Thursday 9/7/12 Why Worry?

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive us of our sins so we might start this day clean.  Lord Jesus, I admit I am a sinner, and yes, Lord, there is not a doubt that I mess up daily, either in my actions or my thinking.  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Jesus, please help me this day to write a message for You.  Thanks, Jesus.  I love You.

Good Thursday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters.  Thursday and the day we pray for our schools and all who go through the doors, and for our families, and pray that our families come to Jesus and have Him head up the house.  Please also pray for Cindy, kidney tumor, LaRoy, cancer, Michael, marriage, Beverly, depression, Matthew Lehman, depression, other problems, and again, for him to contact us.  (We now know where he is, he just does not contact us.)  For Burt and Patsy Emig, they need your loving prayers.  Dan Stoner and family, flying for God.  For politicians, to START TELLING THE TRUTH.  Don't forget to send me praise reports, and also last names.  Now to the message.

Why worry?  Starting from Matthew in the words of our Lord Jesus:

Matthew 6:25 - "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"  (NIV)

Dear brothers and sisters, please read on your own, Matthew 6:25 to the beginning of chapter seven.  This will help you understand the word of the Lord better, and also check up on me.

Brothers and sisters, God has pointed this one right out to me as I am going to do my best to listen to Him more and more.  I don't know about you folks, but if you are like me, you tend to worry about a lot of things.  We worry about the bills, we worry about is there enough food, and I worry about is there going to be enough for all the families who come to Carry The Light Ministries Food Pantry.  We worry about family, our kids, and we have six of them, and well, it seems we are just worry warts.

I have talked about this before, I have preached on it, but again today God is pointing this right out to me.  Yes, I listened to Him and I am sure today this is what He wants me to talk about.  Worry, and I look at the scripture and find out that Jesus tells us "Do not worry."  So how is He giving is to me today?  I am having this planted on my mind by God.  Do not worry, I got your back!  "Do not worry, I have you covered."  And this one, gosh, this one.  Do not worry, have I ever walked away from you?

Wow, I must tell you that I like these, and He is firing them at me fast today.  But wait a minute, this is not easy, and I do not want to tell any of you it is.  It might be one of the hardest things that God tells us to do.  It is hard to let go of things, and why, because we really care about things.  I can tell you that I have been to the altar at church, took all of my worries and bundled them up and carried them forward in church, placed them at the feet of Jesus, prayed over, anointed with oil, and when finished, I bent right over and picked the pile right up with me.  How many of you did just that?

God tells us we will not gain one hour of time in our life by worrying, but knowing how I feel if I did not worry, I might add a lot of hours to my life on earth.

I do worry about having enough food for the food pantry and the families who come in, and more and more are coming each week.  But let me tell you this, we always gave out a "lot of food" to each family coming in, but lately we have been really increasing what we give to them, and the more we increase what we give, the more we get in.  Now that, folks, is in the Bible, how when we give to the Lord and how we bless others in His name, more will be given back to us.  So I need to stop worrying about the food for others for if it runs low, I am sure we will be taken care of my God, so we can take care of others in His name.

We, like a lot of you, also worry about our children, and you all know what we have been through with our one son, and each day we give him over to God.  So we need to follow the words of Christ and just let Him handle it.

Don't get me wrong, folks, we must still have concern for others, but we need to have concern about things, but we need to just talk it over with God, then listen, and do what He wants, and it will be okay.  How do I know it?  "Jesus told me."  Yes, read the scripture again, do it with me.  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"

Jesus said:  "Trust in God, and also in me."

Dear Father in Heaven, we need to trust in You for all things, we need to believe in You for all things, we do believe that You will save us in the end of our time on earth, and that is in the Bible, Lord, so help us to follow all things in the Bible.  Lord, I believe each word in the Bible.  In Jesus' name, I give praise for You saving us  and also carrying the worries and burdens for us.  Amen.

John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  (NIV)

Romans 10:9/10 - That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  (NIV)

Now go forth, and stop your worrying, turn it over to God, and share your blessings.  Love ya, Pastor Dan.  Need prayer, night or day, 717 991 0754, my personal cell phone number.