Daily encouragement #HOPE #spiritualwellness ♥️♥️♥️🦋🦋🦋🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Worry Not!

Yesterday I addressed one factor that’s present in almost all kinds of bondage: unforgiveness. Today I want to address another that’s equally, if not more, common: fear.

These are some examples of lies that fear circulates in our thought life: What will people think of me? Do people think of me? What if I’m left out? Why am I always misunderstood? What if I fail? What if I disappoint my parents? What will my pastor think of me? Why am I afraid to grow up? What if change will make me feel out of control? What if I look like a fool? What if I never get married? What if I get divorced just like my parents did? What if people reject me when they find out the sort of person I am? What if I never have a baby? What if I mess my kids up just like my parents messed me up? Sometimes our thoughts go down negative spirals, as when we hear strange sounds in the middle of the night and wonder if someone is breaking in to rob us and hurt our family.

So how do we combat fear? How do we cut the ropes of worry in which we may find ourselves tangled? 

Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” 

Worry leads to a striving life of self-preservation instead of one of rest in God’s unfailing love. When we seek Him first, we are rewarded with Him. He is the prize! 

When we claw after our destiny in fear, we reap further anxiety and striving, and the “stuff” we accumulate must be maintained by our own strength. If we desire freedom, then we must begin seeking what matters most: God and His kingdom. Everything else you need will be provided because your Father is good. As we build on that foundation, our fears will bow to the authority and power of Jesus in our lives. 

This shift in our will is a choice; we do not have to partner with or submit to worry and fear. It will come knocking at our door, asking to be let in, but we are free to leave the door shut and shake off fear when it comes at us. We are empowered to do so by God Himself.

Today, look your fear in the face, and using the authority of Jesus shared with you, declare that you will follow God and not your fears