Climbing the Mountain of Worry

Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message)

 6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. 

Philippians 4:6-7 (Amplified Bible)

6Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ([a]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
    7And God's peace [shall be yours, that [b]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall [c]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Its been a consistent thing the past two weeks.  By 5:30, my eyes are wide open, my body gasping for air.  The stress of the day's activities weighing heavy on me.  Again I tell myself mentally there isn't any way I will possibly be able to get everything accomplished.

This morning I had the same battle.  After taking a minute to catch my breath, I got up, made my coffee, and headed for my computer.  Today is National Day of Prayer, and this verse immediately came up when I opened my browser this morning. 

As I poured through the verse in several translations, here are the things that came to mind:

  • Put your worries into prayers...and give them to God.  He can handle so many things for us if we let him.  I once read of a lady who decided to put all her worries in a box on pieces of paper, give them to God, and then come back in a month to see what had happened.  When she opened the box, the many worries she had were all take care of but three, and two no longer mattered.  
  •  The Amplified Bible says to make definite requests...name your prayer requests specifically.  If its no rain you need, pray for it!   If its more time for a project, pray for it!  We often don't get what we ask for because we don't pray for it specifically. 
  • Our worries distract us from the work of God and make it easier for Satan to work in our lives.  Boy did this hit me hard!  Not only is my worrying bad for my physical health, but my spiritual health as well.  Guard our hearts by staying focused.
  • Before you know it, you will feel God's wholeness, bringing you the peace you desire.   
  • Even when we can't "fix" everything we worry about, and we end up with a situation in which we didn't want, God still walks us through.  He hasn't let me down yet.  So even in a worst case scenerio...he WILL take care of us.  So what's there to worry about?
The coffee cup is empty, and the sun is shining brightly.  The mountain is still in front of me.  But so is my Lord Jesus.  No matter what today brings, he has his hand out to help me along.  Off to conquer the mountain!  Have a great day.

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