10 ways God defeats our worry

10 ways God defeats our worry15/5/2020
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By Erich Schoeman (Clinical Psychologist)
Matters of the Soul (www.mattersofthesoul.org or www.sakevdsiel.org)

Following on from my previous article, 10 ways to defeat worry, here are 10 ways that the Lord breaks the worrying cycle in our lives.    

The gospel is about a person who is alive and well today.  Jesus Christ was resurrected from death and is presently at God the Father’s right hand in heaven.  We can talk with Him and share in His relationship with the Father, experience His love and the direct impact on our lives today through the Holy Spirit He sent to be with us.  

If you have put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins (the fact that you have broken God’s laws and missed His design for you as your Creator) and eternal life (you will be where He is now after you die), then you have experienced the new life of the Holy Spirit.  You now know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. 

Now put the rest of your life also in His hands.  You should learn to follow His thoughts and plans for your life and not your own.In order to follow Him, you must know Him and this happens through His Word (the Bible) and experience.  The Word teaches you the truth about who He is and what He wants.  Then you can put your trust in Him, do what He says and see Him at work through various life experiences. 

God plays a number of roles in your daily life.  This relieves you of trying to be all these things to yourself or solely relying on other people.  As you learn to trust God you will experience the blessed delight of living on earth as one of His children.  This will significantly reduce your reasons for worrying.   

Here are 10 roles that God fulfills in your life.  He is your:

1. Father  “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 
Romans 8:15 New Living Translation (NLT)
As your Father, He lovingly takes care of you and wisely corrects you for your benefit.  He is so trustworthy that you can trust Him as Jesus did, even unto death.

2. Friend     “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me”
John 15:15 (NLT)
He considers you a friend and laid down His life for you.  Now wouldn’t He also care for you?  

3. Helper “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble”
Psalm 46:1 (NLT)
He is always available to help.  Ask anytime.  Make sure you seek what He wants for you, it’s better anyway. 

4. Provider and Leader “The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need“
Psalm 23:1 GNB 
When you are God’s child and you follow Him as your leader, you will find that He cares for every need of yours, emotional and physical.  He will look after you like a shepherd looks after the sheep.  The sheep have no stress.  They chill out. 

5.Strength “For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is fully devoted to Him”
2 Chronicles 16:9
When you depend on the Lord and follow Him wholeheartedly, you will find that He uses your crises to show His strength and then you can testify to His reality and power.
You rely on the strength that He works through you.  You might remain weak, but He will be strong (2 Corinthians 12:10)

6. God Almighty “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless”.
Gen 17:1
God is all powerful and He can do anything.  You should trust Him unequivocally.  

7. Protector “The LORD is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe.”
Psalm 18:2 GNT
God promises to be our protector.  He shields us against many dangers of life.  .  However, sometimes unexpected things may happen to us that could make it seem as though He is not.  The fact that it happens does not mean He is not protecting.  It is rather that you are safe in the midst of the storm, walk on the water.  The threat is needed to effect a rescue and show of power.  God becomes visible through your situation.  

If God does not rescue and protect us in the way that we thought He would and the outcomes are less than desirable, we have the reassurance that He is in control of our lives.  He allows certain situations and whatever the outcome, masterfully works them to our good and His glory (Rom 8:28).  He uses these to strengthen our faith (Jam 1), make us live out more of our true identity, the Lord Jesus (Rom 8:29) and bring glory to His Name.  
We have the comfort that our lives are genuinely in His hands (Ps 31:15) and He is always with us (Heb 13:5-6).  When you are exposed to bad things, ask Him what you want to happen, but wait to see how He works these out for His glory.  Be available and trusting.  If we then worry, it means we’ve forgotten that He is God, loves us and will protect us.  

8. Peace “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.
Isaiah 9:6
The fact that the Lord Jesus is in your life gives you peace with God, peace in life’s challenges, peace about your eternal destiny, peace because He, the one who loves you, is intimately with you.

9. Faithful God “Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war”.
Rev 19:11
Faithfulness is part of who God is.  If He promises you something, He will do it.  Make sure you keep on trusting and do not give up when it seems that what you wanted didn’t happen.  Follow God’s plan.  

10. Comforter “Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”.
2 Cor 1:3-4 AMP
         He wants to comfort us in trouble and enable us to then comfort others.  

Letting go of worry is a daily process of replacing worrying thoughts with the truth of who God really is and what that means in your life.  May the Lord bless you as you trust in His guidance to help you let go of worry and let God take over.

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