Reflections on the Book Winning the War on Worry - Lie #3

 My Mother and Father were both major-league-worriers.  They spent all of their lives while I was around, worrying about something.  My Mom was afraid of everything, which caused her to worry constantly.  My Dad never really made much of a distinction between a big problem and a little problem.  To him, all problems were equally bad and required an equally extreme reaction.  Worry framed his face.  Neither of them really knew how to relax.  Every single afternoon after dinner, they would both sit on a swing on the front porch of our house and ponder the day's issues.  To the regular passerby, they looked as if they were chillaxing.  We knew, though, that they were quietly mulling over problems and worries.  I don't think either of them ever heard anyone say to them anything like:  give it to God.  He is in control.  Let it go.  Trust Him.  Worrying won't solve anything.

Sigh...

I grew up in that environment.  It never occurred to me to think that there was some choice involved in worrying.  I never thought about the fact that there are levels to problems: some are big and some are little...what? no way...a problem is a problem, is a problem and I need to worry no matter what.  I can't choose not to worry!  That's crazy?  Who could possibly control their emotions in such a way? NOBODY! Once a worrier, always a worrier, especially if you were born that way and into a family of worriers.

Well, apparently, that way of thinking was forged by a tradition of believing a big lie the enemy wants to spread on unsuspecting people like me.  As stated by Pastor Giglio, the devil's #3 lie is precisely, "I have no choice-I'm born a worrier."

OK...I guess my lifetime of blaming genetics for my inability to exercise self-control in the arena of worrying is coming to a very abrupt end...because if Pastor Giglio is right...I've just been duped into believing that I was born this way and there isn't anything that I can do about it.  In reality, even though we might have a genetic tendency toward worry...we are born again into a family whose Father does not worry or has ever worried or will never worry EVER!  Like Pastor Giglio says, "there's no doubting the fact that He is concerned for us..." but He does not worry in the same sense we do.  We belong to a new family where worry is a sign of mistrust.  

The truth is that God's got us and all our problems.  He is in control and our job is to surrender and to trust His plan and His will.  HE IS ENOUGH!

When we indulge in worrying, we fall for the enemy's trap that tells us we are the ones in control.  He knows we are NOT enough...so he deceives us and manipulates us into believing we are in charge because he knows we will fail and be even more miserable than when we first started worrying.  The enemy knows we will forget we are not enough and will dupe us into buying the idea that we can take care of things on our own...and the vicious cycle starts and never ends...or it ends with us defeated.

Pastor Francis Chan said something similar:  "Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is Big Enough, Powerful Enough, or Loving Enough to take care of what's happening in our lives." Therefore, instead of wasting our time worrying and circling around our fears over and over and over again in a most inefficient way...let's make sure that at the first sign of worry we start moving closer to the Word so we can be under the protection of the Most High as we focus our energy and efforts on surrendering and trusting on the Center of Life, Power and Love that is Our Great God.

No matter how long we have been believing this lie, we can change our mind frame by the Power of The One Who Makes All Things New! Let's put our faith in Him and start believe the truth!