I will not worry!

“And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Luke 12:22-32 KJV

Jesus was saying, “Life is more than what we eat and the body is more than clothes. Do not tie up your mind with these things in your life. Do not even think about them. These things are not what are important. He continues to say, look at the ravens; they do not sow nor reap, they do not have storage or a barn and yet; God feeds them. How much more worth are you than the fowls? Jesus further states, which of you by being overanxious and troubled with cares can add a cubic to his stature or a moment of time to his age (lengthen his life)?”

Jesus always pointed to His Father’s creation to help give us understanding. Look how beautiful the lilies grow, they haven’t toiled and yet; as grand as Solomon was, he could not be compared to them.

Jesus went to great lengths to give instructions about not worrying. He said, “Your Father knows you need these things. Seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. And that last sentence – “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Here are some reasons we need to stop worrying:

1. When we worry, we are moving in the opposite of faith and not trusting in God. When we do not trust God, we are trusting in something else (ask yourself what?) Trusting in anything other than God is Idolatry.

2. Worry can escalate into a dis-ease that can cause other ills. Today we call it STRESS. The phrase “she worried herself to death” does happen. People have heart attacks and strokes because they have allowed themselves to be worked up into frenzy.

3. When we worry, we are actually borrowing trouble that cannot be paid back. The imagination in our minds can blow up over an incident because of anxiety. Wrong words are said; or regretful actions follow that can never be taken back.

4. Worry is part of brooding over something that may never happen. Our mind broods and imagines “what if?”  (Spirit of Fear)

5. Worry creates trouble, misery and death. Usually, there is someone close to us who takes the brunt of our discord and worry. Worry impregnates more worry and gives birth to misery. When we worry, our spiritual life departs because we are “moving in faith with worry, instead of God.”

6. We can borrow worry from tomorrow. Our thinking goes into the future again and thinks: “Well, if I get sick, I wonder who will help me? or If they go over there, the baby will get sick. What if he doesn’t call?” Listen: When we borrow a burden from tomorrow we are making a prophetic declaration of trouble - by faith - without realizing it. We actually have put our trust in doubt! We first think it, fret it, speak it and proclaim it! Everything we should be doing with God’s promises. Which power do we use? Doubt or trust? Love and faith or fear and worry?

7. Worry is a heavy weight that kills prematurely. Picture a lone man walking up the mountain with a backpack filled with things he has refused to let go. Things like doubt, worry, fretting, accusing, anger and depression. The higher he climbs, the heavier his backpack gets. Pride tries to hide the doubt in his heart, but pride always trips up and falls. He didn’t realize that worry never works alone.

8. Worry can bring mental and physical suicide. Should we stay in a daily routine of worry; a state of mind can be promoted onto the next level of believing and accepting a lie. When this lie is accepted, many times their faith is dead. If a person believes and worries they are going to die next year and nothing anyone tells them can convince them they are wrong; they will die. By worry, through faith; even though it was the wrong thing, it still came to pass.

9. Worry will dig your grave before you are ready for it. Worry has no sympathy. Worry is quite harmful and if we realize this, why are we embracing this monster?

10. Worry is a time waster!  We should be doing productive things with our life; that are useful; instead we mutter and fret. In doing so, we display our lack of faith to our family, friends and the world.

11. Worry robs. It robs our faith and peace. When we worry we do not trust in the love of God. We need to ask ourselves, “Exactly how much do I really believe in the love of God?”  “Do I really believe that He sent His son for me?”  “Do I really believe in the promises in the Bible?”

12. When we worry we become a stumbling block to those who are watching our lives. They see our lack of faith. They hear our grumbling. What is this doing to them?

13. When we worry, it is actually a disgrace to God. Are we saying: “God won’t come through for me?”  “Why should He answer my prayer?” Instead of doubting and worrying, why not search the scriptures for yourself to see what Jesus said about the problem?

14. Worry causes anxiety, this is usually over nothing today and it will be less tomorrow when we look at it in the light that faith brings. Anxiety can cause heart palpitations! Things always look worse in the evenings at night time. Don’t do anything you might regret, instead; sleep on it. Tomorrow the sun will come up and things will always look a little bit brighter.

15. Worry is anticipating trouble that seldom comes to those who are trusting in God. Yes, it is true; bad things happen to good people, we all know this; (ex. Job) but when we are tested and tried we get tougher and develop more faith. When we pass a test, we are able to help others because we have been there.

16. Worry can bring torment. I covered torment in the article entitled “The Spirit of Fear.”  Once we face up to this worry and fear, it will back away and leave. What a blessing that brings such relief.

17. When we worry we are living like an orphan. We are saying that we haven’t a heavenly Father who cares for us. We are living contrary to God’s word.

18. Worry brings a lack of judgment. When we are in that state of such extreme concern, we are unable to make sound decisions because we are in a condition of fear. Fear makes irrational conclusions.  

19. Worry brings mental cruelty upon yourself and others. Worry can cause much unneeded anguish in other hearts.

20. Lastly, worry is very foolish. Because all our worrying will not stop what might happen. It may not come to pass, why worry about it? If it does come to pass, there is still victory by trusting in God and the whole thing can work out for your good.

Fear's sister is worry and is a coward. When you face up to the very thing you have been fearful and fretting about, you will notice it will leave.

When we worry, we open the door for unbelief and doubt. Better to seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost above everything. It is His good pleasure to give it to us!

God Bless You