Reflections on the Book Winning the War on Worry: Part 2 - Lie #1

 "You always have to go to the worst possible case scenario!"

Boy, have I heard that often in my life...sigh...I always attributed that nasty quality of mine to my negative nature.  I never thought it was something I could control.  I mean, how much can you force yourself to be a positive thinker, really? To me that would be like me forcing myself to be 4 inches taller than I am.  I mean, how do I do that? I guess I could fake it by wearing 4-inch-heel shoes and pretending to be able to walk on those.  At the end of the day, though...I'm still not 6-foot tall.

Pastor Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry tells us how worry is not from God.  Worry is a tool of the enemy and he uses it to manipulate us and to make us drift away from The Almighty.  When the enemy uses worry to enslave us, he employs 4 lies, and the first one is:  "something really bad is going to happen."  It's not that bad things don't happen.  They do.  We have experienced that reality.  We live in a fallen world and of course bad scenarios are often unavoidable.  However, the trick is to remember that not because we are facing something seemingly terrible, the worst possible thing is actually going to be the outcome.  Sometimes it will be and what we fear most will come to pass.  But, more often than not, the horrible thing we fear might happen, does not happen.  

The point is, why worry? I remember one of my first bosses a thousand years ago, used to say, "keep calm and do your job.  There's plenty of time to panic later."  And if we think about it, it's true!  We don't know what the future holds.  We may have a sense...a feeling...but we don't really know for sure.  God's plan is perfect, and He has a way to make everything work out in the end.  We might have to go through some tribulations for a while, but we know how the story ends: we running to the arms of Jesus...so, come what may!

There is a supernatural peace that comes to us when we surrender our fears to our Lord...and as such, precisely because it is supernatural, it doesn't come naturally.  It comes by allowing the Holy Spirit to take over our thoughts and by filling our minds with Scripture.  So when the hard times do come, we are prepared and we trust that Jesus will equip us to face it, and above all, that He will be going through the fire and high waters with us.

I don't know how effective I will be at modifying my perspective from worst-case-scenario to "I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength." But I am glad to hear that by being aware this is a lie from the devil, I can recognize it when it threatens to overtake me with its darkness.  Once I recognize it is the enemy trying to defeat me, I can invoke the Holy Spirit to guard me and lead me back to His Light.

In the meantime, I cling to the hope that is Jesus.  And as I learn to immerse myself into His Word and trust it more and more each day, I know He will rescue me.  In the Precious Name of My Lord and Savior Who is Truth.  Amen!