Philippians 4:6-7
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I don’t know about you, but when I do “mindless” tasks like vacuuming or scrubbing the shower - and I have quiet time to think - my mind often races to some pretty crazy places. If I’m not careful, I can allow the devil to capture my thoughts. He will take me to places of worry… why does one person behave this way or that? Why did I say or do such a dumb thing? What if this or that happens? What will I do when I get too old to vacuum and scrub the shower? I know, I know… it’s all pretty ridiculous… and then I am mad at myself for allowing these thoughts to consume my time.
I’ve learned to begin my housekeeping and other “quiet time” chores with a conscious effort to pray through them. Instead of letting the devil control the “inner conversation,” I hold a discussion with God. Oh, sure… He already knows everything I’m thinking and feeling – and exactly what I will say to Him. But He listens anyway. In return, He calms me. He takes my “worries” and says, “I’ll handle these,” and I am free to fill my heart with His joy, grace, mercy and peace.
The more I understand about worry, the more it makes me angry when I succumb to this emotion for even a few minutes. Besides fear, I think the devil must utilize worry about as often as anything to trip us up and trouble us with frustration and a lack of faith. And I will tell you that it is incredibly easy to fall into his trap and develop a good case of the “worries” before you even know what hit you! But we must fight this. Our life in Christ should have no room for worry… but our prayer life should be filled with moments where we hand our worries to God and allow Him to handle them. And this is key… we must hand them off – and let them go!
The way I see it, we have a 50-50 proposition here. We can let the devil control us and allow worry to fester and grow within us, or we can give our worries to God in faith-filled prayer… and trust His outcome. The former will leave us feeling unsettled and unsure, if not downright miserable. The latter can result in everlasting peace. Now which one of these options sounds better to you?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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