‘DO NOT WORRY!’
A COMMAND FROM THE KING OF KINGS
Jesus is the ultimate authority and source of all comfort and reassurance. His Words are not just Words; they are not mere sentences but a profound source of security and peace, a testament to His power and ours when we believe them! Jesus’ Words are THE TRUTH!
The stench in God’s nostrils, the father of all lies, and our flesh never go off the air. They often combine, and nothing good can happen when they do.
A man named Spiro Agnew once called the media news outlets: “Nattering Nabobs of Negativity.” We hear that when we listen to the evil one, the father of all lies. You know you are hearing the “stench in God’s nostrils” when the voice you hear is NEGATIVE.
The Good News is that the TRUTH is the opposite of the stinking thinking we hear. When the burnt-up cankerworm tells you you are going broke, celebrate a windfall!
The combined voices of the evil one and our flesh tempt us with fear, anxiety, worry, sadness, gloom, despair, and agony. Temptation is a universal experience affecting every living being. It is not a sign of weakness but a shared human condition we all face.
The experience of Pastoring some of Jesus’s most faithful believers, those steeped in the knowledge of His Gospel for many years, teaches me that Mother Teresa and they are as tempted to listen to them as much as you and I are.
Urgent warning signs tell us that we are entering into agreement with them. Doubt, unbelief, sadness, anger, jealousy, hopelessness, stinking thinking, dread, confusion, impulsiveness, depression, and bitterness are all red flags.
The flags tell us that we are doing everything but listening to and being guided by Holy Spirit and the teachings of Jesus.
So, how do we overcome all of these temptations? What is the prescription that cures what ales us?
KNOWLEDGE
God told the prophet Hosea: “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)
Jesus taught us that we have no life unless we eat His flesh (consume His Words, believe them, and act on them) and drink His blood. (believe beyond doubt that He guaranteed every word He spoke with His blood).
When we study Jesus’s teachings, we learn that we have nothing to fear, that He has given us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness, and we discover the Great And Precious Promises that He bought for us on the cross.
(2 Peter 1:1-4)
When we eat His flesh, we learn that Jesus has healed us, prospered us, brought us into a state of grace, forgiven us of all our past, present, and future sins, once and for all, given us His power, given us the ability to speak things into and out of existence, defeated satan for us and given us dominion over all of his powers and minions, delivered us from evil, given us the power to gain wealth and given us His Faith, Peace, Joy and Gladness.
(Isaiah 53:4-5, Psalm 103:1-3 and 12, 1 Peter 2:24, John 1:17, Zephaniah 3:17, John 1:29, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:10-18, Revelation 1:5, John 14:12, Mark 11:22-24, Luke 10:18, Luke l6:38, John 10:10, 2Peter1:1, John 14:27, John 17:13)
BELIEF!
Belief in Jesus and His great and precious promises is not just a key, but THE key to walking in the Spirit. It is a transformative power that brings joy, gladness, hope, celebration, health, prosperity, peace, and what our flesh longs for. It is the ultimate solution to our struggles, the balm that cures what ails us. Belief is a decision that we have to make. Jesus can’t make us believe.
FAITH
Faith is a free gift from Jesus. When we decide to believe and believe in Him, we receive His faith. It is perfect; It can not be added to, multiplied, expanded, or lost.
(2Peter1:1)
“Now (in this present moment), Faith is the substance of things hoped for, (joyfully celebrated), the evidence of things not seen.”
(Hebrews 11:1)
I clarify this as: “Faith is living in this present moment, joyfully celebrating the receipt of Jesus’s great and precious promises regardless of what our senses tell us.”
We can’t get greater faith than we have. Our challenge is not to get more faith but to use our gift of Jesus’s faith when our flesh acts up. When tempted with fear, we must change channels and engage our faith.
FEAR NOT!
That command appears hundreds of times throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament. Jesus knows that we are fretty sheep. That is why He leads us beside still waters. The angel Gabriel’s first message to the shepherds when he announced the birth of Jesus was: “FEAR NOT”!
(Luke 2:10)
Jesus gave us this command:
“Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled Neither Be Afraid”
(John 14:1)
Holy Spirit taught us through Paul:
“For God Has Not Given Us A Spirit of Fear, But of Strength, Courage, and A Sound Mind.”
(2Timothy1:7)
FEAR IS AN EVIL SPIRIT THAT WE MUST FIGHT WITH ALL OF OUR MIGHT!
ANOTHER COMMAND FROM JESUS
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have PERFECT PEACE (a state of total undisturbedness) and confidence. In the world, you have tribulations, trials, distress, and frustration, BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER! (take courage; be confident, certain, and unshakeable) BECAUSE I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!
(John 16:33)
Meaning: Whatever we are fearful or worried about has been overcome by Jesus. So when the world presents scary situations we need to be OF GOOD CHEER!
Do you have what appears to be the perfect storm in your life? One that seems likely to destroy you?
“Leaving the huge crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat, and other boats were with Him. And a furious storm of wind of hurricane proportions arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat so that it was already becoming filled.
But He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on the cushion, and they awakened Him and said to Him, ‘Master, do You not care that we are perishing?
And He rose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush now! Be still! The wind ceased, and there was immediately a great calm.
Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they were filled with great awe and feared exceedingly and said to one another, ‘Who then is this that even the wind and sea obey Him?”
(Mark 4:36-41)
Jesus taught them and us that if we steadfastly believe in Him, we can do the same things that He did and even greater things than that. (John 14:12-14)
The disciples got in their flesh and judged Jesus. “Don’t you care that we are about to die?” Like we are tempted to do, they accused Him of criminal negligence. God Himself in the flesh was in the boat with them! He is in the boat with us as well. Did they actually believe that Jesus would let them die? Whatever the storm is in our lives, Jesus is with us and has overcome it!
FINALLY, THE ANSWER, THE ANTIDOTE FOR ALL WORRY FROM OUR KING:
Every “believer” should have this command from Jesus memorized!
“Therefore, I tell you, STOP being perpetually uneasy, anxious, and worried about your life, what you shall eat or drink, or your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater in quality than food, and the body far above and more excellent than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
And who of you, by worrying and being anxious, can add one unit of measure to his stature or the span of his life?
And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn how they grow; they neither work nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon (the richest man who has ever or will ever live) was not dressed like one of these in all his magnificence.
But if God so dresses the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely dress you, O you of little faith?
THEREFORE, DO NOT WORRY AND BE ANXIOUS, saying, What are we going to eat? Or, what are we going to drink, or What are we going to wear? Because the ungodly non-believers worry about, wish for, and diligently seek all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.
(And according to 2 Peter 1:1-4, He has already given them to us.)
BUT SEEK FIRST OF ALL HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (Salvation, justification, right standing with God, through belief in Jesus. The Gospel.) AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL!
SO DO NOT WORRY OR BE ANXIOUS ABOUT TOMORROW, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.”
(Matthew 6:25:34)
MEANING:
The key to peace is living in this present moment!
END OF TEACHING:
