Be anxious for nothing

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.( Phil 4:6-7)”. Cares, fears, worries and anxieties are means through which the human body is drained of physical strength; and the heart, drained of faith and hope. “Be anxious for nothing”, the scriptures say, that our energies, both of the body and the heart, may be preserved for other more important things, like praising and worshipping our God. There never was a problem, solved by been worried or anxious. There is no problem in life that has as its solution fears, worries or anxieties. So, it is useless expending energies in these, when problems or trials confront us. Much better it is for us to heed scriptures’ counsel to “by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving” let our “requests be made known to God”. Prayer, supplication and thanksgiving are means of making our problems known to God, and obtaining solutions to them. “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)”. Anxiety, like doubt, is a little leaven which leavens the whole lump. It does not matter how great and big our faith is; it takes only the smallest of doubts (in our unguarded moments) to turn it into unbelief. And unbelief is on the other side of the line in the battle of faith. It is on the side of evil, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, (Heb 3:12)”. Understand that one of the enemy’s principal tools is; creating fear, doubts and unbelief in the heart. Because he understands that unbelief is not from faith, and the scriptures tell us, “for whatever is not from faith is sin. (Rom 14:23)”.

And we know that without faith it is impossible to please God. For, even, with a little faith in the heart there is no place for unbelief. Faith says without doubting, believing what it says will come to pass. “For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move (Matt 17:20)”.

Faith does not doubt, is not able to doubt because it does not have the ability to. Faith is an absolute belief in God and an absolute unbelief in the devil. Gold is gold, whether it is as big as a mountain or small as a grain of sand. The size does not remove from or add to, what it is. And as gold retains all of its properties and attributes notwithstanding its size, so does faith remain faith, whether it be big or small. Jesus said “if you have faith as a mustard seed”, the mustard seed was the smallest seed known in Jesus’ day; but with faith as a mustard seed “you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move”. The tiniest impurity mixed with gold contaminates it, and it becomes impure gold. It is even so with faith, just the faintest fear, doubt and anxiety makes our faith, faithless. It is very important that you do what the scriptures say, that you, “keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life, (Prov 4:23)”. Keep your heart with all diligence, guard your heart, and make every effort you can, to protect it from cares, worries, fears and anxiety. The Lord Jesus Himself asked, “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (Matt 6:27)”.

A heart of faith is like a beautifully tended garden. The gardener must take his time to tend, dress and keep his garden. He must take away weeds and everything else that would spoil its beauty; for should he neglect to tend and keep his garden, the weeds and the pests will overtake it, and destroy its beauty. The weeds and pests of the heart; are the fears, doubts, worries and anxieties that persistently try to enter our hearts and spoil our faith. So like the gardener, we must take time to tend, dress and keep our heart and its treasures of faith. The scriptures conclude with these words, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matt 6:34)”.