Worry or Gratitude, You Make the Choice

by Alexandra Copeland 

Through the Apostle Paul, God told us in Philippians 4:6-7(NLT), “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.” This is probably a favorite passage for just about every Christian, and in it we can clearly see God’s heart. He doesn’t want us to worry about anything; not problems at home or work; not problems in our relationships, or even problems with our health. He doesn’t want us worrying period!

We have to ask ourselves why. Why doesn't God want us to worry? Well, Heavenly Father is an on-purpose God. He doesn’t tell us to do things without a good reason, neither would He tell us to abstain or refrain from something without a good reason as well. Worry and anxiety impacts us in many adverse ways. Anxiety is a reaction to stress, and this stress can come from a number of external factors like the ones mentioned above. Problems within our families and at work can be stressful, and feelings of insecurity and self-doubt can also be very taxing. We live in a very complex world, and it comes with its own set of pressures. When our thoughts become consumed with these, and we feel as if problems are coming at us from all directions, stress can take a toll on our mental and physical health.

Probably the greatest hindrance of worry is that of being a blocker in our spiritual lives. Worry is a remnant of fear, and fear doesn’t come from God. 1John 4:18(NKJV) tells us, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” 1John 4:8 also tells us that God is love, and His love will cast out fear, but if we’re stuck in a mindset of worry and anxiety, we’re not making room for God’s love to come in and be at work within. 

This is one of the biggest problems that worry causes. It demonstrates that we are preparing for a posture of doubt rather than one of faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Capturing our thoughts, and turning ones of doubt to those of trusting Heavenly Father through Christ, is a discipline we must exhibit. God tells us exactly what to do with worry in Philippians 4:6. He tells us to put prayer in the place of worry, and to pray about any-and-everything on our hearts and minds. It is so wonderful that God has made His expectation regarding how we are to respond to Him very clear. 

We live in a world where many people claim to be Christians, but their hearts are far from God. They have an image of Him in their minds that doesn’t jive with who He says He is in His Word. Instead of studying God’s Word and allowing themselves to be taught by the indwelling Holy Spirit, they listen to and believe information that isn’t true. They are not praying to the One True God that answers the prayers of the righteous. So, when their prayers are not answered, they get angry and disillusioned, when they should be pressing in to know the Sovereign God, Yahweh, in all His glorious splendor.

God is all powerful, all knowing, and full of light and love. He never sleeps or slumbers. He’s always on time, and He never disappoints. Experiencing the weight of His glory is the greatest joy that any human can have. ‘Awesome’ is way too small a word to describe His wondrous omnipotence and majesty. We didn’t first love Him; He first loved us. Even before the foundation of the world, we were on His mind. It stands to reason then, that when we come before Him, He expects that we will know Him as the Heavenly Father we honor through Jesus Christ; that we will know His power and be intimately familiar with His love.

 

It is in this cocoon of His care that we understand worry is not for those who know His heart. This is not to say that we will not or cannot experience angst from time to time. We will, but we are commanded by God to put it in check. In other words, we have a choice. We can acknowledge God with an attitude of gratitude, or we can allow our hearts to be troubled through doubt and unbelief. It is not possible to do both at the same time and be as stable as faith dictates we should be. 

When it comes to problems, sin issues, and any other thing on our hearts, Heavenly Father tells us to lay it all out in our prayers to Him, and then we ought to thank Him for all He has done. This includes gratitude for receiving what we’ve just prayed about. It may not have manifested in the natural, but we should have a mind-and-heart-set that demonstrates to God our full-persuasion in His willingness and ability to bless us. We should be confident AND thankful that He has already blessed us and taken care of the issues we face before the solution is revealed to us.

  

We don’t need to be repetitious, repeating the same prayer all day long. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to do this if we can do so with an earnest heart, but God knows that we have responsibilities and things to take care of. So, our posture should be one of turning our thoughts to victorious ones. Philippians 4:8 (NLT) tells us, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” We need to keep our eyes focused on the goodness of God, and thank Him for blessing us in the past, present, and future. 

Knowing our God, knowing His bigness and love should give us comfort, and a peace that passes all understanding. Philippians 4:7 tells us that His peace will guard our hearts. As we pray to our Heavenly Father with honor and reverence for who He is, He will flood us with a sense of wholeness that can only come from Him. The Holy Spirit will blanket our cares, and a calm will anchor itself within. We’ll know at that moment that our gratitude for the goodness of God has opened the door for worry to go out and blessings to come in.

 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.