{"id":67047,"date":"2022-05-20T00:51:22","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T05:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=67047"},"modified":"2025-08-06T13:09:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:09:57","slug":"can-we-escape-our-worry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/can-we-escape-our-worry\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Escape Our Worry?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Worry and anxiety are common feelings. <\/strong>You might be feeling anxious about something right now as you read this. <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Personally, I can feel anxious if I get overwhelmed by my responsibilities, my worries about what others think of me, or my fears that I\u2019m not good enough. It can certainly feel as if the entire world is resting on my shoulders. <\/span>(As the earth<\/strong><\/a> has a circumference of nearly 25,000 miles and a population of nearly 8,000,000,000, that\u2019s a lot of pressure!)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When we get anxious, it\u2019s easy to get self-absorbed. It\u2019s easy to allow our fears and insecurities to dominate our minds. But we don\u2019t have<\/i> to feel this way. We can look up.<\/strong> <\/span>God reminds us in His Word to NOT worry<\/a> about anything, but to put our trust<\/a> in His loving care for us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/b>\"worry\"<\/p>\n

We Are to Release Our Worry<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Bible contains many passages about dealing with worry and anxiety. In His teaching known as the \u201cSermon on the Mount<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d Jesus spoke on the subject. We are to NOT be anxious about our needs, but to trust that God will provide. In our moments of need, God often gives others the opportunity to share their blessings and His love with us. <\/span><\/p>\n

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 Jesus asks, \u201cCan any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying?\u201d He asks this to make a point. <\/b>Our worry often impedes our ability to accomplish our goals and live well. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Lately, I have stressed about getting all my work done with school, chores, and earning my driver\u2019s license. It\u2019s been a lot. But I realized that if I continue to focus on worry, I won\u2019t have the energy to actually do what I need to get done<\/span>. So when I start to feel anxious, I like to think on Philippians 4:7<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, which promises: <\/span>\u201cAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d 
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Worry exhausts us. But reading the <\/span>Bible<\/strong><\/a> refreshes us with God\u2019s supernatural power. Prayer does, too. Prayer <\/span>really<\/em> relaxes me. As I tell God my worries, He reminds me that I can trust Him. <\/span>God is our good, good Father<\/strong><\/a>. Even when our circumstances feel like they’re leading to crisis, we can release our worry by trusting that <\/span>God is working things out for us<\/a><\/strong>, as the Bible promises.<\/span>
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Biblical Example: Trust Over Worry<\/b><\/h2>\n

One of my favorite Bible stories is in the book of Judges. God chose an Israelite by the name of Gideon to free the Israelites from their oppressive enemies. In the book of<\/span> Judges<\/a><\/strong>, we learn what the Israelites were enduring:<\/span>

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites were forced to prepare shelters to hide themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites<\/strong><\/a>, and others invaded their land to ravage it. They ruined the Israelites\u2019 crops and killed their livestock. Season after season their enemies so impoverished them, that Israel cried out to the Lord for help.
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Gideon was just a regular guy, so it probably freaked him out when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, \u201cThe Lord is with you, mighty warrior<\/em>.\u201d The angel then told Gideon what God wanted him to do: lead the Israelites in battle. Not surprisingly, Gideon didn\u2019t want the job. He instantly dove into fear and anxiety mode. His knees probably started knocking bad!
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\u201cHow can I save Israel?<\/a><\/strong>\u201d he asked (whimpered?). \u201cMy family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father\u2019s family.\u201d Yeah, Gideon, God knows what He\u2019s working with. He likes to show us just how powerful WE can be when we tap into HIS power!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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God encouraged Gideon to \u201cbe courageous\u201d and \u201ctrust in the Lord.\u201d I feel assured in my endeavors when people encourage me. Clearly, God\u2019s encouragement helped Gideon. Though still frightened by his situation, Gideon chose to trust God and lead Israel into battle. But first God whittled Gideon’s army down to only 300 men<\/a>, just to make it clear that the victory was due to God’s might, not Israel’s. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Most of our worry is created by our thinking we have to face life on our own, under our own power. We sometimes don’t want to tell people our fears or needs because it makes us feel too vulnerable. I’m sure Gideon felt REALLY vulnerable at stepping into that surprise leadership role. But look what he gained for himself and Israel by not letting his fear and worry stop him!<\/p>\n

Gideon worried. You and I worry. It is a human response, but not an unbeatable one. Let us \u201ctake every thought captive,\u201d as the Bible tells us, and hand our fears and anxiety and doubts over to God. God delights in our faith, and in showing Himself faithful!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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NEXT STEPS<\/h2>\n

> Interested in knowing God personally? Get started with this really good info<\/a><\/strong>.
> Need prayer for more power in your faith? Contact us<\/a><\/strong>. We would love to pray for you!
> We invite you to read Josh\u2019s book, More Than a Carpenter<\/a><\/strong>. <\/em>This short apologetics classic examines the historical evidence of Jesus. He died. He rose. He lives. He is our strength and hope, our fortress and strong tower!<\/p>\n

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GUEST BLOGGER CLAYTON THOMAS CARTER, A STUDENT IN PLANO, TEXAS, IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ENCOURAGING THE KNOWLEDGE OF A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW. HE ENJOYS PLAYING TRUMPET AND SERVING AT HIS CHURCH.<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worry and anxiety are common feelings.\u00a0You might be feeling anxious about something right now as you read this. Personally, I can feel anxious if I get overwhelmed by my responsibilities, my worries about what others think of me, or my fears that I\u2019m not good enough.\u00a0It can certainly feel as if the entire world is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23327,"featured_media":70882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"We humans worry a LOT. But we can release our fears and anxiety to God, so they no longer consume or overwhelm us. Yay! #power #freedom","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[157,933,1155,1140,269,1156,1142,934],"translator":[],"blog-author":[73],"class_list":["post-67047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-faith","tag-fear","tag-gideon","tag-listening-for-god","tag-prayer","tag-read-the-bible","tag-talk-to-god","tag-worry","blog-author-guest-blogger"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2022\/05\/Can-we-escape-worry-picture.jpeg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92922,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67047\/revisions\/92922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67047"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=67047"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=67047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}