Why worry? Give thanks!

We are currently in the “season” of Thanksgiving.  This time of year usually tends to bring many things to be thankful for.  There is the Holiday of Thanksgiving… mostly spent with family and a lot of food.  And the Holiday of Christmas… commercialized with gifts and trees and lights.  And then the Holiday of New Years… filled with resolutions that probably won’t last past a few months, and words for the year to live by and Bible verses for the year to define the year.

I really hope you read most of that first paragraph in the sarcastic character that I am. But really...

What are we truly thankful for?  And are we thankful in all circumstances?  It can be pretty easy to be thankful on the mountain top, when all of the pieces of life seem to be falling into place and fitting together nicely.  But will we lift His name in the lowest valley?  Will we sing for joy when our hearts are heavy?  When one thing after another happens that seems to be out of our control, will we praise His name?  We can!  Because we serve a Creator who is in control of everything.

A friend of mine has had a lot going on in life… But I am continually amazed at how she just rolls with it.  I remember saying to her “you really do just roll with the punches, don’t you?”  And her response holds so much truth.  She said that there really is no point in sitting at home and worrying about life.  1.)  It happens and you can’t do anything about some of it.  And 2.) Life goes on.  It doesn’t stop moving just because something unexpected happened.

If we sat at home worrying about the things that happen, we are never going to walk in the direction that the Lord wants us to move in.  We will stay where we are at and we won’t move forward.  Worry does no good.  It doesn’t add seconds to our lives…

Matthew 6:27 (NLT) “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”

Worrying steals seconds from our lives.  And the devil loves that because he is a thief and he wants to steal our joy and our life from us.

Have you ever looked up at the starry sky and thought “He not only made all of those stars… and the stars unseen… He also NAMED THEM ALL!?!?!?!  And the same God that did all of that wants a relationship with me?”  I returned recently from Hawaii.  And I just can’t stand by the ocean without some Holy Spirit leaking from my eyes.  Think about the grains of sand along the shore.  God has more thoughts about us than there are grains of sand!

Psalm 139:17-18
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

Don’t try to comprehend that amount.  It’s impossible.  At one particular moment, however, a group of us gals meandered over to some big old rocks along the shore.  I turned one way and saw the beauty and majesty of the mountains.  I turned the other way to witness the power of the waves crashing against the rocks we were standing on.  In that moment my heart became a little weepy.  Because that is how amazing He is.  He is more majestic and more powerful than anything I experienced in that moment.  He is that beautiful and on Christ the solid Rock I stand!!!

So why worry?  If He created all of these amazing things… If He tells the wind where to blows… if He tells the waves where to stop and start… if He has placed every star in the sky perfectly and named every single one of them… why do we worry?  Believe it or not…. Worry is a choice.  And Satan doesn’t make that choice for us.  Satan ALSO doesn’t FORCE us to worry.  Sorry.  Bummer I know.  WE... YOU make that choice.  Satan is a bandwagon fan though.  He is quick to jump on the worry bandwagon.  When we choose to think on the things that are not from God… or we act on things to satisfy our flesh… you better believe that Satan is our biggest fan.  But he will quickly become an enemy when we start choosing the things we know are from God.  When we walk in the light of who God made us to be, Satan is no longer a fan.  He fights with everything he can against us.  Because he knows who we can become if we walk out the destiny the Lord has placed before us… even if we don’t know who that person is just yet!!

I believe that the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God is our weapon as stated in Ephesians 6:17.  I believe that praise and worship are weapons.  Because when we know who God says He is… and we know who He says we are… and we know what He has done and will do for us… all of which we glean from the Word… how in the world can we not worship?  Spending time in His word is worship!!  Spending time with Him is worship!  And we fight back.  We aren’t just on the defensive.

It makes me think of something I hear when I’m watching basketball and that is, “They aren’t playing to win.  They are playing to not lose.”  Satan wants us to play to not lose.  Because when we play that way the game tends to be much closer than it should be.  We tighten up.  We focus on the things that we shouldn't be doing more than we focus on the things the Lord is doing.  We might still win (Spoiler alert:  Jesus done won) but we allowed the game to be closer than it should have been.  Play from the victory.  Walk in the victory the Lord has already won for you.

Psalm 103:2
"Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me."

We can acknowledge the things in life that happened.  We can acknowledge who we once were.  But we can CHOOSE to live in the present in who God says we are and in the things that He has done for us.
What has He done?

Psalm 103:3 – He’s forgiven.  He heals
Psalm 103:4 – He redeems.  He crowns with love and tender mercies.
Psalm 103:5 – He fills life with good things and renews strength.

I am no longer a slave to things that I’ve done.  I am no longer a slave to the things done to me.  I am no longer a slave to addictions.  That’s not who I am!  My life is no longer defined or controlled by anxiety and worry.  It’s just not!  Because the Lord has done great things for me.  When we choose to focus on the past or how we aren’t perfect or who we once were or what people think about us, we allow worry to creep in.

Worship is worry in reverse.  I can’t take credit for that as I heard it on a podcast recently.  Worship is worry in reverse.  When we focus on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable… worry has no place.  A friend pointed out that that verse, Philippians 4:8, those are all part of who our Lord is.  So, when we focus on the Lord, and we know who He says He is because we’ve spent time with Him, worshipping Him, worry has no place.  Peace replaces worry when we give Him our worries and we thank Him for all He has done.

Philippians 4:6-7 “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. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

If we want to know peace, don’t focus on the things of the flesh and this world!  If we want to know peace, know the Lord!  Romans 8:6 says that if we are controlled by the flesh and we focus on the flesh, we will die.  But if we are controlled by the Spirit and we think about the things of the Lord, we will have life and peace.  If we stay in who we once were and we keep looking back at who we once were and that is our focus, instead of focusing on where the Lord is taking us, we will stay where we are and will die there.  But if we look at what the Lord has done, where He has brought us, and where He wants to take us… if we keep moving forward… we will walk in that direction.  Where we fix our eyes matters.  Where we fix our thoughts matters… because wherever our thoughts are, our eyes will more than likely follow, and that is the direction we will walk.  Another podcast quote, “Your life moves in the direction of your strongest thought.”

Who we think we are matters.  If we allow ourselves to be defined by the people in our lives… or material wealth… or status… or whatever… we will be sorely disappointed.  If we allow ourselves to be defined by who HE says we are then we will walk out a destiny far greater than we can imagine and what others say about us won’t matter so much to us.  I will say that it does matter who we surround ourselves with.  However, the truth that should truly define us is the Word of God.  If we get into the Word, we find out that God is who He says He is.  Which in turn means we can believe who He says we are.

In just Psalm 103 we find:
Verse 8 – He is compassionate and merciful.  Slow to anger and ever loving.
Verse 9 – There is no condemnation in Him and He doesn’t stay angry with us.
Verse 10 – We don’t, nor have we ever gotten what we deserve.
Verse 11 – His love is higher than Heaven is above the Earth.
Verse 12 – Our sins are washed away.  He gets rid of them as far as East is from the West.
Verse 13 – He loves us and is tender and compassionate toward us.
Verse 14 – He knows us better than we know us because He created every intimate detail of our very being.

If we want just a snapshot of who He is, look at Psalm 103.  The Bible is a who conglomerate of those snapshots.  Don’t waste your time worrying.  Don’t live in who the world says you are.  Time is short so I would encourage you to live for the Lord.  And live knowing that His love will follow you all the days of your life.

Psalm 103:15-18
"Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.  The wind blows, and we are gone —  as though we had never been here.  But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him.  His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!"