Anxious for Nothing for Young Readers by Max Lucado

Scriptures: Matthew 6:34, Philippians 4:4-9

Way to go! The fact that you have opened this plan says a lot about you. I am so very proud of you for wanting an answer to this question: How do I deal with worry? Many people never seek that answer. They assume that anxiety comes with life. To a degree, they are correct. Anxiety comes with life. But anxiety shouldn’t take over your life.

Good for you for working to get a hold on this problem before it gets a hold on you. I pray that God will use this plan to equip you with tools for battling the enemy of worry. 

Worry is when we let tomorrow’s problems ruin today. There is nothing wrong with being prepared for tomorrow. Nor is it wrong to have a healthy concern for tomorrow. But worrying goes beyond preparation and healthy concern. Worry attempts to solve tomorrow’s problems today. This is what led Jesus to say: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

The Greek word for worry used in the Scriptures is a wonderful compound of two words that mean “divide” and “the mind.” To worry, then, is to divide the mind. Anxiety splits our energy between today’s plans and tomorrow’s problems. The result is half-minded living.

So, how can we overcome half-minded living? In the book of Philippians, Paul wanted his friends to know they didn’t have to worry about their lives because God was taking care of them. He wrote to them in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.” 

Paul wasn’t saying we should never feel anxious again. What he was saying is that we shouldn’t feel anxious all the time. Because when we’re anxious all the time, that feeling can take over our lives. And when that happens, it’s hard to feel joy.

Let’s read more of what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4–9:

Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy.

Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you, and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.

Worry is something we can overcome using the acronym C-A-L-M. 

C – Celebrate God and His Goodness. In verse 4, Paul says “Be full of joy in the Lord always.” When we remember who He is and what He has done, we can feel full of joy in a way that makes us want to celebrate Him through worship.

A – Ask God for Help. In verse 6, Paul says, “Pray and ask God for everything you need.” When we pray and ask God for help, we let Him take our worries from us. We don’t have to carry them ourselves.

L – Look on the Bright Side. Verse 6 also contains the phrase, “Always giving thanks.” Remembering to thank God for the good things in our lives helps us see our situations with more positivity.

M – Meditate on Good Things. In verse 8, Paul says, “Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected.” When we meditate on good things, our brains and hearts feel more peaceful.

Today, we will start with C – Celebrate God and His Goodness. 

Paul experienced a lot of storms in his life. His worst storm was probably while he was in prison in Rome. At this point, he was about sixty years old. While in jail, he wrote our C-A-L-M text to the Philippians.

Can you imagine writing “Be full of joy in the Lord always” when you are chained up and don’t know if you’ll ever be free? As he wrote, Paul knew that he could die in prison or be killed by the Romans.

But still, Paul wrote, “Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy” (Philippians 4:4). This is Paul’s first instruction that will help with our anxieties: be full of joy in the Lord. And Paul didn’t want us to rejoice in the Lord only one time or sometimes. What did he say? “Be full of joy in the Lord always.” And then, as if we didn’t hear him the first time, he wrote, “I will say again, be full of joy.”

But how is it possible to celebrate God all the time? Sometimes we’re sad and don’t feel like celebrating. Sometimes we’re anxious and don’t feel joyful.

To celebrate God simply means we remember how good God is no matter what is going on in our lives.

Paul never stopped celebrating God. He remembered what God had done for him, even when he was in prison.  One belief that comes up a lot in Paul’s writing is this: God is sovereign. Sovereignty describes God’s perfect control and management of the universe. He is in charge, and He is involved in all of His creation.  

When it comes to anxiety, understanding God’s sovereignty is huge. We often get anxious when we feel like we don’t have control over our situations. 

My friend, peace doesn’t come once you get control of everything in your life, because that will never happen! Peace comes when you believe God is sovereign. When you trust Him with your worries and anxieties, you can feel peace even though you don’t have control of everything— because God does have control. What a relief!

The next time you fear the future, remind yourself to be full of joy in God’s sovereignty. Remember what He has already done for you. Celebrate that He is able to do what you cannot do.

Scriptures: Philippians 4:6, John 2:1-5

In today’s lesson, we’ll be discussing the second letter in our acronym to combat anxiety. A – Asking God for Help.

Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.” Until now, Paul has told us to take comfort in who God is. God is merciful. God is sovereign. God is near. Remembering these things about God brings us comfort when we feel anxious. Now in this verse, Paul has called us to act!

Prayer is where we get to work. It’s a way for us to deal with our worries. It’s choosing to take worries to God before anxiety can take over. Peace happens when people pray.

God wants us to pray about everything. As Paul said, “Do not worry about anything,” but pray about “everything.”

Everything? Does God really want us to pray about everything? Even a scraped knee or that argument we got into with a friend or that game we have coming up? Does God really care about all that stuff? Yes!

God wants to hear about your tiniest wishes and smallest problems. In John 2:1–5, Jesus’ mother, Mary, asked her son to deal with a pretty small problem in comparison to other miracles He performed: empty wine containers. Folks in first-century Israel knew how to throw a party. A wedding and reception didn’t last for just one day. Weddings lasted as long as seven days. Food and wine were expected to last just as long. So Mary was worried when she saw the party had run out of wine.

We don’t know why they ran out of wine, but we know how they got more. Mary presented the problem to Jesus and had confidence He could solve the problem. 

Do you ever want to pray about something but think God won’t care? Remember this story. It was a small problem, but Jesus fixed it. And He didn’t just fill up a couple of wine bottles. Scripture says there were six stone jars that held 20 or 30 gallons of water each. That’s up to 180 gallons of wine!

Jesus cares about your small requests, and He can answer them in a big way.

I have a story that proves God cares about our prayer requests, no matter how small they are. Several years ago, I trained to run a half-IRONMAN triathlon. This is a serious race. First, you swim 1.2 miles, then you bike for 56 miles, then you run 13.1 miles.

Anyone who does this race knows they have to bring snacks with them. We’re on the racecourse for six hours. We get hungry. One of the popular snacks is called GU. It fits in a little package and is made of a gooey substance that gives you lots of energy. I always bring plenty of GU in my pockets, but during this race I ran out. I still had a long way to go, and I knew I needed more GU if I was going to finish.

So you know what I did? I prayed for GU. I said, “Lord, this might be the only time You’ve heard this prayer request, but here is my situation. I ran out of GU, and I need more to get me through this race.”

Did the GU fall from heaven? Well, kind of. I only knew three other people who were in this race. Three out of thousands. One was a friend from Indiana. And guess who ran up beside me just as I was praying for GU? Yep, that friend from Indiana. When he heard I needed GU, he reached into his pocket and pulled out three packets.

“Here,” he said. “I’ve got plenty!”

You might be thinking this is a weird story. You have real problems, bigger than running out of GU. But that’s my point!

Why did Jesus agree to Mary’s request for more wine? No one was dying. It wasn’t an emergency. He did it because Mary cared about it. He cares about your problems too— no matter how small— because you care about them. If He can take care of my GU, imagine what He can do for you.

Paul told us to pray for everything we need. When we do this, three things happen.

1. We show God that we are serious about our prayers.

If you tell a friend, “Hey, can I come to your house sometime?” that friend might not think you’re serious about coming over. But if you ask your friend, “Can I come over on Friday afternoon?” then your friend will know you really want to come over. It’s the same when we pray. When we tell God exactly what we need, He knows we mean it.

2. We are able to see how God works.

This is kind of like my GU story. I knew God had answered my prayer because I prayed for GU and I got it. When you pray for something specific, it’s easy to see how God answers your prayer.

3. We don’t carry around as much worry. Sometimes we feel anxious, but we don’t stop to identify what we’re anxious about. We’re just keeping the feeling inside. This can make it hard to know exactly what is making us feel worried. 

I try to pray every morning before work so I don’t carry around too much worry. I get really detailed in my prayers, saying things like, “God, I have a meeting at 10:00 a.m. that I’m worried about. Will You help me know what to say and how to respond to others?” Then if I worry about that meeting when I get to work, I remember that I already gave this worry to God. He’s got it, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Scriptures: Philippians 4:11-13, Philippians 1:21

Today we’ll be discussing the third letter in our acronym to combat anxiety. L – Look on the Bright Side.

My friend Jerry is a great example of someone who is content because he is grateful. His wife, Ginger, has Parkinson’s disease and so Jerry has spent a lot of time in the hospital with her.

Jerry could feel sad or angry, but he doesn’t. You know why? Every morning he and his wife sing a hymn together. Jerry always asks Ginger which one she wants to sing, and she always wants to sing an old hymn called “Count Your Blessings.” When they are done singing, they do what the hymn says and remember all the good things in their lives.

When we focus on our blessings, no matter how hard life is, our attitude toward life gets brighter.

Take a second to count your blessings right now. Think about what you are thankful for. Your family? Friends? A good breakfast? Your blessings can be big or small. All of it counts as gratitude.

Paul figured out how to be content with his life, even when things weren’t going his way. And that was a lot of the time.

He wrote in Philippians 4:11–13: “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.”

Remember, Paul wrote this while he was in prison. A guard was constantly watching him. He wasn’t going to be set free anytime soon. He had every reason to complain, but instead he said in verse 12, “I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens.”

What was his secret? Listen to that last sentence again: “I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.” The secret to contentment is leaning on Jesus and what He’s done for you!

If your happiness depends on how many social media followers you have, home runs you make, or As you receive in class, your happiness will go up and down all the time. You’ll be happy when you get new followers and sad when you lose them. You’ll be happy when you get a good hit and sad when you don’t. You’ll be happy with an A and disappointed with a B or C.

But when your happiness depends on Jesus, you can be happy all the time. Because you have Jesus all the time.

Paul didn’t focus on what he didn’t have while he was in jail: friends, good food, play time, freedom. Instead, he focused on what he did have: Jesus. And in Jesus he had an entire list of amazing things: salvation, forgiveness, grace, love. What he had in Christ was far greater than what he didn’t have in life. 

To Paul, what he had in Christ was all that mattered. Within the 104 verses of Philippians, Paul mentioned Jesus forty times. That’s every two and a half verses. As he said in Philippians 1:21, “To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me.” 

Paul’s only goal was to know Jesus. He didn’t care about being rich. He didn’t care about being famous. All he wanted was more of Christ. And Christ was with him at all times, so Paul was content.

We’re going to do a little exercise.

Take out a scrap sheet of paper and draw a line vertically down the middle of the page creating two columns. In the left column, list what are you worried about today. List anything you can think of.

Now, in the right column, list what are you thankful for today. Think of as many things as possible, no matter how big or small they are.

Do you feel any differently about your worries after writing your gratitude list? For me, I know seeing my blessings listed like this on paper is a tangible reminder of how good God has been to me. And those reminders of His faithfulness help keep the worries on the left in check. 

I pray this exercise offers you the same peace today.

Scriptures: Philippians 4:8-9, Proverbs 4:23, John 8:44

Today we’ll be discussing the final letter in our acronym to combat anxiety. M – Meditate on Good Things.

When Rebecca Taylor was just thirteen years old, she had already had more than fifty-five surgeries. She had spent about one thousand days in the hospital. Rebecca has pancreatitis that has caused her to feel sick for most of her life so far.

Rebecca’s mom, Christyn, has a blog about Rebecca and her health to keep all of her friends and family updated. In one post she wrote about how Rebecca’s doctors told her that because of her disease, she could have what is called a hemorrhagic stroke.

Those words hemorrhagic stroke really scared Christyn, but she was able to find peace in the middle of the storm. Listen to what she wrote in this blog post:

This past week’s new land mine was the phrase “possible hemorrhagic stroke,” a phrase I heard dozens of times used by numerous physicians. Over and over and over that phrase filled my mind and consumed my thoughts. It was emotionally crippling.

This past Sunday our preacher, Max Lucado, started a very fitting series on anxiety. We reviewed the familiar Philippians 4:6 verse: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

I presented my requests to the Lord as I had so many times before, but this time, THIS time, I needed more. And so, using Philippians 4:8–9 as a guide, I found my answer:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true . . .” What was true in my life at this particular moment? The blessing of all family members eating dinner together.

“Whatever is noble.” The blessing of enjoying each other’s presence outside of a hospital room.

“Whatever is right.” The blessing of experiencing my two sons’ daily lives.

“Whatever is pure.” The blessing of all three children laughing and playing with each other.

“Whatever is lovely.” The blessing of watching Rebecca sleep peacefully in her bed at night.

“Whatever is admirable.” The blessing of an honorable team working tirelessly on Rebecca’s care.

“If anything is excellent.” The blessing of watching a miracle unfold.

“Or praiseworthy.” The blessing of worshipping a Lord who is worthy to be praised.

“Think about such things.”

I did. As I meditated on these things, I stopped the dreaded phrase “hemorrhagic stroke” from sucking any joy out of my life. . . . And when I dwelt on the bountiful blessings in my life happening AT THAT VERY MOMENT, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” DID guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. A true, unexpected miracle. Thank You, Lord.

Did you see what Christyn did? The words hemorrhagic stroke hovered over her life like a thundercloud. Yet she stopped the awful phrase from sucking joy out of her life by following Paul’s teaching in Philippians 4:8 “Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected”  

The NKJV translation of this verse says to “meditate on these things” 

Meditate means to think about something with your full attention. So Paul was telling us to completely focus on the good things. Give zero attention to the mishaps, the struggles, and the disappointments. Because how we think affects how we feel and act.

Rebecca’s mom was able to control her fear by controlling her thoughts. She focused on the positive instead of the negative. She picked what she pondered. The good news is that you can do this too!

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” Do you want to feel happy tomorrow? Then think happy thoughts today. Do you want to guarantee tomorrow’s misery? Then let yourself drown in the mud of self-pity or guilt or anxiety today. Thoughts have consequences.

Healing from anxiety means you must think in a healthy way. The hard thing you are facing isn’t making you feel anxious. Your thoughts about that hard thing are making you anxious. Think about that!

Satan knows this about us.  John 8:44 describes the Devil as the “father of lies.” And John 10:10 says he comes to kill, steal, and destroy. The Devil is especially good at putting negative and anxious thoughts in our heads and convincing us that these lies are true.

You are the air traffic controller of your mind. When thoughts from the Devil circle, send them away. And invite new, positive, true thoughts to land.

Anytime you begin thinking negative thoughts, fight back with the kinds of thoughts Paul listed in Philippians 4:8—thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, beautiful, and respected.

I’m happy to report that right before her thirteenth birthday, Rebecca went back for a doctor’s visit. Remember that just seven months earlier Rebecca was barely surviving. Now, Rebecca was full of life. She had gained thirty pounds. Her health was improving. Her doctors called her a “walking miracle.”

Her mom, Christyn, wrote on her blog: “I watched these interactions with a silent sense of awe. It is easy to praise God during seasons of wellness. But it was during my greatest distress when I felt the Lord’s presence poured upon me. And it was in those heart-breaking moments I learned to trust this God who provided unimaginable strength during unimaginable pain.”

God will help you too. Guard your thoughts and trust your Father.

A new day awaits you, my friend. A new season in which you will worry less and trust more. A season with less fear and stronger faith. 

Just remember our acronym C-A-L-M.

C – Celebrate God and His Goodness.  

A – Ask God for Help. 

L– Look on the Bright Side.  

M – Meditate on Good Things. 

Can you imagine a life in which you are anxious for nothing? God can. And with His help, you will experience it.