Worry

As all three (four?) of you my dear readers know, worry is one of my biggest vices. I hate worrying, but small issue or big, near or far, I usually find a way to worry about it. A prime example of doing things I don't want to do, but not doing those I want to do. It's also indicative of a lack of trust in God. I was listening to one of the local Christian radio stations, and I heard a sermon on worry by a Rev. Paul Shepherd from Palo Alto, CA. His sermon was really applicable:
Worry keeps the wrong company: doubt, loneliness, depression, bitterness, fear, envy, unforgiveness, and anger. Contrast that with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Rev. Shepherd instructed believers to turn every worry into a prayer, by petition and thanksgiving, according to Phillipians 4. To petition someone means to ask for a very specific thing. Imagine a child asking their parent for a toy. They don't just ask for any toy--they want an mp3 player. Not the Samsung, but the Apple iPod. And not the 1 gig but the 2 gig. And not the green one but the purple one! So when we are worried about a specific thing, we should be specific when we pray about it to our Father. We should recognize at the same time that we have been blessed immeasurably by God and therefore we are grateful for the things He has already given us in the past. Rev. Shepherd pointed out that we should pray for things we know are inside God's will, namely what he has shown us in His word, because praying for something we know to be outside His will would be pointless. Not only pointless, but wrong. By bringing our worries to God in this way, He has promised to be a peacekeeper to us, to guard us against the pain and sin that worries bring.