“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”  - George Muller

An average person's anxiety is focused on:

40% -- things that will never happen
30% -- things about the past that can't be changed
12% -- things about criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress
8% -- about real problems that will be faced

Philippians 4:6.  “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Read Matthew 6:16-34.  Jesus teaches us how to avoid worry. Unfortunately, this scripture is so familiar that we can either quote it or read it without even thinking about its meaning!

Here are the highlights:

1.     Fasting –helps us focus on God. Fasting is not punishing ourselves, but a God-given way to help us be more in tune with the Holy Spirit. God does not reward us for punishing ourselves, but rather our self-discipline pleases God. When you fast (not if you fast!) be sure your motive is right.  

2.     “Keep the main thing the main thing!” Be sure your treasure in the right place! (Webster’s Dictionary says our treasure is a person or thing that has value to us.”)

Your treasure is anything you do in this life that has eternal value, it will be rewarded in heaven, but God also rewards us in this life. Simply put, if you give money to God you will be rewarded in heaven (where you do not need money) and on earth, where money is needed. Luke 6:38, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap."

3.     Verse 22 – your eye is the lamp of your body. What comes through your eye affects your spirit. The psalmist wrote, “I will set before my eyes no vile thing.” (Psalm 101:3)

If he were writing today he would say, “Be careful what you read, watch on TV, and see at the movies!”

4.     You can only have one master. Either God or money! If money is only a tool, what does it represent that God feels like it competes with Him? POWER and SELF-RELIANCE!

“Thou shall have no other gods before Me.”

Finally, the way to get rid of ALL STRESS is to: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”       (Proverbs 3:5)

Chip Brim recently talked about the need for passion in our churches. To illustrate his point he compared a church service with a University of Oklahoma football game.  In a tight game, the 75,000 fans in Norman, OK would be on their feet screaming at the top of their lungs when a touchdown is made.  In church folk think, “Well, that’s nice....”

He then talked about all the OU reminders people have… blankets, house slippers, radio, sports pages, TV, and bumper stickers. OU emblems can be found on credit cards and shirts, caps and jackets.…

His concluding question… “What if the church got that excited?” It’s a great question!

No illustration is perfect… because there is also a lot of stress when our football and basketball teams don’t do well.

So let’s go another step. Develop a total trust in God taking care of you, just as He promised!  Wow!  

1 John 5:13-15.  “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of Him.” 

Think about it! Do you REALLY believe that scripture?  Do I?

1.     We are God’s children.

2.     God is love – He always wants to bless us. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

3.     When a prayer is not answered, ask God for His plan, knowing that He will share it! You can understand the answer!

4.     Is this possible? Absolutely! 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (God’s secret wisdom has been revealed to us (or can be) through the Spirit of God. “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” “We have received the Spirit of God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” “But we have the mind of Christ.”

God reveals true wisdom to us through His Spirit. Here is a proof of the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 2 Peter 1:21 states, “Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

We know the Holy Spirit is God because “He knows all things; He searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

The apostles were not guided by worldly principles. They had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God. These things they declared in plain, simple language, taught by the Holy Spirit, totally different from the affected oratory or enticing words of man's wisdom.

An unsaved person cannot understand the things of God. They seem silly to him or her. However, the sanctified mind discerns (understands) the things of God!

Christians will remain spiritually immature if they do not spend time meditating on God’s Word. God’s message to Joshua: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8)

One of my major areas of stumbling is been pride. My goal has been to be an independent fellow, trying to solve all of my problems – and only going to God when I get overwhelmed. God has not been impressed!

Proverbs 3:6 (KJV) “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”

The secret here is so obvious that I missed it. What it means is you pray until you get the next step!

A very successful business man recently told me that the way to make his company stronger after a downturn took a lot of prayer. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I spent so much time on my knees they got sore!” The end result was amazing!

He is an agent for a large national company. For the month of February the entire company had a growth factor of 0.9 of 1%. His business was up 27%. Why? Because every time he had to take a step he prayed until he understood what God wanted him to do!

In order to hear from God at that level it takes a lot of prayer and faith! It also takes faithfulness. It also takes courage to go against the opinions of others.

Another business man reported that one idea can be worth a million dollars. His company had a problem with waste that came as a result of their manufacturing process. They spent thousands of dollars each month having it hauled off. One day in prayer the thought came to a member of the leadership team. “What if we could find someone who could use the waste?”

The end result: They found a company that would pay them for the product – the end result was a annual $1,000,000 improvement in their bottom line!

The man who invented the large clip that we use to close a bag of potato chips was close to bankruptcy when God gave him that idea. He sold the patent for $1 Million and turned his company around.

God does not have favorite children… He loves us all equally, and teaches us to do the same thing. But these ideas usually come to the man or woman who is walking closely to God and spending quality prayer time with God.

Recently I heard the story of a businessman in San Francisco many years ago. He made it a point to follow every commandment he could find in the Bible. He was on a business trip to Chicago when he received a report that the block he had his business on was burning. They told him that there was no chance his business could survive.

He said, “That’s not true. I’m a tither, and God promised to rebuke the devourer for my sake.” He refused to worry about it… and his business was spared!

So… what are you worried about? Why not convert that energy into prayer and faith. You will be thrilled at what God does for you!

Pastor Leon