“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Philippians 4:6-7, MSG)
“Don’t worry” may be the most difficult command in the Bible to keep. Every one of us has worries. We disobey that command all the time, because it’s in our nature to worry.
Jesus said it like this: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, NIV). Are you messing up today by spending your emotional energy regretting the past and worrying about the future?
Worry has never changed anything. Worry is worthless! It can’t change the past. It can’t control the future. Worry can only make you unhappy today. Every moment you spend worrying is a wasted moment of your life.
Satan is the one who exacerbates worry, fear, stress and anxieties. He uses people all around you to carry waves of worry into your life.
Worry focuses on your fears instead of trusting God. It’s practical atheism. When you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who promised to care for your needs. When you worry, you think it’s up to you to take care of your problems. That’s not in the Bible — that’s in self-help books. And it’s just not true.
If you’re going to break the habit of worry in your life, you’re going to have to learn how to focus on something else. In the Bible, God’s people often used fasting and prayer as a way to focus — or refocus — on God and not on themselves or what was happening around them. Fasting — where you abstain from something for a certain amount of time and let your need draw you closer to God — can help you do that. So can prayer.
The Bible says in Romans 8:6, “If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace” (NCV).
You have to choose your focus. If you focus on your problems, you’re going to get worried, fearful, and anxious. If you focus on God, and with the help of God’s Spirit in you, you don’t have to worry. Keeping your focus on God leads to life and peace.
The key to overcoming worry is not to say, “I’m not going to worry.” That’s never going to work, because you’re focused on what you don’t want. Lay your worries into the hands of Jesus who experienced every worry you will ever have. Let Him walk through them, sort them, and lead you out the other end.
The key is to change the channel. Don’t resist it. Refocus. Put your focus on God, and trust in His love and promises for you.
Satan, though defeated, still attacks. We know the end game. Don’t let him control you. You can’t stop him from influencing you, but you can run to your heavenly Father and climb into His spiritual lap through the bible, praying, praising, worshipping the victorious King Jesus.
Prayer
Lord, I thank You for the blessings of this day. Walk with me over this path You have set for me, and strengthen my faith when doubt and worry attack my soul. Let Your Word and Spirit fill me and steady my hand for the journey, pointing to the salvation offered through Your Son, Jesus.
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
