Winning Over Worry pt. 1

Mark Finley: But if our worries can lead us to long for Christ's second coming, rather than worry about the future, we can look forward to a future where there is no worry. Remember, Jesus calmed the disciples' troubled hearts as they worried about the future.
HopeLives365: This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, Winning Over Worry, Part One. Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: My wife and I are not movie watchers. Our lives are too busy to spend much time watching movies. But occasionally, notice the emphasis on occasionally, like once or twice a year. On a Saturday night, I'll find something on YouTube that really is inspirational. And recently, on a Saturday evening, we had a few hours of relaxation, so I discovered the story of Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsy. Their story is the incredible journey of faith in Nazi Germany, that details the experiences in a German concentration camp. The movie produced by the Billy Graham Association, and you can realize as an evangelist that attracted me right away, titled The Hiding Place. It's a classic. It talks about their struggle amid worry, fear, anxiety, and death. It talks about their trust in a sovereign God in the midst of the conflict that they faced. And Corrie made this amazing statement about worry. And as I thought about it, it just touched me in in quite remarkable ways. Here's what Corrie says about worry. Worry is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength. It carries two days at once. It's moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. And that statement, worry, does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. Corrie was right. Worry saps our energy. It strangles our joy. It destroys our peace. Now, worry, anxiety, and fear impact us physically. They impact us emotionally, and they impact us spiritually. One physician put it this way. He said, worry is that uneasy feeling of becoming overly concerned about a situation or problem. With excessive worrying, your mind and body go into overdrive as you constantly focus on what might happen. Have you ever noticed that when you worry, your mind is always projecting on the screen of your mind the worst case scenario? Worry enables you to to to look at the future, not through the eyes of faith, but through the eyes of of fear. You over anxiety about a given situation, imagining that the worst could happen, elevate your blood pressure, negatively impacts heart rhythms, produces stomach ailments, creates chronic fatigue, brings about muscle pain, and causes a whole host of mental phobias. So, I want to discuss with you this morning five biblical principles to win over worry. Now, I recognize that there are many approaches to worry. There's a psychological approach where people seek counseling when they are overly anxious. There are physical approaches to worry where you try to go out and get more exercise. I'm not discounting any of those, but I want to look at five biblical principles that you can apply to real life situations when you feel overly worried, that will lift you out of crippling worry and paralyzing fear and life-altering anxiety. Now, these five principles increase our confidence in God, who knows our challenges, walks with us in our trials, and gives us strength to cope with our fears. So, let's begin. Five principles. You ready to go? You got your Bible. You got a little notepad or you have your iPhone. You see, here's principle number one in overcoming worry. Although I may feel worried, God is still in control. Do my feelings determine God's sovereignty? My feelings in no way determine God's sovereignty. When I'm worried, is God still on his throne? When I'm worried, is God still in control of the situation? When I'm worried, has God forgotten all about me? See, our feelings of worry don't determine whether God is in control of the situation or not. God is still in charge whether I realize that or not. He's still on the throne working for our best good and his glory. He is still there with his guiding hand in the situation. I may be anxious, but God is calmly moving behind the scenes to solve the problem. I may be fearful, but God is still patiently at work. In the Old Testament, do you know that in the Old Testament, there are about 72 names of God? See, we read in the Old Testament about the name God. But in the Hebrew language, there are at least 72 names of God. They spoke to God's people of his divine sovereignty in each situation. What is sovereignty? It means that on earth things may be in chaos, but there's God still on his throne and God is in control. They spoke of to his people, of God's calmness in our anxiety. God addressed his people with various names in the Old Testament to give them confidence, of his care, his guidance, and his power. God's people faced multiple challenges. Just think about Israel wandering in the wilderness. I mean, the desert sun could scorch them by day. The challenges they faced were just amazing. The deserts were quite cold in the evening. They had confrontations with shortages of water, shortages of food. I mean, how are they going to deal with that? If you're wandering around in the wilderness and you got a million and a half, two million Israelites, you could be awfully worried about what you're going to drink, awfully worried about what you're going to eat. They face challenges of being bitten by snakes, confronted by enemy tribes, but remembering God's names got them through. Let's look at five critical situations and uh let's look at some of the names of God in the Old Testament. First, we're looking there at five names of God. First, there's the name of Elohim. He's the Creator God. We go to Isaiah 40 verse 28. Isaiah 40 verse 28. The name Elohim means the God who creates, the one that cast the stars into space. The one that spoke and sun and moon and stars came into existence, the one that carpeted the earth with living green. And you look at Isaiah 40 verse 28. "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God." Now, you see what that word there is, everlasting God. That's Elohim. He's the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't faint or is weary. There's no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the weak, and those who have might, he increases strength. So, when we go through worry and anxiety, we think of the name of God. What is his name? His name is Elohim. He is the Creator God that gives power to the weak. Do you remember the story of Hagar? Hagar is sent away from the camp of Abraham. Sarah sends her away. And Hagar is pregnant with Abraham's child. And God comes to her. And you know what name he uses when he comes to her? He uses the name El Roi, El Roi. And what what does that mean? It means the God who sees me. So here Hagar is filled with this anxiety. She's filled with this worry, and God comes to her, and he says, Hagar, I'm El Roi. I I see you. And then you look here for example, at the story of David. David is is fleeing from Saul. And uh God comes to him and he speaks to him and he says, I am El Shaddai. What does El Shaddai mean? It means the Lord God Almighty. He's the mighty one. Remember the story of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. God comes and speaks to him, but he doesn't use the same name for God. He uses Yahweh Rafa, the God who heals. He's the God who heals you. He can heal every emotional hurt. He can heal the brokenness of your heart. He can heal the physical afflictions. And then, Abraham is about ready to offer up his son, and where the where the English version says, God will provide, you know what the name for God is? It's Yahweh Yireh, the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. So, when we're facing worry, when we're facing the challenges of life that is stressing us out, we remember the names of God. He is the Creator God that will never leave us or forsake us. He's all-powerful. He is El Roi, the God who sees us. He is El Shaddai, the God who is almighty. He is Yahweh Rafa, the God who heals our deepest hurts. He is Yahweh Yireh, the God that will provide for us. What is it that enables us to get through crippling worry and paralyzing fear? It is first, things may seem out of control, but God is in control.
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Mark Finley: The second great principle that enable us in enabling us to get through worry and fear is this. God only gives us strength for the challenges of today. You may be worried about tomorrow. You may be worried about three months from now. You may have lost a job and you may say, how am I ever going to provide? You may be facing a devastating illness, and you may say, I'm so worried about that. You may have challenges with your kids and you may say, God, how am I going to get through this? God only promises you strength for today. He'll give us strength for the challenges of tomorrow when tomorrow comes. Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 25. God speaks to Israel. And he says, your sandals shall be iron and bronze. They're wandering in the wilderness. They got leather sandals. They're worried, my sandals are going to burn out and I'm going to walk on this hot desert sand. What's it going to do to my feet? And God says, what does he say? Your sandals, verse 25 will be iron and bronze, so if you say it's not going to wear out 40 years. As your days so shall your strength be. Don't you love it? As your days, what? So shall your strength be. God does not give us strength for tomorrow today. He gives us strength for today today. You might remember the song. You remember you remember the song by Mary Jane Wilkin, One Day at a Time, Dear Lord? You remember that song? You know, Mary Jane Wilkin was a a country western songwriter. She was in Nashville. She, in fact, discovered Kris Kristofferson, the the singer, and wrote many songs for for Kris. And uh Mary Jane, I I got to meet Mary Jane. She came to one of our It Is Written partnership. She also wrote the song, I Have Returned. And Charles Hagabrook, some of you know Charles, was going to sing. And uh Mary Jane Wilkin came to Charles and she said, of anybody that could record that song, Charles, I want you to record the song. So, she came, she was living not far from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and she came to hear Charles sing and was so incredibly impressed. Well, she had gone to the top of the music industry. And uh but something was desperately missing in her life. She wasn't writing religious songs at the time, she was writing more country western. And uh she was had this desperate emptiness in her heart and soul. So, Mary Jane Wilkin was traveling in rural Tennessee, and she drove by a little country church. Now, she had her new Cadillac. And it was a little chilly in Tennessee, and she had on her fur coat, and she was bedecked with all this expensive jewelry. And she pulls into this little country church parking lot. And as she pulls into the parking lot, she stops there, gets out and says, I'm going to I'm going to go into this country church. I feel so empty. And walks in and the pastor is there. She walks in, you know, with bedecked, you know, the epitome of fame and wealth. And she says to the pastor, Pastor, I'm missing something in my life. I feel empty. And he was an old country southern pastor, you know, and he looks at her and he says, "Lady, you don't look like you're missing anything when I see that car and those jewelry, it looks like you're one who got everything." But she said, "but my life's got trials, problems." And he said, "Why don't you thank God for your problems and drive away." You know, he's very direct. Mary Jane Wilkin says, I drove home that night thinking about all of this. The emptiness of my life, thanking and praising God, my my worry, my fear, my needing strength. That night she sat down at the piano, and filled with a sense of anxiety about the future, deeply concerned about this feeling of emptiness in her life, she writes these words. One day at a time, Jesus, that's all I'm asking for you. Just give me strength to do every day what I have to do. One day at a time, dear Jesus. Don't allow your worries and your fears to strangle your joy. God will give you strength for today, and when tomorrow comes, God will give you strength for tomorrow. God gives us strength for today. He imparts strength to get through the challenges we face in the present. Tomorrow's trials will bring tomorrow's strength if the worries we have about tomorrow actually take place. God's going to give us the wisdom and the strength to deal with them. I I think about a story that John Newton told. You remember, John Newton wrote the song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. Newton used an illustration, and and this is what Newton said. He said, you know, the troubles and worries that we have are kind of like a big stack of wood. And they're like this big stack of wood with all these logs. And each day we come over and we take one log in our hand, and we can walk with that one log. God gives us the strength for it. But Newton said, here's here's the problem. Here is the problem. God doesn't require us to carry the whole stack at once. Here's here's the stack of logs. I can take one stick at a time. He says, but here's what most people are doing. They take the stick from yesterday and they keep carrying it. They take the stick of today and they carry it. We can manage one stick. But if we'd only take the burden appointed for us each day, we'd be okay. But we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over and over again today and adding tomorrow's burden to our load before we're required to to bear it. And so we are overwhelmed with the load because we're carrying too much. Here's how the psalmist puts it, Psalm 55 verse 22. Psalm 55 and verse 22. Here's how the psalmist puts it. Today, I can cast my care upon Jesus. Today, I can give Jesus my burdens. Today, I can give Jesus my trials. Today, I can give Jesus my difficulties. Look. Psalm 55 verse 22. Cast your burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain you. He'll never permit the righteous to be moved. To cast your burden on the Lord means to fully entrust God to carry it rather than carrying it yourself. God is more than able to carry the full weight of our burdens. When we release our worries and anxieties and fears to God, he bears their weight. Now, notice, 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7. Trusting God for strength for today enables us to face tomorrow with confidence. 1 Peter chapter 5, you're looking there at verse 7. The scripture puts it this way. It says, casting all your care upon him. How much of our care do we cast upon Jesus? How much? A part of our care. Some of our care. Casting what? All your care upon him. Why? For he cares for you. Do you see this word here for casting? I'm interested in etymology. Etymology is the study of words. What do words mean? What's the background of that word? The word casting here is is a word that means throw the full weight of your anxiety and worry and care upon Jesus. God will give you strength for today. Accept it, believe it, receive it, embrace it, and live in the joy of his strength today. Two principles so far, what are they? I may feel worried, but God is still what? In control. Second principle, God does not give me strength for tomorrow today. He gives me strength for today when today. Third principle. What are the root what is the root of all of our worries? What what's the root of all of our fears? Why do we worry so much at times? Trials and challenges of life are the root of all our worries. But rightly understood, they can lead us to deeper trust. As we face these challenges, every difficulty in our life can be a call to prayer. Every difficulty in our life can be a call to our knees. So, worries, rather than destroying us, because we're fearful of the challenges of life, those worries can be a means that God uses to draw us closer to him. You're looking here at Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, and we're looking at verse 6 and 7. The Apostle Paul talks about our worries. He talks about our fears. And he talks about how to deal with them. Philippians chapter 4 verse 7. We'll go back in verse 6 as the verse we want. Philippians 4 verse 6. Be anxious for nothing. Now, what's another word for anxious? What's another word for anxious? To be worried or fearful, right? Be worried about nothing. But in everything by prayer and thanksgiving by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, let's decipher this verse. Be anxious, that is, don't be worried about anything. So, when worries grip your soul, when you feel the emotion of worry, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Now, I don't give thanksgiving for everything. Because there are many things in life that are evil. There are many things in life that are wicked. There are many things in life that are sinful. I don't give thanksgiving when a drunk driver hits a Christian kid and kills them. I don't give thanksgiving for that. I don't give thanksgiving where the woman in his is abused. I don't give thanksgiving if some kid's on drugs. We give thanksgiving because in the midst of the sorrow and difficulty, we can come to God. That's why we give thanksgiving. Don't be worried about anything. But in every but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Notice we it's with thanksgiving. Why is it with thanksgiving? Because we know God is still in control. Because we know that God will give us strength for today. Because we know that God's greater than the problem. With thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, notice, anxiousness and worry are opposite to peace. Do you see that in the text? So, I may feel anxious, but God is going to guard my heart when I take my anxiety to him in prayer and give me a peace. You see, it says, the peace of God which passes understanding will guard. You see that word guard, that guard is like a sentinel. That guard is like like a person who stands there watching your home so nobody will rob it. See, so what this text is saying is, when I take my worries to God, his peace like a guard, like a sentinel will stand watch. The Message Bible puts it in a very kind of modern way, and I picked this up the other day in The Message Bible. Let's go to The Message Bible now. Notice what this says. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers. Don't you like that? Let your 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.
HopeLives365: You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.