Monday, May 20, 2013

God's Plan for Dealing with Worry

by Eldon DeBoer
 
We all struggle with it from time to time. Some of us struggle with it a lot. This thing called worry. Worry involves continuing to have anxious thoughts about what is happening to us. The result is a detrimental negative mental and emotional condition.  The reason I allow worry to dominate my thoughts is because I have failed to apply the truth of God and His Word to what I am facing.  Worry happens because I lack faith in the Lord and in His Word as it should be applied to what is plaguing me.  Yes, I too struggle with worry.

George Mueller stated, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” “Whatever is not of faith is sin” from Romans 14:23, is the biblical basis for Mueller’s conclusion (cp. Philippians 4:6-7).
It is humbling to recognize that until we see Jesus and are transformed into His likeness we will not be completely free of worry with no lapses from it. We succumb to the weaknesses of our sinful nature. Our faith is not yet perfect. But we may be free of worry, for a while at least, as we turn our eyes upon Jesus and trust in Him again.

Let’s consider the teaching that the Lord has provided in Philippians so that you may be free from worry.

Stop worrying because you trust in the Lord and trust in His Word.  Philippians 4:6

Philippians 4:6 starts off with the command, “Be anxious for nothing,” or “Don’t worrying about anything” (NLT). In order to heed this command we must have confidence in the Lord and His Word.

Believers who “stand firm in the Lord” know what to do with their worries (cf. Philippians 4:1). You may “Stand firm in the Lord” by“pressing on” toward the goal of knowing Christ (3:10,14) with the truth fixed firmly in your thinking that He has made you a citizen of heaven (3:20-21).

When we make knowing Christ the number one priority in life, the troubles that may cause anxiety may be viewed from His perspective from the teachings of His Word more and more.
 
Hudson Taylor, missionary to China and founder of what is presently known as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, gave this excellent advice: "Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into [God’s] hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about."

Citizens of heaven who are rejoicing in the Lord and want a vital and meaningful personal relationship with Christ know what to do with their worries (Philippians 3:1; 4:4). They place everything in God’s hands, especially their worries. And they talk to the Lord about the anxiety they are facing and its causes. They apply step two.

Talk to the Lord about what is happening as you keep in mind that the Lord will hear and respond.  You can trust in Jesus.

As a believer in Jesus you certainly should know that you can trust Him. Life may not be what you had expected or hoped for. Stuff happens, decisions are made that you wish you could back and change.  But remember, Jesus loved you enough to suffer and die in your place so that you could enjoy Him and His heaven forever. So talk to the Lord about the specifics of what is going on in your life. Pray for the Lord’s insight. Ask Him, “What principles from Your Word should be applied to what I am facing?

The Lord declared through Jeremiah, “Blessed is the man who trusts (batach) in the LORD and whose trust (mibtach) is the LORD” (17:7). Then He described what this man is like:

For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

Believers who keep on trusting in the Lord have stability in life and do not become filled with anxiety when their lives go through seasons of drought. When times and relationships become troublesome, they are not overcome with worry. This is addressing what is generally true of a mature believer in Christ. However, no one has perfect faith. Therefore, there may still be occasional times of anxiety. But we should understand that when we side step God's plan for dealing with worry we have failed to make the proper application of the truth to what is taking place. We are failing to trust in the Lord and His Word.

Keep talking to the Lord about the stress in your life. Is there anything He wants you to do in response to what He has placed in your path? In addition to talking to the Lord about it, maybe there are some specific things He wants you to do. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you evaluate your worries. It may be needful to seek the counsel of another believer in Christ who may be able to share some insights from the Word of God that apply to your circumstances.

Ask the Lord, “What is the root cause of my worries?” Think through what may be underneath the cause of your anxious thoughts and feelings. Maybe you will find that you have anxiety for no good reason.

Believers who faithfully renew their confidence in the Lord and His plan are able to apply His Word by His grace.

Talk to Jesus with an attitude of thankfulness because you know the Lord Jesus will work out His plan for your good in your life.
Praying “with thanksgiving” is in keeping with the commands in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit."

A rejoicing and thankful heart is from the Lord and His grace as we remember the promise of Romans 8:28 for all who love God. 

"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God."  (HCSB)
All the circumstances of life should be viewed from God’s perspective from divine viewpoint, as much as possible. When we are confident that the Lord will somehow bring about good through the very troubles we are facing we may be thankful as we keep on talking with Him about life as it is. 

The importance of taking in the Word of God, pondering the truth He has given to us should be obvious. When we willfully turn away from the Lord and His Word we are quenching His Spirit’s work in us.

We talk to the Lord and are thankful because we believe in Him. He has the answers to our worries. He is providentially ordering our life. A thankful attitude in the face of very difficult times is from the Lord by His grace and the ministry of His Spirit.

We can be thankful because we know the Lord always has our growth and productivity in mind (cf. John 15:7-8). We are able to be thankful by His grace when we understand that He wants us to enjoy an intimate, even better personal relationship with Him (John 14:1, 23; Ephesians 3:16-19; Revelation 3:19-20). And most times it is only by undergoing stressful times that we get closer to Him (James 1:1-6). May we view the stress that is causing the worries with an attitude of thankfulness to the Lord.

When you apply this teaching from Philippians, you’ll experience God’s peace within. The promise of Philippians 4:7 is based upon applying 4:6.



God Promises Peace   Philippians 4:7


God’s peace will guard your heart and mind. The Lord Jesus will give you emotional and mental stability by His grace.

God’s peace is not a result of your ability to work it out by yourself. This is what the phrase, “the peace of God which is beyond all understanding,” (nous) is about. God’s peace does not result from your mental abilities or psychological adjustments that you think you can conjure up on your own. God grants His peace by His grace to believers who want to know Christ more and more as they keep on applying Philippians 4:6.

All the praise should be offered up to the Lord Jesus for enabling you to stop worrying and giving you peace. When you turn your thoughts to Him and His Word, you should experience His peace within. This is the emphasis of what follows in Philippians 4:8-9:

"Moreover, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good reputation with God, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

When you apply the truth that the Apostle Paul taught by the Spirit, focusing on the Lord and His Word, “the God of peace will be with you.” God will give you a strong and healthy sense of well-being because you know Him and His plan for your life.

Five “don’ts” to avoid concerning your worries:

1. Don’t sweep your worries under a rug by attempting to ignore them.

Meet your worries head-on, trusting the Lord to give you the grace to face them by the application of His Word.
At this point, maybe you need something on the lighter side. For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. “Good evening,” said the man of the house. “I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you" (William Marshall, Eternity Shut in a Span).

2. Don’t succumb to escape mechanisms.

Turning to alcohol or drugs is often caused by not dealing with anxieties from the Lord’s view that you may be experiencing. However, if your anxious thoughts do not diminish while you are seeking the Lord’s insight, it may be necessary to consult with someone who may be able to determine whether or not there is a physical problem causing the unusual level of anxiety.

3. Don’t worry about worrying. Don’t become anxious about your anxieties.
When you find yourself worrying again, thank the Lord that He has the grace solution to all your anxieties in your personal relationship with Him in understanding His Word and plan for your life.

But you may be wondering, “What do I do when I seem to “blind-sided” by anxious thoughts that tie me up in knots within?” This is what “for a while at least” in the brackets under the title of this message are about. Yes, this teaching provides for a worry free life in Philippians 4:6-7. But thinking that we can be worry free without any lapses this side of heaven is not being realistic. Everybody worries from time to time because no one has a perfect or complete faith. We have not yet been completely glorified with perfect natures. When the Holy Spirit brings to your attention that you are not applying Philippians 4:6-7 in your life confess it as sin, receive the Lord’s forgiveness, get your eyes back on Him and meditate on His Word (1 John 1:9 – 2:2; Hebrews 12:1-3). When the mental and emotional state of worry sweeps over you seemingly without notice and you find yourself fretting within, stop and reflect upon and ponder what you know to be true of Jesus Christ, what He has done for you and the wonderful relationship you may have with Him that He has made possible because He loved you so much and suffered for you.

4. Don’t worry about what may never happen.

A woman who had lived long enough to have learned some important truths about life remarked, “I’ve had a lot of trouble—most of which never happened!” She had worried about many things that had never occurred, and had come to see the total futility of her anxieties. Maybe just waiting and allowing some time to pass will alleviate the cause of your concerns.

J. Arthur Rank, an English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it until next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the past six days were already settled. It would have been useless to have worried about them.

5. Don’t confuse worry with concern.

We should be concerned about many things. But be alert for when legitimate concerns cause you to begin to fret within.
Try to imagine the task the Lord called His prophet Jeremiah to carry out. Certainly he had heartfelt concerns about what the Lord had called him to do and what he would witness. He had to tell the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the Lord God was going to bring judgment upon them. Because of the ongoing sinfulness of the Judeans, they would experience tremendous suffering at the hands of the Babylonians who the Lord had raised up. Jeremiah’s concern for the people he loved caused him to have deep levels of anxiety from time to time. This is especially evident by what he wrote in Lamentations. Jeremiah kept renewing his confidence in the Lord even though life was hard and certainly not what he would have chosen for himself.

May we be like Jeremiah. May we renew our trust in the Lord in the face of our concerns when we find that we have become anxious once again. How thankful we should be that the Lord Jesus will help us recover from our worries by His grace as we apply the principles from His Word.

This teaching is for believers in Christ Jesus who have placed faith in Him as their personal Savior. When you believe in Jesus Christ He will give you His Spirit so that you may stop worrying by His grace. You should know that He gives you much more in addition to freedom from worry. He gives you everlasting life with Himself forever because He suffered and died in your place on Calvary’s cross, bearing your sin in His body (John 6:47; chapters 19 – 20). He will make you free of worry forever with no lapses of trust in Him. Yes, you will have no more problems with worry and be given much more when you are perfectly transformed into His likeness and see Him face to face (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 John 3:1-3; Revelation 21:4). You will be completely free of struggles with stress. But until we see Jesus face to face and become totally like Him, we must draw upon His grace and His Spirit, seeking to apply the truth and teaching given in Philippians 4:6 so that we will experience God’s peace promised in 4:7.

Share your thoughts with me at edeboer.gmm@gmail.com.  Thanks.

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