Why Pray If Your Going To Worry?
The fact that both the Old and New Testaments contains many stories about prophets, kings, men and women of God who dealt with problems that were both worrisome and burdensome, indicates that those things are inescapable in this life.
"Personally, I sometimes find it hard to deal with the disconcerting truth that even though we are saved; there is no escape from problems that plague us daily."
Worries and burdens are not bias, meaning, regardless of our ethnicity or where we live, we all deal with personal problems, family problems, work problems, financial problems, health problems, issues with friends or others, concerns for the present, for the future, and for the church. When you allow worrying and burdens to take you into overdrive mode, stressing out about "What might happen", you have become a worry wart.
For those who are not familiar with this term, a worry wart is, “A person who tends to dwell unduly on difficulty or troubles” (Merriam-Weber Online Dictionary). As Christians, we know that worry which is referred to in the bible as cares, is a enemy and killer of faith but still many of us in the body of Christ succumb to it. Worry is also is a killer of health as it can have an inclusive and far-reaching effect on one’s physical, mental, and spiritual health. The physical effects of excessive worrying, leads to high anxieties and for some panic attacks during waking hours and night hours as well. Worry and burdens steals ones peace, making it difficult to rest. Many diseases can be overcome if people stop worrying.
"There is no way to close our minds against tribulations happening around the world or to us personally.
Jesus never told his followers if they followed him, everything would be peaches and cream. Jesus made it clear that, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).
What do you do when problems become burdensome heavy loads that are difficult to deal with?
Jesus tells us to pray and have faith. “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Jesus spoke a great deal on faith indicating that he considered it to be the most important trait for believers to have. The Apostle Peter makes reference to how valuable faith is, saying, “That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire” (1 Peter 1.7). Faith is eternal and cannot be destroy when tested but it can be substituted for unbelief when we buckle under the trials and sufferings of life. Question: Why after praying about the problem or problems that we are powerless to change in our life, we continue to worry? We continue to worry because, after forwarding all issues to heaven or in other words “Casting our cares upon the Lord” (Psalm 55:22) we still labor to fix things out of our control thus becoming heavy laden. We reject our Savior’s invitation to, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Question: Jesus said, “Learn from me”!!! What is it that he want us to learn from him about dealing with worrisome and burdensome problems? Jesus from the time he began to preach until his death had problems. He had problems with the religious leaders about God’s Law, about the Sabbath Day, about merging traditions with the law, problems dealing with spies planted by religious leaders, problems with those plotting to kill him, and disagreements about him saying he was the Son of God.
How Jesus handled his problems is found in several areas of scripture. In (Luke 5:16) we read, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.”
Jesus had a prayer life.
Jesus prayed for others (Matthew 19:13; John 17:9).
Jesus prayed with others (Luke 9:28).
Jesus prayed alone (Matthew 14:13, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:45, Luke 4:42, Luke 5:16).
Jesus prayed from the heart with supplication. This is observed in (John 17) where we read that Jesus prayed for Himself, His immediate disciples, and all believers as well.
Jesus taught that we must be persistent in prayer. "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). What else did he want us to learn from him? WE MUST WAIT ON THE LORD!!! “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). Many of the errors I have made in my Christian walk came from impatience and not waiting on a clear answer from the Lord and I reaped what I sowed. Let’s not go there 'Beaute’. We learned from Jesus that not all our prayers will be answered as expected. This is difficult to accept, but it is the truth. Jesus experienced this hard truth in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44). Three times Jesus prayed for God to alter his path, and God reject that prayer. So Jesus by faith submitted to God’s plan for his life saying, “But not my will, but your will be done" (26:39). I do not know what worries you are dealing with today but Jesus tells us to, ”Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness” for everything in our life including problems. (Matthew 16:33) . In other words, focus on God not your problems. It is beneficial for us to keep our minds on God and that is why Jesus encourages us to seek him.
Jesus understood what the Prophet Isaiah meant regarding keeping our minds on the Lord. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust means to have faith in something or someone. Jesus taught us that we must have faith in God, seek God, keep our mind on God, and pray regularly, only then will we find rest and peace as we wait on God to deal with those problems out of our control.
"Therefore, if you are going to pray then don’t worry and by faith forward all issues to heaven.
But if you are going to worry then do not pray for, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
My prayer always is that we continue to grow in grace, truth, wisdom and walk in love towards one another. Help others benefit from this truth by sharing this message. God bless you.