Worry

I had the amazing opportunity to teach yesterday morning. When D asked me to teach last week, it was a no brainer on what material I'd actually teach on. God had been and still is teaching me about how important it is for us not to worry. So it was simply a given. Then after many prayers... it was confirmed that WORRY was the topic.

Worry

Many of us would raise our hands quickly if these questions were asked:
-Do you believe God is in control?
-Do you believe God's word is true?

I actually had everyone raise their hands and just like I predicted everyone raised their hands.

Then I asked them to raise their hands if they worry. Again most hands went up.

Whats wrong with this picture though? Everyone just stated they believe God's word is true and that he is in control. We say it, but do we really believe it?

If we really believed God's word then we'd understand what exactly His word says about worry. It in fact says: DON'T.

Phil. 4:6-7 was our verse for the day.
"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ 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."

My goal was for them to see:
-why we worry
-why worrying is wrong/harmful
-how we fix this worry problem

Ultimately because of the fall of man/sin... the product of that was that now we live in a fallen world. There is going to be pain, trials, and struggles. But what God has taught me is that yes, these things are evident but we have a choice. Many claim they were born worriers. I even claimed this, but guess what its a lie straight from the enemy. It is not a characteristic of who we are. God did not put it into our DNA. Worry is a choice we make everyday.

What are some of the things we worry about?
school, work, bills, family issues, health, friend drama, the future...

These are legitimate concerns. But you see there's a difference between concern and worry. Concern is when a problem is brought to our attention. Worry is when we take that conern and dwell on it. Most of the time we do so in a very unhealthy way. It overtakes our life. It consumes us. Concern draw us to God but worry pulls us from him.

One of the places that I'd love to visit one day is London. One thing London is known for is their fog. For those who fell asleep during science class, fog is a cloud of water droplets suspended near the earth's surface. London's fog can be so thick that you can't see your hand when its right in front of your face. We're talking fog banks that are 100 ft deep and can cover 7 city blocks. But, if you were to take all of those water droplets and put them together they wouldn't even fill up 1 glass. You see the fog is divided into billion of water droplets. Though there isn't much substance to it, it still has the power to bring an entire city to a standstill.

This is exactly what happens to us when we worry. Our minds dispense problems into billions of fear droplets. They begin to over take our minds and can have the power to take us down, to make us ineffective.

So why is worrying really wrong? We just saw that it can make us ineffective, but more importantly its sin. We must claim it for what it is. Worry takes our focus off of Christ. We doubt who God is and what he's able to do. Worry actually becomes our god.

If we believe scripture like we claim then we need to believe John 16:33, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

If God has overcome the world then surely he is able to take care of us and our problems.

Not only does worry make us ineffective, not only is it sin, but it actually weighs us down. Prov. 12:25 " An anxious heart weighs a man down."

Dr. Charles Mayo from the Mayo Clinic did a study in his day-worry affects circulation, glands, the whole nervous system and it profoundly affects the heart. Since then they've established connections between chronic worry and weakened immune systems, cardiovascular disease, neurological imbalances, depression and other physical and psychological dysfunctions- not to mention anxiety related panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorders

All from worry! It makes us ineffective, weighs us down and harms our body.

Sad thing is…

40% are things that will never happen

30% are about the past- that can’t be changed

12% are about criticisms but others, mostly untrue

10% are about health, which only gets worse with stress

8% are about real problems that can be solved

So what do we do?

The bible tells us more than 350 times “Fear not.” This isn't a suggestion from God. Its a command. But this is much easier said than done.

How do we really flesh this out though? We look back at Phil. 4:6-7. It teaches us 3 things.

1-Be anxious about nothing- don’t worry- creator sustainer is on our side working for our good

We do live in a fallen world so we need to…

2-Be prayerful about everything- bring concerns to God immediately- don’t let them multiply into billions of fear droplets

3-Be thankful for all things- He uses things in our lives to draw us closer to Him (health problems, family/friend issues, big decisions)

Challenge: Remember worry does us no good- only harm and it takes our focus off of Christ… so we must

-be anxious/worry about nothing

-be prayerful about everything

-be thankful for all things

If we do these things, then we're promised to experience God's peace like never before.