Don’t worry about anything…What?! That’s easier said than done, right? Worrying is like breathing in and breathing out. You’re not human if you’re not worrying. But how much does worry really add to our lives? Is worry robbing me of the peace I long for? The peace that exceeds anything we can understand?
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) says: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”
Take a look at some recent statistics from a survey done on worrying in a book I read recently…
- 40% of the things we worry about NEVER actually happen.
- 30% of the things have already happened, and there is nothing we can do about it.
- 12% are needless worries about health. Plus, worrying actually counteracts the efforts we put into health.
- 10% are really just petty, trivial, and miscellaneous issues.
- 8% (if that) are genuine worries, of which HALF are something we can’t do anything about, and the other half we can only do a little about.
That’s a lot of worrying. I think we’re doing the opposite of “Don’t worry about anything…” What do YOU think?
So, what do we do?
“…Instead, pray about everything…”
What’s your prayer life like? It’s so easy to fill our lives with busyness and worry that we forget to pray. We forget to just talk to God.
Here, the verse is encouraging us to pray about EVERYTHING. That’s a lot of praying! What if every time we worried, we prayed? What if we prayed about EVERYTHING?
“Tell God what you need.”
When you pray, be specific about what you truly need. Be honest with yourself and be honest with God. He already knows our hearts.
“And thank Him for all He’s done.”
It’s so easy to become ungrateful people. Sometimes, I just stop in my tracks when I’m rambling on in my prayers and forget to be thankful. Writing a list of all the ways God provides for you today and has provided for you yesterday will help give you a grateful perspective. We have so much to be thankful for!
“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”
Wow!
This verse provides a road map for us to experience the peace we long for.
- Don’t worry.
- Pray about everything.
- Tell God what you need.
- Thank Him for what He’s done.
Then you will experience the peace God wants us to experience; the peace that exceeds ANYTHING we can understand.
Thank you, Lord!
Art Garza
Director of Broadcasting at STAR 99.1
Want more encouragement? Keep reading ⬇️
Here’s What To Do If You Want To Be A Better Person
By Chad Mitchell |
I Wanted A Miracle, But God Didn’t Give It To Me
By Kristen James |
I just thanked God for Art Garza! God speaks through so many of us, it’s awesome. This was great and so true. Thank you for opening our eyes to this, because at times we can take advantage of God and just forget. So this reminder is awesome.
Thank you Lord for letting me read this today.
Thank you for your encouraging words, I’m so glad you were blessed!
This was awesome! So true as well, and so helpful bc I am a big worrier. This has helped me out things in perspective. If I stop and think about God with me and watching over me, I do experience peace. Thank you and God bless you for this message.
God is so good! Isn’t it wonderful that he takes our burdens?
Great reminders. Thanks Art. Really appreciated all the stats.
Thanks, Sean!