The Noise of Worry

Is it just me, or is our world getting busier and noisier?  Worry, stress, and anxiety has a way of distorting the voice of God. 

What the devil can't stop, he will accelerate.  He makes us feel overwhelmed and under qualified.   

It's hard to hear from God when your life is smothered and suffocated with stress. 

If you can't hear God's voice, you'll struggle to make the right decisions on your own. 

If you're listening to the right voice, you'll make the right choice. 

The enemy likes to throw a lot of things at you, so you'll begin to hurry.  Then,you'll struggle to hear God's voice. 

The enemy tries to distort the voice of God.  You kind of hear it, and you kind of don't.

The plan of the enemy is to plant confusion into your life. 

How do you move from fear to faith? How do you move from stress and worry to trust?

In the Bible, Paul says...

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything.  Here is the result...

7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Here are four simple thoughts taken from these verses.  

#1.  Don't worry about anything.  

Have you ever been in a situation or a season of life that you felt totally helpless?

Paul is assuming that we have the capacity to choose to worry or not.  

We're not helpless. 

If God tells us to do something, He's going to give us everything that we need to do it. 

If God tells us not to do something, He's going to give us the grace, the strength, and the wisdom to stay away from it.  

Worry is rooted in fear, and it exaggerates what might happen to you.   

In worry, we live in Hypotheticals. 

We are constantly playing the "what if" game.  Jumping through hoops of what might be. 

99% of the things that you worry about never happen, but what about that 1%?  The devil will try to leverage that 1% to unsettle the 99%.

We can't live in the Hypotheticals.  We trust in what we see, but we must step out in faith into whom God is.

  

Jesus asked his followers...

Matthew 6:27  (NLT)  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?  (No) 

Worry doesn't add.  It subtracts. 

Worry subtracts the best moments from your life.  

If you're short and you worry about it, you're not getting any taller.  

We think that if we worry, we'll gain something; however, we lose the power of the day. 

Corrie ten Boom said, worry doesn't empty tomorrow of it's sorry. It empties today of it's strength. 

Paul said to not worry about anything!

Sure you may say, I don't stress the little stuff, but what if it's BIG?

How BIG is the BIG stuff as compared to your GOD?

From God's point of view, everything that you face is small.  

In other words, if you're worrying about something, you are choosing to worry about it.

You don't have to worry.  You have a choice in the matter. 

If you feel pressure and stress coming down on you, you can turn to the Word of God, and you can find help.  

#2. Pray about everything. 

When you pray, you are inviting God into your situation.  

When we pray, we are putting our worries into God's hands. 

Worry will lie to you. 

In our minds, we create scenarios that may seem true to us, but they are not true in real life. 

At the center of worry's lie is the illusion of control.  

One of the most frustrating things in life is trying to control something or someone that you have no control over.

Prayer is the process of letting go of the control of your lives to the Lord. 

Paul goes on to say...

Philippians 4:8  (NLT) 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  

Worry is meditating on bad things.  Biblical meditation is meditating on good things. If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate.

It all depends on your mindset. What you think about becomes big.  Then, what should be manageable becomes overwhelming! 

#3. Thank Him (God) for what He has done!

Gratitude and worry are fundamentally incompatible.  

When you worry, press pause, and begin to inventory the goodness of God in your life.

If you look into your past, you'll see God's faithfulness there.  You can be sure that when you look into your future, you'll see God's faithfulness there, too!

I challenge you before your head hits the pillow tonight that you begin to document the goodness of God in your life.  

Start with up to ten blessings, and set your mind on those things.  It'll make going to sleep a whole lot easier. 

When you are thankful for what God has done, it builds confidence in your spirit.   

King David said...

Psalm 37:25  (NLT) Once I was young, and now I am old.   Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.   

#4. Then, you will experience God's peace.  

   

The alternative to living in worry is living in the peace of Jesus.

You will never find the peace of God from the things of this world.  

Trying to find the peace of God from this world is like going to Wal-Mart to buy a Rolls Royce.

Nothing in this world can give you this kind of peace, but God Himself.  

God's peace is an irrational peace.  (It passes understanding). 

It's a peace that protects! What does it protect?  Your heart and your mind...  

Philippians 4:7 (NLT) Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

Some of you.  Your life is in pieces.  God's saying, I want you to live in peace.  

If you'll give Jesus all the pieces,  Jesus will give you His peace in exchange. 

You see, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  He is the author not of confusion, but of peace.  

There may be a storm around you, but don't let that storm get inside you... 

  

Colossians 3:15 (AMPC) 15 And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts

 [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] 

to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. 

And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].

Peace is like an umpire.  It calls the game.  Let's God's peace be the final authority when you're making decisions. 

Say, Lord Jesus, take my life.  Please forgive me for my failures.  I give them to you. Take control of my life.  I give you my pieces, and I ask for your peace.  Amen!

Mike Hamon, Healing Place Church