Worry, Anxiety, Fear
When it comes to ease, we live in the greatest time that there has ever been. Our homes, cars, businesses, the far-reaching corners of our lives all have incredible technologies that didn’t exist a decade ago. Today’s tablets are more powerful than yesterday’s computers. Today’s TV’s seem to be more real than life itself. Our home air-conditions adjust to our presence. Cars are driving themselves. Drones are delivering groceries to our homes. And yet, so many of us live lives filled with worry, anxiety and fear. In spite of all these, so called comforts that we have going for us, we seem to be one of the most worrisome generations that there has ever been.
We’re experts at worrying, at living with fear, at being anxious.
We worry about our weight, appearance and health. We worry about our bills, our retirement account and our careers. We worry about our relationships, our parents and our children. We worry about rejection and failure.
We worry about other people – maybe that someone will steal an opportunity from us, or maybe that they will not like us. We anxious about whether or not they will keep our secret, or worse, will they divulge our secrets.
We fear that one day, we may be left alone.
Worry, Anxiety and Fear are BIG issues for our culture. It’s not that we have more to fear, every generation and culture has some sort of stress that could create an opportunity for fear. However, some generations and cultures learn how to handle difficulties that could become an issue to fear, while others allow the issues of life to paralyze them with anxiety.
Interestingly, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word worry comes from a Germanic word – wyrgan – which means to “seize by the throat and tear.” And the word anxious comes from a Latin word – angere – which means “to choke.”
That’s what worry and anxiety do to you – they strangle the life out of you.
Some people believe that worry, anxiety and fear are their friends. The truth, however, is that they have and will sabotage your life, over and over. These menaces of our soul insult God and they become a sin against God.
First, worry will sabotage your life. Job 3:25 (NLT) says, “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.” Pause and think about that truth, what I feared could happen did happen.
Several years ago, I read a book written by Dr. Don Colbert titled – DEADLY EMOTIONS. In the book, he documents how what we think will actually determine what happens to us. For example, anxiety can cause cells in your body to malfunction which opens the door for infection, cancers or other ailments. Dr. Colbert states that worry, anxiety and fear are lethal toxins that literally threaten your body and paralyze you mentally and emotionally.
As Job said, “That which I feared would happen, did happen.”
Second, worry is an insult to God because it communicates that we really don’t believe or trust God. More important than what worry does to you is what it says to God. When you worry, you are saying in essence, “God, I don’t think I can trust You.” You are saying, “I believe in the worst-case scenario.” And, you lay awake at night playing the “What-if game.”
Remember, worry is the antonym of worship and fear is faith in the enemy.
Third, worry, fear and anxiety are sin. Many times, in His Word, God commands that we not worry, be anxious or fear. Therefore, because they are a violation of God’s Word, they are sins.
Four times, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said … “Don’t worry!” (Matthew 6:25, 28, 31, 34).
The apostle Paul also repeated this command in Philippians 4:6 (NLT) saying, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
HOW DO WE OVERCOME WORRY, ANXIETY, AND FEAR?
When it comes to this, some of us feel hopeless. However, Jesus wouldn’t give you a command to not worry if it wasn’t possible.
First, choose to observe God’s greatness.
Read Matthew 6:25-34 and notice what Jesus said –
the birds are fed by the Father,
you are more valuable to Him than are they,
the flowers grow,
God cares for them even though they are here today and gone tomorrow,
therefore, He will care for you,
He knows your needs,
if you put Him first, He will supply all your needs.
Jesus said – Look around you, what do you see? Observe the incredible glory of God.
Second, remember how Jesus helped you in your yesterday. We have walked with God through enough yesterdays and we have seen His faithfulness in enough yesterdays so that we should know that He is still going to provide today.
Some might say, “Well God didn’t answer my need.” Maybe it wasn’t really a need, maybe it was just something that you wanted and He had already supplied all of your needs. Pause and remember what God has already done.
David took time to himself of God’s goodness. He wrote, “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy,”( Psalms 94:18-19 NIV).
Remember how good God was to you yesterday and it will give you faith for today.
Third, give your issues to God.
David wrote in Psalms 34:4 (NLT), “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”
The wise man wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT), “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
The apostle Peter wrote (1st Peter 5:7 NLT), “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you”.
The apostle Paul wrote (Philippians 4:6 NLT), “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
Turn your worries, anxieties and fears into prayers.
Remember Paul’s admonition 2nd Timothy 1:7 (BBE), “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.”
THREE REASONS NOT TO WORRY:
It sabotages you, it insults God, and it is a sin.
THREE WAYS TO OVERCOME WORRY:
Observe God’s greatness, remember God’s past blessings, and give everything to God in prayer.