Worrying is a wasted exercise!! Period. There is no amount of change that worrying can bring to any situation, therefore it is purely a wasted activity. And yet, how many times do we find ourselves giving into this futile exercise. Will there be enough money, will we succeed or fail, will the people like us or dislike us, will we be good enough, will we hit a “home run” or “strike out?” All these things base themselves in worry and deprive us of doing things that can impact the outcome.
Faith that causes us to believe God for the impossible, courage that causes us to go over the top and take a risk, confidence in our ability to hear the voice of the Lord that causes us to walk in confidence and peace, and most importantly time in prayer from a position of victory that doesn’t look at the impossible situation through the eyes of defeat but overcoming prayer that positions us to be on the victory side.
Our minds are pretty powerful things. I remember years ago when I felt something particular in my body. It concerned me enough to make me go to one of Bonnie’s books from her days of nurses training. Yes, she was studying to be a nurse at one point in time. Anyway, I looked up the particular thing I was concerned about and read the symptoms. Ah good, I wasn’t experiencing this particular one. Sure enough, the next day I felt the symptom that I wasn’t experiencing the day before. My mind created it. This just added to my fear that something was indeed wrong. I finally went to a doctor and he dispelled all my fears just from my description of my feelings. (Note: I am not in any way saying we should ignore things we feel in our bodies, I am merely stating that at times fear and anxiety can manufacture things that are not there. It was important for me to go to the doctor to erase all doubt.)
The point is this. My hours of worrying about my physical condition did nothing to change it other than raise my blood pressure and level of stress. If you have a mind like mine, you are constantly thinking, and I mean constantly. I am different than some would teach in marriage seminars in that they say that men have a place where they go in their mind where they are thinking nothing. That is not me. My mind is constantly thinking of something. So, it is important for me to make sure that my mind is thinking the good things of the Lord, not the negative things of the enemy.
In Matt 6:25-34 Jesus mentions to his disciples five times concerning worrying and the futility of it. If He mentions it that often, it is probably because we have a propensity to do so. The foundation of worrying is fear. II Tim 1:7 says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Fear and worry are not from God. We know that, but sometimes it is still hard not to give in to this wasted activity.
I like the what it says in 1 John 4:11-18 – Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first. – NLT (emphasis mine)
Now that is powerful stuff!! To have a firm grasp of His love for me casts out (or removes from my ability to remember or concentrate on) any fear that I may have. And I can walk in the power of His peace.
So the next time you are tempted to waste your time worrying, remember it’s foundation is fear and fear is grounded in the enemy. His perfect love gives you the power not to worry. Believe!!
Declaring Our Victory Emanuel