ManageYourEmotionsBook8.5x5.5_RevJULY.indd

path to their prayer spot.As a result, if one among them slacked off in their prayers, the others would soon notice, gently reminding the negligent one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.” 49 Chances are, if you find yourself engulfed in anxiety, the grass has grown over your path. Of course, prayer isn’t the only means of drawing near to God. Spending time in solitude, in HisWord, and among committed believers is important as well. Develop an eternal perspective. The night before he was crucified, Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), meaning His is not an earthly, temporal kingdom where man is in control, but rather a heavenly, eternal kingdom where God is in control. Paul writes, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them” (1 Corinthians 6:13). Life on this earth is but a blip on the radar screen of eternity; a grain of sand as compared to every grain of sand in the world. As children of God, we’re living in enemy occupied territo- ry, “Strangers and aliens” on this sin-soaked ball that circles around in space (1 Peter 2:2). Satan is “The prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), until that glorious day when Jesus returns to defeat him and his forces en route to establishing His reign on this earth. Though these truths may not make your mortgage payment or put your children through college, they do put it all in perspective. Eliminate “needless”worrying. Just like anger will cause us to jump to conclusions, worry will lead us down meandering roads of counterfeit speculation and perception. For example, most of what you’re worrying about will never come to pass.As the old Scottish proverb says: “What may be, may not be.” This brings to mind the story about J.Arthur Rank, an English executive who decided to do all his worrying on one day a week. When something happened to cause anxiety or aggravate his ul- cer, he wrote it down and then blocked it out of his mind until the followingWednesday. Interestingly, when he opened his worry box

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