Day 13- Reject Negative Faith

A Weightless Devotional

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” —Matthew 6:26

“Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

For a lot of us, anxiety is as natural as breathing. But God’s Word challenges our nature. In Philippians 4:6, the Bible says not to be ”anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God." With these words, Paul is giving us a divine imperative— a command, which might sound like a big ask. But if it’s a command, that just means it’s a preferable and attainable condition for the human heart and mind. You can be worry-free. You were meant to be worry-free. You were made to be worry-free. It’s the preferred setting. But if that is true, why is “the peace that surpasses all understanding” such a rare state of mind?

Anxiety is the practice of negative faith. It is, in part, what we were meant to do— the faith part— but it is a misplaced faith. It’s negative faith. It’s the opposite of faith in a God who works all things together for the good of those who love Him. It is faith in a negative outcome, not an outcome that comes through the loving hands of the Father. When we practice negative faith, we are, in essence, praying to ourselves in the process of fretting and planning around a negative outcome instead of resting in the sovereign will of God. Have you noticed, as George Mueller has, that “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety?”

Trusting God can set you free from the idea that you are your only hope, as it shifts your dependence from yourself to Him. Or let me borrow these words from William Law, who says: “Whenever a person allows themselves to have anxieties, fears, or complaints, they must consider their behavior as either a denial of the wisdom of God or as a confession that they are out of His will.” That means that your anxiety is not just a psychological state—it's a theological statement. Is that a statement you want to make? If not, then put your trust in God and take Him at His word.