“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6 NIV)
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV)
Have you noticed that fear and anxiety seem to be running rampant these days? There are many things out there we can be concerned about and it sometimes seems problems are growing at an exponential rate. But you know, when you look at it in the broadest scheme of things, staying stuck in a state of fear just doesn’t make sense. I mean, it’s true things can get pretty challenging here on earth, but fast forward to the ending and if you trust in Jesus, you’re ultimately going to be okay.
Now it’s nice to say all of that, but it’s far easier to be afraid than not. Are any of you reading this today dealing with fear or anxiety? I know I have recently, and I don’t like it! So I’ve decided to go on a quest to get rid of it, care to join me? Let’s take a look at scripture.
“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.” (Philippians 4:6 NIV).
I think this verse is interesting because it both calls us to action and offers a promise. If you think about it, chronic fear is passive, there’s churning on the inside, but very little to show for it on the outside; it would make sense that the best active agent to combat it is an active faith.
Instead of holding onto our fears and anxiety, we are called to turn to God in prayer instead, being thankful to Him for the listening and answering (even if He does end up saying no). Of course it’s easy to pray like this when things are going well and God seems to be saying yes to requests for happy blessings. It’s not so easy when you’re dealing with troubles and God seems to have disappeared. Then the questions start to show up:
“Is He even listening?” “Does He even care?” “Why should I bother praying when it doesn’t do any good anyway?”
Those are tough questions and they need good questions with good answers to counter them:
“Is God really good?” “Is God powerful and trustworthy?” And “does God love me?” From our knowledge of scripture, we can know the answers to those last three questions are a resounding yes. We see proof of these answers throughout the Bible but most significantly in the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf.
When doubts crop up, they interfere with being able to fully give one’s fears over to God because in those moments we don’t believe He actually has them handled. But when we actively choose to trust in His truths no matter what comes up in our lives, we will have peace. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7 NIV). I don’t know about you, but the idea of living within the transcendent peace of God sounds indescribably wonderful. Maybe relinquishing control to God would actually be worth it.
We weren’t made to live in fear: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Here Paul was writing to Timothy, a young Christian leader at the time. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to think it also applies to Christians in this day and age too. “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power” the Holy Spirit we were given empowers us — We weren’t created to live in fear. We weren’t created to spiral out of control in helplessness. When we are caught up in fear, it makes it hard to think and we often feel like we have no control; that’s the opposite of how the Holy Spirit operates. Through the Holy Spirit, those who believe in Jesus are empowered to live fearlessly, to love fully and to live with a sound mind.
Faith Dubke (PBP, CST) is an ENTP (like Iron Man), and an Enneagram type seven (like Solomon). She is an idea alchemist, truth warrior, world explorer, and compulsive researcher. She also proudly claims Pastor Dallas Dubke as her dad. She can be reached at faithdubke.pbp@gmail.com.
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Fear or God: Who is in control? - Red Bluff Daily News
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