Saturday, July 4, 2009

What Do You Do with Worry???

"Do not be anxious about anything, but with everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7


OK, so I'm not supposed to worry. No problem, right? Hah! But God, don't You realize how many things there are to worry about? What if we don't make it financially? What if my kids get some horrible disease? Or me or my spouse? Or the house burns down? Or... We can create endless situations that we should worry about.


God commands us NOT to be anxious. But we can't help it, can we? We must be able to help it if God tells us not to do it. He wouldn't give us a command that we couldn't keep. I believe that worry is a choice. (I'm preaching to myself here, just as much as anyone else!) We're not victims of some worry disease. We simply have a choice to make.

Think about what worries you the most. Finances? Health? Relationships? What happens when you worry about it? You think about it. You imagine all the things that could go wrong in that area. You play the endless "What if?" game. It fills your mind and your thoughts.

In Scripture, God not only tells us not to worry, He also tells us what to replace that 'worry energy' with. Phillipians says not to worry, but to pray instead. That's helpful - I need to place my worries into God's capable hands and trust that He'll take care of it. But, I think we frequently stop too short in memorizing and applying just verses 6-7. I think God has even more worry-fighting ammunition in verses 8-9.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

When we're worrying, are we thinking about things that are true, noble, right,pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy? NO! All our "what-ifs" aren't true because they haven't even happened yet. We're imagining up horrible scenarios and stressing about what could happen. Instead of thinking of what we're worrying about, we need to think about good things.

Then, Paul also tells us to get to work! Don't just sit there, we need to apply what we've learned! Go love your neighbor, serve one another, get involved in ministry.

To sum up, here's God's plan for fighting worry:
1. Pray about everything
2. Think about good things instead of what you're worrying about
3. Get to work applying the things that God has taught you

"Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." 2 Thessalonians 3:16