Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name is Craig Booker. The title of this episode is Worry Is A Liar.
The material in this episode is inspired by Winning the War on Worry by Louis Giglio.
Note: I will talk a lot about mental health, but please note this is not a substitute for therapy or mental health care. I am not a counselor or a physician. If you need help with mental health challenges, please find a qualified mental health professional.
The title of this episode is Steps.
Worry Is A Liar – Introduction
The title of this episode is Worry Is A Liar. So in this chapter, Louie starts out by saying 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 that the devil is a liar. John 8:44 says, “When he lies he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Speaking of the enemy there.
Louie goes on to say, “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.
Louie then goes on to talk about what he calls The Four Lies of Worry.
So we’ll quickly go cover them, and then we’ll go into details.
So lie one is something really bad is going to happen.
Lie two is the more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it.
Lie three is I have no choice I’m a born worrier.
And Lie four is I can control the outcome by worrying.
So we’ll start by talking about lie one which is Something really bad is going to happen.
And he talks about a study. He said, “A 2019 study from Penn State showed that roughly 91 percent of the things we worry about never even happen.”
Let’s see, he goes on to say, “…most of what you’re spending time your time worrying about won’t happen.”
You know, I think probably most of us can relate to thinking this thought in some form. For my own journey, I can remember like having times where you know I was really just caught up in worry and fear and on a regular basis I would think about things that haven’t even happened.
Like thinking about loved ones getting hurt or losing loved ones and just those really what are kind of intrusive thoughts that came into my mind and just really made overall my quality of life worse.
And so I can really relate that to this section of worrying about things that hardly ever happen. Most of the things I struggled with on a daily basis and continue to struggle with are things that will never ever happen.
And so I think this is an important point is really to catch when we get into you know going to war on these lies is really catching these thoughts of the actual possibility or reality of these things happen.
So lie two is “The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it.
He says 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.
I tell you so this is Matthew 6:25-26 and then verse 34. It says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you’ll 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.
So I really agree with what Louis is getting at here. This lie pointing out this lie, I know it’s not that simple for a lot of people.
I’m just telling people that we shouldn’t worry, or you know the Bible is very powerful. I’m not denying that but throwing Bible verses at people is not always the best solution. Because there are other elements to their story that are feeding their worry.
So a lot of what I personally experienced was I was reacting to trauma in my life. In past times and that was getting triggered you know, as I live, and so it was not just the fact of worrying, but I was dealing with a lot of the emotions that came with those triggers from past trauma.
And so it it’s not quite as direct as what he presents it, but the truth is really valuable here. So I don’t want to overlook the truth, but I also want to kind of counterbalance it and say it’s not always this easy.
But the truth it still applies. What I have noticed though recently is a shift when I start to feel more safe personally it it’s a lot easier for me to live this out.
And so sometimes I think it’s for a person is getting to a place where they feel safe. So the worry is not just you know running rampant in their life. Just overtaking everything.
So there’s a few different elements at play I think there.
And then lie three is “I have no choice I’m a born warrior.”
In this part Louie opens by telling a story about his parents and how they were big worriers.
He talked about his dad. That his dad was just the king of worriers. And he said this is a quote, “Being 16 I was clueless about most of the way my parents were carrying but that night as I went to leave our apartment and walked to a friend’s house he said,” speaking of his dad, “I’ve just had the worst day of my life I need everyone to just stay in the house tonight.”
Then he goes on he says, “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 feeling a dreadful outcome I would naturally obsess over the question ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?'”
So in this part, there are parts that I left out there. He tells the story about his parents and how they worried a lot, and in this particular story, he kind of revealed to him that his dad was constantly worrying about the kids. When the kids would go out every day.
And so this realization helped him to see that every time he went, you know, every time Louie went out of the house, his dad was worried.
Let’s see. There’s 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!”
He says, “We may have a genetic tendency towards 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.”
So he felt this really big draw to be a worrier, just like you know his parents were. This really big tendency, and so what he’s getting out here is, you know, if you have accepted Jesus, you’re a new creation. And we may lean towards or get drawn to be a person that worries, but if we’re in Christ we’re a new creation.
And it says he goes on to say, “If you’re in Christ, all those old patterns were disrupted the instant you were born again. You have a new Father in heaven. He is never worried for a second in His eternal existence. He wasn’t worried yesterday. Nor is he today. He will not be worried tomorrow.
Lie number four. I can control the outcome by worrying.
He says, “You are not God. While worrying 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 U.S.)”
Luke 12 25-26 says, “Jesus asked who of You by worrying can add a single hour to your life think about that for a moment none of us 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?”
So it looks in that section, there’s kind of a mix of Louie talking as well as quoting scripture.
He goes on he says “…peace comes by admitting that you’re not God.”
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 I am simply a part of God’s plan. Yet, I know He loves me. So I will trust and obey.”
He goes on to share this prayer: “God, I repent of trying to be You. Have Your will and Your way in my life.”
He says, “Worry tells you that you are in charge. But who wants that job anyway?”
“Faith tells you that the God who loves you is in charge. Your Maker is in control. You can trust him. All his ways are good.”
So you know, there’s this shift of realizing as people like in our world in our cultures, we’re often uh kind of directed to feel like we’re the captain or our own ship. You know, there’s all this focus on self-improvement or self-development. All this focus on self.
Like we kind of live in a culture where everything’s focused on us. That we can make our own destiny. There’s all these messages saying basically focused on us. And so that kind of crimes us to believe that we can act as if we are God.
That we’re in control. So we have to worry about everything. And this section. I really like how he highlights that there’s this freedom that comes when we realize we’re not God. That we’re not in charge.
And we’re not in control, but there’s this assurance that God is in control. He loves us very much. And we never have to worry about what’s going on because we serve a good God.
Who again loves us very much and wants the best for us. Again that doesn’t mean that bad things aren’t going to happen, but there’s just the shift in mentality.
I think that’s valuable there.
So the next part, he goes into Spot the Lies and Start the Fight.
It says this is Romans 8:11. It says, “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.”
Louie says, “Keep calling out the lies that worry us 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.
Louie goes on to talk about kind of two different concepts one is avoidance and one is assurance.
With worry this is there’s this focus on avoiding anything and everything that causes discomfort. Louie refers to this discomfort as hardship.
He says 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.
So we talked about Assurance. He says assurance is what turns a what if into an even if through the truth of what is.
God is good loving kind mighty and power holy healer he is and because of that truth you can have Assurance no matter what comes against you uh I wanted to talk about this concept of avoidance because it really applies to more than just worry but it it really overlaps a lot of areas so with avoidance whether you’re talking about worry whether you’re talking about fear anxiety most people when they’re experiencing fear anxiety worry they want to avoid whatever it is that’s causing that um and so that is kind of our natural tendency is to avoid pain and gravity gravitate towards comfort or pleasure.
And so the more that we avoid whatever it is that’s causing us fear, anxiety worry, the worse that those things grow.
The greater your fear grows the greater the anxiety grows, and it just kind of snowballs.
If you deal with fear or anxiety, a lot of the treatment for those is what they call exposure therapy.
Exposure Therapy is kind of have kind of in a simple way. It’s kind of like facing your fears. It’s like small doses of facing your fears, and so by facing whatever it is that’s causing you those feelings, the hope is that you’ll kind of get desensitized to whatever it is.
That your body will adapt, and so the fear and whatever is holding you back will get less. And I know that’s oversimplification, but this concept of avoidance is just really important.
Because in my own Journey, there were a lot of things that I chose to avoid because that meant I didn’t have to feel those fear feelings of fear and anxiety.
And what I learned is the more that I avoided them, the worse that the fears grew, and that began to take over more part parts of my life.
I like this idea of avoidance and how he compares it to assurance and the shift of focusing on putting our trust in God.
So we have discussion for this chapter.
This first question is, “Are there any negative thoughts that you consistently find yourself coming back to?” It says, “If so write those down below. “
Number two is “Which of the four lies does worry speak to you most?”
Number three was “What are some practical tools you can use to spot the lies of worry in your day-to-day life?”
And number four is How can you invite your community to help you spot the lies of worry in your life?
Closing
That’s all for this episode. Thank you for watching. If you liked the video, give us a thumbs up and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes.
Show Notes
“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
- Are there any negative thoughts that you consistently find yourself coming back to? If so, write those down below.
- Which of the four lies does worry speak to you most often?
- What are some practical tools you can use to spot the lies of worry in your day-to-day life?
- 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.
