Don’t worry
A charge for the New Year (6)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Php 4:6 NLT
‘Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength — carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.’ — Corrie Ten Boom. Most of the things we worry about don’t actually happen, or turns out not as bad as we imagined. Worry shifts our focus from God to the problem; it is a faithless exercise. The above verse, Php 4:6, was an exact repetition of our Lord’s command to us, that we should ‘take no thought…’, Mt 6:25,34. Apostle Peter passed the same message to the believers in 1Pt 5:7, ‘casting our care on him…’
In Ge 32:7-12, Jacob was so much worried by what his brother Esau will do to him that he began to apply worldly wisdom to his predicament. “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that [was] with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.” Ge 32:7-8. There was no need for this, because the God who told him to return to the land of his fathers, Ge 31:3, 32, will surely solve his problems. And it ended well for Jacob at the end because the God that have the hearts of kings in His hand, Pr 21:1, touched the heart of his brother, Esau, Ge 33:1-16.
Pray about everything. This means: in each emergency, little or great, as it arises, pray; cultivate the habit of referring all things, great or small, to God in prayer. Nothing is too great or too small to pray about. Throughout this year and beyond, let us begin to commit everything to God in prayers. Instead of worrying, praying to God is a sign that we trust him to handle our situations.
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Mt 6:31-33.
Prayer
O God my Father, I thank you because you are the God that answers prayers; thank you for all my answered prayers. I refuse to worry throughout this year and beyond; I receive the grace to trust in you always, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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