We are talking about how to pray against worry by applying what Jesus said.

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Matthew 6:30-34 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Do you believe what God has said? Faith is defined in Romans 10:17 and Hebrews 11:1. God speaks and you hear Him and decide to believe what He said. Then with assurance that it was God who spoke you wait with confidence for the fulfillment to what He said. Do you believe God when He says He will provide for you if you love Him and follow Him? Pray that when you hear God speak you will be given assurance that it was God who spoke and that you will believe with confidence that He keeps His word.

God cares about the insignificant grass. The example of grass is fascinating. Even though He knows that within 24 hours the grass will be gone, God still provides for the grass. The grass is insignificant. You matter so much to God. You are not insignificant. Pray that when you hear God speak you will believe that you are significant to Him.

Jesus declared, “Do not worry.” This declaration is powerful even by itself. You can have assurance that it was God who spoke it and you can fight the thoughts of worry that press in on you. Don’t accept those thoughts. In prayer reject them. Jesus can say don’t worry because He knows the future. He knows what He is going to do for you in the future.

The world doesn’t know the future. The entire world wonders what they will eat, drink and wear in the future. They eagerly seek security for their future. You can’t trust the world to help you. They are like everyone else. They can’t secure the future for themselves or for you.

God the Father knows you need these things. This declaration from Jesus about God the Father is also significant. It confronts the negative thoughts that say God doesn’t notice you. God the Father Himself notices you and your difficulty. He does care for you personally. Jesus isn’t the only one who cares. Jesus isn’t doing all the work while God the Father is busy with more important things.

The answer is seek God’s Kingdom and His truth for your life first. The key word in the answer is the word “first”. Yes you include God’s kingdom in your life and you try to be righteous, but do you rely on Jesus first when facing each decision you are making? If you go to Jesus first throughout each day and include Him in each decision, that is the answer to worry. This is found in Proverbs 3:5-6, where it says you should acknowledge God in all your ways. Trust Him with all your heart. Don’t put all your weight and trust on your wise understanding. Tylenol for a headache makes sense. It can work and you wouldn’t need Jesus’ help. Jesus is saying that even if what you know works it shouldn’t be what you do first. Ask Jesus what to do first. Just a simple acknowledgment is enough. Jesus what do you think about this decision? You can even ask Him to remove the headache for you. If Jesus doesn’t heal you, then use your wise understanding and take meds. Acknowledge Jesus first before you decide what to do in each situation and believe Him when He answers. He can give you the answers and He can tell you the future so you don’t have to worry. Jesus overcomes your worry.

Jesus will provide one day at a time. If you put Jesus first in every decision you make, Jesus said the things you need will be added one day at a time. He said go one day at a time. Don’t guess what tomorrow will look like. You are inflicting yourself with worry, when you guess about tomorrow.

Story: Jesus told Ileana not to buy clothes anymore. Ileana confessed to me that Jesus told her not to buy her own clothes anymore. She and her sister used to share the same clothes growing up in Costa Rica. It was common for them to wear an outfit and then wash it at night by hand, so that the other could wear it the next day. Soon after we were married and came back from Costa Rica to the Los Angeles area, I eventually got a job at a Christian university working as a missionary to Mexico. We had nothing when we moved. Ileana cried almost every day. She missed her family and Costa Rica. People in California seemed cold to her. She only spoke Spanish and just a few phrases in English. She needed something to do. She needed clothes.

I told her to volunteer at the office where I worked, so at least I could encourage her through the day. In the afternoons she would go look for clothes at the clothing stores across the street from the university. She didn’t have a debit card yet, so I would have her pick out what she wanted and I’d come over at the end of the day to make the purchase. She would pick the best of what she had found and eliminate items down to what we could afford. For all the searching she would sometimes only pick one thing.

We didn’t have mobile phones back then, and I would have to go look for her when I finished my day. I walked across the street to find her. Hours had gone by and I couldn’t find her. She had spent hours just looking at clothes. Just when I had begun to wonder if something bad had happened to her, I found her crouched down digging through stacks of clothing with a tired joy on her face. I tried to suppress my worry and just smile. Day after day this was a routine until the Lord surprised her.

With tears in her eyes she confessed to me that Jesus had told her not to look for clothes any more, and that He would give her the clothes she needed. I smiled and laughed and wondered how she would be able to do it. It was God’s sense of humor, but what happened next changed everything. Ileana told me that she needed shoes to go with her dress for an event we were attending, but the Lord had just told her not to buy them. That very week I was approached by a co-worker who asked me what my wife’s shoe size was. We hadn’t mentioned anything to anyone about Ileana needing a pair of dress shoes. I told my co-worker her size and she sighed. Of course the size matched. She explained that her mother had died and left behind brand new shoes of every color and different styles. She waited for months and months after the funeral to deal with her mother’s clothes. No one she knew wore her mother’s size except for Ileana. The next day she came to work and gave me a large bag of at least 25 pairs of brand new dress shoes of every color. It had begun. From that week on, Ileana didn’t buy clothes anymore. She kept the shoes she needed and gave the rest to people we knew at church and to strangers we’d meet.

After the shoes, the clothing came. Months before Jesus told Ileana thta He wanted to provide for her, Ileana and her mother had flown up to visit my family before we got married. They led the Costa Rican lady who sat next to them on the plane to Jesus. That lady lived near us in California. Her daughter was the same size as Ileana. After receiving all those shoes, Ileana had her regular conversation with the Costa Rican lady who just happened to mention all the brand new clothes she had in her daughter’s room. She said, “My daughter works and makes a lot of money and buys a lot of clothes that she never wears. She changes her mind a lot. They are so expensive that I asked my daughter what she wanted to do with them. She said throw them away, but I couldn’t. Would you like them? And as I collect more in the future, would you be ok if I send them to you?” There were so many stories during those years of people giving clothing to Ileana. For 5 years Ileana would receive brand new and even expensive clothing. She’d pick what she liked and needed and would give the rest to others.

During those years Ileana would still have fun and go look for clothing, but she wouldn’t buy the clothes. Finally, on a day that she was looking, she decided to buy a piece of clothing for herself. She called me on her cell phone. I asked her, “If you buy that blouse it might end the way Jesus has been giving you clothing. Are you sure?” She prayed and felt it was ok for her to buy it. On that very day the constant flow of clothing from Jesus ended. He still provides what she needs, but in a more normal way.

Why did I tell this true story? Ileana was used to asking Jesus first what to do in every decision. Jesus asked her to let Him give her the clothes she needed. In something we all usually do for ourselves, she let Jesus pick her clothes for her, and He gave her better clothes than she would have picked out for herself.

Prayer coaching: “Jesus, increase my faith. When I hear You speak give me assurance that it was You who spoke and give me confidence to believe that You keep Your word. Give me confidence to believe that I am significant for God the Father. (I) reject the thoughts and statements from others that invite me to worry, because You said not to worry. Help me to trust You because you know what I need.

Help me to include you first in every decision that I face, so that what I need will be provided. I give the future to You. Give me the strength to fight the guessing and speculation about the future, when I know You are the only one who can give me certainty for the future.”