What do you do when you are having troubling dreams about a close friend and you haven’t spoken to this friend in a while, but you learned something about them recently enough that it causes you to worry about them? During waking hours you may think about this friend on and off and it seems you are not too concerned…but then you have dreams that show how worried you truly are?
I have been having such dreams… my second one in about a week or so. I sort of heard from her (my friend showing up on these troubling dreams) recently because she was letting me know she was not hit by the recent hurricane that hit the state she lives in when I reached out to make sure she and her family were safe. However… we are long overdue for a conversation about the things that have been worrying me about her. But here is the thing about worry…
Worry does not add a single moment to your life (Matthew 6:27). Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 and tells us the antidote to worry and anxiety in verses 32b-33: “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek first the Kingdom of God above all else and He will give you everything you need.” Philippians 4:6-7 also provide help with that: “Don’t worry about anything. Instead pray about everything. Tell God all your needs and thank Him for all He has done. Then His peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
It gets even better too. It is written as a promise in Zephaniah 3:17: “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love He will calm all of your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” So we give our worries and cares to God/leave them at the cross and in exchange God blessed us with peace. There are plenty more verses about worry and anxiety and about fear and since God made a point of supplying answers to overcome our worries and fears, and our anxieties, 1) He cares about us and wants us to live in peace and have the abundant life 2) faith and trust in God alone and seeking Him and His Kingdom first will cast out anxieties and worries and fears, 3) It Is important to God and to us to know how to overcome our fears, worries and anxiety, and 4) God’s love for us is perfect and expels all fears (1 John 4:18).
God has all these remedies to fear, doubt, anxiety and worry and yet even those of us who are saved and spend time in God’s Word daily still struggle with these things and most of us, daily…I am going to add a prayer you may feel free to pray for yourself or anyone else in need of it and also encourage you to read the Bible verses I mentioned + Isaiah 41:9-14 (with attention to verse 10), Isaiah 54:10-15, 17, 1 John 4:9-18, and to look up all Bible verses that deal with fear, anxiety, worry, and doubt. The prophet Elijah had just won a major victory for God’s people in 1 Kings 18, yet when he hears that the King’s wife Jezebel wants to kill him, he runs for his life (anxiety and fear) in 1 Kings 19. Even the great men and women of faith in the Bible sometimes experiences anxiety and worry and God knew we would too, which is why there are so many Bible verses that address our tendencies to worry, fret (Psalms 37:1-7), fear and experience anxiety. God has the solutions and prayer is one of them:
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before you with all our fears, worries, anxieties and doubts (and unbelief) and ask You to please help us change the things we are able to, accept the things we cannot change, bless us with wisdom to know the difference, and to help draw us all closer to Jesus and lay all of our heavy burdens (the things that weigh heavily on our minds and in our hearts) at His feet and leave them there & help us fully trust that You will work everything out for our very best, in Your time and to wait patiently with confidence and hope anchored in Jesus.
I pray this prayer for myself and for everyone reading this, sincerely in Jesus’ Mighty Beloved Name! Amen 🙏
My hope is that these Bible verses + the prayer above will help all of us who need it overcome our fears and cast our worries and anxieties on the Lord in exchange for His perfect peace that surpasses all understanding. There is also another antidote to fear, doubt, anxiety and worry:
Worship and praise! Praising God for all He has done and praising in faith for what You are praying for and waiting on God for, as if He has done it already shows God we have faith in Him and know He is good and will honor His promises. Singing hymns and other worship music to Him drives out fear and doubt, anxiety and worry because it is not possible to be praising God and worry or any of those other things at the same time. Praise and worship + adoration of our Lord and Savior helps wipe out fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, depression and along with writing God’s promises in our hearts, helps us build confidence in our Mighty God. God is not just loving, God is love.
Please forgive me for this not being my best writing. I am trying to shake off a sinus infection and some other health issues and as you can see…it is affecting my writing. I am doing the best I can to even be articulate. I truly hope this blog post blessed all who read it. And if it does bless you, feel free to share with others. God bless to all of you Faithful readers of mine and any new readers I may pick up with this message from God and me. May God’s peace and blessings be with us all, in Jesus’ Name! Amen Thank You Jesus that You hear our prayers and care about us so deeply, and turn everything around for our good! I love you Lord! 🙏