7 Reasons Not to Worry

Have you ever wondered: Why am I so scared and afraid when I have so many blessings I should be counting?

Sometimes living with anxiety means the inability to turn your brain off to every imaginable worst-case scenario.

You are certain something will go wrong. Fearful situations will not turn out well. Worry about the conversation you just had, the one coming up tomorrow, or one you had five years ago. Dread next week. Fear change. Run from the unknown. Avoid going places.

And you know God tells you not to worry, but for some reason, you still do.

It is like you just cannot turn it off, no matter how hard you try.

So what can you do about it?

Attack Worry with Agape Love

Agape (pronounced ah-gah-pay) is one of the Greek words used in the Bible that means love. But agape love is not an ordinary love. It is a pure, sacrificial love made out of choice. It is the love Jesus displayed at the cross as He died for our sins. It is the pure, unfiltered love God showers upon us for being His children.

It makes me think of the love I have for my daughter. I cannot control this love – it just is. Immeasurable. Overwhelming. Unbreakable. Pure.

How do we receive this love?

God freely shares agape love with us. However, He does not want to live in a state of unrequited love. He desires that we seek Him as well so that we may more fully understand and experience His love.

The authors of the Bible were well familiar with worry and anxious thoughts. They understood that constant worry drains the body and the spirit, and that it is only in our trust in God and our willingness to shower Him with our own agape love that we can fully overcome our fears.

Let’s examine one of the most famous sections on worry in the Bible, Matthew 6:25-34 to learn seven reasons why not to worry and how to shower God with our love that we may live in greater freedom from His.

Reason 1: God made you. You can trust Him with the details.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?”

Matthew 6:25

Gretchen Rodriguez, author of The Encounter, recently shared with her mentor group a vision she had during her contemplative prayer session. Meditating on the image of Lazarus in the tomb when Jesus went to visit after Lazarus’ death, Gretchen saw herself in the tomb, covered in chains. Jesus was outside, beckoning, “Gretchen, come out.” She waited for him to come rescue her, but he did not. He continued to call, “Gretchen, come out.”

She knew Jesus never leaves us alone, and she struggled to understand - why did he not come in to get her?

She realized, in time, Jesus would not call her out unless she could get out. That there was something within her binding her with chains.

Eventually, she simply resigned and said, “I believe. I believe in you.” Immediately, the chains fell.

We often chain ourselves. In our constant worry and our constant striving to figure everything out, we often bind ourselves.

I have been caught in this often myself recently. I have been begging God to lead me in launching this nonprofit off the ground so that we can realize our dream of restoring the temple, of helping women in the church (the body of Christ) realize healing so they can make a greater impact on the Kingdom.

But I keep seeking others rather than Him.

Finally, the other day, I was forced to ask God who He is to me. His answer: “I AM.”

“I AM.” YHWH.

He IS. Everything. Greater than my problems. The Waymaker. My Deliverer. Everything I need.

And everything you need.

Reason 2: Worrying about the future limits what you can do today.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26

I have noticed that when I am fixated on tomorrow, I lose track of what I could get done today.

This is true in every aspect of my life.

If I worry about the people coming to the house on Saturday, I lose track of the family in my house today. If I worry about the tasks that need completed at work by Friday, I become paralyzed from making any headway on them today.

Constant worry paralyzes.

It keeps you from taking your kids on cool trips because there is a chance all the other kids there will make your family sick or you could get in an accident on the way.

It keeps you from going to that party because there is a chance you will embarrass yourself, feel left out, not feel good, or be bored.

It keeps you from putting down the drink because you know that is the only way you can ensure your nerves will be calmed.

Well, as Jasmine Murray sings,

I wasn't given the spirit of fear

I was given the power of love

Everything I've been fighting against

I'm gonna lift it up

I wanna be fearless

No holding back

No backing down

Fearless

Because I believe You're with me now

Bring on the unknown

Lead me and I'll go

You set me free

One of the Plasticity Restorative Practices I utilize daily is reminding myself as I breathe I am safe, I am valued, I know who I am, and I choose life. Living in these truths helps me to live fearlessly.

Reason 3: Worrying hurts more than it helps.

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Matthew 6:26

Worrying causes stress.

Simplistically, chronic stress creates an imbalance of cortisol. In a regulated, non-stress state, cortisol is a superstar, regulating your metabolism, blood pressure, blood sugar, circadian rhythm, and suppressing inflammation.

In a normal stress state, cortisol releases glucose from your liver for a quick energy hit and suppresses inflammation, digestion, immune response and reproduction in order for the body to prioritize eliminating the stressor.

Unfortunately, we live over-stressed lives where we are constantly under fire, and our bodies react any time we face a truly life-threatening stress or we simply feel as if there is a life-threatening stress.

This can cause a hormone disruption as our brain signals the continual release of cortisol, potentially repressing our immune, reproductive, and digestive systems, our blood sugar and metabolism regulation, and our sleep/wake cycle. Over time this can physically lead to insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, weight gain, thyroid dysregulation, and even an increased cancer risk.

Psychologically, we become even more stressed because we feel sick, lose the ability to see the beautiful image-bearers we are, get frustrated by our irritability, and begin to push away friends and those we love, sometimes even God.

Worrying does not add time to your life. It diminishes it.

Reason 4: God does not ignore those who depend on Him.

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Matthew 6:28-30

Let us revisit the grave of Lazarus.

John 11:1-45 tells the story Lazarus dying while Jesus was in a different town. Upon hearing Lazarus was sick, Jesus waited four days before travelling to Bethany to see Lazarus. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead, in his tomb, for four days.

Martha, Lazarus’ sister, was heartbroken. Yet, she depended upon Jesus and her faith in him. She told Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You” (John 11: 21-22).

Despite her faith, Martha still doubted Jesus’ ability to raise Lazarus now, before the appointed time of the resurrection on the last day. When Jesus went to open the tomb, she said, “’Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’… Then he cried, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ Out came the man who had died, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth” (John 11:39-40, 43-44).

Wow!

Now recount my story of author Gretchen Rodriguez’s vision of being bound in chains within Lazarus’ grave with Jesus calling her out. It took her losing reliance upon herself to figure out a way out and putting her full trust in Jesus before the chains broke.

How do we get to this place? Many of us strive and never seem to find it.

This is why repentance is such a vital Restorative Practice in our lives. It is only when we are willing to get on our knees and cry out to God that we cannot do it on our own, that we are ready to stop carrying our burdens by ourselves, and release it to him that we finally learn what it means to depend on Him.

Reason 5: Worrying reveals a lack of faith in and understanding of God.

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

Matthew 6:31-32

Reason 5 feels like a harsh condemnation.

Am I truly saying that if you worry you have no faith? That you do not understand God?

Doubtful. If you have made it this far, I bet you have faith. I even wager you have understanding.

The reality is, faith and understanding deepens as we walk with God.

Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, states, “spiritual maturity is neither instant nor automatic; it's a gradual, progressive development that will take the rest of your life. Referring to this process, Paul said, ‘This will continue until we are . . . mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him’” (Ephesians 4:13 CEV).

Key Ministries describes this progressive development as spiritual “promotions.” Essentially,

each promotion depicts a new level of faith, understanding, maturity, and growth in a person’s walk with God. So while the new believer has become aware of Jesus, thirsts for Him, and pours through the Word to learn how to die to self, a more mature believer may be developing a deeper wisdom created from the infusion of fiery trials and her walk with Christ in order to shepherd others.

I see worry, then, as evidence of living in one of the first several promotions, one of the earlier understandings of our faith journeys. We can love God with all our hearts, minds, and bodies, seek after Him for years, and still not rise to the place where we experience the “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, [which] will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5-7 ESV).

Now please do not misunderstand me. Any promotion is a good thing! Worry may just be a sign that there is still a lot of headway to strengthen your relationship with Christ and learn how to live more fully and richly within his love. Is that not great news?!

So how do we grow? By learning to rest in Him, be still in Him, and constantly come to Him.

In my own life, I have found the Agape Love Restorative Practices of daily Bible reading, worship, repentance, contemplative prayer, prayer/mantra breathing, and spiritual mentorship to be vital components in my journey.

Reason 6: Worrying distracts us from God’s calling on our lives.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew: 6:23

This verse above all else has been my guidepost.

Seek first His kingdom.

Seek to live as God wants us to live. How? Jesus sums it up in Matthew 22:37-40:

“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Lord, how to love you with all my heart, soul, mind (and additionally in Mark 12:30), strength! I yearn to do so and yet always fall short.

But I am getting better. Restorative Practices like taking a Sabbath rest, pausing in Him throughout the day, contemplative prayer, Christian mentoring, and repentance are vital in this area.

Seek first his righteousness.

This form of the word righteousness comes from the Greek dikaios (Strongs 1343 dikaiosynē), which means correct, righteous, by implication innocent. Now, in the Hebrew mindset, of which Jesus’ audience would have used the context, that meant following all of God’s laws from the Old Testament to a tee. However, Jesus was preparing his disciples for a new form of righteousness, one dependent upon his death on the cross and sanctification of our sins through the shedding of his blood.

So how do we seek God’s righteousness? Seek greater faith.

I can only imagine how small my faith must be if the faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain (Matthew 17:20-21).

How do we seek greater faith?

Work to learn more about God, to know him better, to live by His guidance, and to call upon Him first in every situation. It is in the fruits of these endeavors that your faith will grow, and you will begin to see the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit in your life.

And all of these things will be given to you as well.

What is given to us? Let’s look back in the section:

· Your life

· What you will eat and drink

· Your body

· What you will wear

Wow, Lord.

I have struggled with all of these areas.

My life as I knew it was taken from me in 2017. I lost the ability to eat and drink freely as I desired. My body was broken. My clothes literally fell off of me from the weight I lost.

So I clung to this verse.

And over time – because it is rarely instantaneous – I am learning to live it.

I do not think we ever fully “arrive” at this one. But dedicating daily time to God that includes praise, humility, reflection, and repentance can bring us a long way. Praise Yahweh!

Reason 7: If we focus on the present day, we cannot be consumed with the worries of tomorrow.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34

I am planner. I have to see and know what is coming up today, tomorrow, next week, next year.

This personality trait makes this call to action one of the most difficult for me to follow.

How can I plan without worrying about tomorrow?

When I went on my first work trip, to Annapolis, my husband told me he wished he could have moved out the two weeks before I left. I constantly thought aloud and discussed the flight, the itinerary, what I needed to pack, how it would all fit, what transportation would look like, what I would eat – you name it, I chewed on it all day, every day.

Conversely, when we planned for our Alaskan cruise – a much longer trip with a lot more moving parts – several months later, my husband felt at peace with my processing. Yes, I planned. I had my packing list created and started gathering items a week out, I knew our itinerary and what snacks I wanted to bring, etc. The difference was the lack of obsessive mindset and constant internal (and external) chattering that I must plan for anything that might go wrong.

Honestly, the greatest difference in my life between those two trips was the purposeful incorporation of targeted breathing exercises combined with very specific prayer breaths throughout each day and during my moving meditation.

With this, which helped me to focus more purposefully on God and His promises while tapping into my body’s innate ability to calm down, God delivered me from one of my greatest anxieties – travelling anxiety.

The intersectionality of faith and science heals.

I think sometimes we forget that God is the master designer.

He spoke all of the universe, earth, and animals into existence. Yet, he used his hands to craft and sculpt Adam, awakening him with His breath.

To me, this is further evidence that God literally imbued Himself within us from the very beginning.

Our world, however, thrives on scientific discovery rather than faith-filled practice. As we uncover more layers and understand of how our bodies work, we are simply uncovering the precision with which God created us. We are deepening our understanding of His creation and the laws He put into place to govern our bodies and our world.

So it makes sense to me that when we intersect scientific discovery and faithful practice that we can tap into both our bodies’ innate healing abilities and the Holy Spirit’s healing and protection.

The struggle lies in moving past the obstacles the Enemy uses to weigh us down and keep us from realizing these healing capabilities are options in our life.

I always think of it as our body being stuffed full of cotton balls – the more cotton balls and the more tightly squeezed together the Enemy can put them throughout our bodies (in the form of injuries, inflammation, doubt, fears, anxieties, hormone imbalance, etc.), the harder it is for us to function. The harder it is for us to function, the less likely we are to believe God heals. The less we believe in God’s abilities, the less overall faith we have. The less faith we have in God, the more faith we put elsewhere – or the more we believe faith is not real.

The Enemy can put us on a slippery slope real fast.

This is why I am so thankful to God for my healing journey. He has shown and taught me that isolated attention is not enough to heal.

I changed my diet to a properly prepared, nutrient dense, whole foods diet. I saw some improvement, but not healing. I sought counseling. It helped me express myself, but I was not healed. I went to church and read the Bible. I grew in my relationship with God, but my body was still broken.

Now – God can choose to manifest miracles. But until we are the recipients, my belief is that we have to work to clear the cotton balls, little by little, every day.

Some call it lifting the veil.

By clearing the obstruction, we loosen the Enemy’s hold on us and provide more of a space for God’s light and energy to move and work.

I will not pretend I have all of the answers to this.

However, I do know that God led me to understand that we can clear an incredible amount of the obstructions if we focus on lessening the impact of seven key obstacles to healing by strengthen our mitochondrial and electromagnetic energy pathways.

What that means is a whole different conversation, so please reach out at kristie@nourishingrootsmindbodyspirit.com if you want to learn more.

A brief disclosure.

I have to end by sharing – I am no theologian. I have not studied the Bible from the viewpoint of a clergyman. So everything I posit is from my own research and the lens through which I see life. This is where I am in my knowledge and promotional faith journey. So if you see something you feel I missed or from a different angle, I invite you to gracefully share so that as a community our faith and understanding can grow stronger.

Blessings,

Kristie

Disclaimer: Nourishing Roots: Mind, Body, Spirit Inc. and its volunteers and employees offer general non-medical nutrition and lifestyle recommendations that are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease or illness. All advice given is strictly recommended based on our education and experience with nutrition and wellness and constitutes general non-medical advice. Clients are urged to seek medical approval before embarking on any physical fitness program or nutrition or wellness plan.