WHEN WORRY AND ANXIETY GRIP YOU, PRAY!!!!
Bible Reading: Matthew 6:34
Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Matthew 6:34
AS YOU THINK about the upcoming New Year, are you worried about what might happen? Are you afraid of a worldwide economic collapse, sending humankind back to bartering chickens? Are you tense that you might be asphyxiated by pollution or vaporized by another terrorist attack?
You can worry all you want about those things, but it won’t do you any good. Just look at what a few wise people say about the futility of worry:
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy Leo Buscaglia
Worrying is wasting today’s time cluttering up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles Anonymous
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. Charles Schulz
The most significant word about worry, of course, comes from Jesus. His instruction? Don’t. Paul echoed that thought in Philippians 4:6: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
The apostle Peter adds, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you” (1 Peter 5:7).
Sure, there will be plenty of things about next year you won’t like-natural disasters, world tension, community strife, and conflicts with parents or friends. God never promised you a life without problems. And when scary things loom, you feel a sudden knot of worry in the pit of your stomach that paralyzes you.
That knot is your internal reminder that it’s time to pray. When you feel yourself wound tight with anxiety, don’t let it paralyze you. Instead, let it prayer-alyze you. Tell God straight up how you feel. Fill him in on all the issues or people or circumstances that worry you. Invite him to take control of them and you. Keep praying until the anxiety settles down. And when your nervousness comes back, pray again … and again … and again.
When you interpret worry as a natural nudge to pray instead of an impossible burden to carry, troubling circumstances won’t be so scary. You won’t see them as incidents that terrify. You will take them as opportunities for God to work as you hand them over to him in prayer.
I KNOW PEOPLE THINK THAT THE YOUTH HAVE NO PROBLEMS, THAT JUST ISN'T SO. DEPENDING ON THEIR AGES THEY HAVE SCHOOL WORK TO WORRY ABOUT, THE ENVIRONMENT AROUND THEM. OTHER CHILDREN THAT ARE BULLIES, SOME EVEN HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHERE WILL THEY SLEEP OR EAT TONIGHT.
WE CAN NEVER TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT OUR YOUTH HAVE NO WORRIES, THAT'S SIMPLY NOT TRUE.....SOME ARE EVEN WORRIED ABOUT A CHILD THEY HAVE BROUGHT INTO THE WORLD, OR THE FAMILY THEY ARE CREATING, BUT IN ALL YOUR WORRIES PRAY, SEEK YHWH FOR THE ANSWERS, HE SAYS CAST YOUR BURDENS ON HIM FOR HE CARES FOR YOU. SO DON'T CARRY THEM ALONE. THE MORE YOU ALIGN YOURSELF WITH THE WAYS AND WILL OF YHWH FOR YOUR LIFE THE EASIER IT BECOMES TO SPEND TIME WITH HIM IN ISSUES OF YOUR LIFE.
FATHER WE THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING US. WE ASK THAT YOU GIVE US AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT TO DO WHAT YOU REQUEST OF US. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PEACE AND SOUND MIND. WE THANK YOU FATHER FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR US READY TO GUIDE AND CARRY OUR BURDENS, IN YESHUA'S NAME
REFLECT: What worries you most about the next few days? The next month? The next year?
PRAY: Cast all your concerns on God, because he cares for you.