Worry: Who Me?

A Chinese proverb: "the mind is man’s best friend or his worst enemy."

(Matt 6:25-34 NIV) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 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 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Why do we worry about things?
Worry accomplishes absolutely nothing.
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. (Glenn Turner)

Worrying is not good for you
(Prov 12:25 NIV) An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Worry can cause all types of psychological and physical disorders in the body if left untreated. Modern medicine and psychology have found out that worry not only effects the mind, but also the body in the most profound way.
Worrying is a lot like people - it grows bigger if you nurse it. (Author ?)

So what can we do when we feel like worrying?

Seek 1st God’s Kingdom
Yeshua said in Matthew 6 that when we seek God and His Kingdom 1st, He will take care of all our needs.

Pray
(Phil 4:6-7 NIV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Jesus.
(Living) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Messiah Jesus.

Worrying is the opposite of trusting or depending upon God
See God as the God of Peace and meet with Him
(Judges 6:11-12 GNT) Then the LORD’s angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him. The Angel of the LORD’s appeared to him there and said, "The LORD is with you, brave and mighty man!"
(Ryrie) Gideon's threshing wheat in a winepress (rather than on an exposed threshing floor) was an act of desperation, lest the Midianites discover and seize even the small amount that could be threshed that way.

He’s scared. He doesn’t want to be seen. He’s nervous, worried, etc .... He definitely is not at peace.

(Judges 6:20-24) The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" But the LORD said to him, "Peace! (Calm down!) Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace.

Look with the eyes of the Spirit
(2 Kings 6:15-17) When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Elisha and his servant both saw an army approaching. But Elisha also saw chariots of fire ready to protect them. They both saw the army, but they responded differently to it. If we only look with natural eyes, we will often be scared, anxious, worried, etc. But if we look with our spiritual eyes, nothing changes in the natural, but we see more. Then, in light of all we see, we do not get scared, worried, etc, but we can have peace.

mFlW peace, prosperity, well, health, completeness, safety
Shalom is found 250 times in the Tenach. 172 of the occurrences it is translated "peace." The remaining times it is translated 30 different ways. In 50-60 of its usages, it means "absence of strife." This is what we all want. No strife! But living on this planet, this is NOT what we get. Because of this, the Bible also talks about having peace even when there is strife. This is what we all need to get better at.

Completeness, wholeness, harmony, and fulfillment are closer to the meaning of the root word. In almost 2/3 of its occurrences, shalom describes the state of fulfillment which is the result of God’s presence. So God’s presence is the key to peace or shalom.
In Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah tells us that the Messiah is the Sar Shalom or Prince of Peace. He’s a ruler, and peace is what He’s all about.

Keep and lock your eyes on God
(Isaiah 26:3) You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast (stayed on you), because he trusts in You.
Steadfast - standing firm, unwavering.
When our mind is standing firm on the Word of God, and the promises of God. When we don’t waver or go back and forth, between good and bad thoughts, we can have perfect or complete peace.

How many things can we think about at once? ONLY ONE.
So, if we are thinking about God, the things of God, or anything happy, we can’t be thinking about anything else. Then, we can have peace..

I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal - and soon they'll forget my number. (Edith Armstrong)