Worry (1) Dont worry about anything... Philippians 4:6 Identify the source of your worries. Did you grow up in a fear-filled family, always feeling insecure, never measuring up, and never hearing words of affirmation and approval? Are you listening to the prophets of doom, hearing only about whats wrong, and how much worse its going to get? Whats the source of your anxiety? What feeds your worries? Until you can express your fears you cant expel them. Putting your worries into words disrobes them. They look weak and silly standing there naked. In his novel Life of Pi, Yann Martels main character, Pi, finds himself adrift at sea on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger as his companion. While on the lifeboat, Pi begins to analyse his fears, both of the sea and the tiger. He gives this counsel: You must fight hard to express your [fear]. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you dont, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you. So pull back the curtain and expose your fears, each and every one. Like vampires, they cant stand the sunlight. Financial fears, relationship fears, professional fears, safety fears - call them out in prayer. Drag them out and make them stand before God. How do you do that? Dont worry about anything; instead, pray about everything... Then you will experience Gods peace, which exceeds anything we can understand... (vv. 6-7 NLT). Bible in a Year: Dan 5-7; Matt 12:22-37; Ps 111; Pr 3:29-30; Worry (2) ...I tell you not to worry about everyday life... Matthew 6:25 Jesus said, Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life... (v. 25 AMP). Now, the Lord is not condemning you for having a legitimate concern about your responsibilities. No, what Hes condemning is having a mindset that keeps leaving Him out of the equation, or turning to Him only as a last resort. Destructive anxiety subtracts God from the future, faces uncertainties with no faith, tallies up the challenges of today and tomorrow, and forgets to include Gods promises and His faithfulness. Jesus told His disciples, I tell you not to worry about everyday life - whether you have enough. Note the words whether you have enough. Thats what we worry about, isnt it? Shortfalls, sickness, redundancies, economic downturns. Faced with the feeding of five thousand people, the disciples had the same worry. Philip did an audit: ...Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite! (John 6:7 NIV). How do you suppose Jesus felt in that moment? Standing next to them was the solution to their problems, but they didnt go to Him until their backs were to the wall and they had no answers. In their hands five loaves and two fishes looked like nothing. Yet in His hands it was more than enough to feed the multitude and solve their problem. As the bread kept multiplying, surely they must have come to the point where they said, Lord, why did I ever doubt You?. Let your problems drive you into the arms of Jesus. And when you get there, stay there! Bible in a Year: Dan 8-10; Matt 12: 38-50; Ps 108; Pr 3:31-32; (UCB Word for Today)
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 04:13:37 +0000
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