Don’t worry about anything
“Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NCV).
When we truly believe that God cares for us, that He has planned our life perfectly, that He has plans of peace and not of evil for us, that He understands us and knows all our ways, that He hears and answers our prayers, then these verses can become a reality in our life.
But that doesn’t mean it happens by itself. Most people are full of worries about one thing or the other. Worries about money, school, the economy, jobs, the future, the people we care about, the earth itself, what people think of us, how things will work out for us etc. These are all natural thoughts for a human being. So, if we want to get the peace of God which is so great that we can’t understand it, we have to fight for it!
Fight for what we see in faith!
When we have made the decision that we want to give up all thoughts of worry, stress and fear, and trade it for the peace, rest, hope and joy that we can receive from God, and we fully believe that that is possible – then there is work to be done. If we have made the decision, then that doesn’t mean that we will no longer be tempted to these things. But it means that now is the time for us to battle for what we see in faith, for what we believe – and that is to be totally free from all worry, stress and fear.
Uneasy, restless thoughts may come up in our mind about all kinds of things. Satan would love it if these “cares of the world” could take over and destroy our faith. That is what he is trying hard to do and he knows how to use our fears and worries against us. He does his best to get us to be ruled by these things.
But those verses in Philippians don’t only give the commandment that we shouldn’t worry about anything, but also give the solution! We can go to our faithful Father in heaven, who is waiting for us to come to Him, and “pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.” Thanking Him that He is guiding all things and will cause all things to turn out for our good and that He knows much better than us what we need.
We can pray that He will give us power to overcome these fears and that we can put all our trust in Him. That when things don’t go as we feel they should, we can be at rest because we know that it’s because He, in His perfect love and wisdom for us, has something different planned. Something that will help us grow, that will help us to become more like Jesus. (Romans 8:29.) We have to fight for that, pray for that – until we have received God’s peace. Then Satan cannot touch us! (1 John 5:18.)
Read more here: 26 Bible verses to help you fight against worry and stress
The simple solution from Jesus
In Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV) we read, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
This is the simple solution for worry and fear that Jesus has given us, and that is to seek His kingdom with all of our heart. We must give ourselves with our whole heart to serve Him, to seek His will for our life, to obey His commandments. Then everything we need will be given to us – that is a promise. Become completely focused on the kingdom of heaven! Then we agree with David in Psalm 119:165 (NIV) that “great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”
So, we can go to action against worry and fear. Giving in to it is not going to change anything about any situation. But when our faith is in God, then He will show us how to get through the situation without coming out of rest in Him. “Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you,” it says in 1 Peter 5:7 (NCV).
It is not that the situation will go away, or that everything will turn out just like we want it to, but He will give us everything that we need to bear the situation, to cope with it in a godly way, and to get more peace and rest and patience as a result of it. God allows us to go through situations that we cannot always understand so that we can grow up through them.
The rest, peace and joy that we experience afterwards is not because the situation itself is solved, but it is the reward because we believed God’s word. Where others give up and don’t know what to do, our heart will be safe in God. To trade heavy and fearful thoughts for the rest and peace and joy we receive in God is a very good deal!
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (BBE).