Anxiety and our Minds

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV: 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.

Sometimes we need the reminder that there is nothing worth being anxious about. Even those Christians who have been on the road for a long time would do well to remind themselves of these verses. There is no situation that would not benefit from God’s intervention brought about by our thankful prayers and requests. All change starts by a heartfelt prayer from a full hearted believer.

Can you or I understand the power of prayer? Of course not. Absolutely not! Bear in mind that we must use our hearts and minds, but that God will guard our hearts and minds, IN CHRIST JESUS. Our prayers are shallow unless we invoke Jesus Christ in our words.

Verse 8 finishes this way: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Do we conveniently forget verse 8? The thoughts in our minds are invisible to others, and we can even think rubbish while telling others that we are turning over good things in our heads. Are you guilty of this hypocrisy? It’s personal, so the question becomes, “Am I guilty of looking good while thinking evil?” Paul makes his conclusion clear. Our thinking must be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. We started out trying not to be anxious, but it is only by filling our minds with these good thoughts that it becomes possible.

As a final thought: I was part of a discussion when these verses were quoted, and we all agreed that this is also a prayer which should trip off our tongues easily, and every day.

Extra Years?

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew6:27NIV

Short, sharp, and to the point. You don’t usually get medical advice like that, because it takes a lot longer for our ‘learned academia’ to go round the houses before they come to the point. But here it is in the Bible, and has been there for centuries. When you continually worry your life suffers! Take a deep breath and let that sink in.

It is important to understand the difference between worry and concern, or being anxious and it is this. Worry is usually a long term thing, and ‘worrier’ is the word used to describe someone who almost naturally worries before they know all the facts. Worry is in the core of their being. Most, if not all, of us have been concerned or anxious about a certain situation or person, but it doesn’t take over our life. The concern passes.

Jesus is making a statement we need to hear, especially if we are a ‘worrier’ by nature. It doesn’t have to be like this when we can leave it with Jesus to deal with. In fact the bigger problem needing God’s attention isn’t the thing or person making us worry, it’s our own heart which can’t seem to let go and let God do His work. The concerned and anxious person’s feelings will pass when the issue or situation passes, and we let Jesus take the strain (literally), so don’t feel guilty about that, however I would encourage you to get heavenly help for your worry!

Worry

I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Matthew6:25

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. John14:27

I worry. I wasn’t always like this, but as time passes I find more in this world to worry about. To be more accurate, it’s the effect this world has on my family, and as a Grandparent I have family at various stages of life from my oldest child, to my youngest grandchild. I have heard it preached that worry means a distrust in God’s ability to handle your problem. I know God can handle anything and everything in His own time and in His own way and by His own choice. Basically, that’s my worry. God’s timing, and what if He decides not to step in? Or God does step in, but the offer of help to change is rejected through free will?

I am very Blessed in that most of my family are Bible believing, Jesus accepting Christians. I said most, and although that’s good, it’s also my biggest worry. I tend to do the ‘what if’ routine in my mind and that’s not a good thing on any level. Oh, I am not on my own in worrying, because today’s world is a very different place from what it was in my youth. I believe teenagers today have much more to deal with, and there are so many pitfalls and temptations that were not so apparent just a few decades ago. It’s a matter of scale.

There are more readily available drugs of choice from the ‘party/soft’ to the hard stuff. And talking about the hard stuff, alcohol in copious amounts is a right of passage for the student. It is so easy to get lost in the devil’s maze of fun, and the lie is swallowed so well and so easily by any unsuspecting young person who just wants to have some fun and enjoy themselves. At the centre of this maze is a broken life of shattered hopes and dreams. It is so much harder to find your way out of that maze, than it was to get in.

If you recognise any of this lifestyle in your loved ones, whether family or dear friends, perhaps you can understand why the only safe place is in the Saviour’s hands and arms.

Anxious?

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Psalm 94:18,19

Thankfully, anxiety isn’t the end game for us. We have the assurance in God that our sorrow can turn to joy as it is recorded for us in John 16:20 when Jesus says “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” Isn’t that a wonderful promise, and from the lips of Jesus no less!

It’s a short step from anxiety to worry or even depression, but I think that other short step to joy is preferable. Joy is that deep, inner, settled peace and not a happy clappy cheery fixed smile condition when our life is in turmoil. Yes, we all get anxious about so many things, but with the Lord as our helper, it doesn’t need to slip backwards into worry. No, we can have joy instead when we place our faith and trust where we know it needs to be, with our Saviour who faced the cross to give us abundant life, as He told us in John chapter 10 and verse 10 where He assures us: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Worrying Time

You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. Matthew 6:27 ERV

It started off as a slight concern, and has now gone through all the following stages until it has become a full blown anxiety. I know this verse and have quoted it often as a way to defuse other people’s fears and worries, but…. Well that’s the problem, it’s the word BUT!! What about now? What about my fears? My suspicions? What if I do nothing, and something bad happens to a loved one this time? How could I possibly live with myself?

Harm comes in many forms and from many sources, but one that doesn’t get much airtime is the harm that affects the eternal destiny of the harmed one(s). Can I afford to play along and pretend all is well, when I am growing more and more uncertain that all really is well? For me, it has changed from a game of hide and seek, to one of hide and hide and hide again.

Meanwhile we all play our part in the theatre of life. The ones who harm, the ones harmed, and those watching from the gallery. In truth there are almost certainly more than a few who see the signs, question the life and lifestyle of the harmer, and still don’t know what to do that would solve the problem, or even reduce the harm done. It is difficult not to worry about the ones you love, and that makes it hurt!

Casting and Caring

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

The apostle Peter knew a thing or two about failing, and yet being forgiven. He denied Jesus, not once, but three times, and in front of a servant girl. How humiliating and embarrassing for the one who was the loud mouthed firebrand of the twelve. Then came the time for proof of his allegiance. Jesus asked Peter, not once, but three times “do you love Me?” Was that once for each denial? We don’t know for sure, but Peter’s confirmation of his love for the Master said it all when he uttered the words, “You KNOW that I love you”. Peter was forgiven, and given work to do when Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”.

I can only imagine that Peter threw himself on the mercy of his Master, because he had seen that same forgiveness shown time and time again to the sinners who also knew that Jesus was their only hope. We tend to emphasise the first part of this verse because that’s our responsibility. We must cast ourselves on Him, or to put it another way, we fall at His feet in the full knowledge of our sin and wrongdoing. In that respect, Peter was no different from the biggest sinner who came to Jesus.

But why would anyone do that? After all, humanly speaking we could be sent packing with a flea in our ear! However, deep down, in the heart of each person who came to Jesus, there must have been a recognition that He would not turn them away. I go back to the question why? The latter part of the verse holds the key to our Saviour’s heart when Peter reminds us that “He cares for you”. Everything that Jesus did, and still does for man/woman, his chief creation, is because He cares. It’s that simple. That’s why we can come to Him with worries, cares, and our sin, in the full assurance that Jesus cares. No ifs, ands, or buts, He cares for us. So, when we come to Him in repentance, He will never turn His back on us. Who better to know this than the apostle Peter. His words ring as true now as they ever did.

We do the care casting, but it’s Jesus who does the caring. I like that.

A Worried Christian?

Don’t worry about things—food, drink, and clothes. For you already have life and a body—and they are far more important than what to eat and wear. Matthew 6:25 (AMP)

I have heard it said and preached that we shouldn’t worry or be anxious about anything, because it shows a doubting heart, and that you don’t trust God. I would agree with the verse which talks clearly about things like food, drink and clothing. But what about people? Are we not all, every one of us, worried about our friends and family? Worried to the point of being distressed as we watch them grow and enter a world they don’t know anything about.

Can I kindly suggest that it does not show a distrust in God when we are concerned, and yes anxious about our parents, children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers or friends. It does not show a disbelief in the power of our God. When we pray, do we not weep for them? Would we not rather any harm would come to us, than to them? Sometimes our grief is measured by the measure of our love. The more we love, the more we grieve, and yes worry.

Can I let you into a secret? There is no age limit to this kind of concern. A parent will always worry for and about their children and grandchildren, no matter how well things would appear to be going. Sometimes the worry is contained easily behind a smile and a laugh. But sometimes that anxiety fills the praying heart, and spills out of the eyes in unwelcome, unusual, hot salty tears when no one except God sees or would ever know or understand. That’s a parent’s love, and there is nothing like it from the baby’s birth to the grandparent’s grave. As tough as it is, I wouldn’t change the gift of that role or responsibility for anything.

Troubled?

When Jesus talked with his closest friends, He told them “Don’t let your hearts be troubled” and that is a wonderful word. It covers concerns, worries, right up to a depression, so whatever you are facing Jesus tells us not to be ‘troubled’ about it. Wait a minute, don’t you feel like yelling as John McEnroe would shout to the tennis umpire when a decision didn’t go his way, “You can’t be serious”? My daughter used to say, “don’t you tell me not to worry”!

The next phrase tells it all, and completes the sentence. Jesus affirmed to the disciples,“you believe in God, believe also in Me”. That’s the secret. When you are crossing a busy street with your child, who takes your hand? Your child trusts you completely, so they happily put their hand into yours in the certain knowledge that while you have their hand, they are safe from harm. It just leaves me to ask you, “whose hand is worthy of your trust when trouble comes”?

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1

Trump-ed

As a family, we were fortunate to live in the USA for some time, over a period of years and in three different States, in the north, east and south. My work took us there and we enjoyed the experience of meeting new people, making friends, some of whom are still in touch, and getting to know and understand our cultural differences. None of that was a problem, maybe in part because we put our roots down into the local churches where we were placed. Most Americans are not loud, opinionated or arrogant. In fact it was easy to like them and be in their company. Talking about politics wasn’t even an issue, because although there were many differing opinions expressed, nothing got in the way of acceptance or friendships. Our last work assignment ended in 1991.

Scroll forward some 25 years, and I don’t recognise the general tone of US society and politics as reported during this run up to November 2016 when the American people will  democratically elect their next president. You would have to be a hermit to have missed the loud, aggressive candidates who are standing, and their supporters. My own recollections just a few years ago, are that debates were open, good and strong, but never personal. Something has changed.

Permit me the openness to say that the speeches and rhetoric of the present candidates who are hoping to become the unchallenged leader of the free world, are nothing short of school playground antics. I watch as the front runner of the Republican party hides behind bar room brawl talk. The kind of stuff that would only be allowed when you are drunk, and among your ‘own’ kind. Trump is a charlatan, who seems to have enough supporters who share his pub lounge antics, to get elected. If Trump is short on integrity, then Clinton is short on truth. She has not been open and honest with the nation she would aspire to lead, and is very short on credibility. Bernie Sanders is still an unknown, but he is viewed as an outsider who may just overtake the Democratic ‘favourite’.

So, the world outside the USA watches and holds their breath while a nomination circus spectacle takes place. The end result scares anyone who watches and follows with interest. Candidates with a chequered and coloured history fight it out to be the most powerful person in the free world. My questions are these: Is this the best of the country’s good people? I don’t think so. My second question, and possibly more significant: How did it come to this in the most democratic country in the world? My third question, and certainly the most significant: Do those many ‘good people’ within the USA care about the worldwide  consequences? We watch. We wait. We wonder. We worry.

Refuge

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

When you get into trouble, where do you run? Where is your comfort zone when circumstances change around you, and you feel lost? Depression and physical harm are no stranger to the Christian, because although sinners saved by grace, we are still human.

There is a natural attraction to using retail therapy, or immersing yourself in your spouse, children, or grandchildren. You might even get over it by visiting someone less fortunate than yourself, and that is commendable. But what if the trouble you face is personal, and affects your health in a major way? Doing these things may take the edge off for a short time, but they don’t really do the job completely, if at all.

You need a person you can trust completely, and the closest person to you might be your husband, or wife, although in severe health issues they will almost certainly be out of their depth, no matter how much they love you. All’s not lost though because there is another person in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is well able to shoulder every trouble or burden you will ever have. There is a condition of course. You have to come in faith, and in repentance put your trust totally in Him by choice because He cares most of all. Just as the verse says:

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Don't Worry

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today”. Matthew 6:34

It might be easy for you to live life without worrying, but not me I can hear you say. You don’t know what I’ve been through, and you are right. But then how can anyone fully know what another person has to handle? After all, everyone of us wears a mask, and we seldom let it drop to show how we cope with life.

It is thought that Scottish theologian Ian Maclaren was the original source of the quotation “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,” and how true even today. So, when you meet up with your friend next time, look carefully and listen, because you might be the friend they need to listen. Really listen, and hear their worries.

Of course, you and I will also need a friend to hear our worries, to let us unburden ourselves, but we probably don’t know who that will be. After all, we are also wearing that mask that shouts “I’m fine” so it will need to be a real friend and not just an acquaintance who will have the ability to help us drop our own mask and become vulnerable. Thanks to those we can call true friends!

Dragons

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10 NKJV

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matt 6:34 NKJV

The words, “Don’t worry” roll off the tongue easily sometimes. Too easily in fact. The truth is we all worry and get afraid, and even Christians are not exempt from it. Parents will use these words as a comfort to their children in an effort to ease their pain about something they have to face. The trouble is, if we are already a fearful and worrying person, they see it and the advice doesn’t help a whole lot.

Worry and fear go hand in hand. No matter how hard we try to lean on God’s promises, we go under to one or both of these feelings. There’s the thing, because both worry and fear are feelings. They are not tangible, and they don’t make us bleed. The pain they cause is brought on by our own emotions. If you look through the Bible, there are countless times the words “fear not” are recorded, so there must be a good reason for the words being repeated so often.

Our dragons love us to worry and fear. In fact they feed on them, and the more we worry and fear, the bigger our dragon grows. So, what is your dragon? You are human, so you will have them. They are not easy to face, and it can take some inner strength to handle them. I know what my dragons are, I know the biggest one, and it is a fight to see who wins sometimes. There are times when it is easier to let the dragon get the upper hand and win the day. I don’t always have the fight in me.

However, there are some real dragons out there, like: Nervousness with people you don’t know. Being in a place where you have to be close to a door. Meeting that insensitive person who will ask you the most direct and personal questions. Rejection. Illness. Bereavement. Depression. Loneliness. A wayward child. Which one is yours, and how do you face it, or do you try to ignore the dragon’s breath?

Let me share my idea of how best to slay that dragon. Find a friend you can trust totally, who will pray for you, and share your fears with them. You will almost certainly find out that you are not alone in your worry or fear, and that the Lord will allow that friendship to be the root cause of your victory over that fire breathing dragon. God has no hands but ours, and no heart but ours, and those friends He is gracious enough to put into our path. What better passage to finish with than this:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.1 John 4:18 NKJV

Worry

Mum to teenage daughter: Now you’ve not to worry about....
Teenage daughter to Mum: Don’t you tell me not to worry!
This exchange will sound familiar to many, but it is one which did happen in our family. With the best intentions, ‘Mum’ was trying to help by telling her girl she didn’t need to worry, but the problem was that Mum was one of the biggest worriers herself. The advice was misjudged, and is now a bit of fun family folklore! Can you relate to that?

Matthew chapter 6 has these words: But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And then this....“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? I have come to love this chapter!

It’s kind of hard not to worry in these days given the economic climate, the state of the decaying morality in high places, our own health, and the health of those we love, the downward spiral of a once trusted government, and the list could go on. It is a very strange and special person who is not touched at one time by some situation or circumstance, which pushes us through concern and anxiety, right to worry itself.

We live in a nice, cosy, theoretical church and personal faith place, where we never have to put our faith to the test in anything big. So, how about putting theory into practice in a safe thing like our worry? Chances are the things you and I worry about are not life threatening, or even close. So, let’s have another look at Jesus words in Matthew Chapter 6, and see if we can prove them to be right? Ready?... OK....GO....