Don’t worry

 Don’t Worry!

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

PHILIPPIANS 4.6-7

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you.

PSALM 55.22

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

1 PETER 5.7

Do you know what it is like to wake up with a sick feeling of worry in the pit of your stomach? to have a sense of dread when the phone rings in the middle of the night? to fearfully wonder what’s around the next corner?

When Paul wrote, “Don’t worry about anything,” the word he used for “worry” indicates choking or strangling. And that’s what anxiety does. It puts a choke hold on us, wiping the joy off of our faces — and squeezing it out of the rest of our lives too. In its mildest form, we get a sick feeling in our stomachs. In its most severe form, we panic. This is no way to live.

We don’t have to give in to being worriers, letting our minds continually feed on looming fears. Jesus offers those who suffer from worry and anxiety a new atmosphere of peace to live and breathe in. Rather than being consumed with fear, we can channel our energy into prayer. Believing there is no concern too small and no situation too big for God dissolves our worry into peace. We can feel safe, having our hearts guarded by the peace of God and our emotions guided by belief in God.

Though we’re invited into this beautiful place of peace, we have to choose to enter in. Refusing to enter in is choosing to be emotionally bankrupt and spiritually paralysed. What good does worry do? Why not surrender your worries and entrust your cares to God?