Show Notes

Worry is a Liar

“We’ve already established that the root of worry is fear. And fear doesn’t come from God. Thus, at the heart of worry is the devil. And Scripture is clear the devil is a liar.”1Louie Giglio

“When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

“To put it simply, worry isn’t just a bad habit. Worry is an Enemy tactic-a strategy built on lies that are designed to rob you of peace and tear your mind to pieces.”1Louie Giglio

The Four Lies of Worry

Lie 1: Something really bad is going to happen.

“A 2019 study from Penn State showed that roughly 91 percent of the things we worry about never even happen.”2

“…most of what you’re spending your time worrying about won’t happen.”1

Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it.

“…the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening.”1

“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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:25-26, 34)

Lie 3: I have no choice-I’m a born worrier.

Louie opens by telling a story about how his parents were big worriers.

“Being sixteen, I was clueless about most of the weight my parents were carrying. But that night, as I went to leave our apartment and walk to a friend’s house, he said, ‘I’ve just had the worst day of my life. I need everyone to just stay in the house tonight.’”1

“I only fully understood this when I was older and I started having the same feelings. I realized that I, too, could easily tip toward fearing a dreadful outcome. I would naturally obsess over the question, ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’”1

“if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17).

“We may have a genetic tendency toward worry. And, more powerfully, we may have been weaned in a worrying culture. Worry is what we saw others do. Worry is what we learned. Worry is what we are prone to repeat.”1

“if you are in Christ, all those old patterns were disrupted the instant you were born again. You have a new Father in heaven. He has never worried for one second in His eternal existence. He wasn’t worried yesterday. Nor is He today. He will not be worried tomorrow.”1

Lie 4: I can control the outcome by worrying.

“You are not God. While worry wants you to think you’re in the driver’s seat, worry really locks you in the trunk of the car (or “in the boot” for my English-speaking friends outside the US).”1

“Jesus asked, ‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” Think about that for a moment. None of us can add even a second to our day. He continued, “Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’” (Luke 12:25-26).

“…peace comes by admitting that you are not God.”1

“I am not God. Therefore, I am not in charge. I am not in control. I don’t run the show. I am simply a part of God’s plan. Yet, I know He loves me. So I will trust and obey.”1

“God, I repent of trying to be You. Have Your will and Your way in my life.”1

“Worry tells you that you are in charge. But who wants that job, anyway?”1

“Faith tells you the God who loves you is in charge. Your Maker is in control. You can trust Him. All His ways are good.”1

Spot the Lies and Start the Fight

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit, who lives in you.”
Romans 8:11

“Keep calling out the lies that worry is speaking and keep surrendering those lies to God, replacing them with the truths of His Word. I believe that if you commit and start down this path, the Spirit will continue to empower you to fight the good fight.”1

Avoidance

With worry, there is this focus on avoiding anything and everything that causes discomfort.

Louie refers to discomfort as hardship

“The closer you stay to God and the more you call out the lies of worry, the more you’ll come to realize that avoidance isn’t the desired outcome of the Christian life. No, the goal of the life of the believer is assurance.”1

Assurance

“Assurance is what turns a what if into an even if through the truth of what is. God is good. Loving. Kind. Mighty in power. Holy Healer. He is, and because of that truth, you can have assurance no matter what comes against you.”1

Discussion1

    1. Are there any negative thoughts that you consistently find yourself coming back to? If so, write those down below.

    1. Which of the four lies does worry speak to you most often?

    1. What are some practical tools you can use to spot the lies of worry in your day-to-day life?

    1. How can you invite your community to help you spot the lies of worry in your life?

Sources

[1] Giglio, L. (2022). Winning the War On Worry – Cultivate a Peaceful Heart and a Confident Mind. Thomas Nelson.

Transcript

0:00:00.000,0:00:06.120
Hello and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name
is Craig Booker. The title of this episode is Worry

0:00:06.120,0:00:12.540
is a Liar. The material in this episode is inspired
by Winning the War on Worry by Louie Giglio.

0:00:13.200,0:00:19.620
Note: I will talk a lot about mental health, but
please note this is not a substitute for therapy

0:00:19.620,0:00:24.660
or mental health care. I am not a counselor or
physician if you need help with mental health

0:00:24.660,0:00:30.000
challenges, please find a qualified mental health
professional. The title of this episode is Worry

0:00:30.000,0:00:38.460
is a Liar. So, in this chapter, Louie starts
out by saying we’ve already established that

0:00:38.460,0:00:45.120
the root of worry is fear. And fear doesn’t come
from God. Thus at the heart of worry is the devil.

0:00:45.120,0:00:53.760
And scripture is clear that the devil is a liar
John 8 44 says when he lies he speaks his native

0:00:53.760,0:01:00.960
language for he is a liar and the father of
Lies speaking of the enemy there Louis goes

0:01:00.960,0:01:08.520
on to say to put it simply worry isn’t just a bad
habit worry is an enemy tactic a strategy built

0:01:08.520,0:01:15.720
on lies that are designed to rob you of peace
and test your mind or interior mind to pieces

0:01:16.320,0:01:25.740
Louis then goes on to talk about what he calls
the four lies of worry so we’ll quickly go cover

0:01:25.740,0:01:31.380
them and then we’ll go into details so y1
is something really bad is going to happen

0:01:32.940,0:01:38.880
like two is the more you worry about it the
better your odds of avoiding it lie three is I

0:01:38.880,0:01:45.960
have no choice I’m a born Warrior and line life
four is I can control the outcome by worrying

0:01:47.160,0:01:53.880
so we’ll start by talking about lie one which
is something really bad is going to happen

0:01:55.200,0:02:00.420
and he talks about a study uh
he said as a 2019 study from

0:02:00.420,0:02:07.200
Penn State showed that roughly 91 of the
things we worry about never even happen

0:02:09.120,0:02:14.160
uh let’s see he goes on to say most of what you’re
spending time your time worrying about won’t

0:02:14.160,0:02:22.140
happen you know I I think probably most of us
can relate to thinking this thought in some form

0:02:23.940,0:02:33.720
um for my own journey I can remember like having
times where you know I was really just caught up

0:02:33.720,0:02:40.560
in worry and fear and on a regular basis I would
think about things that haven’t even happened

0:02:42.000,0:02:48.720
um like thinking about loved ones getting hurt
or losing loved ones and just those really what

0:02:48.720,0:02:56.520
are kind of intrusive thoughts that came into my
mind and uh just really made overall my quality

0:02:56.520,0:03:03.840
of life worse and so I can really relate that to
this section of worrying about things that hardly

0:03:03.840,0:03:10.740
ever happen uh most of the things I struggled with
on a daily basis and continue to struggle with are

0:03:10.740,0:03:16.620
things that will never ever happen uh and so
I think this is an important point is really

0:03:16.620,0:03:24.720
to catch when we get into you know uh going to war
on these lies is really catching these thoughts of

0:03:25.440,0:03:32.040
the the actual possibility or reality of these
things happen so lied to is the more you worry

0:03:32.040,0:03:38.040
about it the better your odds of avoiding it
he says the enemy wants you to believe that

0:03:38.040,0:03:43.740
if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long
enough you can keep something bad from happening

0:03:45.840,0:03:55.140
I tell you so this is Matthew 6 25-26 and then
verse 34 it says I tell you do not worry about

0:03:55.140,0:04:01.020
your life what you will eat or drink or about
your body what you’ll wear is not life more

0:04:01.020,0:04:07.380
than food in the body more than clothes look at
the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or

0:04:07.380,0:04:12.780
store away in Barns and yet your heavenly
father feeds them are you not much more

0:04:12.780,0:04:18.960
valuable than they therefore do not worry about
tomorrow for tomorrow we’ll worry about itself

0:04:20.520,0:04:30.540
so I I really agree what Louis is getting at here
this lie pointing out this lie um I know it’s not

0:04:30.540,0:04:39.300
that simple for a lot of people I’m just telling
people that we shouldn’t worry or you know the

0:04:39.300,0:04:44.520
Bible is very powerful I’m not denying that but
throwing Bible verses at people is not always the

0:04:44.520,0:04:51.300
best solution uh because there are other elements
to their story that are feeding their worry

0:04:53.340,0:05:01.200
so a lot of what I personally experienced was
I was reacting to trauma in my life in in past

0:05:01.200,0:05:09.480
times and that was getting triggered you know as
I live and so it was not just the fact of worrying

0:05:09.480,0:05:15.000
but I was dealing with a lot of the emotions
that came with those triggers from past trauma

0:05:15.000,0:05:22.500
and so it it’s not quite as direct as what he
presents it but the truth is really valuable

0:05:22.500,0:05:27.060
here so I don’t want to overlook the truth but
I also want to kind of counterbalance it and say

0:05:27.060,0:05:36.900
it’s not always this easy but the truth it still
applies what I have noticed though recently is

0:05:37.500,0:05:49.320
a shift when I start to feel more safe personally
it it’s a lot easier for me to live this out um

0:05:50.700,0:05:57.780
and so sometimes I think uh it’s for a person is
getting to a place where they feel safe so the

0:05:57.780,0:06:02.040
worry is not just you know running rampant
in their life just overtaking everything

0:06:03.120,0:06:08.580
uh so there’s there’s a few different elements at
play I think there and then lie three is I have no

0:06:08.580,0:06:15.540
choice I’m a born warrior in this part Louis opens
by telling a story about his parents and how they

0:06:15.540,0:06:24.600
were big Warriors uh eight he talked about his dad
that his dad was just the king of warriors uh and

0:06:24.600,0:06:31.140
he said this is a quote for many he said being 16
I was clueless about most of the way my parents

0:06:31.140,0:06:38.160
were carrying but that night as I went to leave
our apartment and walked to a friend’s house he

0:06:38.160,0:06:44.340
said speaking of his dad I’ve just had the worst
day of my life I need everyone to just stay in

0:06:44.340,0:06:51.120
the house tonight uh then he goes on he says I
only fully understood this when I was older and

0:06:51.120,0:06:58.020
I started having the same feelings I realized
that I too could easily tip toward feeling a

0:06:58.020,0:07:03.540
dreadful outcome I would naturally obsess over the
question what’s the worst thing that could happen

0:07:04.500,0:07:11.760
so in this part there are parts that I left out
there he tells the story about his parents and

0:07:11.760,0:07:19.020
how they worried a lot and this particular
story he’s he kind of revealed to him that

0:07:19.020,0:07:25.920
his dad was constantly worrying about
the kids uh when the kids would go out

0:07:27.060,0:07:34.140
um every day and so this realization helped him
to see that every time he went you know every

0:07:34.140,0:07:39.120
time Louie went out of the house his dad was
worried let’s see there’s second Corinthians

0:07:39.120,0:07:45.960
5 17 it says if anyone is in Christ the new
creation has come the old is gone the new is here

0:07:46.740,0:07:54.420
he says we may have a genetic tendency towards
worry and more powerfully we may have been

0:07:54.420,0:08:01.620
weaned in a worrying culture worry is what we
saw others do worry as what we learned worry

0:08:01.620,0:08:10.140
is what we are prone to repeat so he felt
this really big draw to be a warrior just

0:08:10.140,0:08:17.400
like you know his parents were this really big
tendency and so what he’s getting out here is

0:08:17.400,0:08:25.740
you know if you have accepted Jesus you’re
a new creation and we may lean towards or

0:08:25.740,0:08:32.160
get drawn to be a person that worries but
if we’re in Christ we’re a new creation

0:08:32.940,0:08:39.120
and it says if he goes on to say if you’re in
Christ all those old patterns were disrupted the

0:08:39.120,0:08:45.780
instant you were born again you have a new Father
in Heaven he is never worried for a second in his

0:08:46.620,0:08:54.240
eternal existence he wasn’t worried yesterday
nor is he today he will not be worried tomorrow

0:08:56.160,0:08:59.400
lie number four I can control
the outcome by worrying

0:09:01.440,0:09:07.860
he says you are not God while worrying wants you
to think you’re in the driver’s seat worry really

0:09:07.860,0:09:13.560
locks you in the trunk of the car or in the boot
for my English-speaking friends outside the U.S

0:09:14.100,0:09:21.300
uh Luke 12 25-26 says Jesus asked who of
You by worrying can add a single hour to

0:09:21.300,0:09:25.440
your life think about that for a moment none of us

0:09:26.460,0:09:34.500
none of us can add even a second to our day he
continued since you cannot do this very little

0:09:34.500,0:09:40.140
thing why do you worry about the rest so it looks
in that section there’s kind of a mix of Louis

0:09:40.140,0:09:46.680
talking as well as quoting scripture he goes on he
says peace comes by admitting that you’re not God

0:09:48.360,0:09:55.680
he says I am not God therefore I am not in charge
I am not in control I don’t run the show I simply

0:09:55.680,0:10:02.820
I’m simply part I’m simply a part of God’s plan
yet I know he loves me so I will trust and Obey

0:10:02.820,0:10:10.740
he goes on to share this prayer of God I Repent
of trying to be you have your will and your way

0:10:10.740,0:10:18.600
in my life uh he says worry tells you that you
are in charge but who wants that job anyway

0:10:19.740,0:10:26.280
uh Faith tells you that the God who loves you
is in charge your maker is in control you can

0:10:26.280,0:10:34.620
trust him and his ways are always good so
you know there’s this shift of realizing

0:10:35.640,0:10:45.300
as people like in our world in our cultures
we’re often uh kind of directed to feel like

0:10:45.300,0:10:50.100
we’re the captain or our own ship you know
there’s all this focus on self-improvement

0:10:51.360,0:10:56.400
um or self-development all this focus on
self like we kind of live in a culture

0:10:56.400,0:11:02.340
where everything’s focused on us uh that we can
make our own destiny there’s all these messages

0:11:02.340,0:11:11.760
saying [Music] basically focused on us and
so that kind of crimes us to believe that

0:11:13.020,0:11:18.780
that we can act as if we are God that we’re in
control so we have to worry about everything

0:11:19.560,0:11:25.980
and this section I really like how he highlights
that there’s this Freedom that comes when we

0:11:25.980,0:11:32.700
realize we’re not God that we’re not in charge and
we’re not in control but there’s this assurance

0:11:32.700,0:11:40.560
that God is in control he loves us very much
and we never have to worry about what’s going

0:11:40.560,0:11:47.880
on because we have a we serve a good God who again
loves us very much and wants the best for us again

0:11:47.880,0:11:52.980
that doesn’t mean that bad things aren’t going to
happen but there’s just the shift in mentality I

0:11:52.980,0:11:59.220
think that’s valuable there so uh the next part
he goes in to spot the lies and start the fight

0:12:00.000,0:12:07.800
it says this is Romans 8 11 it says if the spirit
of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living

0:12:07.800,0:12:13.860
in you he who raised Christ from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies because

0:12:13.860,0:12:21.060
of his Spirit who lives in you Louis says keep
calling out the lies that worry us speaking and

0:12:21.060,0:12:28.260
keep surrendering those lies to God replacing them
with the truths of his word I believe that if you

0:12:28.260,0:12:34.440
commit and start down this path the spirit will
continue to empower you to fight the good fight

0:12:35.220,0:12:43.380
Louis goes on to talk about kind of two different
concepts one is avoidance and what is assurance

0:12:44.160,0:12:50.760
with worry this is there’s this focus on avoiding
anything and everything that causes discomfort uh

0:12:50.760,0:12:57.300
Louis refers to this discomfort as hardship
he says the closer you stay to God and the

0:12:57.300,0:13:03.240
more you call out the lies of worry the more
you’ll come to realize that avoidance isn’t the

0:13:03.240,0:13:09.480
desired outcome of the Christian Life no the
goal of the life of the believer is assurance

0:13:11.340,0:13:18.720
so we talked about Assurance he says Assurance is
what turns a what if into an even if through the

0:13:18.720,0:13:28.860
truth of what is God is good loving kind Mighty
and power holy healer he is and because of that

0:13:28.860,0:13:34.920
truth you can have Assurance no matter what
comes against you uh I wanted to talk about

0:13:34.920,0:13:43.080
this concept of avoidance because it really
applies to more than just worry but it it

0:13:43.080,0:13:49.740
really overlaps a lot of areas so with avoidance
whether you’re talking about worry whether you’re

0:13:49.740,0:13:56.160
talking about fear anxiety most people when
they’re experiencing fear anxiety worry they

0:13:56.160,0:14:03.840
want to avoid whatever it is that’s causing
that um and so that is kind of our natural

0:14:03.840,0:14:12.960
tendency is to avoid pain and gravity gravitate
towards Comfort or pleasure and so the more that

0:14:12.960,0:14:19.920
we avoid whatever it is that’s causing us
fear anxiety worry the worst that those

0:14:19.920,0:14:27.540
things grow the greater your fear grows the the
greater the anxiety grows and it just kind of

0:14:27.540,0:14:33.000
snowballs if you deal with fear or anxiety a
lot of the treatment for those is what they

0:14:33.000,0:14:39.900
call exposure therapy exposure therapy is kind
of have kind of in a simple way it’s kind of like

0:14:39.900,0:14:47.340
facing your fears it’s like small doses of facing
your fears and so by facing whatever it is that’s

0:14:47.340,0:14:55.140
causing you those feelings the hope is that you’ll
kind of get desensitized to whatever it is uh that

0:14:55.140,0:15:01.620
your body will adapt and so the fear and whatever
is holding you back will get less and I know

0:15:01.620,0:15:10.440
that’s over simplification but this this concept
of avoidance is just really important uh because

0:15:12.060,0:15:20.760
in my own Journey there’s a lot of things that I
chose to avoid because that means I didn’t have to

0:15:20.760,0:15:27.540
feel those fear feelings of fear and anxiety and
what I learned is the more that I avoid them the

0:15:27.540,0:15:36.540
worse that the fears grew and that began to take
over more part parts of my life I like this idea

0:15:36.540,0:15:43.380
of avoidance and how he Compares it to assurance
and the shift of focusing on putting our trust in

0:15:43.380,0:15:51.600
God so we have discussion for this chapter this
first question is are there any negative thoughts

0:15:51.600,0:15:57.060
that you consistently find yourself coming
back to it says if so write those down below

0:15:57.840,0:16:02.940
number two is which of the four lies
does worry speak to you most often

0:16:04.260,0:16:10.440
number three was what are some practical tools
you can use to spot the lies of worry in your

0:16:10.440,0:16:15.300
day-to-day life and number four is how can
you invite your community to help you spot

0:16:15.300,0:16:20.940
the lies of worry in your life that’s all for
this episode thank you for watching if you

0:16:20.940,0:16:25.440
liked the video give us a thumbs up and be sure to
subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes

Last updated on: 01/24/2024

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