“I stopped praying about it because I didn’t want to seem worried about it.”

How many of you have uttered or thought those words? It sounds like something you’d say about disappointments and dead dreams from the last post doesn’t it? Read God’s Plan

As far back as I can remember, I’ve uttered, or at least, thought those words. In any given situation, I’ve had the logic “well if Jesus says ‘don’t worry’ doesn’t it mean that I don’t need to pray about it anymore? Because it means He’s got it and we pray about what we are worried about right?”  💯

I mean Philippians 4:6 NLT says ““Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

My take away: “Pray when you’re worried!”

Essentially, I started using prayer as my antidote to worry because that’s what the Bible says, or at least that’s what I understood. So whenever I worry, I pray.

During my devotion one morning, that same message popped up again “don’t worry.” At that moment I decided to literally ask God out loud, “Well if I’m not supposed to worry about my future, my children, my marriage, my finances, my career, why do you then want me to constantly (ceaselessly) pray about them? Doesn’t that show that I’m still worried?” In that moment, it hit me: Prayer isn’t the antidote to worry 🤯– we aren’t supposed to pray BECAUSE we’re worried, we pray because we seek connection with God and because we believe in committing all things to God.

The reason we pray can’t be worry. Prayer can’t stem from worry. The foundation of our prayer lives can’t and shouldn’t be worry! Doing so makes us like the person in the parable in Matthew 7 who built his house on sand- not a stable foundation is it? 🤷🏾‍♀️

You see, the lie of the enemy is for us to consider prayer a lifeline instead of a lifestyle. Trust me, I’m so guilty of this too! Sometimes we run to pray not because we want to talk to communicate with God, we run to pray because we’ve tried everything else and have exhausted all our human options. It ought not to be so. Instead we should pray because we desire to commit all things to God (Proverbs 3:6), which then means we have nothing to worry about because God is in control. See how that works?

I have this pillow in my prayer corner with the writing “Pray more, Worry Less.” Notice it doesn’t say worry less, pray more. Y’all, It’s so important to get that order correctly. Approaching life with a “worry then pray” mentality is choosing to create a lifestyle of putting the carriage before the horse. This throws us into a realm of constantly playing defense. Quite frankly, that’s a whole disaster waiting to happen, and it is exhausting!

Prayer is an offensive plan not a defensive plan. When we pray, we end up not needing to worry- or at least we worry less. In essence, prayer reduces or eliminates worry. Whereas, when we don’t pray, worry seeps in, makes a home in our hearts and minds, and then we stumble into God’s presence praying from a place of worry. Can ya say FAULTY FOUNDATION?

God wants us to come BOLDLY into His presence and stand CONFIDENTLY before His throne. Well, how exactly can anyone be bold or confident while worried? It’s impossible isn’t it? #IssaContradiction. I’m sure this is the reason Paul told the Philippians DON’T WORRY, BUT PRAY! This is a call to cease one course of action and THEN proceed to the next.

He knew that praying from a place of worry wasn’t a good approach at all because worry has doubt written all over it. We doubt that the scholarship will be ours, we doubt that the contract will be ours, we doubt that the world will get to see our visions in motion, we doubt that we will be able to save money talk-less of the amount we dream of, we doubt that we’ll meet that God ordained spouse, and the list goes on and on. Prayer needs to occur by faith- faith in God and His ability to do whatever we ask. And guess what faith is…. “Faith is the CONFIDENCE in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 Read more about faith here.

Do you recall moments when you prayed from a place of worry? How’d that go? Are willing to try things differently? If so pray this prayer with me:

Lord, help us come to You in prayer from a place of peace and faith not a place of worry and doubt. In Jesus name.

I encourage you to begin to live life using this Pray more, Worry less strategy and watch how life changes for you! I’d really love to hear your thoughts about prayer and worry, so feel free to leave a comment below or reach out!

*Hakuna Matata*

∼Moyo∼

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I’d like to provide an opportunity to those who are yet to meet with Jesus. If you have a deep desire to know Jesus and enter into the kingdom of God you are in great company. I did at some point in my life, and it was the greatest desire that God ever met! 

I invite you to pray the sinner’s prayer: Dear Jesus, I accept that I am a sinner and I confess my sins before you. I believe that you died for my sins and rose again to give me a new life.  I ask that you forgive me of my sins; cleanse me with your precious blood which you shed on the cross of Calvary. I accept you as my personal Lord and Savior. Fill me up with your Holy Spirit and strengthen me. I profess that I am a new creature; old things have passed away and I have become new in You. Thank You, Lord! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!

If you prayed the prayer, WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM FAMILY!! You are a new creature, the old has passed and the new is here! Be sure to find a bible believing, Spirit-led church in your city and purchase a bible in a version that you understand. I use the  New Living Translation, Message, Free Bible, Christian Standard Bible, or the New International Version. Enjoy the journey!