Wednesday, December 30, 2015
There is always an anticipation of what that new year will bring and the anticipation of the unknown can be very challenging and confusing to a lot of believers.
Everyone Worries About Something.
MAR 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Money has credit with people but no credit with God, PRO 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.
Money does not mean prosperity, PRO 11:28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.
PRO 13:7 There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.
PRO 13:11 Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it.
Everyone worries about something.
It’s not just one thing. It’s many things wrapped up together.
When it comes to a new year, there is usually some things that concern us especially when it comes the FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN.
Let 2016 be a year when “You must be fearless to take the path less traveled.”
“Many times, worry itself is greater than what we are worried about."
There is plenty of pessimism going around and so I would like to dispense some biblical optimism.
You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
COL 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father
1CO 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
COL 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;
EPH 5:20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
COL 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
COL 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
ECC 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might;
"Will God take care of us in 2016?"
"What do you believe He will do for you in the upcoming New Year?"
“Yes, of course, God will take care of us."
"Does God really know about my situation?"
"Are we really that important in the whole realm or perspective of things?"
"1PE 5:7 Cast all your anxieties or worries upon Him, because He cares for you. "
Will He really take care of you in the new year or will you have to handle things all by yourself?
Our Lord gives us some advice to compulsive worriers. - Not warrior's - but worriers.
“Who of you by worrying can add anything positive to your life?”
Wyrgan = to strangle or to seize by the throat.
Worry is an excessive concern over the affairs of life.
Worry happens when you are so concerned about the problems of life that you can't think of anything else.
It is an all-consuming feeling of uncertainty and fear and it is a sin, ROM 14:23; PHI 4:6.
Worry is a sin for two reasons: First, because it displaces or replaces God in your life which is a violation of EXO 20:3.
When you commit the sin of worry, you are living as though God did not exist.
And you are living as though you alone have to solve your own problems.
Worry distracts you from the things that really matter in life.
1. When the thing you are concerned about is the first thing you think about in the morning and about the last thing you think about at night.
2. When you find yourself thinking about it constantly throughout the day.
3. When you find yourself bringing it up continually in almost every conversation you have.
There is nothing about being concerned about certain things but there's everything wrong with being consumed by them.
1. Don’t worry about where your next meal is coming from, MAT 6:25.
Deep inside many individuals wonder if they are worth anything to God.
Psychologists tell us that behind nearly all emotional and mental problems lies a poor self-image.
You are going to have a hard time trusting God, because you will not see yourself as one who is worthy of His love.
ISA 5:4 "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
ROM 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
HEB 12:2 Be concentrating on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
One writer said it like this: "Good children are like sunsets. They disappear every evening and we take them for granted.
God has promised to take care of what we eat and therefore we don’t need to worry about it.
2. Don’t worry about what you are going to wear.
The flowers don’t even last very long. You buy some today and by Wednesday they’ve started to wilt.
The real you is more than the sum total of your blood, muscles, bones, fat, nerves and skin. You are not just a piece of gross anatomy.
You are a living soul living in a body made by God.
“Why did the Lord specifically mention food and clothes as things not to worry about?” Answer = they represent the basic elements of life.
Don’t worry about how long you are going to live, PSA 68:20.
PSA 68:20 God is to us a God of deliverances; And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.
PSA 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
Don't worry about that which Satan has kept members of the human race under bondage to which is HEB 2:15, their fear of death.
HEB 2:15 And the Lord might deliver those who through fear of death from the devil were subject to slavery all their lives.
In ancient times a cubit was a measurement equal to the length from the elbow to the middle finger, a distance of about 18 inches.
It can give you an ulcer or a stroke or a migraine headache or a heart attack but the one thing worry can’t give you is a longer life.
A man can worry himself to death, but he can’t worry himself into a longer life.
The whole matter is in God’s hands, PSA 68:19-20.
Only God knows when your time is up and your appointment has come.
You are free to relax, enjoy life, live each day to the fullest and go for all the gusto you can get. And let God worry about how things turn out.
In times like these, our temptation is to worry more and trust less when exactly the reverse ought to be true. We ought to worry less and trust more.
God Already Knows What You Need.
Put God First And Your Worries Second.
Don’t Worry About The Future.
Be encouraged, Look up, Rejoice, Your heavenly Father has promised to take care of you in 2016. That’s good cheer for the New Year.