EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!
SATURDAY AUGUST 10, 2024.
SUBJECT : LET NO ANXIETY BE FOUND IN YOU!
Memory verse: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4 vs 6.)
READ: Philippians 4 vs 4 - 7:
4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice!
4:5: Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
4:6: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
4:7: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
INTIMATION:
Being anxious is being uneasy with fear or desire regarding something, worrying, or craving, or yearning for something. Anxiety is the offshoot of care or desire for earthly things. Imagine being anxious for nothing. It seems like an impossibility, right? We all have responsibilities, and worries; on the job, in our homes, in our business, at school, our relationships with others, and even with God.
However, God created the world, and all that is in it, including you. He owns everything, planned everything, and manages everything according to His plans and purposes for creating them. I am always humbled by God's description of Himself in the Scripture: "....For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet known, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do My pleasure,' (Isaiah 46 vs 9 - 10.)
The "Omni" nature of God occasioned the counsel of Jesus Christ to us, viz; "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life." This is because everything, including your life, is planned and purposed by the Owner, who determines circumstances, and commands or allows events as is pleasing to Him. If then you don't have any control over your life, why worry about things. Therefore, worrying about anything is time wasted.
Christians should put their trust in God, for it is Him who is working all things together according to His purposes. Christians must not worry, for to worry is to doubt God’s ability to take care of all things and to work all things together for the good of the Christian. In order not to worry about the environment and events that are happening, the Christian should instead, communicate with God in prayer.
Sincerely, our attitude in all things, according to Scriptural advice, is to carry our worries, stresses, and daily struggles to God, and trust Him with them, rather than carrying them by yourself. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will also bear the weight of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passively. Ensure you don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.
Because of the effects of worry, Jesus tells us not to worry about those needs that God promises to supply. Worry may damage your health, cause the object of your worry to consume your thoughts, disrupt your productivity, negatively affect the way you treat others, reduce your ability to trust in God. Worry immobilizes, but genuine concern moves you to action.
Turn your worries into prayers. Whenever you start to worry, you stop to pray, and if you start to pray, you stop to worry. Always give God the first place in your life. Concern yourself first with His kingdom; fill your thoughts with His desires, to take His character for your pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything. When you have done that, all your cares or worries will be treated by Him, and all other things you need will be added to you (Matthew 6 vs 33).
The result of one’s prayerful communication with God that is based on faith is an inner tranquility that cannot be expressed in words. It is the peace of God that protects one’s heart and produces consistency in one’s thoughts. When our prayers are offered to God upon the bases of faith, and knowing that God will work in answer to our prayers, then we will gain an inner peace of heart and mind. We must have faith in the fact that God answers prayer.
Prayer: Abba Father, all things are Yours, and You have promised to meet all my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Therefore, give me the grace to cast all the cares and worries in my life upon You because You cares for me. My trust is in You who owns all things and controls all things, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!