God has given me an amazing imagination. This can be good and also very bad. I have been seeing the negative side of my imagination creep up lately.

WORRY! Yup. I worry about stuff of the future. I seem to have become the god of my fantasies instead of basking in the promise of God’s ever presence in my life. I tend to linger in the ‘what ifs’ of the future and that’s when worry and anxiety take over.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?  Luke 12:22-26

I hate it that I worry. It doesn’t solve anything and it diminishes the faith I have in God. Worry means I don’t trust in Him. How sad is that? Worry says that I don’t have faith. Strong words, but so true. Worry is me allowing the stronghold of fear back into my life. This is a true battle for me that seems to rear its ugly head in the difficult seasons of life. If there was an AA Group for fear and worry, I’d go weekly, for life. Truly. It is a form of addiction that threatens to come back if I don’t keep it at bay.

Peace I leave with you;
My peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, 
neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27

When I allow myself to become the god of my own fantasies and my own worries and fears, I need to remember that God is there. His peace is there. He gives it freely and doesn’t want our hearts to be troubled or afraid.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, 
according to the power at work within us.
Ephesians 3:20

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1

Aren’t these promises amazing?

And then the truth in this one:

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
He saved him out of all of his troubles.
Psalm 34:4-6

I call out. We call out and God hears us and he saves us out of our troubles.

He comforts us:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Wow! Why would we ever become god of our own fantasies? God’s got this. He’s got whatever you are going through. He’s got whatever I am going through. He comforts. He heals. He saves us.

Preaching to myself…again.