Matthew 11:28-30 | AMPC (28) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. [Jer 6:16] (30) For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good–not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
Jesus is telling us that we do not have to go through this life burdened down with a bunch of baggage. He wants us to take His burden which is light and find rest for our souls.
Matthew 6:25 | NKJV (25) “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
When you worry, worry becomes your life.
Little worries become big worries.
Matthew 6:26 | NKJV (26) Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
God has a system for you that birds don’t even have available to them yet God has a plan for them. If He has a plan for them, then He has a much greater plan for you.
Matthew 6:27 | NKJV (27) Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
Did you grow because you sat around and thought about growing?
We don’t sit around and think about growing. It is part of the normal process of life and will happen as we live out the process.
Worry is imagination abuse. Worry is destructive. Worry affects our spirit, soul and body.
God never intended for us to use our imaginations for worry.
Your imagination was given to you by God to empower you to be able to see good things that have not happened yet.
Genesis 15:5 | NIV (5) He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
God was trying to stimulate his imagination to get him to see what has not yet happened but will happen if Abraham continues to trust God.
Your imagination is a tool given to you by God to enable you to see the next good thing that is coming to you because of His goodness.
The only way to overcome these negative imaginations is with a fight.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 | KJV (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; When we cast something down, we are saying that we are done with it and it is good for nothing.
In a war, you have to use a weapon. God’s Word is the effective weapon that God has given to us to tear down those imaginations.
Ephesians 6:17 | NKJV (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
The word for “Word” here is not “logos.” It is “rhema” which is the spoken Word of God and implies speaking one part of the Word of God.
The word for “sword” in the Greek is actually the word for a smaller, more specific, more potentially dangerous sword that could accomplish something more specific.
Never underestimate the power of an individual scripture.
Notice that when Jesus resisted temptation, He could have rattled off many chapters of the Scriptures but each time He only mentioned one verse.
You need to arm yourself with battle verses to defend yourself.
Positive thinking alone with not defeat the negative thoughts that are going on in your mind.
You cannot overpower worry with another thought.
Many people are defeated because they give expression to every negative thing that comes across their minds.
The spoken Word of God is what brings those thoughts captive and casts them down because you are done with them.
If you deal with confusion:
John 10:27 | NKJV (27) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
If you battle the thoughts of dying young:
Psalms 91:16 | NKJV (16) With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
If you struggle financially and always have:
Deuteronomy 28:8 | NKJV (8) “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
If you are concerned about your children
Isaiah 54:13 | NKJV (13) All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.
Jeremiah 31:16-17 | NLT (16) But now this is what the LORD says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the LORD. “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. (17) There is hope for your future,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own land.
If you struggle with fear:
2 Timothy 1:7 | NKJV (7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
These are individual verses that become swords in your mouth.
Remember, worry is relentless and is very persistent. You and I must be more persistent than those thoughts.
In the beginning it will take great effort.
God’s Word will not only cleanse your mind, but it will train your mind.
The more you practice, the easier it is to do and the more quickly your mind responds.
Your mind will ultimately follow after what is coming out of your mouth. That is how God wired you.
Don’t let worry be a heavy burden on your back.