Over Coming Worry The word “worry” comes from a word which means “to choke.” Worry creates mental and emotional strangulation in our lives. Worry actually makes things worse. When you worry about the future, you cripple yourself in the present.
Worry can affect us physically. It doesn’t lengthen our lives but can shorten them. Paul says don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. The peace of God will guard our heart and minds in Christ Jesus. So, let’s take our worries and cast them onto God.
Just as we learn to drive, we can teach ourselves to do certain things. So, when worry comes, turn to prayer. Then, get perspective. God is bigger than whatever problem we face. Maybe we’ve been focused on our big problems instead of our big God. If our God is big, we have relatively small problems. We need to train ourselves, just like training a muscle, to let it go and let God have it. Then, we will find peace.
Esther carried a heavy burden. She was carrying a ton of responsibility. God had placed her in the right place at the right time. When first asked to step up for the nation she had a moment of hesitation. She was placed in the palace with King Xerxes. Living in the lap of luxury and yet there was a plot hatched to exterminate her people, the Jews. She seemed oblivious until Mordecai made her aware. He said, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Many times, we find ourselves in a difficult situation and think, “How can I get out of this?” If God puts us where we are, He put us there for a reason.
Because Esther was courageous, and acted instead of worrying, she saved her people. She did not sit around wringing her hands, choked by worry. She let God use her to save her people.
When we let God have His way with us and we follow Him, our lives will be less fretful. We must train ourselves to turn to Him. It takes no more energy and less stress to turn to God than it does to continue to worry. We let ourselves worry but we must take deliberate steps to break free of that habit. Make prayer a habit in which we place all our worries into the hands of God. Cast all our cares on Him. He is big enough to handle them.
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