Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. ~ Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

I love the line ” Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.” God still knows when I worry. He still knows when I have needs. I am not faking Him out. Praising God allows me to partner with His Spirit. In my desire to control, He has given me an important role: honest praise and true worship. They snuff out fear and stamp out worry.

Graham Cooke talks a lot about having a Kingdom mindset. We – as Christ followers – are spirit beings living in an earth-suit. Once we are indwelt by Holy Spirit, we stop being who we were, seeking worldly things. We are made new. We are citizens of heaven, and as such, have all the rights and privileges of our citizenship. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).

As a citizen of heaven, indwelt by Holy Spirit, I have a choice to make. Will I continue to dwell on my problems and circumstances – or will I instead choose a lifestyle of praise, flipping everything on its ear? When I choose a lifestyle of praise and worship, the problems don’t stop coming. Instead, I can see the promises from God which accompany all the problems. Abram’s problem was that he didn’t have an heir. What were God’s promises and provision: not only did He have God on his side (who called Himself Abram’s “shield and an exceedingly great reward,” Genesis 15:1), God promised to give Abram so many children that they’d outnumber the stars!

Yesterday, I had a problem. Today, I have a different problem. I can take this opportunity to focus on the problems, or I can let petitions and praises shape my worries into prayers. I can walk in my true citizenship and get excited about the promises and provision the Lord has for me, because I have problems.

In the darkness, He is my light. In the wind, my strong tower. In the storm, my shelter.
What are your problems? What are His promises and provision?

A Thousand Hallelujahs ~ Brooke Ligertwood