April 30, 2012 Do you worry? What will I have for lunch? What will I wear? What did that lady mean when she said, “Yeah, right”? Do everyone’s children misbehave? Will my children ever get a good job? Do you think we will get an income tax refund or will we have to pay? Can everyone predict whether it will rain by the pain in their shoulder, hip, knee, ankle? Is my 401k really a 101k? Some people I know are world class worrier’s! Worry is really negative mediation. Our attitude about our circumstances more than or circumstance determine the joy we experience in life. Writing from a prison cell, while chained to a member of Caesar’s Praetorian Guard, the apostle Paul wrote: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4–7 (ESV) Paul had truly overcome the power of worry. Think about how you would have handled the circumstance of being in jail under the penalty of death. Would you be able to rejoice? Would you be letting everyone know your reasonableness or you concern. I believe that sitting on death row would make most of us anxious, but not Paul, “Why”? Paul had learned to pray and let everything be made known to God. When we pray, we should let God have all of our worries, all of our cares and concerns as well as our gratitude and praise. It is when we learn to live in faith and to not worry but trust God that we are then able to rejoice, even when awaiting our own execution, and have peace in our heart, which no one else who sees our reaction to our own circumstances could understand. Worry is a symptom which reveals that our faith needs to be increased. If you find yourself worrying, then pray. Take your concerns to God and trust Him to hear you and care about you. Prayers of faith bring the pray-er peace and protect their hearts and minds from spiritual attacks from our enemy. Someone has said “Pray when you feel like it, pray when you don’t feel like it, pray until you do feel like it.” Not only is this good advice, it is also an important first step in finding the peace which we all crave.