Worry by Donna L. Watkins - The Herbs Place

Worry
by Donna L. Watkins

We’ve been discussing fear and I’ve shared some areas that I’ve had victory in and I brought up the topic of worry. Worry is a nice word for fear, but Jesus simplifies a way around worry when He says, “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

We look at that statement and it’s just too simple, and yet it’s just too hard. How do you seek the Kingdom of God? How will that take care of everything else?

If we seek God and His righteousness, our focus is going to have to be one of Faith. If we seek His Word on life and believe what He says, we will have Faith enough to leave every thing (all details of life) in His hands.

Jesus says, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25-26)

Jesus talks about food, drink, and clothes. In America most people don’t really have to worry about having these. We generally worry about “how much” (fast food, overeating, binging from emotional worry) of it to have when it comes to food and drink, or the “kind” (stylish/right label) of it to have when it comes to clothing. We also worry about the kind / size / location of our homes. It’s more of a competitive thing rather than a necessity. It’s hard for us to imagine being grateful for simply having “something” to eat with food stamps and food banks providing for the poor in our country.

Why do we worry? It’s of no value. We know that. Most people worry about the past or future. Neither of which can we truly control.

You certainly can’t change the past, but it continues to change you if you worry and muse on it. It will continue to take you down if you’re thinking about the bad things in the past. You can’t change anything, so give God the permission to change you because of it — into something good! My friend in Atlanta has a favorite saying from Othello: “It makes us, or it mars us, think on that.”

We have choices in life to make and one of them is whether we will obey the voice of the Lord when He says, “Fear Not!” It makes a tremendous difference in our health – mentally and physically.

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” (Matthew 6:26-27)

We add nothing to our lives from worry, but we can take a lot of life away with worry. We can also bring a lot of life to us with faith and belief in God. Most people see God as they saw their earthly father and for most folks that just isn’t a correct view. An earthly father will never provide a totally accurate picture of who God is because our earthly fathers are human, and God is GOD!

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

When we worry we are serving the devil. His desire is to cause us to lose our peace and faith in God and he will use all tactics and evil from his pit. When we have faith we are serving God because we believe His Word and we act upon it.

It’s a process! One thought at a time!

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow…” (Matthew 6:24)

Our Lord points out the utter unreasonableness from His standpoint of being so anxious over the means of living. Money worries are the #1 cause of divorce and in my mind, it’s a good guess that it’s at the root of much depression in our nation also.

The great concern of our lives seems to be how we are to fit ourselves for life on earth. “Seek ye first….” I think our first concern should be how we are to fit ourselves for eternity in Heaven.

I know money concerns can eat you up! When we decided to be debt-free to eliminate that worry, I thought it would take the rest of our lives. But God met us after we only took a few steps of our own and did amazing things..

We lived in the early 90’s with the average income of $12,000 with a mortgage to pay and a child to raise, but at the end of those years you couldn’t figure it out on paper or in your mind. God really does make up the difference.

To win the battle over worry you will need to have a Scripture to renew your thoughts and you may use that Scripture every five minutes when you begin. You will be surprised how much energy you spend worrying — I was! And I’m
not the proverbial worrying type!

Take your life back from the schemes of the devil – he has come only to steal, kill and destroy. Choose not to be one of his victories. Choose God’s Word and LIVE!