Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Psalm 18:39 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
If you follow my blog, you know that I’ve admitted previously that I used to hold the title “Worrier Queen.” Oh, y’all, I was so good at my job too, unbelievably good! I could find something to worry about even when there was NOTHING to worry about. I cannot tell you how many nights of sleep I have missed due to some concocted thing that I worried over and lost precious hours of sleep. Now than I’m in my fifties, I sure do regret missing all of that beauty sleep! Praise God that I gave up that title. Worrier Queen is not they person I want to be, but rather I want to be a Warrior Queen for Christ! I know that I haven’t received “queen” status, and never will, but glory to God, He is teaching me daily to be a warrior for Him!
How then does one go from being a worrier to a warrior? It isn’t easy. I’m not going to lie to you. It took me fifty four years to get to where I am now, and I still work on it every day. I couldn’t do it on my own, but God! Oh, there’s that but God again, and I must say that the only way I could have changed my status from worrier to warrior is because God has changed me. You see, I recognized that I was a worrier. I didn’t like being a worrier, but I couldn’t do anything about, at least that is what I thought. Turns out, I was wrong. I couldn’t do anything about it in and of myself, but with the grace and strength of God, I could. Philippians 4:13 promises us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We only need to learn to let go and let God.
The transition from worrier to warrior definitely didn’t occur overnight. I recognized that worry was consuming my life, and if worry, or anything else for that matter, is consuming you, then how can you have room for Christ to consume you? The simple answer is you can’t, and when I realized this, I began to earnestly pray for God to help me to stop being a worry wort, and He certainly did. He never fails! I began following the instruction manual a little more closely, and in Colossians 4:2 it says to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” That my friends is how I was able to give up my old worry wort title, and gradually transform into the warrior that I am still trying to become. I have also read Matthew 6:25-36 about a thousand times reminding me not to worry. If God so graciously takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields with such delicate intricacy, He will surely take care of the ones that He made in His own image, right? And another go to scripture that helped in my transformation is Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I armed myself with the Word of God, and whenever a seed of doubt or worry crept in my mind, I prayed. Oh boy did I pray a lot. I even spoke out loud to the old devil and told him that he wasn’t allowed in my home, my family, or my mind anymore. I reminded him that Christ was the King of my home and my life and my heart, and he wasn’t allowed to visit or hang out here anymore. He had worn out his welcome so I pulled up the welcome mat, and I locked the door and threw away the key! My prayer life changed from one of morning, meal time, and bedtime into one that was continuously flowing twenty four hours a day. I wake up praying. I go to sleep praying, and if I wake up during the night, I pray then too. I have seen many prayers answered and many mountains moved through prayer, and I am thankful God has allowed me to transform!
We can all be warriors for Christ. Paul explains how to armor ourselves up for spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:10-20. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
Arm yourselves with truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer. Don’t forget to arm yourself with lots and lots of prayer! We were not designed to wallow in the depths of worry and self doubt. We were created to serve our heavenly Father. We were created to be warriors! Won’t you turn loose of the worry today, and live the warrior life that Christ designed for you too? I can not tell you how freeing it is to not allow worry to consume me, and it is an overwhelming blessing to allow Christ to consume my heart, my thoughts, and my life. Won’t you put on the full armor of God today?
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 