The Word To Live By: 1-10-26
Phil Waggoner
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:25, 27
The Word To Live By: The first thing I want to know is, for what reason should I not be worried about my life? If you read what Jesus said before this in chapter 6, you will see that it is pretty much summed up in verses 9-13, which is commonly known as, “The Lord’s Prayer”. In it, He covers, generally speaking, everything we have to worry about. Namely, eternal salvation (If God is your Father then you are headed to heaven. See John 1:12), daily needs, evil in our lives, His will being done in our lives (which is found in His Word and according to 2 Peter 1:3, everything pertaining to life and godliness, and last but not least, the forgiveness of our sins, assuming the criteria is met of forgiving those who sin against you (which is another huge step of living by faith that we will get into at a later date). Worry is a “you problem.” If Jesus said don’t worry, then it is possible to not worry. If you follow the principles of life in the kingdom of God, then there is nothing to worry about. I’m at a place in my life where I have no guaranteed income, yet I give away more money than I ever have before in my life and still have enough to live debt-free and travel a lot. It would be easy for me to worry about money, but when ever the thought of lack tries to come into my mind, I remind myself (out loud) that I have sown seed and my God will and does supply all of my needs according to riches in Christ Jesus. Look at Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When tempted to worry, step 1: Pray. Pray for yourself or whoever you are thinking about for the problem to go away. It says in everything, not for everything. Not everything in life is from God. (In order to know the difference, see John 10:10 or remember what I told you, God is a good God and good means good. If it ain’t good it ain’t God.) Step 2: Pray that the will of God be done in their lives and go ahead and remind God what that will is. He knows, and the devil knows, but in doing so you are reminding yourself and you let the devil know that you know. Step 3: Thank Him that His will is being done. And stick to it as often as you need to. When you do this, do it out loud because faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Also, when you speak the Word of God, you are swinging a two-edged sword in the spirit world (see Ephesians 6:10-16), and here’s a little-known fact: when you speak out loud, you are releasing angels of God to perform His Word on your behalf. Psalm 103:20, “Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His Word.” I’ve got more to say about worry and its effect on your life of faith. I will continue tomorrow.
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 10:1-20; Genesis 17; Psalms 10;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 10, Matthew 5:25-48, Acts 10:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160