Philippians 4 - Cast off Anxiety

Picture this....you have two people standing in front of you...

Person #1:
Smiling, cheerful, full of energy, encouraging

Person #2:
frowning, worrying, brooding, looking for assurance

Now both of these people can have a relationship with Christ. But which one will attract you and which one do you feel like...I want what that person has?

When you have a good relationship with Christ (just like with other friends), you can lay your burdens of God and release them.

The following verse points out a few key ideas to us:

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ 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.

First, the importance of releasing our worries. Instead of holding on to them, thinking about them, and perseverating, we need to speak them to God and remember that God is powerful and has handled many things for us before. God has provided, God has guided, and God has protected us.

Second is the role gratitude plays. When you focus your mind on gratitude for things that you have, you start to see the good and positive side of things and that becomes more important than the concerns.

Another is the habit of peace and it's protection. When we regularly find ourselves at peace, and make that a habit, we will find that worry and anxiety have trouble getting a hold on us. The feeling of peace protects us from the arrows of doubt and worry because we have trust that God is taking care of us and will keep us in the palm of God's hand.

So are you carrying a load of worry today?

1. Speak it out to God, whatever it is.
2. Thank God for what you have and what God has done for you.
3. Start developing a habit of peace!