Chapter 7 of the Book Winning the War on Worry by Louie Giglio

 Do you remember who was the first person who ever taught you about "thank you" being one of the magic words?

I really do not remember. The concept of saying "thank you" has been so ingrained in me since my first consciousness that I could not pin-point who was the first person who ever instilled that rule in my heart. And yes, we also think "thank you" is one of the "magic words" in the cultures of the people who speak Spanish. We have adults telling us in very stern voices and with raised eyebrows, something like: "¿Cómo se dice?" or "what do you say?" every time we are supposed to say thank you. So early on, we learn.

The question is: WHY??? Why do societies place such an importance on making sure children grow up knowing how and when to say this expression of gratitude? Why is it so crucial that we learn it? 

Did you know that expressing thanks is not as universal as we think? In some cultures, it might even be considered rude and/or a sign of vanity to say something like "thank you." That blows my MIND!

More interestingly, did you know it is within the Judeo-Christian world where the concept of gratitude is most deeply rooted and practiced? 

Look at these trivia bits: in China, they don't really say thank you because they think the favor will come back around in the future. In other Asian countries, they view saying "thank you" as distancing, insincere, rude or even too sarcastic to be appreciated. Some indigenous languages don't even have a word for "thank you." In Hebrew, however, expressing gratitude is key...especially when praying. Check this out. As I was reading about these things, I found out that the very word for a Jewish person (Yehudi in Hebrew) has the same root as giving thanks – which is hoda’a in Hebrew. So, instead of calling the Jewish people – People of the Book, linguistically it would make more sense to call them “the Grateful People”! It is no wonder then, that regions of the world where the principles of Judeo-Christianity have had a great impact, would place such emphasis on being grateful. 

Pastor Giglio in chapter 7 of his book Winning the War on Worry brings up a ton of important ideas to ponder. One of them is the role of a grateful heart when waging the war against worrying. He brings the point home by citing Philippians 4: 6-7,

"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 your minds in Christ Jesus"

Did you notice the little phrase "with thanksgiving"? Pastor Giglio wants us to really pay attention to that little combination of words tucked in the middle of this powerful piece of Scripture. He wants us to realize that a grateful heart is instrumental on this battle against worry, which in essence is the battle for our minds. When worry attacks, we literally lose our minds. We lose control over our minds and we spiral down into a pit of negativity and despair that is very difficult to climb out of on our own. The best course of action is to not allow ourselves to descend down those depths of darkness. Sometimes, however, the weight of our circumstances is so heavy that we slip and fall. It is then that we must recover our minds and remember God's Word that encourages us to pray and to be thankful..."in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5: 18). Notice the call is to be thankful in... it doesn't say for all circumstances. So in our darkest hour we recall the Goodness of God and His enduring love, and all His attributes and all He is and all He has done for us and how He has rescued us before so He will rescue us again, and we thank Him in advance for all of that and we dwell in Him, seeking His Light and trusting He is holding us as we continue to thank Him in our hour of worry.

See, the devil knows gratitude pulls us out of the pit...that's why he doesn't want us to remember to be grateful in every circumstance. He feeds his lies to us telling us "really? You are thankful for this??? What kind of a cruel god gives you garbage and then asks you to be grateful for it? But it is "in" it...not "for" it so don't listen to the enemy, listen to the truth, and the truth is that "gratefulness is a torpedo that sinks worry," like Pastor Giglio says. "Gratitude opens the doorway for praise, and praise dispels fear. Worry and worship cannot be in our mouths at the same time. One always displaces the other." (96)

So, I encourage us to try this together. Next time we are either descending or already down there, in the darkest corner of the pit of worry, let's start thanking God. Let's start recalling our blessings, naming them one by one...maybe we should have a list of blessings written down so we can read them out loud at this moment...and let's see what happens. What do we have to lose? Nothing. We have nothing to lose and a whole lot to win. Although we do have one thing to lose: worry. For, as we praise and thank God for our blessings, worry will begin to lose its power in us and the peace that transcends all understanding will begin to flow like a river.

Even though I can't remember who was the first person to teach me about saying "thank you," I'm so glad I grew up in a culture where they teach kids to be grateful. It is a most crucial weapon to win this war, indeed!

Let's wrap it up with the prayer at the end of chapter 7:

Father, I just want to say thank You. thank You for saving me. Thank You for seeing me when I was far off. Thank You for the power of Your cross to overcome every bit of darkness and despair. thank You for being able when I am not, for being awake and alert and mindful of me. You are infinite and intimate, and I bow in adoration of You. Amen!

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!