Step 5: Don't Worry About the Outcome

I burned emotional calories wondering why he didn't answer the radio.
God could see the outcome even when I couldn't.

Don’t worry about the outcome. This is the 5th step in “Seven Steps to Freedom” from double-minded thinking. You can be free from double-minded thinking! Yes, “if the Son sets free, you will be free indeed”(John 8:36)! Here is next step in the seven steps to freedom in being focused in our thinking: Don’t worry about the outcome of your choice.

Fear is the number one contributor to hesitating, wavering, and vacillating to making clear decisions for God’s kingdom. Fear is afraid that God will not really bring you through. Fear doesn't really trust God for the outcome and therefore causes worry.

Perfect love casts out fear; however, many people really do not experience the Father’s perfect love. They know of it. Have heard it preached. But have not experienced it. Hence, they live in varying levels of fear that binds them to double-minded thinking.

Worry is a choice. A few years ago I was hunting elk with Karl, one of my sons-in-law. We were in a remote area of the mountains and decided to hunt separately for a few hours and meet back at camp. We each had hand-held radios that could communicate up to 12 miles so we knew we could stay in contact if necessary. I got back to camp well before sundown and patiently awaited Karl. After an hour of waiting I started to think about why Karl was not yet back in camp. My mind started to think upon bad possibilities. I tried to contact him by radio but to no avail. I calmed myself and reminded myself that fear of a bad outcome was not spiritually mature--I had to remind myself as a leader that I should not feel fear in this situation.

It was almost dark and still no Karl. My mind was racing with all the possible bad outcomes for Karl, my daughter, my granddaughters. What had happened to him and why did he not respond to my radio call? I had to repeatedly remind myself who was in charge of protecting Karl--not me--not my outdoor skills--but my heavenly Father. I was an emotional mess on the inside even as I tried to squash the negative thoughts of a bad outcome. A little while after dark Karl comes walking into camp ready to eat a hot meal on a cold fall evening. I breathed a sigh of relief and calmly asked him why he didn’t answer my radio calls. He said he turned the radio off and taken a nap. I had burned a lot of emotional calories worrying about an outcome that was not up to me to decide.

The Word says to think upon those things that are pure and holy (Phil. 4:8.9). Run your thoughts through the cross. Do they make it past the cross to holiness and purity of the truth God has birthed in your spirit? Do they line up with the written word of God that He will provide and protect you (and your family)? Think upon those things and choose love over fear, peace over worry. Trust Him for the outcome!! The choice is yours. The outcome is God’s.