Prayer Takes the Place of Worry

Key Verse to Read and Treasure

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.—Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

For Insight

With all the problems that arise in our world and in our individual circumstances there are two paths we can choose: one is to worry. Worry is not exclusive to unbelievers. Christians choose the path of worry also.

Not a year goes by that new challenges and troubles don’t surface. We might experience health concerns, financial setbacks, relationship challenges, political unrests, environmental catastrophes and more. And our first and normal reaction might be to worry about outcomes, survival, wellbeing, and whether God will help solve our problems or address our needs.

The other path is prayer. When we choose the path of prayer and we have chosen a path that brings life and peace. When prayer becomes one of the principles, we live by our energy is poured into something that ends up being productive and fruitful.   

Have you noticed how much better you feel when you replace junk food with   life-giving foods that nourish you? Notice how your energy returns, blood pressure goes down, headaches go away, aches and pains decrease, mental clarity returns, maybe even drop a few pounds—all by removing things that weren’t good or you? If you do that long enough, eventually you do not even long for the junk anymore.

That’s what happens when we replace worry with prayer. Where worry depletes energy, brings stress, leaves us hopeless and feeling anxious, prayer produces peace of mind, brings healing, calm, joy, strength, and hopefulness to the soul.

Some have suggested if we put our mind to praying about everything, we won’t have time left to worry about anything.

Jesus, worry doesn’t help anything and the time I spend in worry could go towards a more productive activity that actually produces positive results. Lord, help me replace worry with prayer. Amen

On a Scale of 1-10

How much do you worry when problems and troubles arise? Is there anything you are worried about presently? What will you do today to reduce your worry column?