Make up your mind not to worry
(Luke 21:12-14 NIV) “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. {13} This will result in your being witnesses to them. {14} But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.
We cannot control the events around us. Many things will happen that will cause us to worry. But we can make up our mind not to worry. We can do so by meditating on those points listed above.
Do not see fear as something we cannot control. The command “fear not” occurs 366 times in the Bible. It would not have been so if fear is beyond our control.
Worrying is a trademark of those who do not know God
(Mat 6:31-32 NIV) So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ {32} For the pagans run after all these things…
Jesus says that the pagans are always worrying. If even Christians worry, we are not showing the world that we are different. We are not offering a lifestyle that people will want to have by following Jesus.
Worrying reveals our lack of faith
(Mat 6:30 NIV) If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
(Mark 4:35-40 NIV) That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” {36} Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. {37} A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. {38} Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” {39} He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. {40} He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Here we see clearly that fear is equated with the lack of faith. The disciples concentrated on the storm but not on the fact that Jesus was in the boat with them. If they did, they would have known that a boat that the Son of God was riding on would never sink.
Similarly in our problems, we get so overwhelmed that we concentrate on the problem and not on the fact that God’s presence is with us to help us to “calm the storm”.
Worrying displeases God because God says that without faith it is impossible to please Him.
(Heb 11:6 NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Worry is unnecessary
The things we worry about are not even life or death issues.
(Mat 6:25 NIV) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Jesus says that we worry about unimportant things in life. How true this is. We worry about some things as if life depended on them. What are some things you worry about that are actually not crucial? Have you sometimes worried over something only to find out that that worry was not necessary? Let’s learn from experience not to worry over unnecessary things.
We have enough things to deal with without having to worry
(Mat 6:34 NIV) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Someone said that to worry is to pay tomorrow’s debt today. As if we do not have enough problems, we look to tomorrow’s problems and worry them today.
Let’s do what we can to prevent tomorrow’s problems. But do not expect the worse and start worrying about them today.
We can’t change anything by worrying
(Mat 6:27 NIV) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
We can change the future by thinking about them today and looking for ways to deal with them. But we will not change anything beyond this by worrying. That emotion usually makes it worse, not better. If we realize how unnecessary it is to worry, perhaps we will stop worrying.
Nothing happens without the permission of God
(Mat 10:29-30 NIV) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. {30} And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
If we realize that God is in control of everything, then there is no need to worry.
Combat worry by renewing our thoughts
Get rid of negative thinking
Many times we worry because we imagine the worst in every situation. These negative outcomes are imagined even though the chances of it occurring is so slim. We often find out that the fears are unfounded.
We have to practise discipline in our thought life. Whenever we sense that negative thoughts are entering our head, we have to stop them at their tracks.
God will not leave us in doldrums
(Mat 6:26-32 NIV) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? {27} Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? {28} “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. {29} Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. {30} If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ {32} For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Jesus argues that if God looks after the birds, would He not look after us who are so much more valuable than birds in God’s eyes. We worry because we do not think that God will bother to take care of us. If we realize this fact, we will learn to trust Him.
When we are afraid, we either doubt whether God will help us or whether He can help us. One concerns willingness and the other ability. But we should have no doubt with both.
He proved His willingness to help us even to the extent of dying on the cross to save us. And as the Almighty God, there is no question of whether He can help us in that situation.
God will meet our needs as long as we seek first His kingdom
(Mat 6:33 NIV) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
This is a promise. God will meet our needs if we put first His kingdom priorities. As long as we are doing so, there is no need to worry. On the contrary if we are not putting God first, perhaps we should worry that God may not provide for us so that we will learn to put God first.
Ask God to supernaturally remove our fear
(Psa 34:4 NIV) I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
Before God delivers us from our problems He can release us from the fear of that problem.
Deep seated fear may be the work of demons and prayer can cast out these demons and the associated fears.