Good day and welcome back to the 5 Minute Challenge. I’d like to start out with a word of thanks. The last few weeks I have received an outpouring of encouragement from you, the readers of the 5MC. You have no idea how much your comments mean. The 5MC started out as a way to encourage the youth I was working with on Maui, to spend at least 5 minutes every day in God’s Word. God has grown it into something much larger. For one it has transformed me. I’ll confess, I was not spending time in God’s Word everyday before the 5MC. From what I thought would change my kids, ended up changing me. (God has a sense of humor, yes?) I spend about 2 hours a day, reading, researching and writing each 5MC, so it’s kinda turned into a part-time job. A VERY rewarding part-time job. Still none-the-less, when the Word of God is given out, there will be resistance. Some mornings the monotony of life can engage and it’s a little tough to keep the flow going with the 5MC. This is where I’m so thankful for your comments and encouragement. They are little nuggets of treasure to me just when I seem to need them the most.
This also brings up a great point and I’ve written on it before. Praying for your Pastor and your church staff. Again, anytime the Word of God is given out their will be resistance. One of the devil’s greatest adversaries is the living Word of God. In fact, think back to Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. What did He use to rebuke Satan? Yep, the Word of God. Your Pastors are giving out the Word of God and you’d better believe there’s resistance. Also, there are many other obstacles presented by Satan they must deal with; difficult church members, staff problems, attacks on their family, and personal attacks on their joy.
Pray for your Pastors and pray for all those that are giving out the Word of God.
This morning we’re going to look at the last chapter of Philippians, chapter 4. Chapter 4 is a great chapter and there’s several famous passages in here. We’re going to specifically look at one issue that I think, if we’re honest, we deal with much more than we’d like to admit. It’s one issue that can affect our daily walk with God quicker than any other. One that can de-rail us and get us off on rabbit trails in a heartbeat.
The issue?.......WORRY.
Let’s do something a little different this morning, lets look at the verse in several different translations for effect. I personally use ESV, English Standard Version, so we’ll look at that first, followed by a few others because I think some of the others really nail down this verse’s simplicity.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Phil 4:6 ESV English Standard Version
“Don't worry about anything but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.” Phil 4:6 CEV Contemporary English Version
“Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.” Phil 4:6 GWT God’s Word translation
So basically, the message here…worry about nothing, pray about everything.
Worry is a funny thing. It’s something that we carry around with us. It goes everywhere with us and is kinda built into us. Sometimes it consumes us but sometimes its completely dormant. But its always there. Why?
I did some reading on worry, check out these stats from The Essence of Success by Earl Nightingale:
1) 40% of the things you worry about will never occur
2) 30% percent of the time we worry about things that cannot ever be changed
3) 8% percent of the time we worry about our health when nothing can be done
4) Only 8% of worries can something be done about. Therefore, 92% of our worries are unfounded
5) The older you get the less you worry. Young people are tremendously affected by worry.
Huh. So, if we spend all of our time worrying about things that never happen what’s the point? Sounds like a lot of busy work, right? Kind of like digging a hole just to fill it right back in. Think about this, if the devil can keep you worried about a bunch of stuff that will never happen what will you NOT be thinking about? God? God’s Word? Exactly.
Let’s look closer at the verse. Worry about nothing. Nothing is an amazing word. Only 7 letters but it includes everything in existence at this moment in time. If you have something, then it cannot be nothing. Nothing is nothing. A complete absolute. I think we’re clear on the meaning of nothing but let’s talk life application. Surely this doesn’t mean my job, right? I mean, I might get laid off next month. Yes, this is included in nothing. Surely this doesn’t mean my kid, I mean he’s fixing to get kicked out of school for fighting. This is included. Well, then surely you can’t mean my marriage. I mean it’s on the rocks and I don’t know how to fix it. Roll it in there, it’s part of nothing. Ok, you say, these are all fine because I don’t have any of THESE problems but I’m in horrible credit card and personal debt and can’t make my payments. I’m about to lose my house, where will my family live? That’s a hard one, but still included in the world of nothing.
So, the power of worry is that it has to go somewhere right? I mean, we can’t just throw it into a bottomless pit forever, it has a way of showing back up. Worry is like a boomerang, we might be able to get rid of it for a while, but it always seems to show back up and hit us in the head. So how do you truly get rid of worry?
Well, it’s right there in the second part of the verse. Worry about nothing but PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING. Sounds simple right? It’s not. You see built into this verse is a choice. A decision. And its ours. We must all make the decision of whether or not to give up the worry that is plaguing us. Some people hold onto their worries so close they’ve given them a name like a pet. Worries are sometimes so close to us they have become a part of us. We have to make a decision to let them go. If they’ve been around a long time, this is hard. Very hard.
God’s Word is truth, and this verse is a commandment, not a request. Don’t worry about anything at all, pray about it all and give it to the Father. If you pray about your worries, the burden will be lifted, that’s a promise from God. Are you ready for that? The question seems infantile but it’s valid. If you truly want that worry gone right now at this moment, fall on your face before God and pray harder than you’ve ever prayed before. Bare your soul before your Heavenly Father and He will answer. Uh oh, there comes that word, ‘answer’. Let’s take a closer look at how God answers prayers.
I have spent many moments in prayer, not truly praying to God but letting God know what I want. I have spent many moments in prayer, letting God know exactly how things should go for me. I look back now and don’t think I would even call that prayer. I was talking to God alright, but I was telling Him what to do, NOT casting my cares and worries upon Him and accepting HIS will for my life. So naturally, when He didn’t do what I thought He should have, I thought He didn’t answer my prayer. Not so much. You see many times when we think the prayer wasn’t answered it was really more in what we asked. I’ve heard it said that God answers every single prayer and He has 3 answers, Yes, No and not right now. I 1000% agree. Yes 1000%, that’s a real number right?
So, we are to worry about nothing but pray about everything right? Well, if you’re a worrier, looks like you’ve got a lot of praying before you. While we’re here let’s touch briefly on the act of praying. When I first accepted Christ I was 20 years old. I didn’t grow up in the church, so a lot of the customs were very foreign to me. One was prayer. I mean who can really pray? Can just the Pastor or Priest pray? When you pray do you have to get on your knees? (I mean, in the Catholic church they have those little padded fold down knee thingies) Do you need to hike up a mountain in Nepal to a monastery and chant with monks to really pray to God?
Praying is simply talking to God. We all have Earthly fathers. Mine lives in Combine, Texas and when me and Pop get together you can’t get a word in edgeways. We talk about EVERYTHING. Tools, cars, yard, cooking, cruises, fixing stuff, oh man I could go on and on. We never have a shortage of stuff to talk about. God is your Heavenly Father. Prayer is talking to your Heavenly Father. I talk to God about everything. Margie, my family, our jobs, pastors He’s put in our life, churches we’ve attended, my marriage, The5MC, the readers of the 5MC, unsaved people in our lives, our finances, the youth I’ve worked with, friends that are battling cancer, decisions in front of me, His Will for us, etc. I could make this list a mile long. There’s a lot to talk about.
Also, don’t get hung up on the posture of prayer. I think kneeling before God is a form of reverence that effects not only my posture but my heart. I kneel every morning to pray before I start the 5MC. But I don’t kneel every time I pray. I mentioned in the soccer ball story yesterday that I talk to God a lot on my daily walks. You can’t very well kneel and walk at the same time. My walks are great times to be quiet and have conversations with God while I enjoy the world that He made. If you have a long commute, you can pray in your car. (if you’re like me in traffic, you’ll need to pray!) You see, anywhere you would talk to your Earthly Father you can talk to God. It’s not hard, difficult or complicated, He’s always there, just call on Him.
Well, we’ve looked at a lot today but ultimately this is between you and God. I’ve heard it said that "if you’re going to worry, don’t pray and if you’re going to pray don’t worry." That is another great summation of this verse. You see it requires action on your part. When that worry creeps into your path today, stop and pray. Right then, right there. And don’t stop. Every time that same worry creeps in, pray it away. You might pray about a worry 1,000 times and it might require 1001. Pray without ceasing.
One of my favorite quotes is from John Maxwell:
“You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
I pray today that the change you make to your daily routine is to commit to two things: 1) spend time in God’s Word daily and 2) give ALL of your worries to God through prayer.
God bless you on your journey to constantly draw closer to God.
Comments