Luke 12:22-23 “Jesus taught his disciples, saying, “Listen to me. Never let anxiety enter your hearts. Never worry about any of your needs, such as food or clothing. For your life is infinitely more than just the food you eat or the clothing you wear.” Today's episode reminds us that we can rely on the Lord for all of our provisions. It also reminds us that we don't have to see a way for their to be a way. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Never Let Anxiety Enter Your Hearts
Luke 12:22-23 “Jesus taught his disciples, saying, “Listen to me. Never let anxiety enter your hearts. Never worry about any of your needs, such as food or clothing. For your life is infinitely more than just the food you eat or the clothing you wear.”
Wow, Jesus could not be more direct with us. He is not calling us to a fear-free life; He is commanding us not to fear. He is not telling us that sometimes anxiety is ok and sometimes it is bad. He is telling us to never let anxiety enter our hearts. Never is a pretty strong word. He is telling us never to worry about any of our needs, like food or clothing. I don’t know if you ever had to worry about these things before. If you haven’t, then I can see why it would be really hard not to worry. I mean, you have to eat to survive, and you need clothes to get through the day. At least now we do. Before the fall, we didn't even need clothes, Adam and Eve walked around naked and were perfectly content. They saw nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t until sin entered the world that shame entered the world. Before sin, there was no shame.
When I was growing up, we did have to wonder sometimes about where our food or clothes would come from. I still, to this day, do not know how my mom was able to pay for all the special shoes and socks that we all needed to go with our cheerleading, football, color guard, or band uniforms. I am 100% sure that I don’t even know a fraction of the sacrifice my parents made for us 11 kids while we were growing up. They are probably still making sacrifices. I am sure there were countless times when they went without so we could have what we wanted. I am so grateful to them.
I feel extremely lucky because my dad is a Deacon in the Catholic Church, and one of their responsibilities or jobs is to give the Homily/Sermon at Mass about once a month or so. My dad often used stories from our home life in his homilies because my dad knew that people learned best when they had real-life examples to help them understand the scripture. I feel lucky because I am not sure if I would know half of the stories that I have heard if it weren’t for my dad recounting them for the church.
My mom and dad were very faithful in counting on the Lord to provide for all of our needs. I am not sure if they prayed, trusted, and worried or if they just prayed and trusted. Either way I do know that the first thing they did when they were in need is they turned to the Lord. Most of the time, they had little choice as they were desperate for food, clothing, or money. However, there are many people who are desperate, and they still don’t turn to the Lord. My parents always turned to the Lord, and He always showed up in such big ways.
We were one of the biggest families in our small town. There was one family about the same size that had older kids, and there was another family that was the same age as our family. One of my best friends in school was in the other large family in my town. That was it, just 2-3 large families. This meant that we frequently had clothes and other things dropped off at our house. If people had clothes that their kids outgrew, they would drop those clothes off at our house as they knew we probably had a kid that was just that size. Most of us were just a year or two away from the next sibling, so if they didn’t fit one of us, they would fit another one. We never had to worry about where our clothes would come from; the Lord took care of it.
We also never really had to worry about where our food would come from either. God always took really good care of us. I am still astonished at how many grilled tuna melts my mom can make with two cans of tuna! One of my favorite stories is when my mom and dad were talking one morning about how they didn’t have any food in the house, and they weren’t sure how they were going to feed all of us kids. Then they got a phone call, and it was their good friends from a few towns over. They had an emergency come up, and they wanted to know if my parents could watch their kids. Now my parents had about 10 kids at this time, and this family had ten kids as well. My parents had no food in the house, but they knew they needed to help their friends out. They said yes and then immediately started praying to the Lord. They were asking the Lord what He wanted them to do for food. They were telling Him that they were counting on Him to provide the food as they knew He could.
Before they were even done praying, their next-door neighbor knocked on their door. She said that her father-in-law had to move in with them unexpectedly. He had just gone grocery shopping and so he brought all of his food with him. However, they had just gone grocery shopping, too, and they didn’t have room for all of this food. They were wondering if we could use some food. My parents were so grateful, and they said yes, that would be nice. They looked through the bag, and they found several packages of pasta and tomato sauce.
They decided they would have pasta and sauce that night for dinner to feed all those kids. They had the thought that it would be even better if they just had some meat to go in the sauce, but I am not sure if they prayed for it, or if they just thought it. The next thing they know, another neighbor is knocking at their door. He and a friend had gone hunting recently, and they just got all the meat back from the butcher. He said he and his friend had filled their fridges and freezers, and they just had no more room, and they were wondering if my parents could use some of the meat they had left over. My parents gratefully accepted the meat and were able to provide dinner for all 20 of us kids. God is so good!
As I said earlier, if this is not something that you have experienced before, then it might be harder for you to believe that God will provide for you. One thing I have done to help me have more trust in the Lord, especially in the hard things, is to read stories of miracles the Lord has done in others' lives. I love to read about the amazing things God has done for others. It is a fact that if God can do it for them, He can do it for you. That is a promise you can count on. So, if you are allowing fear in your life because of a specific reason, then read stories of how God has helped people through the thing you are struggling with.
For instance, if you are really fearful because of a medical problem start reading all sorts of miracle stories of people God has healed, people God has helped out of impossible situations. I think one thing we forget is that doctors are not God. They are giving you the prognosis based on science and their experience. I am not saying that you should believe what the doctor is telling you. I am saying that God is the only one that has the final say. The doctor may not see any way out, but with God, there can always be a way out.
God is a Way Maker. He doesn’t have to take a path that is already there; He can make His own path. We don’t have to see the way for there to be one. My favorite example of this is the Israelites at the Red Sea. They had this raging sea on one side of them and the Egyptian army on the other side of them. They could not see a way out. Does that mean there wasn’t one? Does that mean they had to choose between drowning in the Red Sea or going back into slavery with the Egyptian army? NO! God made a way where there was no way. God parted the Red Sea and let the Israelites cross over on dry ground. When the Egyptian army tried to cross over, God released the Sea, and the Egyptian army drowned.
What just occurred to me now, which I never thought of before, was how close that means the Egyptian army was to the Israelites. It doesn’t say that Israelites crossed over, and then God kept the sea parted for days, waiting for the Egyptians to try to cross over. The Egyptians must have been right on the heels of the Israelites. What just came up for me was that this is a great example not only of how God is a Way Maker but also of how it is never too late. The Israelites must have felt like they were running out of time. They must have felt like it was only a matter of hours before the army caught up to them. I bet they felt hopeless. I am guessing they were worried and probably not trusting God to get them through, even though He had just done some amazing miracles to get the Pharaoh to allow them to leave. However, God did save them. It wasn’t too late. It is never too late with the Lord!
Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, show us how to not let anxiety enter our hearts and minds. Help us block those anxious thoughts that keep showing up. Help us rely on you for all we need and not worry about where our provisions will come from. Help us look back at all the ways you have helped us in the past and know that you will help us again. We love you, Lord! You are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. You are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. With this being Thanksgiving week, I want to let you all know how grateful I am for you taking the time out of your busy day to listen to this podcast. I pray you have an amazing Thanksgiving week!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I had this deep sense of urgency that it is so important that we forget about ourselves and that we see to the needs of others. And the more we do for others, the more it will instill in them a sense of gratitude that they will come closer to the Lord because they see that other people care what happens to them”