Anxiety is the
topic of the day. What does the Bible
have to say about anxiety? Psychologists
have found that when a person is put under stress, whatever kind of stress that
might be, they have a very simple response in one of two directions. Fight or flight. They will either turn and run from the stress
in some way or turn and fight.
When I first started
playing football, in 5th grade, I was being teased one time at
practice. Most of the time, I could take
it, but today, it really made me angry.
I was about to throw a punch when I realized that I could get in a whole
lot of trouble if I hit another kid so, my fear of consequences won out and I
ran away.
What
do you do when you have a big assignment or a big project? Do you stand and fight or turn and run? Some people seek to control every aspect of
their lives so that stress cannot affect them.
They are organized to the nth degree and anyone who seeks to change
their routine gets their head cut off.
They become anxious when things in their life feel out of control. Some of you deal with stress by trying to
control it.
But maybe you are
just the opposite. You procrastinate
down to the very last minute? You worry that
the big project is going to be too hard for you or that you won’t have enough
time to finish I so you never start. Some
people become anxious because they are always trying to find ways to avoid the
stress in their lives. And the more
stress they avoid, the more afraid they become that it will all catch up with
them.
I’m
not a psychologist so that’s about as far as I can go trying to explain anxiety. I’m not a doctor, so I can’t prescribe you
pills either. My call is to share with
you what the Bible says about anxiety and how we can deal with this dilemma, as
Christians. Does God have any help for
you? I believe He does.
To start, here’s
the biblical truth: Anxiety is a
sin. Whoa, you may say, hold on a
moment! How can I say that anxiety is a
sin? Stress is a normal part of life,
right? But anxiety happens either when
you are trying to do God’s job for him or when you do not trust God to do His
job. Let me repeat that again: Anxiety
happens either when you are trying to do God’s job for Him, or, when you do not
trust God to do his job. Anxiety is NOT
how God would have us deal with stress in our lives. He has commanded us to trust Him and, let’s
be honest, most of us don’t.
How do you normally
deal with stress? TV? Cookies and ice cream? By reading books to be better organized or
learn how to become more assertive? We
normally look to ourselves to handle it.
I would like to offer you a different suggestion: become more organized
by all means. Bake cookies. Learn to say no. All these things are great to do. But how you deal with stress as a Christian
has much less to do with technique and a lot to do with your faith. God calls us to trust Him to handle our
stress. “In every situation, by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
2 Corinthians 10
says this, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world
does. The weapons we fight with are not
the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
You’ve got a trust
problem with God. That’s what causes
anxiety. Jesus said, “I tell you the
truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin, but if the Son makes you free, you
will be free indeed.” Who do you trust
more to deal with the stress in your life?
You or God? That’s the key to your
freedom.
When you admit the
truth, that you have a trust problem with God, that your anxiety, your
worrying, your desire to control, is a sin, you receive complete forgiveness
from God. But even when you are assured
of salvation, many people still deal with the after effects of a life lived in
fear or of a compulsion to control.
When I was in
Junior High, the US invaded Iraq the first time. I remember coming home and seeing on the TV
that we were at war. We had weapons,
they had weapons, and I hadn’t even known it was happening. I thought I was immune from things like war.
As I have become
more familiar with the Bible. I have
begun to realize that there is another war going on everyday that most of us
are unaware of. We’ve heard of the
teams, but we don’t give them much thought.
We certainly don’t think that it affects us much. And yet, WE are the battlefield. Our hearts and minds and bodies. As the saying goes, “The greatest lie the
Devil ever told was that he didn’t exist.”
Jesus cast out demons and told his followers to do the same to fight
against the schemes of the Devil, but a lot of Christians today live their
lives believing demons don’t even exist.
We think we are immune. Scripture
says that not only do they exist, but they can oppress Christian believers in
order to terrorize us and wreck havoc in our lives.
Forgiveness makes
you right with God for all eternity, but you may still suffer from panic
attacks even though you know you shouldn’t.
You may struggle with an overwhelming sense of guilt even though you
believe that you are forgiven. You may
know that God is trustworthy, but you are compelled to worry anyway.
If you are one of
the people in this boat, reminding you about how to resist the temptation to
worry isn’t enough-you are already a “slave” to these sins and you feel it. Helping you deal with stress isn’t the issue
anymore. According to Psalm 94, our only
hope to fight this kind of anxiety is God himself, “Who will rise up for me
against the wicked? Who will take a
stand for me against evildoers? Unless
the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My foot is lipping, your love,
O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was
great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”
God comforts his
people in many ways, I just believe we usually only focus on the comfort of
eternal life-forgiveness. But God’s
salvation throughout history has always been considered just as much for the
here and now as for eternity. Not just
for the afterlife, but for this life as well.
I believe we have
all been tricked to believe that people must suffer from anxiety. That it’s normal. That we just don’t have enough “faith” to be
happy. But that’s not the truth God
speaks in scripture. God has given his
church a ministry of healing and deliverance to go along with the assurance of
your salvation. There is no reason God’s
children should suffer the attacks of evil spirits and demons anymore. Jesus Christ called us to do more than just
preach the good news, but to heal the sick and cast out demons. Saint Paul said the gospel came with
power! He said, “Whatever you have
learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Jesus did more than forgive sin; he freed
God’s people from the power of the Devil
I realize that,
for some of you, this message might be causing you anxiety. You want to run away from it or argue with me
about it. Fight or flight. But there is no reason to fear or fight what
God has instituted as a gift for his church.
How can we not do what Jesus has commanded us to do? You see, I am not a psychologist. I am not a doctor. I am a pastor, so all I can truly give you is
the truth of scripture and the hope of Jesus Christ. Who will rise up for you against the evil
that oppresses you? Jesus Christ
alone. And he has called his church to
fight this battle in His name.
Trust God to deal with your stress, but
if you have fallen into the trap of anxiety and now believe you are being
oppressed by this sin, please don’t try to fight this battle on your own. At the name of Jesus Christ, the Devil
himself trembles. There is still hope
and help for you in the church of God. Just ask.
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