This third week of March can be a tricky one. It seems to happen often. Spring rolls in and shows off in the most beautiful of ways. Warm temperatures, buds galore and plenty of sunshine. Everyone is quick to ditch the winter coats and just about anything else that reminds us of the past three or four months. And then it happens. We wake to more than cold in the air…but forecasts of snow! We never really learn. We are always hopeful that it won’t happen this year. But, it has. Many already had “spring snow” this week and our wet mixture is forecast for tomorrow. Hugest sigh.
Nevertheless, spring arrives on Saturday!! Spring just helps us feel better, doesn’t it? Did you read my list of ten favorite things about spring? My list could have been much longer because, well, spring brings hope. Spring energizes, encourages our creativity and simply revives our spirits! I feel better physically and emotionally. Anxiety is something rather new for me. Worrying (although similar but not exactly the same) is not new. But, honestly, I worry less and much less anxiety once winter flees the scene.
But, sadly – but truthfully – I do still worry. At the very least, worry wastes my time. But, in a very real and much more complicated way, worry robs my energy….and steals my joy!! I am determined to stay in the fight to overcome my worries…those things that so easily weave into my thoughts and, left unchecked, so quickly tailspin into obsessive thinking and irrational outcomes. To fear and to panic. I want to submit them to Christ…”coming boldly unto the throne” and having “confidence that He hears me.” I know that scripture is effective in fight with worry. But I don’t always feel I can stop right where I am and pray. I know that I can offer up prayers at any time but am not always able to physically stop and posture myself for prayer. I can, however, meditate and rehearse scripture.
I battle worry with scripture. And, I overcome worry with scripture. I can fill my mind with scripture and, even in this exercise, I am better able to pray with authority. It can help to identify some of your top worries and then find a corresponding verse or passage to help with that concern. Commit that verse to memory. Be armed and prepared for mental battle. As quickly as the thoughts begin, focus on your verse. Quote it. Say it aloud or recite it in your mind. Just to get you started, or by way of an example, I thought I would share a few of my top worries as well as the scriptures I use to overcome the worry and to “take my thoughts captive.” You might have different worries. If you have a similar one to one of mine, you might find a different verse powerful. That’s wonderful. I’m simply encouraging each of us to engage in the battle for our minds….and scripture is our most powerful weapon to do so.
OVERCOME WORRY WITH SCRIPTURE
*My children. Colossians 1:9-10 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing the in the knowledge of God;”
*My past. Psalm 103:12 and Phil 3:13-14 “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
*My health. Matthew 6:27 “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”
*My testimony/reputation. Psalm 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings., And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise, unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”
*Remembering Tyler. I Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
I love spring, and I love how you described spring as reviving our spirits. I’ve always felt the same way, but you articulated it perfectly. Saturday was a beautiful spring-like day, and I could feel it inside.
Thanks, Ashley! I love the feeling of spring on the inside!! Delightful:)
Spring! Praise Be!
I just found The Worry Workbook by Carter & Minirth …
The Worry Workbook. Hmm – never heard of that one. Thanks!!
I also battle worry and anxiety with Scripture. The Lord showed me this trick years ago and it’s one reason why I started memorizing Scripture back then and also why I like to write it out now. I used to carry around a ring with index cards attached to it, of verses that I was always working on. Beth Moore started me on that journey, and I’ll always be so grateful to her for sharing her love of the Word of God with me.
I like that idea of index cards on a ring. I have index cards in a small box…not exactly great for carrying with me or sticking in my bag! Thanks for sharing:)
Jennifer, I am with you in the fight against worry with the Sword of the Spirit! Thank you for encouraging words for the battle.
Thank you for encouraging each of us to engage in the battle for our minds, and particularly to use Scripture, for it is our most powerful weapon to do so.
I find myself in the longest sustained season of worry in my life. And it is a joy robber. Thank you for the scriptures. Reading through them was good for me today.
Jennifer, I too battle worry and anxiety with Scripture. I hadn’t always though, but when I finally started to do so, I thought to myself ” I should have been doing this all along”. Things don’t always happen that way, isn’t our maturing in Christ such a blessing? Especially when we can see our growth along our way. Blessings.