“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways.”
Psalm 37:7 (NIV) You may not hear the word “fret” much anymore. It’s an older word that just means “worry.” When you fret, you get stressed out, anxious, and impatient. You worry because things are either happening too fast and you can’t handle the change or because things are going too slow and you want God to speed things up. We don’t usually mind waiting if we can gripe about it. But when you choose to wait patiently on God instead of fretting, it is a statement of faith. You’re making a declaration about God’s character. When you wait patiently, you’re saying that you trust God and have faith in him. You’re humbly admitting your dependence on him. The Bible says in Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways” (NIV). One of the biggest reasons we get stressed out is because we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others. Instead of focusing on God’s love and what he’s done for us, we look at other people, focusing on what they have that we don’t. Comparing yourself to others is never wise. Why? Because you’re one of a kind! God has a plan for your life that’s different from his plan for anyone else. If you’re wishing that God gave you another person’s plan, then you’re going to miss the plan for your life! Comparing leads to fretting. When you compare, you start worrying. But worry is worthless. Any second you spend worrying is wasted, because worry can’t accomplish anything. Worry can’t change the past. It can’t control the future. It’s only going to make you miserable today. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair, going back and forth, back and forth. You don’t make any progress, and you use a lot of energy. Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers” (MSG). Worry will never change anything, but prayer will. So don’t fret this Christmas season. Just pray!
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“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) It takes more than willpower to stop worrying—but you already know that, because you’ve already tried it. You’ve thought, “I shouldn’t worry about this,” yet it stays on your mind. Here are four steps to help you stop worrying: Get to know God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:32, “People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things” (The Message). If you don’t have a relationship with God, you have every reason to worry. That’s why you need to get to know God! As a believer, you have a heavenly Father who has promised to take care of you. You are God’s child, and children get special privileges. When you worry, you are acting like you don’t have a loving Father who is with you and for you. Put God first in every area of your life. Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing . . . your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life” (TLB). Anytime you take God out of the center of your life and put anything else there—no matter how good it is—you’re going to worry. Live one day at a time. The Bible says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34 NCV). If you’re worrying about tomorrow, you can’t enjoy today. Also, when you’re always worried about tomorrow, the future gets overwhelming. But God promises to give you the grace and strength you need when you need it. Right now, you only need enough power for today. Trust God to care. “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). How do you do that? One way is to memorize God’s promises in the Bible. They’re like an insurance policy for believers. When you know something’s covered, you don’t worry about it anymore. Another way to trust God is to pray. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a lot less to worry about. What’s the result of taking these four steps? “You will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand” (Philippians 4:7 TLB). “Don’t worry about anything.”
Philippians 4:6 (NLT) Work doesn’t keep you up at night; worry does. In the Bible, God gives clear direction about the role worry should play in your life. Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything” (NLT). Why do you need to let go of your worry? Worry is unreasonable. Here are a couple of reasons why that’s true. First, worry exaggerates the problem. Have you noticed that, if somebody says something bad about you, the more you think about it, the bigger it gets? Second, worry doesn’t work. To worry about something you can’t change is useless. And to worry about something you can change is a waste of time; just go change it! Worry is unnatural. No one is a born worrier. You might think you are, but you’re not. Worry is something you learned. Since worry is unnatural, it’s also unhealthy. Your body wasn’t designed to handle worry. When people say, “I’m worried sick,” they’re telling the truth. Doctors say that a lot of people could leave the hospital today if they knew how to get rid of guilt, resentment, and worry. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body” (NLT). Worry is unhelpful. Worry cannot change the past, and worry cannot control the future. All it does is mess up today. The only thing that worry changes is you. It makes you miserable! It’s never solved a problem. Worry is unnecessary. God made you, he created you, he saved you, and he put his Spirit in you. Don’t you think he’s going to take care of your needs? There’s no need to worry. Want to learn to better manage your stress? A great first step is to refuse to worry about anything. Why? Because worry is unreasonable, unnatural, unhelpful, and unnecessary. The Bible says, “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern” (1 Peter 5:7 PHILLIPS). God personally cares about you and for your needs. So what should you do with all those things you’re stressed, anxious, and worried about? Let them go. Give them to God. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done . . . Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
Philippians 4:6-8 (NLT) God wants you to trust him one day at a time. He wants you to ask for your “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 ESV), not for your weekly bread, monthly bread, or yearly bread. The Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done . . . Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:6-8 NLT). This passage teaches four things to do daily to trust God: Worry about nothing. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT). Why is worry such a big deal? Because it’s not just a bad habit—it’s a sin. But God keeps his promises, and you can trust that he will take care of you. Pray about everything. Prayer changes things. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (NIV) God solved your biggest problem—the sin that kept you from heaven—when he sent Jesus to die for you. If God loved you enough to send Jesus to die for you, don’t you think he loves you enough to take care of all your other problems? Thank God in all things. No matter what happens, give thanks. The Bible doesn’t say, “For all things, give thanks.” It says, “In all things, give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 GNT). You don’t have to be thankful for bad things in your life. You should never be thankful for evil. You don’t have to be thankful for cancer or a car accident. But God says that in everything you can give thanks. Why? Because you know that God’s going to take care of you. You know he’s going to meet your needs. You know he’s going to help you. Think about the right things. In Philippians 4, God has given you a list of things to think about—things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Where do you find things that are pure and lovely to think about? You won’t find them watching TV or scrolling through social media. You will find pure, lovely, and honorable thoughts in the Word of God. Read it, study it, memorize it, and fill your mind with it. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT). Make today the day you start trusting God one day at a time. “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV) “Don’t worry” may be the most difficult command in the Bible to keep. Every one of us has broken that commandment. We break that commandment all the time, because it’s in our nature to worry. Jesus said it like this: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34 NIV). The reason why you mess up today is because you spend most of your emotional energy regretting the past and worrying about the future. But worry has never changed anything. Worry is worthless! It can’t change the past. It can’t control the future. Worry can only make you unhappy today. Every moment of your life you spend worrying is wasted. Worry is focusing on your fears instead of trusting God. It’s practical atheism. When you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who’s promised to care for your needs. You’re thinking it’s up to you to take care of your problems. That’s not in the Bible—that’s in self-help books. And it’s just not true. If you’re going to break that habit of worry in your life, you’re going to have to learn how to focus on something else. Fasting—where you abstain from something for a certain amount of time and let your need draw you closer to God—can help you do that, and so can prayer. The Bible says in Romans 8:6, “If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace” (NCV). You have to choose your focus. If you’re going to think your way, you’re going to get worried, fearful, and anxious. You are going to have anxiety because you’re controlled by your sinful nature. When you’re focused on God, and you have God’s Spirit in you, you don’t worry. That leads to life and peace. The key to overcoming worry is not to say, “I’m not going to worry.” That’s never going to work, because you’re focused on what you don’t want. The key is to change the channel. Don’t resist it. Refocus. Put your focus on God, and trust in his love and promises for you. “Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Matthew 6:34 (NLT) The good thing about the future is that it doesn’t hit you all at once. If you had your entire life thrown at you at one time, it would no doubt be overwhelming. So God gives it to you in bite-size, 24-hour segments. Since God gives you only one day at a time, that’s how he expects you to approach your life. Live one day at a time, and make it count. Jesus taught: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT). Jesus is saying to stop borrowing trouble. If there’s something happening next week, why are you messing up today by worrying about it? Worry can’t change the past. It can’t control the future. Worry only makes you miserable today. God gives you all the grace you need—but just enough for today, every day. He doesn’t stockpile all that power in your life and give it to you for the next week or month. He says to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” He wants you to take life one day at a time. When you don’t know what the future holds, you can still take life one day at a time. That’s all you are meant to do! When everything is uncertain and you don’t know how to make wise decisions for the future, then just take care of today. God doesn’t want you to worry about tomorrow, but he also doesn’t want you to presume about it, either. It’s important to plan, pray, and trust God for the future. But God still expects you to put your energy into making today count. A great way to do this, especially during the pandemic, is to reduce your media intake. Focus instead on the things God loves and cares about, like your spiritual growth and caring for people who need help right now. That’s how you make the day count. “Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow” (Proverbs 27:1 The Message). When everything else in life seems unclear, this is about as clear as you can get. Plan for tomorrow but live for today. God will give you everything you need to be obedient in both. “Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.”
Ecclesiastes 10:15 (GNT) You’re not God. You don’t have all the answers. You can’t do everything. If you’re struggling to find balance in your life, those admissions can transform everything. The Bible says, “Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work” (Ecclesiastes 10:15 GNT). It’s foolish to wear yourself out with work. Do you realize that when you overwork, you’re playing God? It’s a way of saying that it all depends on you, that everything will crash down if you don’t keep the world spinning. That’s just not true! You’re not the general manager of the universe. The universe will not fall apart if you take time to rest, if you take time to balance your life. God has it under control. Often we do this to ourselves because we’re trying to please everyone. Learn this lesson today: You can’t please everyone. Even God can’t please everyone! One person wants it to rain. Another one wants it to be sunny. It’s absurd to try doing what even God can’t do. When you live for the expectations of others, you pile a ton of “shoulds” on your shoulders. You may think, “I should work more hours,” “I should be as active as all the other parents,” or “I should volunteer for this project.” But realize this: No one is forcing you to do those things. Overworking is your choice. You choose to take on the extra work or not to take it on. And you choose the consequences that come with your choice. When you deny your humanity and try to do it all, you’re robbing God of his glory. The Bible declares this in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (NIV). Paul reminds us that we’re human beings. We’re feeble and fragile. Jars of clay break easily. If you drop them, they shatter. Clay pots have to be handled appropriately and with care. If not, they’ll be destroyed. But the good news is that through our feebleness, the power and glory of God shine through. Your humanity isn’t something to hide. Instead, you can celebrate the power of God working through your limitations. So admit it: You’re human. Thank God for that! “I trust in you, LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:14-15 NIV).
The opposite of fear is faith. When you fill your life with faith, fear goes out the back door. When things don’t happen on your timetable, the more you trust God, the less afraid you will be. In Mark 5:36, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me” (TLB). This is such a big message in the Bible that the phrase “fear not” appears 365 times. God wants us to get the message that we don’t have to be afraid because we can trust his timing. Trusting God is the number one stress reliever in your life—an important truth to remember at Christmastime. The more you trust God, the more your stress is going to decrease. Another way to relieve your stress and demonstrate your trust in God is when you ask him for something in prayer. When you do, don’t try to set a time limit or deadline on God’s answer. Leave the timing up to God. To help your faith grow deeper, you need to pray a prayer like Psalm 31:14-15: “I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (NIV). Why not memorize that Scripture? When you get up every morning, read Psalm 31 as a prayer and tell God, “I trust you, Lord. You’re my God. My times are in your hands.” Practically, that means you probably have more to do today than you’ve got time to get done. So you ask God to help you sort it all out so that you can do what matters most and not worry about the rest. You say to him, “I surrender my schedule. I surrender my calendar. I surrender my agenda. My times are in your hand, and that means I’m not going to fear. I’m going to trust you.” “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).
The only thing in all of creation that worries is a human being. Plants don’t worry. Animals don’t worry. Only human beings act as if we don’t have a heavenly Father. When you worry about your finances, you’re basically saying, “I think God is a liar. I don’t really think he will meet my needs.” But God will, if you meet the conditions. When growing up, you my have said to your Dad, “Dad, I need some money.” Did you ever wonder, “Where is he going to get it?” It’s kind of an unwritten rule about money: Dads and moms make it, and kids spend it. Kids never wonder, “Where are my parents going to get this money?” We never worried about it. Worry is really a form of atheism. Every time you worry, you’re basically saying, “I don’t believe there’s a God who is going to take care of me.” If you’re a Christian and you worry, you’re acting like an orphan. You’re acting like you don’t have a heavenly Father who has already promised over and over again in Scripture, “I will meet your needs if you will obey me and do what I tell you to do.” Trust forces you to live by faith. Worry is a warning light. Every time we worry about our finances, it’s a warning that we doubt God loves us and will take care of us. We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (NLT). As long as you love anything more than God, that thing is going to be a source of anxiety. Only one thing was meant for first place in your life, and it’s not your family. Anything you put first in your life besides God will create anxiety, because that thing can always be lost. Your bank account is not your security, no matter how big it gets. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (NIV). Put your hope in God, because he will assume responsibility for your needs if you’ll trust him. “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:4 NLT).
What things are you worried about? The economy? Your health? Your bills? Your kids? Are you worried about the future? You can find lots of reasons to be afraid in today’s world, but God promises that even in your darkest valleys, he is walking beside you. There are about 365 verses in the Bible that say, “Fear not.” God provided us with one “fear not” message for every day of the year! Perhaps God is saying, “Get the message. Don’t be afraid.” It’s interesting that almost every time God talks to someone in the Bible, the first thing he says is, “Don’t be afraid!” Why? Because our hurts and hang-ups can often cause us to think that God is out to get us, that all he wants to do is condemn us and punish us. But that simply isn’t true, and Jesus is the proof of that. When we understand God’s grace and mercy, we have no need to fear the future. God isn’t trying to get even with you. Jesus has taken the penalty for everything you’ve ever done wrong or will do wrong. He paid for it on the cross. So when a bad thing happens, you don’t have to think that God’s getting even with you; instead, remember this: “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:4 NLT). |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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