 15, 2026 · 24 min
Are there certain things that you worry about over and over again? Join Pastor Rick as he teaches how to replace worry with prayer.
Series The Habits of Happiness 2026 May 15, 2026 · 24 min · The Habits of Happiness 2026
Are there certain things that you worry about over and over again? Join Pastor Rick as he teaches how to replace worry with prayer. ...more Show the full description Show less Are there certain things that you worry about over and over again? Join Pastor Rick as he teaches how to replace worry with prayer.
Series The Habits of Happiness 2026 Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
101K followers
Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
101K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
In this video 0:00 Think About Good Things6:03 Be Content with Anything17:16 Christ's Strength for Peace with God
Think About Good Things 0:02 Hey. Thanks for joining us today on pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. And today, we're continuing our series called the habits of happiness. In this0:14 series, Rick dives into the book of Philippians and helps you discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. Okay. Here's the final part of a message called how to keep from0:25 stressing out.0:28 If I want to reduce the stress in my life, I worry about nothing, I pray about everything, I thank God in all things, and number 4, I think about good things.0:41 I think about good things. Now this is extremely important because the stress and your war with stress in your life, that war, that battle is going on between your0:52 ears. The stress isn't out there. It's in here. It's inside. It's between your ears. The battle is in your brain. It's in your thought life.1:05 It's in your mind. And your war with stress are won or lost in your mind. And what you fill your mind with will determine the level of stress in your life.1:16 If you want peace of mind, now listen closely. If you want peace of mind, you're gonna have to start controlling what you allow in it.1:28 Most people, they just their minds like a freeway. Anything can drive through it. And they fill their mind with poison and garbage and stuffing and all kinds of things. And you know the1:40 mind is like a computer. It's g g I g o garbage in garbage out Whatever you put in your mind is gonna come out in your life And so they go and they see movies they shouldn't see and they watch
1:52 shows they shouldn't watch and they read novels they should And they listen to gossip they shouldn't listen to And they just let anything in their mind They worry about water pollution They worried about food pollution
2:02 They worry about air pollution But they're not worried at all about mind pollution And yet that's the most serious pollution Well, I'm just trying to be open minded. Some people
2:14 are so open minded their brains fall out. And they will allow anything into their lives and let it Now here's what the Bible says, Philippians four:eight.
2:27 Fill your mind with those things that are true and good and right. Think about there it is. Fill your mind. Think about things
2:39 that are pure and beautiful and respected. If anything is excellent, if anything is worthy of honor,
2:51 think about those things. Now notice the Bible gives us 8 tests on whether we should allow something in our mind or not. And so if you want to lower the stress, you're gonna have to change
3:03 what you think about and control what you allow into your mind. And and the 8 tests are before I listen to or watch or talk or say or hear this, I should say, is it true? Is it good?
3:16 Is it right? Is it pure? Is it beautiful? Is it respected? Is it excellent?
3:28 Is it worthy of honor? Now he says here, think on things that are good and pure and right. Let me give you a verse to write down. Proverbs
3:39 fourteen:nine. This isn't in your outline. Proverbs fourteen:nine. It's here on the screen. It says this. Fools make fun of sin. That's foolish. That's
3:51 foolish. Now when you think about these things, true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy, you know what that is? It's a picture of God. And
4:03 what he's really saying is think about God. Here's what Isaiah says there on your outline. You, Lord, will keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live in perfect peace? Wouldn't you
4:15 like to be less stressed out? You, Lord, will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on on you.
4:27 If you fix your thoughts on God, he says I will keep you in perfect peace. You see, the what you think about is gonna determine how stressed and how worried you are.
4:39 You know I've told you the story of Corrie 10 Boom. Corrie 10 Boom was a Dutch Christian young woman, during World War II. Her family, the 10 Boom family, her dad
4:51 was a clock maker and they lived in Amsterdam during World War 2. And, they they made a story that she wrote a book about and actually made a movie of her life called The Hiding Place. And during World War 2, the
5:03 10 Boom, this Christian family, took in Jewish friends and hid them in what was called the hiding place in their house for many years, to prevent them from being captured by the Nazis and shipped off to
5:15 death camps. 1 day, the Nazis found out and not only took the the Jewish friends but took Corey and her family. And they went were taken to
5:27 death camps in Poland. And Corey lost her entire family. She was the only 1 that survived. And it's a very wonderful story. And in it, she says something I've never forgotten. She
5:38 said, If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest.
5:50 It all depends on what you have your eyes on. You know, people say, Well, look within. Well, I did. I didn't like what I saw. I don't want to look within, I want to look without. I want to look at God. I want to look at
6:02 Christ. Think about good things. Now there's 1 other step, and that's number 5. Be content with anything. The Bible tells us to be content
Be Content with Anything
6:14 with anything. This is the fifth key to living a reduced stress life. When God says, if you do these things, you'll have God's peace in your life. Now let me explain contentment because a lot of people
6:26 misunderstand the meaning of contentment. A lot of people think means contentment means I have no ambition. No, no, no, no, no. Paul who wrote this book, remember? He's probably 1 of the most ambitious men who ever
6:37 lived. He single handedly takes the good news, the gospel, all across the Roman Empire. He's 1 of the most ambitious people ever and he says, I've learned to be content. So it has nothing to do with ambition. That's not
6:49 contentment. Contentment is not laziness. Contentment is not apathy. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment is not fatalism. What will be will
7:00 be. Con contentment is not lacking ambition. Content here's what contentment is. It's enjoying what I have right now
7:13 rather than waiting for something else to happen in order for me to be happy. Does that make sense? It's enjoying what I've got right. Doesn't mean I don't wanna progress. Doesn't mean I don't have goals. The Bible
7:25 says you should have goals. It means I'm not waiting for something to happen in my life in order to be happy. Contentment is the opposite of coveting. Coveting is when and then thinking.
7:37 When this happens, then I'll be happy. When this happens, then I'll be happy. And when that happens, then I'll be happy. That's when and then thinking. Contentment is actually
7:48 independence from circumstances. It means my joy is not connected to what's happening in my life right now. My joy, my happiness is not based on
8:00 my happenings. It's not based on my circumstances. It means I've learned to enjoy whatever I've got right now and I'm not waiting for something or someone to make me happy.
8:13 Now here's what Paul says in in the next 2 verses, verse 11 and 12. He says, I've learned I've learned to be content. Circle the word learned. Contentment is is
8:25 not natural. I'm by nature content. You're not by nature content. You have to learn it. Just like you have to unlearn worry and you have to learn happiness, you have to learn contentment. Something that we we get
8:36 educated on. I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances. He says, I know how to live on almost nothing or I know how to live with everything. And in the original Greek here he said, I know how to live
8:48 in poverty and I know how to live in luxury. I know them both. I know how to be happy in either. In poverty or luxury, in nothing or with everything. I've learned the secret of contentment
8:59 in every situation, whether I'm well fed or hungry, or whether I have more than I need or when I don't have enough. Now he says there, I have learned
9:12 to be content. How do I learn contentment? Let me give you a couple of 3 ways. You might just write these down. They're not in your notes so just write them down. The first way you learn contentment is this. Stop
9:23 comparing. Stop comparing. That's so important. Because the source of all discontent is comparison.
9:36 I remember many, many years ago when I was a little boy and got up on Christmas morning and my parents had given me the gift of my lifetime. A stingray bicycle.
9:50 Okay. With butterfly handles. Get your motor running. Banana seat. I thought it was so cool and I
10:02 thought I was so cool until I saw my neighbor got a better 1. And my happiness went out the door. Now, the bible tells us over and over and over
10:14 it's foolish to compare yourself to anybody else. Why? 2 reasons. 1, you're always gonna find somebody who's doing a better job than you, and somebody who has more than you and you're gonna get
10:26 discouraged. 2, you're always gonna find somebody you're doing a better job than, and you have more than, and you get full of pride. Either way, you're dead in the water, God takes you out of the
10:38 game, and you sit on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Discouragement and pride are the 2 things that take you knock you out of life. So he says don't do that. God says I called you to be you.
10:50 I made you to be you. If you don't be you who's gonna be you? When you get to heaven, God isn't gonna say, why weren't you more like your sister? Or why weren't you more like your mom or
11:02 your dad? Or what God's gonna say, why didn't why didn't you be you? I made you to be you. Most of us start off as originals and end up as carbon copies. God never makes copies of anything.
11:13 No 2 snowflakes are alike. No 2 human beings are alike. You have a unique thumbprint, handprint, voiceprint, footprint, eye print. You are unique. Even even, identical twins aren't really identical.
11:25 They're different in millions of ways. God never makes a repeat. God man makes clones. God never makes clones. When God made you, he broke the mold. God wants you to be you. And if
11:37 you don't be you, who's gonna be you? And so he says, stop comparing. And when you because when you compare, you get jealous and you get envious. Now the Bible says this. Look at this verse on your outline.
11:50 Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but envy is like a cancer. In other words, it eats you up. It will eat you alive if you get envious. Now that
12:02 phrase peace of mind makes the body healthy, that phrase that word peace of mind actually, another translation is the word contentment. Contentment makes the body healthy. So stop
12:13 comparing. Here's a second little tip for for learning contentment. Stop thinking that having more is better. You see there are
12:25 3 myths that we're taught by advertising in society. Having more will make me more happy. Having more will make me more important. Having more will make me more secure. None of those are true.
12:37 They're all lies. Having more will not make you more happy. Having more will not make you more valuable. And having more will not make you more secure. First place, you can lose it all. You can use bill you
12:49 can lose 1000000000 dollars in a lot of ways. And your value is not based on your valuables, and your net worth is not based on Your self worth is not based on your net worth. It's based on who you are,
13:01 not what you own. So stop thinking that having more will make me more happy. Having more will make me more important. Having more will make me more secure. None of those are true. You need to find your security
13:13 in something that can never be taken from you. Well I can't If I put my security in my job, it can be taken from me. If I put security in my bank account, I can lose that.
13:25 If I put my security in my health, I can lose that. Or my good looks, I can lose that. It has to put security in something that can't be taken from me and that is my relationship to God. I'll never forget Viktor
13:37 Frankl standing in a death camp. If you've never read his book, A Man's Search for Me, it's a terrific book. And he says, you know, they they stripped me naked. They took away everything including my wedding ring. And
13:47 then he said, I realized that there was 1 thing that could never be taken away from me. My my ability to choose my response. You you cannot control everything that happens
13:59 in your life, but you can choose how you respond. That's your freedom. Now here's what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes chapter 4. It's better to only have a little
14:11 with peace of mind than to be busy all the time with both hands trying to catch the wind. It's what I call the saddleback syndrome. We go out and we buy things we can't afford with money we don't have to impress people
14:22 we don't even like. And then we get in debt, we have to we have to become workaholics to pay for all the things we bought. And if you own something and God told you to give it away,
14:34 you don't own it, it owns you. A lot of people are possessed by their possessions. There's nothing wrong with possessions. Nothing wrong with them. But unless you make it your God. And and you cannot be possessed by
14:46 your possessions. And he said, you know, if your whole life is trying to work harder to pay for stuff, he says, you're missing the point. Third thing and I'll I'll end with this is
14:58 learn to learn to admire without having to acquire. I found this personally fun for me. Learn to admire without having to acquire.
15:11 In other words, I have learned that I don't have to own it in order to enjoy it. The fact is with ownership, ownership's a lot of pain a lot of the
15:22 times. I mean, you you gotta insure it, you gotta maintain it, you gotta store it, you gotta haul it. I mean let me give you an example. My family and my kids and my grandkids, we like to jet ski.
15:34 And we like to go down to Mission Bay in San Diego particularly in jet ski. We've done on several vacations. We'll go jet skiing. And because we've done this a lot as a family, I I've often thought, well maybe I should
15:45 go buy some jet skis. And then, why in the world would I do that? I mean, then I gotta insure it. Then I gotta maintain it. Then I gotta store it.
15:57 Then I gotta haul it back and forth. If it it you know, if it's just down there I go down there and use it. Rent it for an hour or 2. I'm gonna give you true confession. I know this is gonna shock you. I have
16:08 never spent 1 hour of my life scraping barnacles off my boat. Because I don't know 1. Okay. I just
16:20 use yours. Okay. You got a lodge at Aspen, I'll jump up and down on your bed. You can insure it, maintain it, and store it, and haul it, and all. Learn to admire without
16:32 having to acquire. Learn that I don't have to own it to enjoy it. That's part of contentment. Now, these 5 strategies that I've just mentioned. They're very easy for me to explain but they're very hard to
16:44 do. It's not easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy to pray about everything. It's not easy to thank
16:56 God in everything. It's not easy to think about good things. And it's not easy to be content with
17:07 anything. So where in the world am I gonna get the energy to do these things that reduce the stress in my life? God says this, you come to me. You
Christ's Strength for Peace with God
17:19 come to me. And I will give you the power and the ability to do what will help you do what is best for you. Paul ends this passage with verse 13. 1 of the most famous
17:31 verses in the Bible is verse 13. I have the strength to face anything and everything by the power that Christ
17:43 gives me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can worry about nothing when Christ strengthens me.
17:55 I can pray about everything when Christ strengthens me. I can thank God in everything and all things when Christ strengthens me. I can keep my mind on the right thing when
18:07 God strengthens me. And I can be content with anything when Christ strengthens me. What we're talking here is not about a religion religion, but a relationship. You may be
18:18 Buddhist. You may be a Baptist. You may be a Catholic or Protestant or Jewish. You may be Muslim or Mormon, or no religion at all. God has never made a person he doesn't
18:30 love. God has never made a person he didn't die for. God has never made a person he doesn't have a purpose for. And he says, if you'll come to me, I will help you. I'm gonna close with this last verse. Job 22 verse
18:42 21 says this. Obey God and be at peace with Him. This is the way to happiness. You see, the
18:54 real reason you're not at peace is because you're at war with God. And until you make your peace with God, that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus to do, is to make peace with God for us.
19:06 When you make peace with God, then you get the peace of God, and then you can have peace with others. There ain't gonna be peace in the world till the Prince of Peace is reigning in our hearts.
19:19 So in order for you to have the peace of God, you have to first have the peace with God. And let's close with that. Let's bow our heads. Would you bow your heads with me? And I'm gonna lead you in a
19:31 prayer. My blessing on you this week is Romans 15 33. It says, I pray that God who gives peace will be
19:43 with you. So would you pray the simple prayer? It doesn't really matter what your words you say. If you just say as I say this, you say, me too, God. Me too.
19:56 Say, dear God, I don't really wanna be stressed out. I wanna learn the habits of happiness. And you have promised that if I do these things, I
20:07 will experience your peace. So I'm gonna hold you at your word. Now, I don't have the strength to do these. So Jesus Christ, I need you to give me that strength.
20:19 Help me to worry about nothing. To remember it's unreasonable and unnatural and unhelpful and unnecessary. You're gonna take care of me.
20:32 Dear god, help me to worry about nothing. And and dear God, help me to pray about everything. Instead of talking to myself to talk to you,
20:45 help me to thank God in all things. Help me to think about the good things. And God, I ask you to help me
20:56 to be content with anything. God, I wanna have peace with you, so I can have the peace of God. Jesus Christ,
21:08 I don't understand it all, but as much as I know how I say yes to you, I don't want a religion, I want a relationship. I just wanna get to know you. And so I open my heart as
21:20 humbly, God, I say, make yourself real to me. And I pray this in your name. Amen.
21:34 What a great message from pastor Rick today. There's something I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to tell you how you can help support this ministry.
21:45 Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives according to 5 specific purposes. He said, you've gotta love God with all your heart, that's worship, and love your neighbor as yourself, that's
21:56 ministry, that's called the great commandment. And then Jesus said, go make disciples, that's evangelism, baptize them into the family of God, that's fellowship, a sign of fellowship, and then he said, teach them, obey
22:07 everything I've taught you. That's discipleship, and we call that the great commission. We believe at Daily Hope that a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission
22:20 will produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company, a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just across America,
22:32 but all around the world. And we want people to know that God's word is filled with hope and truth, and the power that we need to follow him every day is available to every single 1. You
22:44 know as well as I do that the word of God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes new life and new love into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on the
22:56 website, whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of the Daily Hope family, and I need your help. We could not do this without your support. We're
23:07 100 percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray for this broadcast, and would you continue to support us? And let write to me. Let let me hear from you. I absolutely love reading the
23:19 stories that are sent to me. So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry. And God will bless it, and God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for all the people gonna be in
23:31 heaven because you cared.
23:33 Hey. If you'd
23:33 like to support pastor Rick's daily hope, just go to pastor rick dot com. That's pastor rick dot com, or you can text the word hope to 7 0 3 0 9. That's the word hope
23:45 to 7 0 3 0 9. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be sure to
23:57 join us next time when we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.