Are you anxious today, about some situation in your life? Many people there are!
This world and what is happening in it, has plenty of reasons to be worried and anxious, for millions of things. The world is going south, in many aspects, from day to day, and it even tries to drag many Christians, in its going south, so if you are not careful, the world and its anxiety causing situation, can make to feel more anxious, than more at peace, every day. You have to realise, that God always cares about your anxiety, so much so, that he caused some of his people in the past, to write and put it on paper in his Word, to let you know, that he does care. God knew from very long time ago, that this world, because of drifting away from him, will cause its own inhabitants, to live in fear, by seeing all the terrible things happening out there. God knew, and God has made sure, that his own people, must be comforted, and not be anxious every day, because of what they see and hear, be it on television, be it on Internet, or the newspapers. God cares. He never designed you to live a life of anxiety and fear, because of the world circumstances, and what happens around. In so many places in the Bible, God says that he wants to, and will comfort his people, and that is what you and me can take and place in our hearts, as a guard of our souls and hearts, to guard us against anxiety and fear. In Isaiah 40:1, God says very plainly twice, that he wants to comfort his own people. He did not say it once, but twice! Why? Because he wants you to know, that he will surely comfort you, if you are living in anxiety and worry, and you believe in him, and follow his ways. Jesus made it very clear in the Gospels too, that in this world we will have trouble, but at the same time he said, that he leaves his own divine peace with us. He knew, that his followers, will suffer many times over, in the future, after his resurrection, all over the world, and he said, that we can have his own peace in us, which passes logic and understanding and reasoning, to guard our hearts and mind in him, and to keep us sane, and not only that, but to overcome the world, just as he did. Perhaps you have anxiety caused by outside circumstances, but you have him, on the inside. Now, the one who lives in you on the inside, Jesus Christ himself, will fight your anxious circumstances on the outside, so that you can be a victor, and not a victim of circumstances. He thinks that if he overcame the world, his followers, his body the church, should be over-comers in this anxious world. The gates of hell, will try to prevail and make the Church anxious and worried, but they will prevail, according to the world of Jesus. Jesus does not want you, to be alone, in your own anxiety and worry, but he wants to share it with you, to bear your burden, and to slash that anxiety and worry in peaces, and that is why, he has called us, to cast all our anxiety on him, so that he can deal with it in a much better and superior way, than we do it ourselves. Give it to him, he knows how to deal with it better than you do! Once you do it, you will want to do it again, and again, because you will be able to sleep well, each night, knowing that he is dealing with it. Do not take your anxiety and worry back to yourself, once you give it and cast it up to heaven to God, but leave it entirely to him, to sort it out, and he will. If you take your anxiety back, once you have cast it to him, you will have to deal with it yourself again, and that means more sleepless nights and worry!
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What are you worrying about? Do you find yourself worrying every day for various things in your life? Do you worry about your needs, having no job, or no money to pay your bills? Or do you worry about your health and a disease which you believe and expect God to heal? Worry is an enemy which attacks Christian or non Christian. It is a common mental challenge which plagues the lives of many people around the world. The question is, what can you do about your own worry, so that your life will be less worry-full, and more worth living. You see, we as Christians are either worryors or warriors. God has commanded us to stop being anxious, and to be soldiers of Christ. He calls us and wants as to behave like soldiers for him, and not like worry wimps. He knows that we do not need to worry, even when we do. He wants us to be like Apostle Peter, who was just sleeping and relaxing amount the soldiers guarding him, when he was in prison. Peter was sleeping, and not worrying. How do we know? Well, people who worry too much, can not usually sleep. Listen, God wants you to stop worrying, and be free from it! Why, because he knows that worry deprives you from trusting in him, and believing him for a miracle in your life. You can not worry about your problem, and believe for a miracle at the same time, because the fact that you worry, shows that you do not belief enough to see the miraculous. People who believe God for a miracle, are confident in him, that he will do it in their life. You can not be confident in God for a miracle, if you worry! We either believe our circumstances more, or we believe God more. The closer we are to God, and the more we know him, the further we are from our troublesome circumstance in life. And the closer we are to our circumstance, and the more we know about it, and the more it dominates us, the further we are from our trust and faith in God, for delivering us and helping us, in that difficult circumstance. We either believe or worry. The one can 'kill' us, and the other can heal us. The choice is entirely ours. God has provided us with everything in his Word, to be warriors for him, instead of 'worryors'. As we know in Philippians 4:6, God tells us not to be anxious about anything first, and then the next verse tells us that the peace of God, will guard our heart and minds in Christ Jesus. We have to do our part, not to be anxious, so that we can allow, the peace of God to guard our minds and hearts in Christ. If we are worried most of the time, how can we let the peace of Christ to do what it is supposed to do, in our hearts and minds? If we worry, we do not let the peace of God to rule in our hearts. Are full with anxiety? Do you worry most of the time? Are you anxious of what will happen in a particular situation in your life? You are not alone, and many people these days are. But, you do not have to be!
This world, and the circumstances in your life, may give you all the reasons to worry, and be anxious. But ask yourself the following question. Does God want to to wallow in worry and anxiety, or to be free from worry and anxiety? Perhaps you say, 'Yes, I want to be free from worry and anxiety, but I can not'. Well, maybe you can not, but there is One, who can set you free. And not only is God able to free you from worry and anxiety, but he has also promised in his Word, that he will do so, not once or twice, but quite a few times. Look at Psalm 121. First of all, it says that your help comes from God. Help for what? Well, any help you need, it is there, available from God for you. But you may wonder, if that help, includes freedom from worry and anxiety. Yes, it does. Why should God help you only in one area of your life, but not help you in another? He does not just help you half a way, only for half of the things in your life. No. Would a earthly father help his children just for some of the things, but not for others. Of course, a good father will want to help his children for everything. How much more does God want to do that for us. In Psalm 121, verse 3, it says that God will not let your foot slip. What does it mean? Well, it means that he cares enough for you, so that you will not fall flat on your face, and hurt your nose in life. The main reason God will not let your foot slip, is so that you will not fall and hurt yourself. That is it. When you spiritually begin to slip and fall in life, he will do exactly that too, he will not let you get hurt, but will comfort you, even if you do. He watches over you says verse 5. Watches over you for what? So that you will be free from harm, as verse 7 says. What harm? Well, any harm. Be it physical or mental. And that includes the harm from anxiety and worry. Yes, it does, because anxiety and worry, hurts you not only mentally, but physically too. God wants to be your shade by day, as verses 5 and 6 say, so that the sun will not hurt you. When you get too 'hot' in your life, from various worries and anxieties, God wants to cool you down mentally, so you will be comforted. God watches over you, verse 7. He watches over you, so you will not be harmed, mentally, or physically. When he watches over you, that includes him caring to set you free from worry and anxiety, because he has promised to keep you from all harm, verse 7. It says all harm, and not only some harm, and that includes keeping you from the harm of worry, and anxiety too. God has warned us, not to worry about what we shall eat, or what we shall drink! You do not need to worry anymore, how you will get money for what you need, be it food, clothes, rent, cars, and other things! The fact that Jesus said that you should not worry about how you will get what you need, shows, that God is really concerned about your needs being met! But what is worrying about your needs being met? Well, it is the constant thinking, reasoning and calculating in your mind, of how and from where is the best place for you, to find what you need. It is all based on logic, and not on faith. Faith does not calculate, reason, or estimate! It just trusts and believes the truth, and the Word of God is truth. It all comes down to how much we believe that what God has said in his Word, about our needs being met, is true. If we really believe what God has said and promised in his Word about our needs being met, then we just can not worry, and calculate anymore, but will only believe. Believe and worry, are like a plus+ and minus-. They can not co-exist and dialogue between themselves. Believe is trusting without explanation, based on the Person who we believe and what He has said in his Word, and worry is totally logical, analytical calculation, and estimation of facts, circumstances, and other people's opinion, about our situation or need. God loves to be trusted, believed, and obeyed, but he never asked us to understand him, or what and how he does things! The more you know God on a deeper level, the easier it is for you to trust and believe him, and what he has said. And the more you know God, the easier it is to figure out, that you just can not understand him, or comprehend him, but yet, you still trust him and obey him, because you have a better knowledge of him. Believing and trusting God, comes more on a heart level, but reasoning and worrying comes more on the level of your mind, on a more logical level. But you should never forget, that it is your hear or spirit that is born again, and where the Holy Spirit resides first of all, and not your mind. In Matthew 6:11, it shows clearly, that you pray for your daily needs, you should ask just for what you need for today. Not, asking for a whole week ahead of provision, or a whole month. No, just ask for what you need today. But why only for today? Well, it is easier if you are going to worry about your needs being met, to worry just for today, just for one day of what you need, than to worry about a week or a month of supply ahead. If you start worrying about from where you will get what you need for one month ahead, you will become a burn out Christian. You will be loaded with stress, and stressful thoughts, thinks and worrying for a whole month ahead. You will crack, and you brain cells will certainly work overtime and be overloaded, and eventually give up and 'burn'. No, do not do that, just if you are going to pray and worry about your needs, pray and ask just for today, because Jesus said, that it is enough of trouble for today, that is why you should not worry about tomorrow - Matthew 6:34. What to do, when you are in a great distress?
Read Psalm 77. Verse 2: When our soul is so distressed, that we naturally refuse to be comforted, because we have lost all hope! Verse 4: That is a great distress! So much trouble and distress that you become numb in your emotions, unable to speak! The solution? Start remembering all the blessings help and good things God has given you in your past! Meditate on them! How did God helped you in any distressing situation in the past! Think about that! Verse 6: Remember all those days or nights in the past, when you were feeling so blessed from God, and his presence, that you sang him songs! Verses 7, 8, 9: Ask yourself these questions? Can God stop being merciful and loving you ever? Can he forget you and your distress? Oh, no, his great love and mercy for you make him unable to forget you and your distress! He cares for you! Just hung on him and his promises! Do not give up, because he never gives up on you, because he loves you so much! Verses 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 The solution to your distress and problem, is to start meditating and thinking about all the mighty and powerful miracles and things which God has done many times in the past, either for other people like his own people Israel, or for you personally! When we start thinking about all the blessings, and all the help God has given to us or others in the past, that is when we start hoping and believing that there is no reason for him not to do the same today in our lives! Why should he do it only in the past, but not now! He does not change, his love and mercy for us does not change, so he will do it for us again! There is so much trouble out there in the world today, so that the heart of a Christian or unbeliever, can sink into the darkness of despair. All that Covid 19 stuff, has created even more fearful event in the world, to make your head spin.
As a Christian, do you find yourself sometimes also sinking in despair and anxiety, even just by watching what is going on in the News? Do you sometimes feel fearful and worried, what is going to happen next in all this situation of trouble and bad news in the world? If you do, you are not alone! Even as a Christians, we can fall into depression and negative way of thinking just by watching what is going around us, and in the world. But, as a Christian, you have the great advantage, in comparison of people of this world, without God! What is the advantage? Well, the solid truth and fact, that you have the Spirit of the Almighty God, living on the inside of you, the one who is also called the 'Comforter' in the original Greek language by which the New Testament is written. You see, when we read chapter 14 and verse 1 from the Gospel of John, we can clearly see, that Jesus told his disciples, not to let their hearts be troubled. That is not an option, I believe that is a command! God does not tell us "Well, if you want to feel anxious and troubled, that is fine, but I suggest that you do not let your heart be troubled". No, Jesus did not say that! He just said to them in a very simple plain language "Do not let your heart be troubled"! Do you see that? God is saying "You DO NOT LET your heart be troubled". So we make the choice to let it be or not be troubled. All starts with us, not with God, about the condition of our hearts in the time of trouble. We can let our hearts be troubled by our circumstances, or we can chose not to let our hearts be troubled. It is all down to our choice. The only way we can experience the peace of God which Jesus has left for us, and which passes understanding, is if we first, DO NOT LET our hearts be troubled! The Bible commands us to not be anxious for anything, but in everything to pray to God with thanksgiving in our hearts. I know that is easier said that done in our lives, especially when we are in a difficulty, but that is what God wants from us, to aim to stop letting our heart be troubled, and to let our hurts trust in God, for his help and deliverance in all the adverse and difficult situations in our life. God has already given us all that we need, to not let our hearts be troubled, when there is trouble in our life. He has provided everything we need from him, in order to continue to be with hearts full with his peace from heaven, as Jesus promised us that he has left his peace to be in us. When you read John 16:33, you can see, that there is a promise from Jesus for us, and that is, and the promise is, that in this world we will have trouble. Oh he knows all about this Covid 19 and all other troubles that bother us, and he cares! But in that same verse, he also said, that we should take courage, because he has overcome the world! That is a powerful statement! I believe Jesus is saying to us in John 16:33, "OK, I know you will have trouble in this world, but I have given you solution and help in those troubles, because I have overcome the world". Do you see that? If Jesus has overcome the world, so can we, by him continuing to overcome the troubles we have in this world, just because he lives in us today. He still continues to overcome the world, and its troubles through us, and by living in us, for his glory and our comfort! Jesus was saying to the disciples in John 16:33, that if he could overcome the world, so can we, just because he lives in us, and wants to make us over-comers of the world and its troubles as he is even today. |
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