Stop Worrying and have more Joy

At the Men of God meeting we had a great Saturday Morning Session. It was in line with the series on Joy that is going on right now by Pastor Phil. In view of all the bad economic news we decided we should do a How to Stop the Worry and Stress in your life session.

I am good at worry. I do it well and more than I should. I must enjoy worry because I do it so much. We talked about that. In the end we developed key principles of Overcoming Worry in our lives:

First, we came up with principles that deal with worry.

• When I worry I take on responsibility God never intended me to have.
• When I think I have control over the outcome of anything I only fool myself.
• There is no bank of Grace, we only get enough Grace for the situation we are in and not until we need it. Like Manna.
• God never wastes the difficulty and pain in our lives.

THEN

We developed the 7 most important principles for overcoming worry:

1. Live for today alone, tomorrow has enough trouble for itself and yesterday is gone. Don't borrow trouble from tomorrow. Matt 6:34
2. Learn to Rope a Dope trouble. Ask the magic formula questions. What is the worst that can possibly happen to me in the situation I am worrying about that. If it happens can I prepare myself to accept it? If so, what can I do to improve the situation. Cooperate with the inevitable. Philippians 2:12-13
3. Get the facts before you start worrying. Most of what you hear in the media and in those forwarded Emails and on the blogs are not true. Ask yourself, What am I worrying about, What if anything can I do about that, What should I do and if so when.
4. Don't let the little Foxes spoil the vines in your life. Life is too short to be small. Don't let the little things eat you up, they aren't that important.
5. Stop Sawing Sawdust. Rehashing old hurts only hurts you. Dwell in the future, not in the past. If you harbor bitterness or anger over past hurts it's like taking poison and hoping your enemy dies. It only hurts you.
6. Place a stop loss on the things you decide to worry about. If you insist on spending time in worry, decide in advance how much time you will spend worrying about a thing. Then, after you have invested that amount of time today in that pursuit, stop. You can pick up worrying about it tomorrow. That way you are able to get on with your life rather than obsess over the situation.
7. Never try to get even with others. Don't be surprised by criticism. Remember nobody ever stops and kicks a dead dog. If you are being criticised it's an indication you are doing something. Don't be shocked by ingratitude. You will not receive thanks for everything you do, if you don't don't be surprised. Jesus was criticized constantly for spending time with sinners and rejecting religious tradition. Mary was criticized by Martha for not helping. She was criticized for "wasting" oil on Jesus feet by Judas. Jesus healed 10 lepers. One expressed gratitude. 9 did not. Jesus got over it. So can we.
   

We can control our worry habits by using these 7 proven principles. Don't be anxious for anything. But I am wired to worry more than I should. I'm still growing in that area.