Hear Pastor Chuck Swindoll teach on the fulfilling life of faith from 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13.
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Read 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.
Philippians 4:6
May I get very personal here? The pressure of our times have many of us caught in the web of the most acceptable, yet energy-draining sin in the Christian family: worry. Chances are good you awoke this morning, stepped out of bed, and, before doing anything, strapped on your well-worn backpack of anxiety. You started the day, not with prayer on your mind but loaded down by worry. What a dreadful habit!
Jesus challenged His followers with the question, “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). Worry solves nothing. It creates unrest, uneasiness, and, left unchecked, it can churn our waves of anxiety into a perfect storm of emotions. Add a little imagination and creativity, and our worst fears come to life in Technicolor brilliance.
The stress from worry drains our energy and preoccupies our minds, stripping us of our peace. Few in God’s family are exempt. We fret over big things and little things. Some of us have a laundry list of concerns that feed our addiction to worry. It’s a very unattractive addiction, yet we somehow manage to make a joke out of it. I’ve heard people say with a smile, “If I don’t have something to worry about, I get worried about not having something to worry about.”
Anxiety has become a favourite pastime that we love to hate. And worse, we’re passing it on to our children. As they see the worry on our faces and they hear it from our lips, we’re mentoring them in the art of anxiety.
As always, Scripture has the answer. Paul, again, is the writer. Hoping to relieve the anxiety of his friends in Philippi, he wrote from his imprisonment:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)
His prescription for anxiety can be boiled down to this: Worry about nothing. Pray about everything.
Taken from The Owner’s Manual for Christians by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com
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