the antidote to worry

image source: freeimages.com/John Nyberg

There are just so many things to worry about in this life. We could fill a whole day with a multitude of anxious thoughts concerning ourselves, our loved ones, our plans, careers, relationships, the world. In fact, if we look around, it often seems that there is more going wrong with the world than going right. In addition to what's going on 'out there', we have our own issues to contend with: past failures, lost dreams and hopes, experiences that seemed to have crushed us and trained us into believing that we might as well give up. We can become stuck amidst this stream of negative thoughts, trapped between the failures of the past and the fears for the future.
When we are overrun with negative, worrisome thoughts, it can be easy to get stuck. To feel like passengers in our own minds as the stream of concerns run through like a freight train, weighted by our experiences, by 'proofs' that things could and will go terribly, terribly wrong.

But there is an antidote.

God has not created us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Not even the weight of our own lives; He has provided a solution regarding those things which concern us. In Philippians 4:6 and 7 we find an invitation:

'Be anxious for nothing, but in everything buy prayer and supplication, 
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 
and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'

Within this well-known passage, we are offered the correct application for our anxieties: Prayer. When we are worried, it is a sign; a sign that we are carrying a burden that we ought not to be carrying. God knows that worrying about things that are outside of our control is not good for us. It is not His design for His creatures to carry the weight of the world; to try and plan their futures and keep all the plates in the air by their own strength. Some things are just outside of our control and no matter how much we churn over them, we cannot come up with answers.

When we are overrun with worry, we are invited to hand over our concerns to God through prayer. We are not casting them to the great void and hoping for the best. We are handing the problems over to a Being, asking Him to work on them for us. He has promised to equip us with strength and ability for every task. He has promised solutions, deliverance and His presence. When we pray, we invite him into the circumstance and secure His solutions. It is passing the problem from our hands into His.

Prayer also works an act of purging our minds of those thoughts that do not belong there. As we release the thought and the control to God, we reestablish our minds; we detox the negative, fearful churning thoughts and are left with a blank slate. God has promised that when we pass our concerns to Him, he will give us His peace.

In the verse above, peace is defined as the following:

• a state of tranquility; exemption from the rage and havoc of war (remember, those things that concern us are not our battle to fight: God has promised to go ahead of us)
• security, safety, prosperity
• the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot of whatever sort it is

In addition to this, the word guard is likened to a military guard, which works to prevent hostile invasion or to keep the inhabitants of a besieged city from flight. It is a protection, a guarding, a keeping, a watching. When we pray, we release supernatural power; peace guards us but it is our job to stay in that peace. We need to be careful not to rehash a thought that we have released to God in prayer. Reject it; it has been committed to God's care and you can be assured that He will has taken responsibility for it.

This is God's design for his creation; communication with him. Re-aligning ourselves into His care and reminding ourselves that we are not meant to figure this life out by ourselves. He wants to show us the way and He wants to help us in our lives.

This is the fourth installment on a series of fear that I will be doing on this blog. Check back in the coming days for more on fear and how to take back control of a worried, fretting mind.

*For those who want facebook updates on my latest posts, you can find me at One Pilgrim's Journey

observe don't accept

image source: freeimages.com/Gerla Brakkee

Too many of us are quick to accept a thing without thinking it through, without really asking, ‘is this true?’ My husband made a comment today about hearing that toasted muesli is not as healthy for you as untoasted muesli (which I think is true, incidentally), but when I asked him why it was healthier, he couldn’t tell me. He said, 'it has something to do with the fats'. Then he joked, 'but it was from a reliable source', to which I replied, 'yeah, if it was on the internet it must be true.'

We are a generation who are inundated with messages on a daily basis. Within a mouse click we are invited to learn and there is an abundance of evidence both for and against almost any topic we could imagine. We need to be aware that just because we hear a message (even on a grand scale) it does not make that message true.

For a long time, I believed that my thoughts were accurate measures of reality. If the thought was in my head, I would assume it was true. When I would think something like, ‘you know such-and-such could happen’, I would go into agreement with that thought, without even questioning it. The result? I would react emotionally, getting upset and convinced that that thing would come to pass. Most people seem to have a good grip on getting bossy with their thoughts but some of us struggle. I didn't challenge my thoughts, if I saw any grain of truth or possibility in them, I accepted them and with them, the negative emotions of fear, worry and doubt.

God is showing me that we do not need to receive the messages that come into our minds, via our thoughts. It might sound obvious and it's certainly not a new notion, but I don’t think we realise just how much real estate we give on a daily basis to thoughts that are just plain wrong. When we feed these unchallenged thoughts, they grow.

The enemy is a bully and he seeks to expand his territory in our minds. He does it through intimidation, persistence and often reasonings or imaginations (which feel real). In my last post, I spoke of the reality that the enemy has no real power over us, but when we accept his thoughts without challenging them, we allow his fearful lies to bed down and become part of us. He doesn’t have any power without our permission, but if we take his words and allow them to be truth for us, then we will live out of fear, or pride, or anger or whatever else he is trying to put on us. Then our actions reap fruit. In that way, he gains real estate and can gain it vastly.

Just think, if David had not challenged Goliath, but instead accepted his threats as truth (let's face it, the odds were definitely in Goliath's favour), then the whole territory of the Philistines would have continued to be inhabited by the enemy. The children of God would not have possessed what was rightly theirs.

No matter what territory the enemy has taken in our lives through his intimidation tactics, his imaginings or his persistent attack on the mind, we do not need to fear. God has given us the tools to take back what the enemy has stolen in regards to our peace, our health and our state of minds.

Slow Down

We need to observe the messages we are being told. Slow down and ask, is this true?
Hold it up to the mirror of God's word and if it doesn't match, ditch it! It doesn't matter if it feels true, looks true, smells true or sends your knees knocking together. (In fact the very reason it terrifies you is because it is un-truth or half-truth. Truth is a Person and He sets you free). This is the power we have. The power to separate ourselves from the thought. To observe it. And then to choose: accept or reject?

It will take courage. It will often mean defying reason, imaginations, experiences and the pull of our emotions, but these have never been measures of truth, so don't be fooled. Learn by those men and women of old who stood on the Word of God. Who took it literally and bravely, forsaking all else. God never forsakes those who rely on Him and the more we practice it, the stronger we will grow.

Truth is ours. Peace is ours.

Let's walk in it.

‘With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, 
for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness… 

But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.  
Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 
throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, 
which is corrupted by lust and deception. 

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 

Put on your new nature, created to be like God—
truly righteous and holy.’

Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

This is the third installment on a series of fear that I will be doing on this blog. Check back in the coming days for more on fear and how to take back control of a worried, fretting mind.

*For those who want facebook updates on my latest posts, you can find me at One Pilgrim's Journey

fear is an empty threat

image source: freeimages.com/Matt Williams

'You have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he has prepared to destroy.

And where is the fury of the oppressor?'

Isaiah 51:13b

One of the first secrets that I discovered in regards to the stronghold of fear I had in my life was this:

As children of God, the enemy has no actual power over us.

His power lies in one place, one tactic, one approach; Lies. He reverses truth and uses it to emotionally and mentally crush us. But it only works if we buy into his lies. You see, fear thrives on the possibility of something terrible happening. It is all smoke and mirrors. The enemy does not have the control over our life that we think he does. He simply scares us into thinking he has control and the reason his suggestions are SO terrifying are because they are exactly the OPPOSITE of truth. They are fueled by the belief that we may somehow escape the mercy and protection of God (which is impossible) and fall into the hands of the enemy.

Because of this knowledge, we can learn to take fear very lightly. It is not a vessel of truth.

It is an empty threat.

Just like Goliath.

God had promised the children of Israel that they would possess the land that He had appointed for them. They were to fight the Philistines and take command of the land that God had set aside for them, knowing that they would be victorious in battle.

Goliath, however, put fear in the hearts of the Isrealites. He expressively paraded and taunted the army of Israel every day for forty days, breaking into their confidence and making them tremble in their sandals and doubt the Living God, who was actually in charge. Who actually had full control of the situation and had promised them protection and success.

But the Isrealites couldn't see past Goliath. They were tricked into thinking that their future was in his hands. That he would crush them and nullify the promises of God on their life. 1 Samuel 17:10 tells us that 'when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.'

When we feel afraid or dismayed we can be sure that somewhere, at some point, we have fallen for a lie.

The Israelites spent forty days in paralysis, being tormented by Goliath's daily parade. Their fear was the result of engaging with Goliath's lie.

It took a fresh, young man (inexperienced in battle) to put the situation into perspective. David recognised that Goliath was a toothless bully whose threats were empty. And as such, David was not afraid. He could trust wholeheartedly in the knowledge that the Lord would knock Goliath on the head. The fact that Goliath crashed under the weight of a simple pebble is testimony to the fact that God was in complete control of the entire situation. Nothing and no one could prevail against His will. Too bad the whole army didn't realise that. They could have saved themselves forty days of anguish.

We too, can take a lesson from this. The only way the enemy can hurt us is by getting into our head, convincing us that we need to fear him. When we mull over his empty threats, we engage in doubt and circular thinking and become fearful, miserable and confused. We forget the good news of who we are! Children of a living God! Children whom God is protecting and perfecting and working all things together for good.

Fear will only get you if you engage in it. When we find ourselves feeling afraid we need to recognise that somewhere, somehow there is a false belief at work: a Goliath trying to steal our peace.

Our battle plan is simple.

Recognise that the enemy has no actual power over us. It doesn’t matter how big Goliath is, how noisy, relentless or intimidating. He can be safely dismissed. You don't buy his charade any more. Instead, silence him with truth. You are safe. Protected. Loved by God. And growing stronger every day,

'For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. 

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.' 

1 John 5:4

This is the second installment on a series of fear that I will be doing on this blog. Check back in the coming days for more on fear and how to take back control of a worried, fretting mind.

*For those who want Facebook updates on my latest posts, you can find me at One Pilgrim's Journey

to those who are afraid

image source: freeimages.com/Randall Hop

My mother and I both struggle with fear. It's a family thing. A habitual thing. A stronghold thing. I didn't realise how much fear was threaded into my way of doing life until I met my husband. My husband (and his family, too, for that matter) are not at all fearful people. Fear is just not a factor in their lives. For me? Fear interferes with a lot of my decisions, affects the way I view myself and the world and often keeps me in a place of torment, wondering at all the 'what-ifs' that could befall me. So far, it has been 'my thing'.

You know, we all have them.

Thankfully, God is committed to my care.
Slowly, I am being delivered from fear. So is my mum.
Together, we are realising some things about fear and I thought I would pass them on to benefit those of you who struggle with fearful thoughts, too. In the coming posts I am going to share some thoughts on how to deal with fear and worry in our lives.

Fear is a powerful emotion, but it is not something that needs to dominate us. The emotion of fear carries a very specific purpose and is designed to take up only a very small place in our life: fear is very useful for when we find ourselves in a dangerous situation. If we are chased by a lion, we want to feel afraid. Fear sharpens our bodies, sends adrenaline to our systems and enables us to run or fight or hide when we are in danger.

The emotion of fear, however, is not designed for every day life.

Out of context, fear cripples us. If we perceive danger in our daily life (for example, we are worried that bad things might happen to those we love, or we worry what people are thinking of us or if we are going to succeed at the things we have been called to do) we are not going to live our best lives. Instead, we are going to be uptight, fighting for control and unable to enter the rest that God intends for His people.

We were not created for fear. We were made for love. For confidence. For productivity.
God is committed to bringing each of us to a personal place of freedom and revelation knowledge so that we no longer live lives of fear.

Be encouraged, because this seeming-giant in your life does not have the power you think it does. You can overcome your worries. You can learn to recognise fear for what it is: lying messages designed to rob you of your peace. And you can take back control of your life and live as God intended you to live: free.

This is the first installment on a series of fear that I will be doing on this blog. Check back in the coming days for more on fear and how to take back control of a worried, fretting mind.