{"id":814,"date":"2019-06-23T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/?p=814"},"modified":"2019-06-23T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:44:10","slug":"be-anxious-for-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2019\/06\/23\/be-anxious-for-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Anxious for Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-16-19.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Perhaps the greatest aspect of Christ&#8217;s abundant life is being free of all worry and anxiety.\n<\/li><li>Psalm 23 &#8211; the Lord as our shepherd does not desire us to be anxious and worried\n<ul><li>\u201cI shall not want\u201d &#8211; He provides for us\n<\/li><li>\u201cHe makes me to lie down in green pastures&#8221;\n<\/li><li>\u201cHe leads me beside the still waters&#8221;\n<\/li><li>He comforts us in the Valley of the Shadow of Death\n<\/li><li>\u201cYou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies&#8221;\n<\/li><li>\u201cI will dwell in the house of the Lord forever&#8221;\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Three reasons the Lord does not want us to be anxious\n<ul><li>Anxiety and worry cause a lot of physical, mental and emotional health issues, including but not limited to:\n<ul><li>High blood pressure\n<\/li><li>Heart disease\n<\/li><li>Diabetes\n<\/li><li>Respiratory diseases (COPD)\n<\/li><li>These will limit our effectiveness as our physical bodies are under strain and attack.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Anxiety is a lack of trust and faith\n<ul><li>If we are anxious about something, we are telling God that we don\u2019t trust Him to take care of it.\n<ul><li>We feel the need to try to handle whatever we\u2019re feeling anxious about by ourselves.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Exodus 14:11-12 &#8211; Israel complained to God out of fear. They didn\u2019t think He could or would deliver them from the Egyptians\n<\/li><li>1 Samuel 13:1-15 &#8211; Saul was afraid and decided to take matters into his own hands.\n<\/li><li>Matthew 8:23-26 &#8211; The disciples didn\u2019t trust the Lord to save them from the storm\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Anxiety interferes with our relationship with the Lord and His body\n<\/li><li><ul><li>It takes our focus off of the Lord.\n<\/li><li>Our entire focus shifts to whatever we\u2019re anxious about.\n<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Hebrews 11:6 &#8211; when we approach the Lord, we must do so in faith. Worry is the opposite of faith.\n<ul><li>Faith allows us to trust that the Lord will do what He says, without knowing exactly how\n<\/li><li>Worry requires us to know and fully comprehend every step of the way and does not allow us to simply trust.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>When we are constantly overcome by anxiety and worry, we can\u2019t readily see what\u2019s going on in the lives of those around us.\n<ul><li>John 17:20-21 &#8211; Jesus prayed that we would be one with each other. That means we need to have an outward focus.\n<\/li><li>John 13:35 &#8211; Our love for one another is how the world sees Jesus\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>How do we overcome anxiety?\n<\/li><li><ul><li>Prayer and Supplication &#8211; Philippians 4:6-7\n<ul><li>Bring needs before the Lord. Make petitions before Him.\n<\/li><li>This will bring peace that guards our hearts and minds.\n<\/li><li>Cast our cares on Him &#8211; 1 Peter 5:6-7\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Keep our eyes on the things above\n<ul><li>Colossians 3:2\n<\/li><li>Philippians 4:8\n<\/li><li>When we bring our cares and burdens to Christ, we need to fill our minds with something else on which to meditate. We can\u2019t choose to just not think about a problem without actively putting our minds on something else.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Seek after the kingdom of God &#8211; Matthew 6:24-34, &nbsp;Luke 12:22-34\n<ul><li>Many of our worries come from following mammon &#8211; that is chasing riches.\n<\/li><li>God\u2019s other creations (animals, flowers) don\u2019t worry about things &#8211; why should we?\n<ul><li>If He clothes the lilies of the field and their splendor is more than Solomon\u2019s, why won\u2019t He provide for us?\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>If we can\u2019t accomplish seemingly minor things, why worry about the bigger ones as well?\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Learn to be content in all circumstances &#8211; Philippians 4:11-13\n<ul><li>Because he learned how to be content, Paul was able to put down many of his anxieties.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Developing a closer, more intimate connection with the Father\n<ul><li>As we get to know Him and His true character more deeply we will worry about less.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Romans 8:28\n<ul><li>God is going to work out everything for the good of those who love Him and call upon Him.\n<\/li><li>He\u2019s going to lead us through the dark valleys, not send us through them.\n<\/li><li>He\u2019s there to protect and guide us\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Philippians 4:19\n<ul><li>God will supply ALL your needs.\n<\/li><li>Paul was referring to finances here, but God will supply any need we have.\n<\/li><li>We simply need to bring them to Him in faith.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps the greatest aspect of Christ&#8217;s abundant life is being free of all worry and anxiety. Psalm 23 &#8211; the Lord as our shepherd does not desire us to be anxious and worried \u201cI shall not want\u201d &#8211; He provides&#8230;<br \/><a class=\"read-more-button\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2019\/06\/23\/be-anxious-for-nothing\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}