Chapter 6 of the Book Winning the War on Worry

 I. LOVE. HOME. RENOVATION. SHOWS!!! Some may say I'm addicted to them.

I just can't get enough of those shows. I love them so much that we had to get rid of our HGTV subscription because nobody could remove me from my favorite chair in front of the TV...so, I'm happy to say that it has been a couple of years since I have watched any. I went cold turkey and I haven't been back. I finally realized I had wasted enough time watching (also, Dan cut me off since he realized where the "leak" in our finances was...)

Anyway, I still dream about home renovations and redecoration, and relocation, etc. I just get so excited with the prospect of seeing something completely gutted and then put back together in new and fascinating ways. I picture it in my mind and it looks beautiful...then, when I see it completed it usually is way better than anything I imagined. One of the things I love the most is the opportunity to fix problems that could have been hidden behind the walls and we didn't know anything about. We remodeled our bathrooms a few years ago and since then our drains have been working so much better! In our old house we remodeled the kitchen and the bathroom and the back patio. I hated to leave since we finally had gotten everything to work like clockworks! The patio remodel was total insanity. They found boulders buried underneath! Literally, the contractors had to rent a crane to pull them out! It was so weird. I wish I could find the pictures. I can't wait until we remodel our kitchen in our current house since everything is falling apart in there. But I digress...

The reason I started thinking about this was because Pastor Giglio in chapter 6 of his book, Winning the War on Worry, talks about "putting a dagger in the heart of worry" by using the metaphor of undergoing a "home renovation." Actually, he is not talking about just like a kitchen, bathroom or patio remodel. Nope. What he is encouraging us to do is to totally demolishing the house! (75) That is serious stuff. Can you imagine? How long have you lived in your current home? I haven't lived here very long, but I think of Dan's homestead...it has been in his family for over 100 years. He doesn't really know any other home, "home." I cannot imagine his family ever considering the passing thought of demolishing that old house...unfathomable. Yet, that is precisely what we must do if we want to stab worry in the heart and finally defeat it. We have to completely tear down the house we have built for it to dwell for as long as we have been worried.

It is discouraging to think that we built that house of worry. But the encouraging thing is that since we built it...we can demolish it. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, by the strength of Jesus and the Word of God, we can tear it down. Like Pastor Giglio says, "the wrecking ball that turns this house of lies into a pile of rubble is the power of the Name of Jesus." (76) The same way the spiritual warfare is not of this world and we have to battle it with weapons that are not of this world, we demolish the house of worry using the tools and strategies provided to us by the Spirit. And the first one is: a new way of thinking.

Pastor Giglio says that in order to drive the dagger through the heart of worry we must think about different things than the things that are causing us to worry. He uses Philippians 4:8 as the basis for this strategy:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

I LOVE this verse. I always have been drawn to it as a way to help me achieve the renewal of the mind that we are commanded to do in Romans 12: 2. But I can say I have never put it in the context of a total house renovation manual to get rid of worry. But it is so clear now that he points it out. Worry is all about a state of mind. The way to eradicate it is precisely by achieving the renewing of the mind...but how do we GET to that renewal? Well, by doing what Philippians 4: 8 says: "think about such things!" What things? whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. 

What an "AHA!" moment. 

It's all about being aware. Pastor Giglio says, whenever the thoughts of worry begin to creep up into our minds and hearts, the first thing we need to ask ourselves is: "where did that thought come from?" He suggests we ask the question out loud again and again. The answer will come to us and it will be that the thought came either from God or from somewhere else. And the way to confirm if it was from God is by going back to Philippians 4:8. We ask ourselves, is it true? Is it noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and/or praiseworthy? If the answer is no...then...the thought came from somewhere else and we must combat it, take it captive, by thinking about such things in the list.

One of the practical exercises we see in this chapter is to take one of the words Paul encourages us to think about and write out a list of thoughts that relate to that word. I suggest we take a word a day, and create a list for each of the words...so...when we are attacked by worry, we can go to our lists and think about the things we wrote down. 

I know, it all sounds way too easy. And it is NOT. But the most important thing we need to remember is that it is not by our power that we will accomplish any of these things. It is by the power of Jesus living in us. "Through Christ we are resurrected, a new creation, no longer under the power of this world and its ways. We are free and perfectly loved, and as such, we can take back our minds, eliminating worry and accepting the easy and light yoke of our Good and Gracious Savior!" (83)

So let's gather our tool box. Let's gut the house of worry. Better yet, let's tear it down. Let's fix the hidden problems, replace the plumbing, open the drains, find the leaks, pull out the buried boulders and rebuild. By the Power of Jesus, we can do this! Be with us, Lord. Be Our Cornerstone! In Your Hands we place our efforts. Amen!