Worry Saps Our Strength And Steals Our Hope

“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 than food, and the body more 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-34 

  

  Worry can become a terrible habit. I have struggled with it throughout my life. One thing that has helped me is to focus upon the promises of God. Strengthening our faith by reading and hearing the word of God can lessen our worry, reducing fear and building our faith. 

  Worry taxes our resources. It can leave us fatigued and exhausted, and our mental energies drained as our focus is fixed upon fearful outcomes and dreadful ideas. 

  

Worry often gives a small thing a great shadow. –Swedish proverb 

  

  When instead of thinking positively, believing the best, we allow ourselves to be drawn like steel toward a magnet into negativity, the light within us gives way to shadowy thoughts. Nothing drives out courage quicker than worry. Worry leads to fear, and fear destroys our courage. 

  The challenge for every Christian is to take our eyes off of our fears and doubts. We must drive away our worry and instead place our focus where it belongs--upon Jesus! The Lord is Sovereign. No matter what fears and worries assail us, we have a God greater than our worry, more powerful than our doubts. He is able to drive away all of our fears. 

  When you are ill, fighting disease, or living with disability, you will have ample opportunity to worry. Indeed, it will feel like worrying is the natural thing to do. It takes effort and is not easy to stop worrying. The antidote to worry is focusing upon God. Remember that you have an awesome God, an almighty Lord, a delivering Savior who will see you through all of your troubles and fears, taking you beyond your doubts and every worrisome thought that assails you. 

  Prayer: Dear Lord, worrying can seem as natural as breathing to us. We need strength and power beyond our doubts and fears. Enable us to move beyond our worries to trust You no matter what our circumstances may be or however large worry looms in our mind. Thank You Lord! Amen.