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What! me worry? |
How to stop worrying!
Worrying is nonproductive, we can become upset, frustrated
and sometimes angry when we worry. Worry
and anxiety never fix the problem. Worry will hinder our ability to be all that
the Lord wants us to be! When we are under the strain of worry, we are often
short with other people. Later we feel
bad about our behavior, or perhaps about something we might have said, this of
course, only compounds the problem.
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How does God want us to handle worry? |
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.
The word
*anxious* in Philippians 4:6, is the
Greek word *merimnao* Mer-im-nah-o
(Strong*s reference # 3308) and has the
same approximate meaning as the following words; *worry,* *anxiety,*
*distress,* *uneasiness,* and *care.*
What is God*s
instruction to us on the subject of worry?
1) Don’t worry!
2) Pray with
supplication
3) Pray with
thanksgiving, (believe that God will answer your prayer)
4) Let your request
be known to God.
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1) Don’t worry! |
When we choose to
worry, we testify that we have more confidence in ourselves, and in our ability
to reason, than we do in God! We are saying, "Lord I don’t need your help,
I’m a proud person and can handle this myself!" Now watch what happens
when we Pray instead of worry. First, we acknowledge the Lord in our life.
Second, we demonstrate our confidence in God. Third, we open up the power of
the living God in our lives, and can now expect that the God of all love will
aid us in the solution to our problem.
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2) Pray with
supplication |
When we pray with
supplication we are making an appeal to our Heavenly Father. When supplication
is in our prayers we are humbly looking to God for our help. We are showing our
dependence on the Lord. The Lord wants us to depend on Him, as any father
delights when his child depends on him. Where else in time of trial can we find
any help, where else is hope to be found?
The Lord is good!
3)
Pray with thanksgiving, believing that God will answer your prayer
When we pray with thankfulness
in our heart, we are demonstrating our faith. We believe that the problem has
been conquered, and we are going to overcome. We have so much confidence in
Almighty God, that we can smile in the midst of the storm! If on the other hand we can't pray with
thanksgiving, we are demonstrating that we do not have confidence in God's
ability to fix the problem. As we pray with thanksgiving, our hearts are
lightened, we begin to realize that our problems with the things of earth just
aren*t that important, especially when compared with eternity.
A Test
If the problem won't
matter to us five hundred years from now, it really isn't much of a problem! If
we won't be troubled five hundred years from now about the problem, whatever it
may be: losing our job, having an accident with our car, not getting an
advancement on our job, so on, and so forth, then it really isn't much of a
problem! If however, our lives are not right with God, it will still be a
problem five billion years from now. We will regret that we have not taken the
time, and committed our lives in true sincerity to God. Yes, our walk with the
living God is the real problem. The Lord Jesus said, "Do not be anxious
and say, `What shall we eat? or `What shall we drink? or `With what shall we
clothe ourselves? For all of these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to
you."
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Here is a good place to introduce Romans 8:28. |
And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to [his] purpose.
Do
you know this? That all things work together for good, If you believe this, you can rest! In fact, you are resting! If you can't rest, let me ask a
question, "Do you love God?" Remember, the promise is "to them that
love God", Read John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Do
you "keep my words" Jesus asked, if your answer is no, this may be
the problem. Jesus said this is the proof of our love to God; Keeping His words!
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4) Let your request be known to God |
Even though the Lord
knows all things, He expects us to make our
requests known to Him. In this way, we acknowledge the Lord God, as our
heavenly Father. We let Him know that we trust and depend on Him. Praying gives
us a close communion with the living God!
What a privilege, to be able to carry our problems to a God who loves
us, and is able (unlike idols) to help
us! If you choose to worry instead of praying, you only cheat yourself! If you
obey Philippians 4:6, then you can expect to see the reality of Philippians 4:7
in your life, And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Watch this, the problem is
still laid out in front of you, it didn*t change, but somehow you have a deep
abiding peace that is guarding your heart and mind. It is difficult to
understand this peace from the world's point of view, in fact, you can*t
understand it. It is flowing all over you, and it is wonderful. This peace that
passes understanding is from God, and it is the result of trusting in God as
our Father.
If after getting up
off of your knees; you do not sense this peace, and you are still worried about
the problem. You didn*t exercise faith! You didn*t follow the instructions! If you are still worrying this is a positive proof that you are not trusting the Lord, you are
not believing His promise!
You
see, God's promises are always kept, He never goes back on His word.
This peace is like a
thermometer, it will show you just how much you really trust in the Lord and
His word. If you fail the test, repent
of your unbelief and believe God! You
must leave the problem with God.
What
Sustains worrying? How does it start?
It all starts with
our thinking. God has given us a test for the thoughts that we are to allow to
be in our minds.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
Whatever is true.
Do not let imaginations run wild in your mind, they are
not true!!! Have you ever thought about a person, perhaps about something they said,
and start imagining the worst, becoming a little more angry, with each and
every thought. Don't do this.
Whatever is honorable.
If the thought is not an honorable thought, don't think on it. You can control
the thoughts in your mind, it takes a little discipline to do it, but, you can do it!
Whatever is right.
If the situation you are thinking on is not right, stop thinking about it. You
will end up angry or depressed, depending on your personality.
Whatever is pure.
If your thoughts are not pure, you will be thinking on
things that can destroy your soul. The Devil loves for you to violate this
commandment of God.
Whatever is lovely.
This word in the Greek means pleasing, agreeable. All of your thoughts should
pass this test also.
Whatever is of good
repute. Don't think on things that are not
sound, not proper.
If there is any
excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these
things. If
the thoughts in your mind do not pass the test of Philippians 4:8, all of it,
reject them. Remember, we as children
of God are to take every thought captive to Christ. If you will do this, the
Devil is defeated in planting the seeds of sin and defeat in your life! Every
one of these requirements are important; your thoughts must pass this very important
test that God has given us.
The real power, or source of worry,
The real power of
worry is self-will, the more unwilling you are for a certain trial to occur in
your life, the more you will worry and fret about it. When we are willing for
trials to happen, we are proving that we truly trust God, and believe His word.
Let's look at one of
God's promises, Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to
His purpose. This is a very important
promise, God has promised that no matter what happens in the trial, that He
would "Cause it to work together for good. Now, if you truly believe God,
what do you have to worry about? Does not this Scripture make it plain, that in
order to worry, we must choose to not believe God! Remember, faith always
works, when we truly live our lives in faith, we need never worry.
I will tell you a
little secret, when you repent and are truly born again of the Spirit of God,
you are placed right in the middle of God's hand. No problem, nor any trial can
touch you unless the God of love believes it is necessary for your life. No
Devil, no demon, no man, no animal, no situation, nothing that you can dream
up, can touch you, unless God thinks it is something that is necessary for the
good of your life.
When we worry to the
point of being fearful, we are in sin, we are out of God's will. The Bible says
" There is no fear in love" it also says "Perfect love casts out fear." It is important to understand
this, There is no fear in love. As Christians we are told to abide in Christ,
in God, and we know that God is love,
Put this all together and we can see why we need not ever be fearful or
worry.
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A Few Pearls |
God never meant
for us to think of grace as a license to sin!
But rather as
a license to be FREE FROM SIN!
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life.
God
expects us to walk in newness of life, Not to continue in sin!
In
order to live the Christian life Christ must truly be alive in you!
He
must be leading your life,
He must be your life!
