Worry – we’ve all fallen into its trap at one time or another – have a look at this definition…
“Worry” (verb) – feel or cause to feel anxious or troubled about actual or potential problems.
What I found very interesting in this definition is the phrase “potential problems”. One day I began to prayerfully think on the topic of worry and this is what I discovered…
Worry is fear
Worry is born out of fear. We become fearful over a situation and then worry about how we are going to deal with it. Most times we feel fearful or anxious about a particular situation anticipating what WE think might happen.
Fear comes from “What if’s”
What if this… or what if that… The more we “what if” – the more we feed the thought of worry and the more fearful we’ll feel. But actually, that which we perceived often does not materialise – all that worry for nothing!!
Why fearful? Simply because we don’t have an immediate solution to our challenge.
Quite often we don’t want to admit that we are fearful. Quite often we react to this ‘hidden’ fear by lashing out, not realising that at the base of our action, is fear. You’re aware of the saying, “attack is the best form of defence!”
When we find ourselves in a place of anxiety and fear, our thoughts are totally consuming us. Our whole focus has moved to a concentrated point. Attempts to distract ourselves with lighter thoughts, or some form of entertainment, may work for a short time, but then we soon find ourselves back into the dark mess.
Does this sound like a place that the Lord would want us to be in? No, not as far as I understand. Worry is an extremely powerful emotion because of its capability to consume and trap us in a small mental confinement. Once we’re in that place, we feel negative, not wanting to do anything, physically or emotionally. The last thing we feel like doing is praying or speaking to God – know what I mean!
Fear does not come from God
Notice that the ‘worry war’ takes place in our minds. Our mind is very powerful and able to turn thoughts into reality. We are fed by thoughts delivered to us by the Evil one. He would want us in a place of confusion and fear always – remember – fear does not come from God. The words ‘fear not’ appear a great many times in the Word.
Stop the thought and we stop the fear
The remedy for this problem is to renew our minds. The Word tells us to be “renewed in the spirit of our minds” (Eph.4:23) and to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom.12:2). So… how do we renew our minds? We stay as much as possible, in the place where we can find positive ‘food’, for our thoughts.
Paul tells us in the book of Phil… “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, dwell on these things (Phil.4:8).
Let’s Be practical about our worry:
- Is our worry self-inflicted? – are we doing something in our lives which is not in line with Godly principles? In this case we need to change direction and we will change our result.
- “Give the worry over to God” is a solution we hear often. Yes – give the worry over to the Lord and LEAVE it there by filling your mind with thoughts of Him – finding Him in His Word, finding Him in fellowship with other believers and finding Him in prayer.
Excessive worry can make us ill. So let’s not allow the thoughts of unnecessary worry cause us to become unhealthy. Let God renew our minds by the power of His Spirit through His word so that we can truly feel the peace He has already poured out into our lives.
What a blessing it is for me to spend this time with you. Thanks and be blessed until we meet with the Master again.