Tag: fear

Fear of the New Day

On By biblicaldiagnosisIn Spiritual growthLeave a comment

To my brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus

May the grace and peace of God our Father, and of Jesus our Lord be with you, as you read and hear the words of this letter. Allow me to exhort you on not being afraid of what the day may bring. Psalms 118:5,6 reads

Psalms 118:5,6 – Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Generally, we are afraid because what may come is not what we desire. If we just had some medical tests performed because some strange mass was discovered in our body, we are afraid that the test results will show that the mass in question is cancerous. If we just landed a first job interview after a long period of unemployment, we are afraid that we might not get an offer. Fear feeds on the fact that there are outcomes that we desire and others that we do not.

Fear of the unknown is a natural feeling, for it is the product of us being sinful human. Not just human, but sinful human. And therefore, it is accepted as the norm. The first time we encounter fear in the Bible is right after Adam and Eve sinned. Once sin entered them, they experienced fear. Listen to Adam answering God, when he heard Him coming.

Genesis 3:10 – And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Therefore, fear feels natural, because it has been with us since the very first man, Adam. But while fear is IN us, it is NOT OF us. Fear is of Sin! Now look at what God did. He tells us that He has given you and me a Spirit, and He wants us to know that one key aspect of that Spirit is that He is NOT a Spirit of fear.

1 Timothy 1:6,7 – For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God,…, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Do not be afraid of the outcome, not matter how dreadful it is. But if we go by what we have just read, we also understand that fear cannot simply be wished away. Fear is defeated when one relies on the Spirit that God gave us. That is the only way fear will be eradicated in our lives. This is the case because that Spirit will convict our heart that all things works for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). Suffering, pain and undesirable outcomes can all come, but the person who walks by the Spirit, the person who loves God will be able to walk without fear, for he or she will be convinced that everything is for his or her good, although it may not appear so at the time.

Therefore my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, hear, HEAR the words of God, for this is how you will be able to believe them. Hear the words of God, when He says that as opposed to the rest of the world, you have been given a way out of fear, a Spirit, not of fear, but of power, love and self-control. In all things, good and bad, exercise yourself to giving glory to God for He cares for you. He cares for you individually as His child.

Trust Him, Hear Him, Pray to Him, Read Him, continuously, and you will find yourself walking powerfully in the Spirit, and seeing fear, the weapon of sin, gradually defeated in your life.

In the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

 

 

God’s recipe for handling anxiety (Part 1 of 3)

On By biblicaldiagnosisIn anxiety, Sound bites from the Word of GodLeave a comment

anxietyPhilippians 4: 6, 7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [New International Version]

This recipe is guaranteed to work, all the time! There is no special case!

If you have ever experienced anxiety, then you know how wickedly destructive it is, pure and simple! But in two short verses, God has given us a detailed step-by-step guide to eliminate – not just manage – anxiety. In Philippians 4: 6, 7, He tells us at least four things: what we should do? How we should do it? When we should do it? And why we should do it? This and the next two short articles dig into God’s magnificent recipe to completely eliminate anxiety in our lives!

What to do? Stop being anxious, and then present your requests

There are two things we ought to do: We should stop being anxious and then, during that free time we now have, present our request to Him. It seems counter-intuitive that the first step toward eliminating anxiety is to stop being anxious! However, this reveals to us God’s perspective on anxiety: Anxiety is actually something “we” can stop! Then God tells us what to replace anxiety with: we should get busy presenting our request to Him. Think about it; parents actually apply this very principle every day. A child may come to his mother crying uncontrollably. Unfortunately, unless the child calms down first, he will not be able to tell clearly to his mother what is wrong. The child should calm down first, at least for the time necessary to tell what the matter is. Then, after telling his story, he will rely on his mom’s love and expert know-how to calm him down permanently regarding the matter at hand.

It is the same with God. He want us to calm down first! Then He wants us to present our requests to Him. His love and expert know-how will thereafter soon become evident and completely eliminate our anxiety.

But HOW do we present our requests to Him? As we discuss in the next article, knowing how  to present our requests is just as, if not more important than just presenting them. Knowing HOW is a key ingredient in God’s recipe for handling anxiety.