The New Year is Coming -- Part 4
Looking up “worry” in a thesaurus, I found these synonyms: anguish, apprehension, concern, distress, doubt, fear, misery, misgiving, plague, torment, torture, trial, uncertainty.
Perhaps as the New Year approaches, you are filled with worry...anguish, apprehension, concern...well, you know. If so, listen to words of E. Stanley Jones.
“I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air…We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.”
THINK
According to Phil. 4:6, what should you do instead of worry?
What is the result according to verse 7?
Reading through the description of Christ in Colossians 1:15-20, what need is there to worry since He is with you?
What are some things that cause you to worry? What do you need to do with those things right now?
PRAY
Thank God for His peace which passes all understanding
Confess to God, if necessary, holding onto things and worrying about them instead of giving them to God through prayer
Ask God to fill you with His peace which passes all understanding
Ask God to remind you about His greatness and power. Ask Him also to remind you that this greatness and power is with you through Jesus Christ!
APPLY
Nothing steals peace like worry. Spend some time isolating the things that steal your peace and cause worry, then surrender them over to the Lord (as often as necessary!)
