It can often feel like worry is the best option we will ever have when facing uncertainty or a lack of control. Worry is defined as the unease of focusing on difficulty or trouble. We all know what it's like to worry, but not everyone knows how to overcome worry.
I wrote about worry a few weeks back and someone responded in a comment saying "You can't just tell worry to leave," and I couldn't agree more. Worry goes beyond just a feeling and many times we might find that getting rid of worry is easier said than done. It's difficult to remove worry, but it's not impossible. Because worry seems to easily creep into our hearts and minds, the best way to get rid of it is to find an alternative. Happily, God's Word offers us one.
Philippians 4:6-7 tells us this: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
The best alternative to dwelling in worry and holding on to it is to present it to God. There will always be something to worry about, but the question is will we hold on to it or readily present it at Jesus' feet and choose instead to rest in Him as we trust that He can make things work for our good? The best way we present our worries to God is by prayer and petition.
The danger of worry starts when the enemy - Satan - starts using it to plant deception in us. He wants us to think that we can't trust God to fix things on our behalf, that He can't or won't provide and that you will have to do things yourself. It was worry that Satan tried to take advantage of as Jesus fasted in the wilderness and challenged Him to turn stones into food, but worry did not take root in Jesus' heart because He presented all things to the Father in prayer. Prayer is our ultimate weapon against the lies and deceptions that might creep in when we allow worry to linger in our hearts and minds.
And again, I am in no way implying that this is an easy task. In fact, prayer is one of the most unnatural things to do in the flesh. When we walk according to natural needs and logic, prayer will seem to always be the most useless and fruitless task in gaining ground in times worthy of worry. We, however, do not walk in just the natural but also the supernatural, and in the supernatural, there is nothing more powerful than presenting requests to God by prayer with thanksgiving.
God's promise is made clear in verse 7: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." There will be peace when we present our requests to God before, during and even after we find out that our worries were never as worthy of our time and devotion as Jesus is.
