Ever had a project that kept you up with worry? Did you notice you were anxious and maybe even short-tempered with others because they were more lax with time than you could afford to be?
God has not called any of us to be anxious and afraid. Indeed we are told in 1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. God's shoulders are wide enough to bear every burden if we just hand them over to Him.
Now, the Lord has not called on us to be unreasonable. We can't wait till the last minute to do things. We can't afford to procrastinate, opting to do the things we enjoy while putting our business obligations on the backburner. To do so is unscriptural for as children of God, we are expected to be diligent in all we do. After all, we are told in Proverbs 10:4 - Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Besides, if we walk with the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, He'll keep us on track. Through Christ, we have access to the same spirit of excellence mentioned in Daniel 5:12 because we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
That said, there will be times anxiety creeps into our lives because we are human. At that point it is crucial to recognize the alien invader and deal with it ruthlessly. The work of God is the sword you must wield to destroy it. There is ample scripture to declare such as:
Psalm 55:22 - Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Matthew 6:34 - Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Fling your wordstones at the offender - anxiety - and don't stop until it flees. Doing this is the very epitome of James 4:7 - Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We cannot allow anxiety and other negative emotions to take control of our lives even though such is commonplace in the world today. Jesus died on the cross to set us free from the world, to enable us to be in it, but not of it. We must use the weapons of our spiritual warfare to conquer such attacks and obstacles as instructed in 2 Corinthians 10:4.
Remember, diligence requires that believers are good stewards of their time, skills, and more. It means we can't be lazy and produce shoddy work. If we keep this in mind and remember that we have a spirit of excellence through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, then anxiety will have less soil to take root in. And if for some reason it rears its ugly head, we are well armed with God's word to obliterate it.
May the Lord be with you and guide you in all your endeavors for His glory and by His grace, IJMN Amen.
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