STAY FIT: Strengthening Your Connection To JesusSample

Worry is all about your mind . . . it's mental.
Anxiety is all about your heart . . . it's physical.

They are incredibly exhausting. Fortunately for us, Paul provides a remedy for both.

In every situation, big or small, easy or hard, high pressure or low pressure, competitive or conversational, Paul is asking us to do four things:

Pray. Thank. Ask. Receive.

Praying opens a door to our hearts—a door that hides the worry, the nervousness, the anxiety, the what-ifs, the worst-case scenarios, and, sometimes, the nightmares. This is the toughest part because we’d often prefer to keep this special door shut and locked.

Thanking our heavenly Father for all we do have through prayer begins the excavation of removing anxieties, worries, and lies from our hearts and begins replacing them with truth, grace, and love.

Ask God. Yes . . . ask him! Be vague, be clear, but ask him for whatever you think you need or want. Just by asking, you’re shifting responsibility from providing a you-sized solution to the God of the universe to providing a God-sized solution.

Receive. You won't understand it. You won't be able to explain it. And you probably won't be able to put it into words. But when you pray with thanksgiving and ask the God of the universe to give you answers, he’ll give you peace—peace that guards your heart with warmth, love, and purpose. It is truly indescribable. Receive it.

Brad Bretz
North Point Ministries