“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”- Matthew 6:31-33

Let me give you 4 truths concerning God’s anecdote to worry.

1. STOP IT.

In Matthew 6:25 Jesus said, “Stop it.” He said, “Do not be anxious.” Stop worrying as a habit. Stop habitually worrying. It is habit, and it neds to be abandoned and REPLACED with HIS TRUTH, DO IT HIS WAY! He said STOP ITt. That’s the first thing as the child of God you’ve got to do. Stop it!  You have the POWER, CAPACITY  in Christ to REFUSE to yield to the temptation to sin against God by CHOOSING to worry! Refuse to worry! Replace it with THINKING on TRUTH {Phil 4:8} and PRACCTICING the TRUTH {Phil 4:9}. CHOOSE By faith to Focus on Him and  obey Him! Follow His pattern for you.Live by faith in His faithfulness not by your feelings, that can be eratic, and destructive when you refuse to follow Him and instead lean to your own understandng and worry, we get our English word,” to strangle”. In the spirtual realm, worry, stranggles the faith out of us becaue we choose to embrace, coddle and follow th bait of worry, because we  have always done it that way. We must choose to renew our mind and follow His way. One thought taken captive to obedience to Christ, and THINKING, Training ourselves to TRUST His WORD!

The Power of the Lie- A prisoner of your thought life… Habits

Years ago there’s a story told about a cub, bear,. And this bear was put in a cage that was 12’x12’ and the bear would walk 12’ forward and 12’ back, 12’ forward and 12’ back. And as the bear grew from a cub to full size, people would throw things at the bear and abuse the bear. And finally one man bought the bear and he brought him to another country. And he owned a tremendous property, vast acreage. And so what he did, he had the cage brought and he opened the door of the cage to let the bear come out of the cage. The bear was at the back of the cage and he walked to the front of the cage 12’ forward and he turned around and walked 12’ back. So they got someone to cut the bars and the bars fell apart. And now the bars are on the ground. There are no restrictions on the bear. And he walks 12’ forward and 12’ back. He walks 12’ forward and he walks 12’ back. Though there were no visible restrictions, in his mind he was still restricted. Why? Because for so long he had lived this way.

For some of you  have also lived this way for so long in your mind even now you’re saying, “ah, but it’s not possible.” But if you’re a child of God, and the Spirit of God lives within you, the command of God to you from this passage is “STOP IT”! God would not mock you and terrorize you by  telling you to do something as His child and not empowering you to do so.

The problem so often is that because the Word of God is not the foundation for our thinking we allow our feelings to dictate our thinking which in turn dictates our actions… and we have more confidence in how we feel rather than who God is and what he has said in His Word our experience is often like that of a roller coaster ride of peeks and valleys, continually riding  the waves of circumstances that come our way controlled more by our feelings than the Word of God. We need to start to think Sculpturally- What does God say! Then follow through Acting and applying what He says. Have you ever read the bumper sicker that says “God said it, I believe it that settles it.” As cute as it sounds it does not matter  whether you or I believe it once God said it  , that settles it. It is for us to choose to align ourselves up with and under the Authority of this wonderful Person.

 

2. Seek First the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” And that “but” can be translated “rather.” Stop it, rather seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Well what is His kingdom? It is where the rule of Christ comes within your life and the lives of others. And you live righteously, doing what’s right before God and treating others in a right way from God’s perspective. Change your Focus. Take your eyes of the present situations that would try and divide your mind and distract you from devotion to Jesus Christ and FOCUS your attention on God and His business Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 to “Lay hold of Eternal life” Its not that Timothy was not saved, indeed he was but he  needed to “Get a grip” on eternal realities. The reality of God, Heaven, hell. He was to see that as great as the fight was  he had access to the God who was Lord of his circumstances as he is yours dear friend and concentrate on what god had placed before him. “Get a grip!!” Change your Focus and Seek as the Priority of your life the “kingdom of God and His righteousness” How do you do that? Well, you’re to pursue it. Pursue the King whose Kingdom it is.  “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart” is what the Scriptures teach. On the Road to Emmaeus when two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem discouraged at what had transpired, Jesus was dead. It was in that dark hour that He , the Risen Christ appeared to them He disclosed who He was and began a conversation with them….. “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” we are told and then “Beginning with Moses and the Prophets” He explained to them all concerning Himself from the Scriptures. Oh Beloved pursue Him in His Word: Dear Joshua the servant of Moses, Lingered at the tent for he knew it was there God made Himself known… Not only Pursue Him but you are toe

  • Pursue the kingdom of God.
  •  You’re to proclaim the kingdom of God.
  •  Matthew 6, – You’re to pray about the kingdom of God.
  • E.  You’re to be kingdom conscious. And those who are King conscious will be conscious of the Kings Business. I have a little saying “If its not Gods Business then its none of my business” When Jesus rose from the dead, in the book of Acts, He didn’t talk to them about, “ah, let me tell you how bad it was on the cross.” He talked to them about the kingdom of God, why? This is all that counts. Paul in the last verses of Acts  in his rented quarters spoke to them about the “… kingdom of God”[ check this out]

 

So, how do you deal with worry? Number 1: Stop it. Number 2: Change your focus and seek His kingdom.

3. Sit at His Feet.and Saturate yourself with His Word.

In Luke 10, what did Mary do that Jesus said will never be taken from her? She made a choice. What was her choice? She sat at the feet of the King and listened to the words of the King that she may obey. Stop your worrying. Change your focus. Seek His kingdom. Sit at the Master’s feet and listen to His Word. Not merely to be a hearer of the Word, and so end up deceiving yourself, but be a doer. Come to His Word to meet Him, to look for Him, to admire Him and from His Word worship Him for who He is.

There is a story about rats in a particular village that  was overrun by rats…. No nutrition in sawdust….died of malnutrition…  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God… Feed your faith on His Word which is able to free us up- Jn 8: Build us up- Acts 20.. grow us up… Bless us and give us a knowledge of the Lord Jesus- Lk 24. The Lord Jesus tells us we are to Live by it. What food and water are to our physical bodies Gods Word is the nutrients and supplements to our spiritual being. He likens His Word to bread- Matt  4; Milk- 1 Pet 2:2; Honey Ps  19: Meat – Heb 5… Indeed there is eating and drinking on His Word. It is able to make us wise to salvation we are told- 2 Tim 3:15. It is able to  Edify the believer – 2 Tim 3:16 and it is able to Equip the believer for every good work- 2 Tim 3:17. And we know the purpose of good works is “…that men may see your good works and Glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

David Jeremiah in his book wrote, “… and as goes the church this is also true of the individual. Sin keeps us from a healthy hunger of Gods Word. We read in 1 Peter 2:1 lists five sins that dampen our desire for Gods Word… and so if the evil one can tempt us and we choose to sin we will not want to be around Gods Word, will have no healthy appetite and will displace Gods Nourishment of His Word with something else and we will be weak , and we will worry because we are not participating in the intake of His Word, grounded and maturing through one of the means God has given for such, namely His Word.- Eph 4:11-12; Col 3:15-16

Mary sat and listened to His Word. She sat at His feet in the place of submission, attentiveness. She made a choice to do so, and so dear friend must you and I make the same choice. She gave her time, attention and devotion and was preoccupied with the Lovely Lord Jesus. Someone has said “Fellowship with Christ makes the complicated simple” Paul spoke of “simplicity of devotion” in 2 Cor 11:3 ,  when he addressed the church at Corinth regarding  them being turned aside[ Is this correct?] It is a battle for our minds and we know the purpose is to Divert and Divide our minds from devotion to Him who loves us most. To counteract such, we must like Mary prioritize who it is whom we will sit before and listen to. No TV programmers or 10 ways to be successful seminar can meet the need of the heart like the Blessed Lord Jesus. Is it time for you to evaluate where you have been feeding on and whom you have been fellowshipping with? Are you more like Martha or Mary? The difference between both ladies was not temperament.

 

The Mind IS the battle ground; God‘s will for you is to love Him with all “…your mind”- Matt 22:37. A lost person cannot do this. As the Bible says their minds are

  •    Darkened –
  •   Ignorant –
  •   Deceived-
  •   Incapable of Understanding
  •   Incapable of Pleasing God

Only the child of God who through repentance and faith towards God and in the Lord Jesus having been imparted with new life, new power, new capabilities to understand and live to please God can change their thinking. And change our thinking we must if we are to Love God with all our minds. This begins with Renewing our minds- Rom 12:2 for we must align our thinking up with Gods way of thinking if we are to perceive life as He would have us live and understand. We Renew our minds through; Reading Gods Word. Doing Gods Word…

HOW TO FAMILARIZE yourself with Gods Word.

A young lady once asked me how she could read… as there was so much in it. I shared with her a way to FAMILARIZE herself with the Word. A friend of mine takes a book, for example 1 John, which has five chapters. It should not take more than 25 minutes to read  in one setting. He reads it through on the first day of the month and continues to do so for each day of that month. If there are 30 days in that month, by the end of the month he has read it thirty times through.

The following month you could take Philippians which has 4 chapters and read each day the book. If there are 31 days in that month you will have read the book of Philippians through 31 times. When it comes to a book like Matthew which has 28 chapters, then break it up into 4 months and read 7 chapters per day  per number of days in that particular month. Within months you have read hundreds and hundreds of verses from Gods Word. It will be amazing as you will recall phrases and words  from what you have read, as the Holy Spirit reminds you and brings them to your remembrance. It’s a little like deposing cash in the bank… you can only withdraw what’s in there! The more you deposit Gods Word into your mind the more the Holy Spirit can recall to help, encourage, correct and teach as you walk through this life . How can we know how to please Him , if we do not know what He says Please’s Him. How can we worship Jesus Christ if we do not know what he says is worship to Him, unless we familiarize ourselves with His Word.

MEDITATING UPON HIS WORD; Another way we renew our mind is through Meditating on His Word.  “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither;And in whatever he does, he prospers.”- {Psalm 1:1-3}; “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”-{Joshua 1:8}. “”Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”-{Col 3:16.}.

MEMORIZING Gods Word

Another way we Renew our minds is through Memorizing. For example if you follow the above course of familiarizing yourself with gods Word which has been suggested. Each week choose a verse Or two from  chapter one of the book you are reading for example if it is Philippians, you could choose Phil 1:21 “For me to Live is Christ and to die is Gain” and Memorize it. Buy some 3 by 5 cards and put them on a spiral and daily read, reread and in your quite times when your mind is not occupied with working or school CHOOSE to take out your spiral and read and meditate on what you are reading. There are times when I am in between flights at a an airport and I have a few hours “to kill” I can sit and watch people or  I can choose to Get in the Word and let the Word get in Me!! So at such times I am constantly renewing my mind

Doers of the Word is the way we renew our minds. The purpose of filling our minds with Gods Word is that we may know the Mind of God which is found in His Word and become doers of it!! Titus 1:1 Says “the knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness!”. Col 3:15 Says “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you Richly over flowingly”

Some people like to at times make excuse’s that they are “Martha’s” as a cover up for their barrenness of devotion thinking busyness and their blistering attacks on others is compensation and acceptable because they are “doing the Lords work” Heaven help us if that’s what the Lords work is supposed to look like. No, lets just call a spade a spade and say, as my two and a half year old son Isaiah was often heard say “you a meanie!!”. Meanness in ministering is not acceptable. Martha and Mary both made choices and Jesus commended only Mary for her choice. Can He commend your choices of late , dear friend? Could He commend mine? The Bible says “serve the Lord with gladness”

BUILD YOUR LIFE ON THE WORD OF GOD, IS CONSIDERED WISE, TO DO OTHERWISE IS FOOLISH.! The LORD Jesus says according to Matt 7: 23-27 Wise or Foolish choices from Gods perspective are according to our hearing and obeying His Word or choosing not to.

4. SAY YOUR PRAYERS Gods Way.

In Philippians 4:6, we read “ Be anxious in nothing {STOP HABITUALLY WORRYING- is the way it is grammatically}BUT IN everything by prayer.” The “BUT” shows the contrast instead of being continually anxious Be praying. It’s either or. Either worry or sin against the Lord or Choose Gods alternative which is to “worship Him.” Oh what privilege it is that we have access to this Great and wonderful God who tells us to call Him Father. It is He who bids us come and cast our cares upon Him because HE CARES FOR US. There is nothing too small, or insignificant that He does not want to hear about from you, nothing so Big that will stomp Him, surprise or shock Him. Oh how He loves you and cares for you and desires you. And His way for you to deal with those things which tempt to suck the life out of you, leaving you distressed, physically wearing on you is to simply come before Him and “  say your prayers God’s way.

Some people say, “yes I prayed about it, and I’ve been praying about it.” But they’re still full of worry, why? They’ve never cast as a  deliberate act concerning casting, throwing ALL of their cares upon Him. Say your prayers God’s way. So often we come to Him and say the right words and get off our knees and still be unchanged. Why is this? Consider with me this little illustration….  Imagine you awake in the morning and There is a knock on your heart, your mind is alerted that someone is trying to infiltrate your thinking, “Knock, knock,” “who’s there?” “ Worry, let me in.” the voice replies . I Corinthians 10 says this, “No temptation has overtaken you, but with the temptation God provides the way of escape.” Worry is not sin until you take it as your own and you begin to adapt attitudes and actions that attack the character of God. Then it becomes sin. So in the morning, the enemy knocks, first thing when you wake up. “Who’s there?” “ Worry and I like to come in. I want to divide your mind to distract from devotion to Jesus Christ today.” Sorry, can’t do it. Why? The words of the King to me are to stop it, to seek His kingdom, to sit at His feet and listen to His Word, and to say my prayers. 60 times this word gets translated prayer as is used in Philippians 4:6 in the New Testament, and it’s always used as reverence for the Lord. It can be translated worship. So here’s the alternative. “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?”Worry. Thank you very much for reminding me, it’s an opportunity to worship the Lord.

So this is what I’ll do some mornings. Some mornings I’ll wake up and there’s a situation and the temptation comes to worry, and I’ll say oh, time to worship. And I’ll go through the alphabet and perhaps say to Him something like this,  “Lord you are…

 

ALPHABET OF PRAISE;

A –You’re Almighty, Awesome…

B -You’re Beautiful, and Believable

C –You’re My Covenant Keeping…You are Creator

D –You’re my Defender, You’re the Delight of my heart

E – You’re Eternal

F – You’re faithful, You’re my Father

G – You’re gracious, you’re good, You’re God

H – You’re Holy, You’re High, my healer, my helper

I – You’re Immortal, Invisible

J – You’re my Justifier, my joy

K – Your my King, , Your Kind, You know me

L – You love me, You’re my Lord, You’re my light, Your Word is a…Light unto my path??

M – You’re my master, my maker, my Messiah, You are Merciful

N – You’re near me

O – You’re omnipotent, omniscient and Omnipresent

P – You’re precious, You’re pure, You’re prefect, priceless

Q – Quiet in Your Love

R – You’re my Redeemer, You Rule Supreme,

S – You’re my Savior, my strength, my song, Sovereign…

T – You’re my triumphant One, You’re truthful

U – You’re unchanging, You’re unwavering

V – You’re victorious

W – You’re wonderful, You are Wise and Winsome

You’re my Alpha and OMEGA…

And you know what happens? Just what happened to you right now. For a moment you forgot what you had been thinking of- your problem and changed the focus to the Problem – Solver- the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you recite your “Alphabet of praise “,you forgot your worries. Why? You changed the focus, and you said your prayers God’s way. 

 HOW DO YOU DO WORRY FREE? Simple –

STOP IT.

SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AS THE PRIORITY OF YOUR LIFE

SIT AT HIS FEET, SATURATE YOURSELF WITH THE WORD OF CHRIST so no matter what the circumstances are when worry comes you say no, no, no worries here. I’ve been delivered from that sin and I will not sin against the character of God by adopting that attitude. I will not allow my mind to be divided from devotion to Jesus Christ in this present circumstance. And then I’ll say my prayers God’s way, when tempted to worry and sin against God. You Choose to Worship God. James 4:17 – The Bible says to him who knows to do right and does not do it, to him  it is sin. You now are accountable,  “No worries”!

Worry or worship? Which is it to be? The choice is yours? God has given you the capacity to chose His Way. Go ahead and honor Him, when tempted to worry, realize it is sin and immediately look to seek first in your circumstance whether through prayer, praise or pursuit the Kingdom and Worship of God.