God's Word About Worry

Philippians 4:6-7 (New Living Translation)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Worry is one of the most deadly and yet silent sins that exist in mankind. It is as much of a sin as murder, stealing, fornication, adultery... Worrying displays a lack of faith in the reality and the power of God. It suggests that God is dead or if He is alive, He is powerless to help me in this situation.

Over 100 Diseases have been attributed to worry: Increased Blood pressure, strokes, decreased immune systems, agitates cancer cells, heightens depression. Worry is like a rocking chair, it keeps you busy but it doesn't get you anywhere. Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due. Worry pulls tomorrow's clouds over today's sunshine.

However, GOD HAS A WORD! He always has had a word about worry concerning Unusual Encounters and that word has always been FEAR NOT, DO NOT BE AFRAID, but this text suggests God has a word not only for Unusual Encounters but also for Unimaginable Experiences. Bills with no money, a marriage with no love, illness with no cure, secondary education beyond the perceived optimal age for learning. GOD HAS A WORD!

I. Instructs us to Pray vs 6 "pray about everything" NLT
a. Act of Prayer
b. Atmosphere of Prayer
c. Attitude of Prayer
Praying will teach one how to live in "THIS DAY" and not in yesterday or the next day. Many of us can not see God moving because we are either running ahead or running behind. When we get our eyes off our troubles and focus them on the face of our Heavenly Father, then as HE becomes larger in our hearts, our problems will grow smaller in our minds.

II. Imparts to us His Peace vs. 7
Peace is tranquility of the soul. This peace is of divine origin. It is peace that cannot waiver, that cannot be shaken or destroyed. It is a calm even when the storm is raging. This is the kind of peace that God promised his disciples in John 14:27. What is the peace? The word "passeth" in the KJV helps me here.
The word huper literally means over, above, and beyond. It depicts something that is way beyond measure. It carries the idea of superiority; something that is utmost, paramount, foremost, first-rate, first-class, and top-notch; greater, higher, and better than; superior to; preeminent, dominant, and incomparable; more than a match for; unsurpassed or unequaled.
The second part of the word "passeth" is the Greek word echo, which means I have, as someone who holds something in his possession. It can be translated to keep; to possess; to have; to hold; or even to acquire. This is a peace that transcends, outdoes, surpasses, excels, rises above, goes beyond and over the top of any other kind of peace. The implication is that people may try to find peace in other places, but there is no peace like the peace of God.
Jim Beam doesn't serve it, Jack Daniels doesn't make it. Malibu doesn't have this flavor, Weed can't take you there, chanting can't transport you, this comes from God.

III. Implements in us His Protection vs. 7 "keep"
God's Peace serves as a Gate Monitor. Nothing can come in that God has not approved. His peace guards, it controls, it monitors, it screens our heart, our mind and our emotions. Illustration: McAfee, Norton Antivirus. God guards me from spyware, malware, mind attacks. It is real 360 protection as it guards my heart, mind and emotions.

IV. Induce in me a Spirit of Praise
A pilot took off on a plane ride and about halfway through the plane ride, he started hearing a noise which he recognized as a rat. The rat was gnawing, chewing and destroying the wires of the plane. The pilot became disturbed thinking that if the rat gnaws the wrong wire, it will cause the destruction of the plane; however he was too far out to turn back and not close enough to his destination to land.

Finally the pilot thought, rats are not made for high heights. They can live underground and on the ground but the higher you go, the rat can't live, so the pilot took the plane higher and higher until the rat could not survive in the high atmosphere. Worry is like a rat in your heart that tries to gnaw away at your energy and rob you of your vitality, but worry can't live in the secret place of the Most High.

That problem that I had, that I just couldn't seem to solve, I tried and I tried but I kept getting deeper involved but I TURNED IT OVER to Jesus, I stopped worrying about it. He can, He can work it out.

Keep running,

Owens