Don't Be Anxious . . .

The Lord is against worry. He knows that it does not produce anything but stress, strain, and death in those who entertain it. Jesus, Paul, the whole Bible teaches us to refrain from entertaining worry because its author is Satan.

Worry is a form of faith. It's faith that the devil has more power to bring about evil than God has to bring about good. Anxiety is the emotion that accompanies the anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) evil or harmful event. It is caused by worry (constant touching of the thing imagined). Worry comes when we don't trust God; when we don't have faith in Him.

In Philippians 4:6-7 we are commanded:

"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." In the Amplified Bible it reads, "Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything."

We are told in First Peter 5:6-7 to cast all (not three-quarters of, not everything but our finances, not everything but our kids) but all of our care upon Him:

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon him."

Every morning we should get up with a declaration of faith in God that sounds something like this:

"Today I don't have to worry, I don't have to feel anxious, I don't have a care, because it has all been cast over on my Lord!"

Too often people want God to supernaturally deliver them from worry. But that's not how we get the peace of God. We appropriate the peace of God by exercising the faith and authority we have been given in Christ the Anointed One and in the word of His power [Hebrews 1:3]. We cast down imaginations through the power of His Word of love:

2 Cor. 10:5 (KJV) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Psalm 119:165 (KJV) Great peace have they which love thy law [precepts or statutes]: and nothing shall offend them.