WORRY ANTEDOTE

Jesus said to his disciples, "Don't be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. John 14:1

One of the easiest things to do in life is to worry. Invariably, there are many situations that place demands on us to worry about them. But we don’t have to give in to them and allow ourselves to worry. Sometimes, people may wonder what is wrong with you if aren’t worrying over your situations. They may mistake not worrying for lack of interest and unserious attitude. But there is a difference between worrying and showing interest.

Worry means a troubled unsettled feeling. That is a troubled state of mind. It means to be anxious. One other meaning of worry is illustrated with the disturbance dogs give to sheep. By their backing, pursuit and possibly biting dogs harass and disturb sheep. That is the same way situations tend to disturb us. But most situations cannot give mortal injuries but tend to make us feel they can and such feelings can produce more dangerous venom than the situation itself. So to worry about a situation is even more dangerous that the situation itself.

Many have failed in life as a result of worry. This is because worry saps energy and creativity. You cannot function at your best amidst worry. Worry makes situations larger than they really are. It makes a mountain out of a molehill; a giant out of a dwarf. Worry is a neutralizer. It can neutralize your potentials and make you incapable of acting accordingly. I understand what this means personally. I have been troubled lots of time and I can tell you that worry can incapacitate. But the most you cease from worrying certain ideas begin to filter into your mind. You begin to see the solutions to the challenge. Sometimes, though you may still be in the dark regarding what to do but worrying over it is not the solution.

The verse of Scripture above presents to us the perfect solution for worry- faith in God. There cannot be a better solution than that. Faith simply means to trust in God. It means to place confidence in God as the answer to your questions. By trusting God, you tell Him that He is able to handle the situations of your life. It tells Him that you depend on Him for help and solutions. And since no situation can defeat Him, we are sure of victory.

How do you express this faith in God? You can do that through prayer. When we pray we give God the right to interfere with our situations. We bring Him in through prayer. Philippians 4:6-7 reads, “Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.”

It is time to begin to experience peace even in the midst of ugly situations. It is time to pray. As you do this, you will experience the reality of the Scripture.