Pray To Be Purged of Quantitative Worrying (PrayerLife)

In Eldoret, Kenya

God continues to free me of quantitative worry (QW). QW frets about not having "enough." QW has a scarcity mentality. "Enough" is about numbers. QW agonizes over the past and doom-and-glooms over the future. QW cannot live in the present, because the present does not have "enough."

I learned QW from my parents. They acquired it from humanity at large. I remember being told "We don't have enough money to get this thing we need." I was powerless to help my family, and I laid in bed at night worrying about it. QW is a learned behavior.

Jesus asks "Why worry about things?" (Matthew 6:25)  

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 

Jesus, in Matthew 6:27 

Worry is impotent.

Worry diminishes. Worry subtracts.

Think of Jesus saying "Don't worry about clothes" at a time when most people had only one or two items of clothing to wear. So here I am, with clothing overflowing and things and stuff that would cause the jaws of first-century Jesus-followers to drop. What, then, is the deal with the QW thing in me? What is my problem? How can it be overcome, in me?

The answers are:

1) Trust: Where there is trust QW doesn't exist; the amount of worry is in inverse proportion to the amount of trust.

2) Trust in God: Because one's object of trust must be able to provide. Trust is powerful. Trust adds. Trust in God produces an abundance mentality. 

3) Provision: "Needs" are to be distinguished from "wants." This is about spiritual discernment, and is a matter of the heart. God shepherds us into this. The Lord is my shepherd. Therefore I shall not be in a state of wanting. (Psalm 23:1) 

God, my shepherd!

I don't need a thing.

The Message

4) Be free of the consumer god: The message of American consumerism is: "You don't have enough if you don't yet have this." The consumer god ultimately consumes you. Reject this.

Worry is consumptive. Worry produces soul decadence. Trust is additive. Trust produces soul flourishing.

The more I am purged of QW the more I am free to spend my life on others. That's my prayer, and I'm trusting that God is doing this in me.