Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My name is Craig Booker. The title of this episode is Inviting God Into Your Worry.
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 Inviting God Into Your Worry.
Inviting God Into Your Worry
In last week’s episode, we talked about embracing concern and rejecting worry. In this episode, we’re going to pick up with inviting God into the daily interactions of our worry.
So in this section of the book, Louie picks up starts talking about, you know, basically, what do we know based on what we’ve learned so far?
Like we’ve gone through a few different chapters, and we’ve covered a lot so far. And what we know is that knowing who worry is, which is a liar, and what worry is made of its anatomy rooted in fear. we can know our enemy and his tactics.
So he goes on to say, “And knowing our Enemy is essential to being able to fight well.”
This quote is from Sun Tzu from The Art of War. “If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
And Louis goes on to say, “As we continue this journey to become more equipped to win the war on worry, we know our Enemy: his sole purpose is to take us down and steal our joy.” And that’s referencing it’s not a direct quote, but it’s from John 10:10.
So, “We also need to know ourselves, and most importantly, we need to know our God. Because here’s the reality: if we don’t know God, we won’t be able or willing to invite him into our worry.”
“That’s a big problem, because the act of inviting God into our worry is one of the most crucial strategies of winning this war.”
He goes into the section that’s titled going on the offensive it’s not enough to call worry out or to break it down and study it if we want to win this battle we need to strap on our armor and get ready to go on the offensive so he talks about like our first battle is to surrender our concerns To God In Prayer Philippians 4 6 of the NLT says don’t worry about anything instead pray about everything tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done Louis goes on to say Paul wasn’t just saying don’t worry he was giving you an additional offensive step to take he was encouraging you to invite God into your worry by telling him everything that’s concerning you the word worry in this verse me means to rip into pieces it’s the same word it’s the same for the word anxiety in scripture anxiety and worry tear our minds and hearts apart that’s why we have the phrase I was worried to Pieces worry turns our peace into pieces God wants us to bring every little piece to him that’s the first step in how God brings us peace just like Adam and Eve in the garden our first response when we miss the Mark is to hide or run from God much like them you know when we mess up our our first response is to either try to hide or run from God when Louis says we run from God when we need to be running to him he goes on to say don’t try and fix worry on your own you might be stuck in worry and feel like there’s no way out uh but also he goes on to say don’t hide from God you might feel ashamed and embarrassed that you cannot do better you might feel like a failure but you know the purpose or the idea here is that we not try to fix it on our own and we don’t try to hide from God but that’s exactly what we tried to do in most cases when we have worry fear anxiety uh is we we kind of turn inward instead of going to God so it says what should we do we need to call out to God we need to you know tell him what we need tell him our struggles we need to invite God into the anxiety and worry through prayer and then we need to tell God what we need and thank him for all he’s done when you do this God is in the middle of your worry with you so that’s bringing them in to the worry he goes on to talk about abiding in the vine he says we counter anxiety by Abiding and what does it mean to abide to abide is to remain or dwell Louis says to stay in constant posture it’s to stay in a constant posture of surrender and dependency not on your own strength and or uh now if I made a typo there but and for own power but on the character nature of God John 15:5 of the NLT it says I’m the vine you are the branches those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing Louie says we are the branches Jesus is the vine that means that he’s the source of Life of nutrients of richness and vitality he is our source we are the receivers as branches our job is to remain we are to stay connected to the vine and when we do we bear much fruit Galatians 5:22-23 ESV says the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control Louis says when we invite God into our worry we surrender off board our need for control and we onboard his call to dwell and abide in him and the next thing we know we’re bearing fruit we’re blossoming with patience love and peace for most of us the primary reason we fall short on Abiding and dwelling with God isn’t because we’re not spiritual enough or because we don’t understand the concept most of us fall short of Abiding and dwelling because we’re easily distracted and so in in this section of the book he goes on talks talking about one of the reasons why we’re so easily distracted is due to our screens our devices and you know he says how you know how much time we the average person I think spends on a screen and talks about how many times we pick it up and all of that information that you’ve probably heard in other forms in other places and he says he’s not here to like throw stones or accuse people of doing it he says he he uses his device much like we anybody else uses their device but he’s just showing how I guess how prevalent distraction is and how easy it is for us to be distracted by by our devices and the type of reward it provides our brain when we are always on our device the thing with abiding is that it takes time just as is hard to pour water into a shaky cup it’s difficult for the peace of God to flow into a heart that’s in constant motion when we quiet ourselves and sit before him really sit and create space to surrender our fears our anxieties our burdens to him then we abide when we spend time with Jesus we read his word and meditate on his truth and his life we begin to unlock something in our souls so in in this section he says we start by breathing out the lies that cause us to feel anxious or stressed next we need to fill that space with something good something true and as we breathe in we proclaim a promise of God so he gives some examples here I think that’ll help it make more sense so if you’re you know you might be breathing out saying I’m abandoned and then you breathe in and say God is in me you breathe out saying my enemies are against me breathe in God is for me breathe out I am weak breathe in God Is Bigger Than Me breathe out I am lacking breathe in God Is Enough For Me breathed out I am forgotten breathe in God is faithful to me but the Practical exercise is is one where we’re you know we’re breathing out a lie and we’re breathing in and replacing it with truth a promise of God and so I I think as individuals we can figure out things that really resonate with us maybe we identify lies that we’re believing ourselves and then we go through the Bible and find a promise or a word from God that kind of counters that lie and so I think that’s a great exercise we could all do to help us in our daily walk as we identify lies and try to replace them with the truth of God we’re trying to identify problems and come up with fixes that will get us through or get us through get us over or get us around the issue but that’s not the answer to our war on worry when it comes to our war we we don’t need a solution we need a savior so as humans our tendency is you know ever since the garden our tendency is to try to live a life apart from God um and instead of just trusting in Him we try to find fixes ourself when someone’s struggling their their tendency is typically not to reach out to a friend some people that may be their first instinct but a lot of people that are struggling with brain health uh anxiety fear uh depression they typically turn inward instead of doing what would really help which is to reaching out to God or reaching out to a friend and so you know what this is hinting at is that we don’t need to solve it ourselves we really need to tap into God and to reach out to God I would also add to that we also need to reach out to other people like our community we have discussion questions here for this section it says take two minutes shut down your phone sit in the quiet and focus on your breathing breathe in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth make a note of how you feel that’s number one number two it says Galatians 5 compares the fruit of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit read over those scriptures and reflect which of those fruit are currently most evident in your life three it says God wants to hear about what concerns you what holds what holds you back from going to God with the big and small things that way weigh you down number four is the scriptures often describe God as a place of Refuge what does refuge mean and why would it be beneficial for you to have a strong and sturdy Refuge to run to.
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.
Talk Notes
Inviting God Into Our Worry – Talk Notes
Show Notes
What do we know?
“Knowing who worry is (a liar) and
what worry is made of (its anatomy-rooted in fear), we can know our Enemy and his tactics. ” [1]
“And knowing our Enemy is essential to being able to fight well.” [1]
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” [2]
“As we continue this journey to become more equipped to win the war on worry, we know our Enemy: his sole purpose is to take us down and steal our joy (John 10:10).”
“We also need to know ourselves; and most importantly, we need to know our God. Because here’s the reality: if we don’t know God, we won’t be able or willing to invite Him into our worry.” [1]
“That’s a big problem, because the act of inviting God into our worry is one of the most crucial strategies of winning this war.” [1]
Going On the Offensive
“It’s not enough to call worry out or to break it down and study it. If we want to win this battle, we need to strap on our armor and get ready to go on the offensive.” [1]
Our first move
To surrender our concerns to God in prayer.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6 NLT).
“…Paul wasn’t just saying “don’t worry.” He was giving you an additional offensive step to take. He was encouraging you to invite God into your worry by telling Him everything that’s concerning you.” [1]
“The word worry in this verse means ‘to rip into pieces.’ It’s the same for the word anxiety in Scripture. Anxiety and worry tear our minds and hearts apart. That’s why we have the phrase, ‘I was worried to pieces.’ Worry turns our peace into pieces.” [1]
“God wants us to bring every little piece to Him. That’s the first step in how God brings us peace.” [1]
Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, our first response when we miss the mark is to hide or run from God.
“We run from God when we need to be running to Him.” [1]
- Don’t try and fix worry on your own.
You might be stuck in worry and feel like there’s no way out. - Don’t hide from God.
You might feel ashamed and embarrassed that you cannot do better. You might feel like a failure.
So what should we do?
- Call out to Him.
- Invite God into the anxiety and worry through prayer.
- Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He’s done.
When you do this, God is in the middle of your worry with you.
Abiding In The Vine
“We counter anxiety by abiding.” [1]
What does it mean to abide?
To abide is to remain or to dwell.
“To stay in a constant posture of surrender and dependency, not on your own strength and four own power but on the character and nature of God.” [1]
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” John 15:5 NLT
“We are the branches. Jesus is the Vine. That means that He’s the source of life. Of nutrients of richness and vitality. He is our Source. We are the receivers.” [1]
“As branches, our job is to remain. We are to stay connected to the Vine; and when we do, we bear much fruit.” [1]
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
“When we invite God into our worry, we surrender or offboard our need for control and we onboard His call to dwell and abide in Him. And the next thing we know, we’re bearing fruit. Were blossoming with patience, love, and peace.” [1]
“For most of us, the primary reason we fall short on abiding and dwelling with God isn’t because we’re not spiritual enough or because we don’t understand the concept.” [1]
Most of us fall short of abiding and dwelling because we are easily distracted.
“The thing with abiding is that it takes time. Just as it’s hard to pour water into a shaky cup, it’s difficult for the peace of God to flow into a heart that’s in constant motion. When we quiet ourselves and sit before Him – really sit and create space to surrender our fears, our anxieties, our burdens to Him–then we abide.” [1]
“…when we spend time with Jesus, when we read His Word and meditate on His truth and His life, we begin to unlock something in our souls.” [1]
Practical Exercise
“We start by breathing out the lies that cause us to feel anxious or stressed. Next, we need to fill that space with something good, something true. As we breathe in, we claim a promise of God.” [1]
- “Breathe out, ‘I’m abandoned.’ Breathe in, ‘God is in me.'” [1]
- “Breathe out, ‘My enemies are against me?’ Breathe in, ‘God is for me.” [1]
- “Breathe out, ‘I am weak.’ Breathe in, ‘God is bigger than me.'” [1]
- “Breathe out, ‘I am lacking?’ Breathe in, ‘God is enough for me.'” [1]
- “Breathe out, ‘I am forgotten.’ Breathe in, ‘God is faithful to me.'” [1]
“We’re trained to identify problems and to come up with fixes that will get us through, get us over, or get us around the issue. But that’s not the answer to our war on worry.” [1]
“When it comes to our war, we don’t need a solution We need a Savior.” [1]
Discussion [1]
- Take two minutes, shut down your phone, sit in the quiet, and focus on your breathing. Breathe in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth. Make a note of how you feel.
- Galatians 5 compares the fruit of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. Read over those Scriptures and reflect. Which of those fruit are currently most evident in your life?
- God wants to hear about what concerns you. What holds you back from going to God with the big and small things that weigh you down?
- The Scriptures often describe God as a place of refuge. What does refuge mean, and why would it be beneficial for you to have a strong and sturdy refuge to run to?
Sources
[1] Giglio, L. (2022). Winning the War On Worry – Cultivate a Peaceful Heart and a Confident Mind. Thomas Nelson.
