KUOMagazine.com
Faith Session - Are you a Worrier or a Warrior?
Written by Dr. Phillip A. Lee Fatt, KUOM contributing writer
Article published February/March 2015 of KUOMagazine.com
Worry is a weight that will wear you down.
It will dampen your outlook, darken your disposition, dim your hope, and drown
your joy. Worry is also psychosomatic,
with the mind negatively affecting the body, and resulting in gastric disorders,
hypertension, and stroke - among other maladies.
Now worry is not to be confused with
concern, which is a normal reaction to various life situations. However, when
normal concern is mixed with fear, misconceptions or irrationality – the result
is the prince of all burdens – worry. As the writer Arthur Somers Roche said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling
through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other
thoughts are drained.”
So how then do you move from being a
worrier to being a warrior - from being hopelessly pessimistic to being
rationally optimistic; from being doom and gloom to being lively and bright? Here
are three quick time-tested steps that you can apply today.
(1)
Rationally reduce the things you worry about by 92%.
In an article called the “The Fog of
Worry”, motivational speaker, Earl Nightingale (1921-1989), cited the following
study on what people worry about.
1.
Things that never happen: 40%.
2.
Things over and past that can’t be changed by all the worry in the world: 30%.
3.
Needless worries about our health: 12%
4.
Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10%
5. Real, legitimate worries: 8 percent.
Only 8 percent of your worries are worth
concerning yourself about. Ninety-two percent are pure fog with no substance at
all.
2. Live in the
present.
Focus
your thought life into dealing with what is happening to you now, and savor the
gift of being alive. “Yesterday is a
cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Only today is current usable
currency” (Anonymous). Live in the present; live for today!
3. Cast All Your
Care upon God
1 Peter 5:6-7 says “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
If there is someone that could bear all of
the world’s burdens, it is God, the Supreme Divinity, who created and sustains
all things by the power of His might. So try this exercise: What are your
biggest two or three worries right now? Just say each one out loud and cast
each care upon Him. If you always worry about money and
finances, say something like this – “Almighty God, I’m always worrying about
money and finances, and all the things I need to buy and pay for. Lord, I cast my
care about money and finances upon you. Please take it and resolve it for me, because
You care for me. I thank You for doing this with all my heart - in Jesus’ name
Amen!” If you want to go a step further, find a
Bible promise that addresses your worry and claim it for yourself, something
like Philippians 4:19 “And my God will
supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Have faith that
God’s Word will bear fruit for you because all things originate first in the
spiritual invisibly, and then manifests themselves in the natural visibly. Corrie
Ten Boom said, “Worry does not empty
tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength.” So my beloved, don’t
let the demons of worry rob you of your joy today. Resolve to no longer be a
worrier but to be a warrior!
~
Dr. Phillip Lee Fatt, bkf contributing
writer
Article February/March 2015 issue of KUOMagazine.com
www.jaacfl.com
Dr. Phillip Lee Fatt is the
8-year host of the Dr. Lee Fatt Gospel Show (New Frontiers Ministries), which
airs weekly in Central Florida on WOKB radio 1680 AM. Previously, he served as
senior pastor of the Ocoee Foursquare Church as well as the Director of
Ministry and Christian Education with the Foursquare Orlando Metro District. He
holds doctorates in Christian Education and Christian Counseling from Southwest
Bible College & Seminary.
No comments:
Post a Comment