Overcoming Worry!

Overcoming Worry

Luke 12:22-23

“Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”

 That sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Well, it isn’t easy to not worry and Jesus knew we were human and had emotions that could easily get out of control.  If you say you don’t worry then you are either lying or deceiving yourself.  Here are a few signs that tell you if you are anxious about something.

Number 1 – You feel calm, but when you get in bed, you can’t fall asleep, or if you do, you are constantly tossing and turning.

Number 2 – Your blood pressure climbs higher than usual.

Number 3 - You find yourself going over and over again about a situation or problem with you or your loved ones.

Number 4 – You find yourself getting ill thinking about something and maybe getting headaches, or sick stomachs.

Number 5 – You can’t see any way out of a situation and feel hopeless about it.

I’m sure you get the picture; worry affects a person far more than we know.  I’ve heard people say, “I just can’t get any peace about this situation.”  Then you are anxious about it and worrying.  So what can we do to relieve this worry from us?

The first thing Jesus says Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) is “Come to me”.  How do we come to him; by prayer, of course? Then he says he wants to give us rest; rest from all this worry.  “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Here is the answer he gives us, but underlying that fact is this - worry is ‘lack of faith’.

Jesus gives us a good example of this in Matthew 17:20.  “So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  I think that most of us don’t have that kind of faith, but if we did we would never worry again. 

In Mark 9:21-24, Jesus was about to pray for the healing of a child who had seizures and Jesus told the father that if he had faith anything was possible.  The father understood what Jesus was saying and knew his faith was small so he cried to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

How often we need to cry out to the Lord, “Help my unbelief”.  God knows our every weakness and wants to strengthen us to do his will.  In Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT), he tells us so simply, “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.”

When you go to bed tonight, pray about the situation and tell the Lord to help your ‘unbelief’.  Pray that he gives you peace in whatever situation it is.  Help is there for each one of us.  He knows what you are going through, but we need to turn to him and not try to handle it by yourself.  The answer is there for you, just call on Jesus, he will give you rest.