Why worry when you can pray?

Why worry when you can Pray?

We live in times that are filled with stress, worry and anxiety. In the world there has been an alarming increase in the number of suicides. According to WHO one person dies from suicide every 40 seconds or 800,000 people die from suicide every year. In fact, suicide is now the second leading cause of death for American teenagers and the tenth leading cause of death for Americans, overall. Death by despair is driving the youth down the path of self-destruction. Broken homes, and broken lives lead us to no longer want to pursue meaningful relationships of trust at home, church or community. Suicide is a mental health problem. Seek treatment if you are depressed for extended periods of time, it is not your fault, maybe chemical imbalances in the body. Some of the warning signs of suicide are increased drug and alcohol use, aggressive behavior, withdrawal from friends, family and community, dramatic mood swings or impulsive or reckless behavior. You can be at the height of your career or profession but still have no inner peace. This sense of emptiness and frustration fills the hearts of even very successful pop stars and movie magnets. Loneliness has been identified as a leading cause for suicidal death.

As Christians we have to find ways to keep our hearts and minds open to the warning signs that present themselves in the thoughts and feelings of our own lives, and the lives of our family and friends. We live in a world that is full of temptations that over time if left unchecked can cause anyone to slip into the use or abuse of alcohol, prescription drugs, or illicit drugs.

Some worries in our hearts and minds can make us sad or mad, and others can stimulate or spark us on to higher endeavors. All of us carry with us in our hearts a bag of worries, some, which are chronic, and others that come and go at the speed of thought. There are some of us whose minds are constantly bogged down with financial burdens. There are many whose hearts feel that they have not achieved all that they hoped they could in their life. There are others whose minds are stressed about their children or parents or work or business. There some broken hearted people who feel “I just don't understand why you don't love me the way I do!”. There are others who get stuck in a rut Crying, hoping and waiting that someday they can have a meaningful relationship with the one they love.

  

When our fears overwhelm our hearts we have to find ways to deal with them. If they become a chronic problem, that settles on the mind like a cloud what do we do? How do we as followers of Christ find ways to keep our hearts and minds to stay calm and focused? There are so many situations we find ourselves in, which are difficult that causes our hearts and minds to start to worry. The cure to fear, worry, and loneliness is faith, hope and love. Jesus says in John14:1, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled, trust in God and trust also in me.” How do we learn to trust and build loving relationships in times of trials and troubles?

Jesus asks, Are you not valuable to God the Father ? 

Jesus said could we add a single moment to our lives if we were to worry (Matthew 6:25-31)? He further says do the lilies of the field worry about what they wear (Matthew 6:28)? Has not God provided for them? It is the faith to know that God loves us and cares for us that gives us the confidence that we have no need to worry. God will provide for all our needs.Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of the things we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).

Jeremiah the prophet says God knew us way before we were born or conceived in our mother's womb. (Jeremiah 1:5). God is the all knowing God. God has a plan for our lives. When we are overwhelmed or discouraged we remember God knows us and loves us intimately, God can give our lives purpose and meaning if we turn to him. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:36-38). We have to work hard to build a strong relationship of trust with God.

How many of you see God as a friend? God refers to Abraham as his friend (Isaiah 41:8). Abraham’s faith in God endured him to be his friend. Jesus calls us his friends, if we do what he has taught us in the scriptures (John 15:14). Isn’t it comforting and heartening to listen to Jesus saying you are my friends. If we love him wont we do what he has asked us to do? The hymn “What a friend we have in Jesus” has been a source of comfort and strength for Christians down through the ages. The hymn was originally written by a preacher Joseph Scriven as a poem to comfort his mother in 1855. She was living in Ireland and he had moved to Canada. Scriven himself had met with personal tragedies of his own and in his brokenness he wrote these heartfelt words that comfort us at times when we feel broken, empty or lonely. The hymn has been translated into multiple languages and is an old favorite even today.

All things bright and beautiful!

Do we find time to enjoy God’s creation, the skies, seas, trees, rivers and creatures? Do we see in them the loving hand of God shaping something of beauty and grandeur? Do we have a friend or spouse we can confide in? Do we have a support group we can voice our fears and joys?

God has created us to love and be loved. How can we be good stewards of love in our lives? How can we find ways to let the sunshine of God’s love stream into our lives to make it beautiful in his sight? We must build bonds of love that bring joy and light into our hearts and empower us to live lives that are beautiful in the sight of God. Find Joy in listening to the soothing sounds of nature, the calming music of instruments, or the hymns of praise and thanksgiving. These will bring comfort and strength in our moments of worry strain or anxiety. We have learn to build and maintain strong relationships in our homes and church community at large.

Praise & Thank God from whom all blessings flow!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When we feel anxious or overwhelmed Paul says, we should pray and surrender with thanksgiving, all our requests to God. We kneel before God in praise and worship (Psalm 95:1-11). In Psalm 95 the psalmist invites us to shout and sing before the Lord with songs of thanks and praise  

We give thanks for the lives of family, and friends who love and cherish us. Thanks for the gift of love and peace that brings us together. Thanks for kindness of people, caring thoughts, and cheerful smiles. Thanks for music and books that bring joy into our lives. Praising God for the blessings we can’t see in our life, our life of faith in Him and for his hand that guides us through this life and the life after. When we start focusing on God and thanking him, our anxieties begin to fade away. We let the rays of hope stream into our lives. We begin to see a God who blesses us with peace that transcends understanding.

The Psalmist also cautions us to beware of the hardening of our hearts (Psalm 95:8). A hardened heart is a darkened heart that becomes hopeless. When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, they grumbled and complained and lost faith in God. When we become headstrong and hard-nosed in our ways, our hearts harden and we find it unthinkable to turn to God. This does not happen overnight, but overtime we go our own way and exclude God in all our decisions on how we live our lives.

Prayer for Serenity

The serenity prayer has been down through the ages a healing prayer that has touched many of our lives and brought peace in times of conflict and tragedy. It is a prayer to God to give us the peace or serenity; and wisdom and courage to make wise choices. It goes like this -

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can 

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Amen

This is a beautiful prayer, while saying the prayer repeatedly we can substitute “God” for “Jesus” and ”Holy Spirit”. In so doing we make our request to the Holy Trinity to act and work in our lives. It is a prayer of faith and trust that God will help us change and gives our hearts and minds the courage to change the things we can. We come to God‘s presence in the stillness and silence of the peaceful moments. We wait on God to come and fill our hearts and minds with His presence. We don’t have to always use words. We allow the Spirit of God to search our deepest doubts, wounds, scars, thoughts and longings, recreate our inner being to be more and more into the likeness of God. We become more aware of the Omnipresence of God within and around us. Drawing us closer and closer with the passing of each year to His living presence.

When tragedy or a natural disaster comes upon us unawares, what do we do? Sometimes there is nothing we can do but have the courage to pick up the pieces and the peace with the grace of God to find understanding through it all. The second part of the prayer is for strength for our hearts and minds to overcome that, which can be overcome. It is asking God to give us courage to make changes in our life that will make a difference from our present situation.

If we learn to find time to pray, praise and thank God, we will find peace. Prayer and praise brings healing to our our hearts and minds when we realize that God knows all our needs even before we ask. We have to declare to God and ourselves that we will take a step of faith to trust that God will provide for our needs. This act becomes a healing prayer. We surrender all our anxieties to God and the Spirit of Christ starts to work, and streams of love and joy begin to flow through our lives.

Lenten Reflection
During this time of lent let us stop worrying. Give it Up !! The Lenten journey is a time when we reflect and begin to shut doors on our past life of worrying. Let us open new doors of peace, joy and love into our lives with Jesus as our friend and companion on our way. Our hearts and minds must learn to trust in God and God's goodness. To realize that God is watching over us. In so doing we will find that our worries slowly subside through our prayers and praise. We ask God to ease our hearts from fears and anxieties and fill our minds with the gift of peace, love and joy. We pray for wisdom and strength for our minds to change the things we can. In so doing our hearts have the understanding to know the difference between the things we can change and those we cannot. In times of worry, tragedy or conflict; take time off from our busy lives for a meaningful meditation on the living reality of omnipresent God, and say our prayers with thanksgiving. Let the Holy Spirit mold, melt, guide and heal our heart, mind and spirit.