LET GO OF WORRY

    Beloved, I welcome you to the beginning of the last quarter of the year. May you increase in the grace and wisdom of God.

     I will be sharing with you on what I titled Let Go Of Worry. But first, we have to know what worry is. Worry can be defined as a state of mental and emotional agitation and distress resulting from undue concern over something impending or anticipated. Worry involves and uneasiness of mind or a brooding anxiety about a real or imagined situation or possibility. It is an unresolved feeling of fretful apprehension and mental unrest which is a close companion of fear, anxiety, insecurity and tension.

Worry is not physical, although its effects can be felt in the physical body. In many cases, worry comes from evil spirits in the spirit realm in the form of thoughts against the mind. The goal of the evil spirit is to get one to allow the cares that they propagate to enter into the spirit man. This happens by entertaining their thoughts of cares in the mind.

    Worry is an illegal occupant in a believer, because worry is illegal in the kingdom of God. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." You are not the devil's pack mule assigned to carry anything he decides to load you down with in life. Worry is one thing that Satan seeks to burden the Christian with; but according to scriptures, you can cast anxious thoughts over on the Lord and Let Him carry the cares of life. 

    In fact, the kingdom of heaven made worry illegal for you to carry. In any given nation of the world, there are certain things they have enlisted as contraband goods. Contraband is something prohibited from being imported or exported by the laws of a nation. In other words, it is something that is illegal to have in your possession or to carry with you into that country. For example, when I travel to another country on a ministry trip and go through customs, there are certain things I am not permitted to carry into that country. So, when I prepare to enter I must make sure such things are not in my possession, otherwise my free movement within that country will be limited.

    Worry is something that is illegal in the kingdom of Heaven. You are not able to walk with God in the spirit if you carry worry with you. You are not able to get into faith carrying worry. All thoughts of care has to be laid aside to do so. The first step in preparing to enter into faith is to cast the cares of your situation over on the Lord. Just as faith moves the hands of God, worry ties God's hand and limits His movement in your life. In other words, you are operating outside the laws that governs the operation of His power and care for you. Matthew 6:25,27,34, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what she shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Which of you by taking thoughts can add one cubit unto his stature? Take therefore no thoughts for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

    Have you continuously prayed for God to do something but saw no result? Did it make you wonder if God heard your request? Did it feel like He wasn't listening or that He forgot about you? I know you have felt this way many times. Unanswered prayers are usually a result of not praying in line with the word of God. God instructs us to cast ALL our cares upon Him (1st Peter 5:7), He also tells us not to worry or be anxious about anything, Philippians 4:6-7, " Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and minds through Christ Jesus." 

     In an experience I had with the Lord, He asked me a question, "Do you know why many of my children are dying of high blood pressure?" I said no. He said, "I knew that the devil is going to come with such health condition, so I gave the antidote before hand in Philippians 4:6, yet they didn't listen. You see, it's not God's fault, everything has been done by our Lord Jesus but the ball is in our court now. Critically look at that phrase "Be careful for nothing" It didn't say God will be careful for nothing for you instead you are the one to be careful for nothing. It's our responsibility to be worried over nothing. Instead of worrying, cast it on Jesus. 

     You can't pray, get up and take your burdens with you. You have to fully give them to God. That means after talking to God about it, you must stop thinking about it, talking about it and trying to help God fix it. If you are still clinging to your concerns, God can't work on your behalf. He has nothing to work with because you haven't fully handed it all over to Him. God is a perfect gentleman. He is not going to take the burden away from you. He is going to wait on you to give it to Him. He wants to carry the heavy load of burden from you. Worry does nothing but hinder your prayers and makes everything in you uneasy. God doesn't call for us to live that way, He wants us to have an abundance of joy.

    John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." This scripture vividly shows where worry and anxieties comes from. It comes from the world and its system. The more you focus on the world and its system and look away from Jesus, worry and anxiety envelops you because that is what the world is designed to give, but when you decide to look and mind nothing else apart from Jesus, He(Jesus) says you will experience and have peace. Peace even in the midst of the troubled waters. Glory!

In as much as the children of Israel were busy looking at the serpent that bit them and were concerned about it, there was death, but when they looked to the hanged serpent, which represents Jesus, the Bible says they lived (Numbers 21:9). Take your eyes away from that body, refuse to worry about the job, finances, the unpaid house rent and look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of your faith. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Focus on Jesus through His word, refuse to worry. Cast all your cares upon Him and let His peace fill you. 

    God bless you. See you next month