Matthew 6:25-27 “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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
The specific word “worry” does not appear in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. Instead of the word “worry”, the KJV uses phrases like “take no thought” in passages such as Matthew 6:25-34 and “Be careful for nothing” Philippians 4:6-7 to convey the concept of worry or anxiety.
The words ‘worry’ and ‘anxiety’ are used interchangeably. Worry is anxiety. If you have a problem with anxiety, simply stop worrying. God tells us over 70 times in the Bible not to worry, in one way or another. Jesus tells us not to worry because it’s not of God. Why does He tell us to stop worrying? Because it is possible.
How to stop worrying;
1. Be in the present! The past brings depression. The future brings anxiety.
2. Take a walk. If you’re laying in bed worrying, you should see who’s in there with you. If you could see spiritual things, you’d probably want to get up and take a shower.
3. Rebuke worry, verbally. ‘Worry and anxiety, in the name of Jesus, shut up and get out!’ Just like what Jesus said when He spoke to Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever.
4. Only pray to Jesus, God the Son, and God the Father, as Jesus commands us. Jesus is the only way to the Father, who is in heaven. Buddha, Maria, Mohamed, Confucius or any other dead person can’t help you, even though Maria is in heaven, she can’t help you.
5. Jesus ASKS for our anxiety. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. So mentally and spiritually cast all your anxiety on Jesus. By His stripes we are healed. Anxiety is something to be healed from.
6. Breathe! Two deep breaths in. 1 long breath out. Tap your face and ears. Touch and feel what’s within arm’s length. Focus on a bird singing. Smell and touch a flower. Taste, really taste what you’re eating.
7. If it’s something you can do something about, do it. If you can’t do anything about it, throw it away.
8. You might be misinterpreting it. It might be a flag from the Holy Spirit. Ask God what He’s trying to show you. A friend of a friend bought non refundable tickets for a family trip. He was so unexplainably worried about it that he canceled it. The resort area in Thailand was wiped out by a Tsunami the week they were supposed to be there. God still speaks to us in the pit of the stomach. Discernment!
Satan copies and imitates everything that God does, and what God tells His followers to do. Satan’s copies are cheap imitations, better put counterfeits. Worry is one of them. Worry is the cheap imitation of prayer.
While we are worrying about a problem, we are worshipping it. Wor-ry and wor-ship start out the same. Turning wor-ry into prayer (half way through your wor-ry session is true wor-ship). Wor-ship means ‘giving God His worth’. Wor-ry is giving your problem its worth.
Has anyone ever fixed any problem by worrying about it? as Jesus asked. You have to really believe in God, and trust Him, in order to hand all your problems over to Him.
Let Jesus worry about your problems, if He wants. But He won’t. Worrying never is the solution. Praying without doubt, to Father God, whom you really believe in, is.
Worry is doubting God. It’s actually sin. It’s saying ‘what if’ my prayers don’t work? What if God won’t answer? What if God doesn’t exist or care?
Pray in faith, take action, do what you can and stop worrying. 99% of what you’re worrying about never happens anyway!
Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.