Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) Do Not Worry About What You Are Going To Eat

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”

September 28, 2016

Do Not Worry About What You Are Going to Eat

Luke 12:22-32

²² Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. ²³ Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁶ If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸ If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

²⁹ “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. ³⁰ For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

³² “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

As I was seeking the Lord about what to write for this devotional today, I started searching my personal journals from a year ago. It is nothing short of miraculous what the Lord can do in our lives in one short year. I saw the Lord giving me the same verses over and over. He kept telling me not to be concerned about the scale so much and the food. Remember I talked about changing our focus recently. I look back now and I see all the unnecessary worry (and I didn’t think I was a worrier!) Ha! I was so concerned about what I was going to eat all the time.

Friends, by the grace of God I have finally come to understand a bit about worry. When we have our minds rolling something over and over again, it is considered worrying. And Jesus told us not to worry. Worry is sin. It is a lack of faith. It is also fear. I see the focus was all wrong. What was I afraid of anyway? I have said it before. There was nothing to fear. The enemy wants us to fear because that takes us out of the faith realm away from the will of God.

In this passage today we see Jesus explaining to the disciples that God dresses the flowers of the field splendidly. How much more will He make sure we (His precious children) are clothed and fed? He knows we need those things for our everyday lives. He is not “way up there somewhere” without understanding the human’s daily needs. How absurd to even think such a thing. He is God and He knows all things. His thoughts are so far beyond ours it cannot even begin to be understood.

It really does boil down to faith and focus. Life is so much more than food. I am astonished as I sat here and read what I was doing a year ago! The Lord was telling me to write down the verses He had shown me that would comfort and help me. He was telling me to say them out loud. But I didn’t. I read them but I did not speak them out loud every day like I do now. At this time, I have several scriptures that I say out loud daily over my life. I finally got it! I finally understood that we get faith by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Not only do we need to read the word, we need to say it. As we do our faith rises. And the powerful word of God begins to take hold in our soul and spirit and it starts dividing the good from the bad.

Why didn’t I get this before? Why was I so slow to listen and make these changes? Years ago Joyce Meyer preached on how she would break a stronghold in her life. She said she would walk around her house and say the word out loud several times per day – sometimes even a hundred times if she had to. She just kept at it until the stronghold was broken. Well the Lord had me listening to Joyce for the first 5 years after I surrendered to Him in 2005. Here I sit today and I just really started putting this into practice like never before.

Was I willing? That was the real problem. I was afraid to just let go and trust the Lord. I was trying to hold on to some of my own will. That is pride and rebellion in the Lord’s eyes along with idolatry. None of it pleases Him one bit. But I just did not seem to want to let go. If I had wanted to, I would have. It is that simple. And a willing heart makes a hearing ear. That’s why so many Christians can run from this meeting to that meeting and buy the books, T-Shirts, CD’s, DVD’s and bumper stickers and still see no change in their lives.

I am seeing all this so much clearer now. I have been sitting under some very strong teaching for over a year and a half and it has had a very positive effect on my life. And why? Because I have been getting washed, or better said, hosed down with the water of God’s word. Our pastor loads us with scriptures. At our church our Bibles are open and we are getting fed the word of God – richly! Well, if a person is even half way serious about wanting to be a disciple of Jesus and they go to get fed like this, something is bound to change. God’s word never fails to accomplish what it was sent for.

Since going to our new church I cannot count the number of times I walked out in tears. Holy Spirit would convict (convince) me of the error of my ways. As I look back now, I see that spending the countless hours listening to the teachings from the Bible that anyone can get for free from our church has really brought me up to a new place – glory to God. I had to stop the fear nonsense and really trust Him. I had to let go of worrying about what I was going to eat and when. I had to stop fearing being hungry. If I get hungry now and then, so what.

Just the other night the Lord asked me to fast and pray at dinner time. So I did. I was plagued by a spirit of infirmity and I needed to be set free. I was attacked after being disobedient and now the Lord was helping me to get loose of the oppression. Oh, He is so merciful. I kept thanking Jesus for healing me and declared that I was healed by His stripes and getting stronger by the minute. By yesterday afternoon it was completely gone! Praise the Lord! He told me that my faith made me well.

Friends, I am coming up on my 11^th anniversary since the day I surrendered to the Lord back on October 1 of 2005. Since that time, I have immersed myself in the word of God. And it has produced an enormous amount of progress, healing and comfort in my life. Little did I realize that saying it out loud would make that much of a difference, but it does. Working the word really does work when we work it by faith. I am coming to understand why the Lord gave me the title He did for this devotional for people who have battled with addiction.

He will do everything He can to get our attention and speak to us. But we have to be willing to listen. If we are not, we will delay our progress and miss countless blessings and rewards. He will pass us by with the work He had for us if we are not willing to cooperate with Him. We have a choice. We can worry – which is sin. Or, we can walk by faith. We can let go of concern about what we are going to eat next, and go feast on the word of God. The more we hear it, the more we see it with our eyes and the more we obey, the greater we will be blessed. We will be healed of our affliction. Going hungry for dinner last night was no big deal. When I got up this morning I had my breakfast and went to spend time with Jesus. That really is the best part – seeking first His kingdom and righteousness. After that, we will come away with everything we need because He really is more than enough!