SPEAKER_00 0:26

All right. Welcome to Monday Morning Men. This is episode nine in our quest to bridge the gap between your Monday your Sunday morning service and your Monday morning real life. We are two dudes, families, we've got jobs like everybody else. We love Jesus. We love his word, and we want to help you walk it out practically each week. Um if you've got questions, you got prayer requests, topics that you want us to cover, email us at info at mondaymorningmen.com. Uh the episode today is about uh faith and worry. And we've

Personality Types & Why Some People Worry More

SPEAKER_00 1:05

got the chief worry wart. I do worry, dude. I do. I I my favorite uh uh memory of you in the state of worry was in when we were in the the keys and the boat that we were at, the engine broke and we got busted against the rocks.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Uh I don't I've not recovered. Your brother has not recovered. This is why they make therapists. And I I think do you think birth order has a lot to do with 100%? I think firstborns worry. Guys, just if you're listening to this and you're just like, this is we just a good story. Everybody appreciates a good story. Our boat was five of us guys was broken down, it was just ramming, just ramming the dock in the rocks, and it was broken, the engine was gone. I was there with my brother, who's the thirdborn, and Josh is there who's secondborn, and Aaron, his brother, was there who's firstborn. And the firstborn's like our world was just falling apart. Like we were like, life's not worth living. At one point, I thought we were just gonna jump overboard, and and just Josh and Luke didn't even realize the boat was being wrecked. They're like, should we order food? Like, I just I'm like, what is happening? Like, completely different personalities. So if you're listening to this and you're firstborn, you're like, worry is for me. If you're a second or thirdborn, you may be like, I don't think I've worried about anything in my life.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

That may be you.

Money, Materialism & Anxiety

SPEAKER_00 2:33

That's awesome. Um, we just came off of an episode about uh money and materialism. And I think one of the byproducts, the bad fruit of money and materialism is worry. Yes. So I think this is very practical to what we just talked about. Yes. So I'm excited to dive into this because as I told you before, I think for me, I secondborn, yes, middle child. I don't know what the default is, but I my my default tends to be worry and like anxiety. So this is something that I've really walked through in recent years. Um practically walking it out biblically. So I'm excited to talk about it more.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah, I think it worries it seems to be more commonplace than ever before. I mean, I don't know how true that is. I think it's because our lives have become stretched so much in the sense of we have more information, we have social media, whatever it is, our our ability in this modern era to worry is a lot more

The Illusion of Control

SPEAKER_01 3:30

different. I mean, I imagine if you grow up in a remote village with only knowing the people around you, there's only so much worry, right? You have no idea what's happening in another country here. Yeah. You can be worried about a country you didn't know existed a week ago. Yeah. Be like, is that gonna affect me? I have this quote here, and we're gonna start kind of why people worry. Uh, this is from an associate uh professor of psychology. Um, she wrote this, and it's it's kind of a I thought it was a really good quote. It says, While many of us are intuitively aware that worry makes us anxious and upset. I mean, she's right, we we realize it's bad. Research shows that we still tend to lean on worry when facing problems in our lives. So we know it's bad, we're still doing it. One reason for this is that we may worry as a way to feel emotionally prepared for negative outcomes. This is me. That's how I worry. However, another reason which feels particularly relevant now is that people often conflate worry with problem solving. That's also me. But I think with a lot of people in this day and age, it's like, well, I'll care about it. They even put worry as care. I care about it, like I care for my kids, so I worry about my kids. You hear those two things in the same way. Um, so I'm gonna go ahead and fix it and be aware of what could happen. I put this down because like it's a simple way that I have interpreted worry. The reason we worry, super simple, is that we have an illusion of control. You think you're in control, it's a it's ultimately a total lack of surrender to God. But the reason we worry is that we think we can control some aspect in our life. Um, I I didn't even put this down in my notes, but I was listening to a sermon the other day by uh John Mark Homer. And uh I I don't remember the exact stat he had, but he was talking about and he wasn't even talking about worry. I don't remember it tells you how much I was paying attention. I just remember the stat that came out that he said something like, out of all the control that you have in your life, I think that people like perceive that they have like 50% of control in their life, or whatever your your perception is that you do believe, because we do know we have limited control. I think it's like 14% of even what you think you have control of, you actually have control of. Wow. So it's even less. But we ultimately want to control everything. This is what the way that we live. And because of that, I've kind of placed people into two different camps. There's the ones that attempt, uh, the ones that worry and attempt to control everything, you know, those types, right? And they're just like, I'm gonna control everything that, you know, all the outcomes and everything. But then there's this second camp, and this is how it's gonna kind of relate to our last episode. They actually they're gonna worry, right? But they define it a little bit differently. They struggle to ultimately have faith in God because they think they're in control. Either way, both both are worry in a way, and both are illusions of control. Um, and I I think of that verse, and the reason I've tied it with this last episode is it's hard for a rich man to enter in the kingdom of heaven. And the way that Jesus is inferring that is because he thinks he's got it, he's got his stuff, he's in full control, everything's set. Ultimately, we think that we're in some sort of uh, we've got this God, we don't need you. Um, but I want to start kind of break down those two camps and kind of some thoughts on them. So we'll start with the second camp. Uh, it while it is, and just to note, it's easy to focus on the financial provision. Um, some of your control, though, is ultimately coming even from like what you're projecting, your perception of your image that you're giving to everybody else, which we'll get into

Social Media, Image & Fear of Losing Control

SPEAKER_01 7:00

hypocrisy, maybe even next episode. But um, this is like you're still controlling the way people view you. We see this on social media. Nobody posts a bad photo of themselves, you know. And even when they do, like, it's really not that bad. Like, you ever notice that it's like, oh, it's just me without whatever makeup, and you're like, the lighting's good, like there's no zits, like, please, you know, but we're ultimately trying to control that perception. Um, I'm not gonna try to break down all the nuances that you can ultimately have here, you know, have the time. I would love to have the time one day, but I just want you to understand like we're not trying to control both our image or our even like our outcome. I I put this just because I want I think it's important to always reference scripture, even in that mindset. This is Galatians 1.10. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God, or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I will not be a servant of Christ. The reason I want to put that verse in there, even though that's maybe not directly correlated with worry, you trying to control, which is ultimately related to worry. You're worried about how people perceive you, you trying to control your self-image is ultimately you not being a servant of Christ because you care way more about the individual that sees you than the way he sees you. And we already know from our last episode, Matthew 6, 24, you can't serve two masters. So if I would not be a servant of God, ultimately when you're trying to control, you're not serving God. You're serving yourself, you're in full control, whether you're protecting your um public image or whether you're just trying to protect your financial assets, whatever you're trying to protect, that control is ultimately not faith. It's rooted in worry, and you can't serve two masters. Uh, I put this just so that you kind of like are as you're processing this, like whether wherever your control is, even even if you're not financially like super blessed, but remember last episode we talked about we're all super blessed in America. You're probably within the top five percent of all the world, um, of just your how well off you are. Just remember that even if your job, even if it's just getting you by or whatever, you don't control that. Scripture is very clear that he is the one, right, that gives us all things. He is the provider of all. So if you're financially blessed or you're blessed with maybe every photo you do take, maybe just good looking. I don't know, right? That control that you're trying to ultimately have in your own life, ultimately everything comes from God. And that's super important that we understand that. But I want you guys just to, in the financial realm, this is 1 Timothy 6.17. And the reason it ties so well is that as you'll learn, our worry is so based on our ultimate circumstances, which is ultimately our provision and what we need. So it is tied directly with money, materialism. But here's 1 Timothy 6.17. Command those who are rich in this present world to not be arrogant nor to put their hope, and by the way, that Greek word it defines it as trust, it's confidence and faith, right? Do not put your hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God or your faith in God, who ritually provides us with everything for our enjoyment. The reality is that if God is giving you stuff or good looks or whatever, there's nothing wrong with it. We we talked about materialism in the last episode. You can enjoy those things, but our hope, our love for them, our passion for them is not that's not God given. So for us, we need to realize like our faith is ultimately relied on him as the provider. Our faith is ultimately relied on him to be the provider of our joy and our fulfillment. The other camp, you know, maybe you just worry about the bad things happening. Like I'll wake up, you know, what I mean, just to be quite frank with you, if I'll wake

Matthew 6: What Jesus Says About Worry

SPEAKER_01 10:36

up tomorrow and I don't have a job, that's gonna be a real problem. You know, that's something that that could, you know, or the market could really turn, you know. We're all market dependent. You know, whether it's real estate or you're the stock, or ultimately it'll trickle down to everybody. Um, and this kind of leads us back to Matthew chapter six. I said last episode we will live in the the Sermon on the Mount and kind of Matthew chapter six and seven and and uh Matthew chapter five. But this is verse 28. Um, and it's kind of what we all know is the worry passage, but we're gonna read all of it. We always want to give room for scripture. You'll always hear me say that because we want to honor what God says. This is verse 28. Why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass, grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? That's why we're tying faith with worry, right? It's a faith issue. Where are you putting your faith, guys? So do not worry saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things. Right? We talked about materialism. Think about what you're talking about. Like, what am I gonna eat? What are we gonna drink? What are we gonna wear? What kind of house are we gonna live in? Where are we gonna live? What kind of school the kids are? Be careful, listen, guys. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. There is a sense of need, guys, but here we go. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry. Uh, not a suggestion, guys. It's a command. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Don't worry about what tomorrow brings, like to try to think of the negative outcome. This is what I wrote, and I just I'm gonna read it because I think it's it's really important for us to understand. While you may understand you cannot control your outcome, you're trying to control your emotions or the negative effect of what you think may happen. You're trying to control something, even if you know, like, hey, tomorrow I can't change what happens, but you're trying to control your how you process it, what's gonna happen. I put this either way, you're still attempting to control something and not relying on God. If we truly trusted him in everything, being able to see either good or bad in our future simply doesn't matter. Well, I like if I really trusted God, it doesn't matter if tomorrow's bad or not. That's it. Listen, David says, even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear, right? It's not if it's not like you will have bad stuff happen. I'm so sorry. But even if I knew something bad was gonna happen or good was gonna happen, it doesn't matter. What a hard place. Like that's ultimately faith, right? If it if it doesn't matter. And I want to dig into some applications. Any thoughts real quick? Because I want to get into the applications. We'll kind of spend some time here for a minute, but no, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

I'm I'm I'll save mine for the uh Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Unless you need

Practical Steps to Fight Anxiety

SPEAKER_00 13:43

a drink of water or something.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Uh no, I'm good. I wake up so thirsty. All right, um, I don't know what I'm doing at night. Like am I running my sleep? Who knows? All right, I don't know what's happening. Like, what did you do last night? All right, uh, one practically always gonna hear this too. Pray, and you go, oh my gosh, that's not really helping me. But the reality is when you pray and when you seek God, like this is ultimately, we've talked about changing our heart posture and our disposition. Prayer is a really beautiful habit that God has required from us to do that will help cultivate that. But George Mueller, again, you'll hear me quote this for the next, if you stay with us for 52 weeks, I'll end up quoting him a thousand times because he's just amazing. But here, here's what he wrote. Here's the great, uh, here's the great secret of success. Work with all your might, but trust not in the least in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing of God, but work at the same time with all diligence, with all patience, with all perseverance. Pray then and work. Work and pray. And still again pray and then work, and so on all the days of your life. The result will surely be abundant blessing. Whether you here we go, whether you see much fruit or a little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed. Whether your work is super profitable or it's not, we work, we're called to work, we're called to provide for our families, we're called to uh, you know, tend the garden as Adam did, but we don't worry about the outcome. We we pray and we give that to God. I put prayers in natural faith-building habit God has given us to rely on him more and less on us, to almost quite literally cast our cares on him. If we cast everything like, hey, we can't control tomorrow, you know, we can't we can't change the outcome, that everything is on him. We just need to acknowledge that with our mouths. So go to work tomorrow, guys. Understand that you work, you get paid, you can provide, but understand too that ultimately everything comes from God. Um I had a had a really I'm in sales and I had a really cool moment with a good buddy of mine that I worked with. And uh I I I found some success at my job. And mind you, this is you need friends like this, guys. If you don't have friends like this in your life, uh, you need them. And I wasn't even like I didn't even have like a spirit of like pride or like I just didn't I really wasn't thinking about it, but I hadn't like won the awards and all the stuff at work, you know, they bring you up. And my buddy just goes, he leans over at me and he goes, like, just so you know, God's the one that directs people in your door. And I was just like, I got it, thank you. Like, do you want my plaque now? But but it was one of those moments where he just was like, he was kind of tongue in cheek, but just like, I'm really glad there was a sense of you may be good at your job, you should work for it. I'm not trying to dog that you don't have to develop talent or or or be a good steward of the talents God's given you. But there's this mindset, he's like, just to remember, everything comes from God. You don't control the customers that walk in your door. Here's another idea for you to change your mindset from earthly things to things above. Um, you always hear us, it's kind of cool how things are working in a fluid motion with all of our episodes. We talked about mindset last episode,

Changing Your Mindset to Eternal Things

SPEAKER_01 16:59

but I want to go back to verse 33, and and here it is. But seek first his kingdom. That's a mindset change, right? Well, now we're seeking his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. You've watched a movie. At no point when I'm watching a movie am I worried is this gonna happen to me or what you know, what really happens. I can be engrossed in the movie, but at any time, even if the movie, let's say the movie's scary, like I can turn it off. I can go get a snack, like whatever you want. I know who made the movie, and I'm in complete control of that movie. I can turn it off, mute it, whatever I want to do. If we have that same mindset that God is in complete control and he works everything together for our good, even when it talked about the enjoyment of our life, enjoyment on the things, I get to enjoy movement, that movie. That movie can be really sad, it can be really scary, it can look like the world's literally about to end, and yet we enjoy it. That same mindset, if we almost viewed our life as a movie that God's in complete control, it's like I can appreciate all the ups and downs that come my way because I'm living in the reality that God is in complete control. And I'm not living in the illusion that I'm in control, which is ultimately what we want to get rid of if we want to have full faith in God and less and worry. So super simple this week, and this is how I lay it out for you. First, this is uh you always hear me do this. Write down stuff, guys. Write down stuff. It's write it in your notes because you can reference it and deal with it. Listen, first, write down what you're worried about or things that you've allowed your confidence to rest in. Maybe you have two little tabs, even if it's a note on your phone, worries at the top, and then you've got at the next part, you've got things that I'm trusting in. Um, my self-reliance, I'm gonna pull myself up by my bootstraps, guy. I'll make it happen. I like my back against the wall and I'll figure it out. Or at the top, it's like I'm worried that tomorrow, if XX doesn't sell, then nobody will respect me because I'll lose my house. I'm a bankruptcy. Whatever it is, I have that's extremism. Write it down and then develop patterns to think of heavenly heavenly things. One way to do this, I appreciate you listening to this podcast. Hopefully, this is changing, right? We're we're developing our mind to think differently. One of the obviously the most beautiful ways to read the scriptures every single day. Read it multiple times a day. If you need it, if there's worry, open it up. I think one of the best things that I have tried to always do, if there is ever a serious decision or something I'm stressed about, is to not only read scripture, you is to fast or to pray. I've just found the most, and I mean this genuinely, the most peace that I've ever experienced in those moments. So whatever you're dealing with, read the Bible every day. Get off social media.

What Triggers Worry?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

That's not helping you, by the way. Don't don't try to figure out or get ahead of the curb. Um, instead, pour into scripture, maybe read a book that strengthens your faith, even a story. I'm a big fan of reading missionary stories. We know in Revelation it says that they overcome the evil one by the word of their testimony. Find some testimony of stories that grow your faith. That's why we like the beautiful stories, even in the Old Testament, we read those as a as a uh family a lot. Um, just because I want to see my kids overcome worry in a world that wants to communicate all the bad things to be like, look at these people where their life was a literal hell. And look at the beautiful ending that we have here in scripture, or beautiful ending that God used to their faith to ultimately preach to nations or missionaries that have died giving their uh their lives to Christ. Realize that worry is an unhealthy pattern you've allowed in your life, and you need to change the pattern. So that's ultimately my my practical application for you today is is like there's a pattern that you've allowed. You know, we've talked about in the past that you've kind of got that that ceiling or that floor. You've allowed that floor to be worry, and instead we want to constantly change that and just be like, the way we do that is immersing ourselves in a reality of Jesus is in control. Read old people that have come before you, that their life was so much worse than yours, that have given everything and they weren't worried. They trusted in Jesus to the very end. This is kind of what we need to be able to walk out this week. So um if you want something, this is I'm just gonna add this. Uh, there's a couple of messages. I I don't think it's I don't know, I don't think it's JD Greer, but I'll I'll drop it in the um when we upload this to YouTube. There's a sermon link, and it's uh this guy preached a bunch of different messages on different heroes in the faith, like uh, you know, different reformers and different things they went through, but how their lives were testimonies to God. That'll grow your faith. I'll maybe drop it below. Different things like that that can help change your mindset. Yeah. Give me some thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh you mentioned at at the end, like there's an unhealthy pattern that a lot of us have that triggers worry. What do you think some of those you mentioned social media um getting off social media? What are some other potential triggers that may somebody may have in their life that triggers worry?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I think it's um I think it's whatever you're doing that is ultimately like a self soothing. Like what here's what I mean by that. Like uh when we talked about materialism the last episode, you're trying to protect everything that. That you think makes you happy, and there's a fear of losing it, right? If I took away all your food and you have not eaten in 10 days, guess what? You're not whining about the food I give you in 10 days, right? You're just so grateful for it. I think the worry comes from protecting our our lives that we know it right now. Um, and in our culture, we have really good lives. I mean, we do, you know, you your car may not run all the time, but it probably gets you to point A, point B, probably has heat, AC, you have a house, you have a roof over your head, whatever it is. And our our goal to protect that at all cost is I think why. It's the same reason why social media, that's an extremism, but we're protecting our self-image so much that it's caused us to worry. Um, and in that, I know social media media is a huge buzzword for people, but the reality is that we feel the freedom to judge other people because of it. And because we know we can judge so easily and nitpick their lives apart, we feel even more like I've got to protect this at all costs. I said this, we had a guy over for dinner last night when I was telling him, I said, I don't understand how we think that we get the freedom to develop or to protect everything in our lives like that when G Jesus was accessible, vulnerable, transparent, slandered, abused, yet counted all of it worthy for the cross. So I think worry comes from our uh from our protection of ourself, of like what brings us happiness, what we use to comfort us, and to lose that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah. Um, I I f I find myself sometimes too in this state of worry, and it's often due to lack

Worry, Disobedience & Walking in Faith

SPEAKER_00 24:08

of action. Like maybe there's something that I know that I need to be doing that I'm not doing. Can you speak to that too?

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, so so it's funny. Um, I was actually talking with a guy and we were talking about uh anxiousness, and he says, he goes, I believe there's a holy anxiousness, which by the way, I did correct Tamon, there is no such thing, but he kind of inferred the same thing. He's like, I think sometimes I'm anxious because I'm not doing something and uh that I know God has called me to, and so now I'm worried about it, right? And he's like, I think that's healthy. I'm like, well, no, your anxiousness and your worry isn't healthy. It's a result of you not walking in obedience, it's still unhealthy, Lord willing that that that you see the error of your ways and how unhealthy it is, and it spurns you to action. Um I I think there like that is just a normal consequence to your life not following in obedience. And I think that's a great question. I think it's a great thing as you're listening to this. If there's some things that you're anxious about because you're not walking in obedience, great. You have your practical application for this week. Fix it. Like the Lord is like, here you go, fix it, right? Yeah, um, that is a that is a great, and I think a lot of guys do struggle with that because they're not walking in obedience, right? It's there's a there's a sense of um of worry, like, am I even making my life count? Probably not, right? Am I living for the kingdom? If you're asking yourself, probably not, right? This isn't a judgment, this is just to spurn you into some action, you know, desire to follow Jesus and everything.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

That's good. Okay, so your practical application.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Can you walk us through what that looks like for you? I mean, I know a couple weeks ago you gave a story about going home, like dishes aren't done, that kind of stuff, and taking that time to sit in your

Real-Life Practical Application of Trusting God

SPEAKER_00 26:09

truck. And I think that that's yeah, something that's hearing the practical application there and how you walk that out is really important. So, like you mentioned that you got bills due, you're expecting a deal to close, a commission or customer, client, they back out, or something like that happens. And it doesn't have to be the extreme of like we're going to file bankruptcy, all that stuff. What does it look like to walk that out? Writing it down, like walk us through like your thought process behind that.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

So, like as someone who's had worry and and and and works in a job where I mean it's commission only, I don't know where my next check's coming from. Um and have had moments, or or as someone who owned his own business and woke up one day and then was gone, right? Um they were the worst moments of my life. But if I were to tell you right now, they were the best, and the response is you find out exactly what you believe and what you have your faith in. So practically, uh, this is an extremism, and I won't get into the whole story right now, but basically, everything that I had worked for was gone, and I fasted for three days and literally stayed in my room and prayed and read my Bible, and you can be like, wow, that's just spiritual nonsense. I get it, right? I'm a super practical person, but this is practically found in scripture, and I can tell you after three days, do you know what? My situation didn't change a lick. And the peace that I had, I could not believe. And in that moment, my faith grew because I was like, this makes zero sense to me. I'm a two plus two equals four kind of guy. This is like one plus three is nine. Like I didn't even understand it. Um, so if it's an extremism, I would just tell you get on your knees, fast and pray. That's not like a that there's no fixing it. And part of the reason why this practical application is harder, and especially if you're listening to this, as part of your worry is that you think you can just fix it with things, or there's a two-step process to fix it when the reality is it's simply getting on your knees and praying and trusting Jesus and everything. If you're looking for a more step-by-step process, it's not thinking outside the box to get yourself out of it. I do think reading scripture every single day, you will hear me say that pouring into what God has shown you who he is, how he's worked through other people, how he's always been in control, and remembering that verse that it says God works everything together for our good to them that love him. And if we believe that verse, and that comes from reading scripture and we understand what that truly means, you know, William Tyndale was burned to the stake. I can't imagine on his way, I was like, it's for my good, right? Like, I don't think those were his last words. As things were literally on fire around him, but he remembered that God would work it for his good. Here he's now in glory with Jesus, and then God uses that to give the Bible in English to the layman that we're now enjoying and that you're being encouraged by. So, practically speaking, yes, I'm always a fan of sitting in your truck or laying it out, getting up earlier and laying those things at his feet. So I would start your day that way. If I'm stressed about something, I get up early, lay at the feet of Jesus, just so that, hey, I'm I'm I'm starting my day off, understanding that I'm not worried about it, and I'm gonna put that at his feet right from the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Like I'm not gonna get up because I know this. This is how I'll do things. I'll wake up and I'll be like, I'm gonna work on this problem in the morning. What if you didn't work on it? What if you got up and gave it to Jesus? I'm not saying you don't practically work on it later the day, but like you understand that this is not coming by my own strength or by my own might. Instead, I'm gonna just lay it at his feet. That's the beauty of

Scripture, Prayer & Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_01 29:53

prayer and the beauty of having Jesus right in the room. Um but yeah, it's a hard practical thing, but I think that we have to be real careful with this subject that we don't try to practically think our way out of worry. Because that's ultimately trying to control it a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah, that's good. The the most powerful thing for me is just scripture always. Like the the verses that I've had to memorize in those seasons of worry, and it's reminding myself of what does God's word say? Because you know, we we so often compare ourselves to like the heroes of the faith in the Bible. It's like I'm a Joseph or whatever it is, because you want to feel important. But most I think we are actually like Israel, like we're the ones that are constantly like turning back to sin and you know, walking back and forth and swaying from left to right. And the one thing that's gonna keep us like centered and focused on him is is scripture and like reminding ourselves of who he is. And I find myself in a day, like a season where I may be dealing with something that's really stressful and worrying about it. I'm like, I'm good. And oh my gosh, like the world is caving in on me. And like the one thing that brings me back to center, it's like it's a constant thing reminding myself of who he is, what his word says, and that's what gets me through it. So, uh and laying, I mean, laying it at his feet, praying and casting my cares before him, and and not being anxious of anything but through prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, making my requests be known to him. All of that stuff is is the most powerful tools and not just like grit and determination and trying to pick my myself up by my bootstraps.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Well, I think as men, this is a really hard subject because you just nailed it. Like, there's a sense of like, well, let me fix it, right? You know, when your wife's talking, she's pouring out your problem, and you're just like, I can fix this in two steps for you if you just let me. And we approach this subject that way. And God's like, nah, I I need you just to change your heart posture on it. And it's really, really hard. I know it's hard for me because I'm a practical guy that can like I like to fix things, and this is one of those things that God's like, just laid at my feet first, is like the immediate response. Memorizing scripture is a great idea. If you are struggling with something, we I write stuff down, try to remember like if you when he's been faithful, it's great to read old guys and missionaries and testimonies. What about your own testimony? Yeah, I would encourage that. I I think I shared this in one of the episodes. I can't remember at this point, but I've told people like, I got to see my parents have been given nine cars growing up because we were so poor. And I'm like, that was a huge building block for my faith. It's like when I do worry and I'm like, oh my goodness, this might not work out. It may, it may go sorely awry. I'm like, well, I saw faithfulness and God caring just about the vehicle. He cares about everything. He cares about the sparrow. He cares about the ravens, like he cares about these the dumb birds that I don't even care for. Yeah. Which by the way, even scripture kind of refers like they're not the greatest birds, but it's like he cares. Like they don't fall without his knowledge. He cares about us. And it's like, well, that's just that's Christian ease and it's super simplistic. I'm sorry, guys, but this is the way your way, your his ways are higher than ours. Don't sit there and try to be like, I don't need this. This is the way scripture is, and we're gonna walk in obedience in it. Lay it at his feet, guys. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Awesome. All right. Well, if you've been blessed by this and you know somebody who could be blessed by it, somebody who's a a worry word.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Share it. Everybody's listening to these in private, not telling a soul about it.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah, nobody's like, I've been listening to this great podcast. It's like, oh, you struggle with all this stuff? Yeah, it's awesome. Um, thank you guys for listening, and uh, we'll see you next week.