Worry – Part 1

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Identify the source of your worries. Did you grow up in a fear-filled family, always feeling insecure, never measuring up, and never hearing words of affirmation and approval? Are you listening to the prophets of doom, hearing only about what’s wrong, and how much worse it’s going to get? What’s the source of your anxiety? What feeds your worries? Until you can express your fears you can’t expel them. Putting your worries into words disrobes them. They look weak and silly standing there naked. In his novel, Life of Pi, Yann Martel’s main character, Pi, finds himself adrift at sea on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger as his companion. While on the lifeboat, Pi begins to analyze his fears, both of the sea and the tiger. He gives this counsel: ‘You must fight hard to express your (fear). You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.’ So pull back the curtain and expose your fears, each and every one. Like vampires, they can’t stand the sunlight. Financial fears, relationship fears, professional fears, safety fears—call them out in prayer. Drag them out and make them stand before God. How do you do that? ‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything… Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand…’ (vv. 6-7)

Prayer
Heavenly Father, although worry I am told is natural, help me to see that it is not godly, and that my worry needs to be spoken to You so You can heal me from it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen