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I will never forget this song that became popular in the 80's. I used to sing it a lot without even realizing what it meant. For sure you know this song too, unless you were born in the 90's. Here it goes...
Here's a little song I wrote. I want to sing it note for note. Don't worry. Be happy.
The landlord says you've got some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy.
This is as far as I can remember but really, there is so much truth to this song. Luke 12:25 says: Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Isn't this just so real? I mean how can our worrying improve our situation? Yet, we still worry because our flesh, our human nature, is prone to worrying.
Worry starts with a little feeling that can grow bigger and bigger. It is a disease that slowly eats us up and can lead to severe depression. It is a disease that can take over our lives and control us, hindering us from allowing God to work in our lives.
The fallen world we live in brings about circumstances that are meant to make us worry -- economic crisis, no jobs, increasing prices of oil, war, calamities, crime, death, etc. There is no way any or all of these can have no effect on us... unless... we renew our minds.
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2).
This Scripture is so clear. God commands us NOT TO BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD. We are not to think the way they think, act the way they act, and talk the way they talk. The whole world is prone to worrying. So if we worry, just as they do, then we are conforming to the world. Yet, the only way we can prevent ourselves from not conforming is by renewing our minds. We are to have a total mind shift -- from the world's way to the Word's way.
Worry is an insult to God and His power to protect us, to provide for us, and to get us out of our difficult situations. In Isaiah 50:2, God said: Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?
Aren't Jesus' words so clear when He said...
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:26, 28-30)
Worrying actually makes us take over our situation, side-stepping what God is doing and what He can do. And for as long as we have the human capability to do something about our situation, it is going to be easier to worry. It is only through being stripped off that we learn to let go and let God.
When I went through my financial crisis, and when I reached rock bottom, I lost even my ability to make money. My worrying didn't help because there was nothing I could do. I reached an utter point of helplessness. That's when I learned to totally surrender to God. I learned to go with the flow.
Believe me, I have all the reasons to justify why I can worry. There are just so many uncertainties around me... our living situation, not knowing when I can finally be with my eldest son again, my family so far away from me, etc. etc. etc. God surely trained me well during all those years of stripping me off, humbling me, and making me wait. I have learned to let go and let God. I have seen how He worked in impossible situations. I have witnessed how He fulfilled His promise for me, just when I was on the verge of giving up. I have seen how He has supernaturally provided for me and my family.
Now I am realizing more than ever that when you've been walking on water for so long, you become oblivious of the strong winds and storms and the fact that you may sink. The more you trust in God, the more you become desensitized to all the factors that can cause you to worry. Then you begin to live a worry-free life.
Lisa Maki is the founder of God'z Gurlz, a Bible-based online magazine for women whose mission is to is to provide a place where women can learn to manage their emotions, experience healing, receive love and acceptance, be free to be who God made them to be, and be the best they can be in their homes, schools, professions, relationships, and calling, through sharing of insights and experiences, counseling, prayer, and devotionals, thereby learning from and supporting each other.
For more of Lisa's articles, visit http://godzgurlz.com/
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