Anxiety is Evil, Not You

Fear No Fear is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear in any form. Fear is seen as a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. Instead, the focus is on championing faith in God and accepting His word as truth. Anxiety is discussed and it is argued that it is not helpful, even though it is often seen as acceptable or even helpful in certain situations. The importance of trusting in God and replacing anxiety with trust in Him is emphasized. The role of the Word of God in combating anxiety is also highlighted. Overall, the message is to banish anxiety from one's life by trusting in God and His word. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Matthew 6.25 Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? We have accepted a lie. You believe it as surely as you believe the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. We believe anxiety is helpful. When we say anxiety these days, we often are talking about a mental disorder, something that cannot be simply wished away by positive thinking. But anxiety also refers to the uneasy feelings and worry that face us in many situations. And we have accepted a certain level of anxiety as acceptable, helpful even. We say that a healthy uneasiness about upcoming exams keeps the student studying. That worry about where next season's harvest will come from and the money earned from selling it keeps the farmer planting in this season. You're agreeing. You're saying, well, yes, I can say that. That's prudence. But it's a lie and it's not positive. I am not promoting laziness. But for a believer, looking to fear and saying it's okay is not only foolishness, it's choosing to yoke yourself to death. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, John 10.10. That's his only purpose. He knows he's doomed. He knows he's losing in the long run. His goal is to do as much damage as possible and destroy or take with him as many people as he possibly can. God is very clear in Romans 14.23 that anything that isn't faith is sin. Now, it's a principle that's valid in the context of that verse, doing things that make your brother stumble because their faith isn't as strong as yours. It also points to a deeper principle. Faith is of God and sin is everything else. Fear is trusting in the devil. Faith is trusting in God. There is no middle ground. We are listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit or we are listening to a voice that is not the Holy Spirit. Anxiety is never, ever helpful. A good example would be a hot stove or a vehicle in traffic. We use fear to teach our children about these things. Don't touch the hot stove or you will be burnt. Don't run into the street or you will be hit by a vehicle. We justify it because we say that some healthy fear will keep them safe. That is evil. Yes, evil. It is based in fear so it isn't of God. If it isn't of God who was good, then it is bad. Period. All good things come from our Father in Heaven. James 1.17 But we could teach our children wisdom. Explain things to them in easy to understand lessons. Inform them of dangers not from fear but from wisdom. It can be done simply for young children and with complexity and nuance with older children. No, it is not always easy because we as a species fall back on so much language that is fear based. But it is possible. It can be done. We point to the ant and we say what a great example it is. The ant has uneasiness for the future and so it works hard to ensure that it has enough stored away. I have heard Proverbs 6.6-11 quoted in connection with this. That the lazy will fall prey to lack and the wise who respond to the uneasiness of the future with work will not. But nowhere in those verses is there uneasiness of the future. Nowhere in these verses is there anxiety. Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? A little sleep, a little flumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So your poverty will come as a robber and your scarcity as an armed man. No, these verses don't talk about uneasiness and anxiety. Rather, they echo what Jesus says in Matthew 6.26. See the birds of the sky that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of more value than they? Jesus and the writer of Proverbs are making a very simple point. The animal kingdom doesn't operate from anxiety. They work to survive, but not because of anxiety. Anxiety won't help them. It won't help you either. The ant works and stores up because that is its nature. It has been programmed with the knowledge that it has a cycle, so it follows that cycle. The same with birds. They do what is in their nature to do. They follow the cycle of their programming. Only humans, with our ability to reason, with our God-given free will, challenge the programming. Only humans consistently seek to disrupt the cycle. Back in the first two chapters of Genesis, man is created and given dominion over the earth and what's in it. The specifics are in Genesis 1.26-30. We were given authority and a food source. In Genesis 2.15, humanity was placed in the garden to tend it. That's it. That's the cycle. We have authority, operate in dominion, eat, tend the garden. There's toil, but no anxiety. Purpose, but no worry. There's not even any work until Genesis 3.17-19. Even then, it speaks only of labor and eating by the sweat of our brows. Anxiety doesn't come into it. In Deuteronomy 6.4-9, we are given our codified into law marching orders. Dear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words which I command you today shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. This is the believer's playbook. Jesus affirms it in John 14.1-4. Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will receive you to myself. That is where I am. You may be there also. You know where I go, and you know the way. This is how you banish anxiety from your life. This is the believer's response to it. This is how we should order our thinking. Trust in the Lord, period. That's it. If you know that God has things in hand, you will not worry. If you know that you can rely on the Holy Spirit to teach, correct, instruct, guide, and comfort you, John 14.16-26, you will not worry. If you believe what Jesus said and put it into practice, you will not worry. It isn't that worry won't come against you. It is that you can reject it and send it back because you're replacing it with trust in the Lord. Jesus says again and again that we can choose not to be troubled. That doesn't mean wash it away. It doesn't mean just stop being anxious. It means replacing those feelings of uneasiness, that general sense of doom, that struggle to relax, that disquiet and worry with the Word of God. It doesn't mean running to the Bible when a panic attack comes along, although that can help, or to start quoting Bible verses when social unease creeps up on you, although that can also help. If we have started building our foundation on the Word, then that is what will come against anxiety. We get these feelings because of the unknown. If it is a specific unknown, the results of an upcoming test, payment of a bill, talking to a human on the phone, or a social event are good examples. We have the Word to look at for specific examples of how God was there to assist others in specific ways. We can take trust from that because God doesn't play favorites, Acts 10, 34-35. If He helped one person in a specific way, He will help you in a specific way. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Malachi 3.6 and Hebrews 13.8. He always seeks to help. He does specifics and not generalities, and if we let Him, He will perform. Better yet, He will perform His way so we don't have to think of the solution. We just have to let Him enact it by being obedient to Him, listening to Him, praising Him, and relying on Him. If it is not a specific unknown, if it is a general sense of doom, if it is that thing that keeps you from rising in the morning, facing the day, or putting on clean socks, then the Word has help for you too. By getting into the Word every day, we build a foundation on it. We may not be able to recite a specific verse or chapter, but we know God said this or that. We know God does this or that. We get a sense of who God is and what He can do. We get a sense of who we are in Him and what we are allowed to inhabit. At the very least, we know that He loves us and wants to save us. At the most, we can walk in total freedom, casting anxiety and worry as it comes up on the principles and nature of God as the Word rises up in us. Along the middle of those two points is a lot of freedom. It will inform us we have the energy to put on socks because the God of the universe has our back. Hebrews 13.5 It can give us the skills to speak on the phone because the Holy Spirit will put words in our mouth and help us when we are in the spotlight. Matthew 10.19 It can give us hope that if we do what He says, how He says, and when He says, our bills will be met. Matthew 6.31-32 Whether that means He'll provide the means Himself or if He'll provide the opportunity for us to get the means such as with a specific job or other effort on your part. Again, it isn't that these verses are specifically saying in black and white, God will pay your bills or tell you exactly what to say to the transit hotline. But these verses show God's nature, His way of dealing with us. And if He will deal with humanity in those specific ways, He will deal with us too in our situations. We know this because God is looking for fellowship with us. Leviticus 26.12 And Jesus tells us flat out that hand in hand with the Father, nothing will be impossible for the two of us together. Luke 1.37 We do the worship, the praying, the wording, and the walking. Jesus does the rest. It's an unbeatable combination. If we are seeking God with all our heart, minds, and efforts, how do we have time to give in to anxiety? The feeling comes on us and we go to God to seek answers, to seek guidance, to seek comfort. When fears rise, we take the word and stamp it down. It is an act of walking toward the Lord. It becomes almost unconscious, which is helpful when anxiety is telling you you don't have the strength to open a book. In Judaism, there are set times of day to do various things. To say certain blessings, read passages from the Torah, acknowledge the Lord God. It can be simply a pattern, a ritual followed because that's what one does, rules achieved. But that wasn't and isn't what it is meant for. It is meant so that very little time passes before your attention is once again thrown toward the Lord God. Not haphazardly, but with intention, with purpose, looking less at you and what you are going through and more looking to the Lord and what He is and what He has done and what He will do. We as believers in Jesus are to do this same thing. Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-18 We should never accept anxiety or fear in anything. There is never a good reason for it. Yes, humans have a fight or flight instinct. It isn't natural. It's a result of the curse. Yes, humans use fear as a tool to gauge a situation and self-preserve. It isn't natural. It is a result of the curse. We are meant to walk in authority and dominion, not fearing anything. We are meant to seek the Lord for wisdom and then apply it. It means that we can walk through a high crime neighborhood and not fear because God is with us. 2 Samuel 22, 3-4 It also means we should apply wisdom and avoid high crime neighborhoods. Luke 4, 12 We are called to be masters of this world, but the world has fallen. I have confidence that if a lion arrives on my doorstep to eat me, I will be protected and can demand that it stand down by the name of Jesus. But I'm not going to go into regions of the world where lions roam and assume I will be safe, not unless God is sending there for a specific reason, by command. One is confident in the Word, and the other is unwise. I have suffered from anxiety. I have had panic attacks. I have had debilitating social issues. But I have the Word. All those things are in the past. The Word is my present and my future. No matter what comes up, I know that God has a nature of love, that Jesus is the ultimate authority, that I can wield that authority according to the will and the Word of the Lord, that I do not have to entertain thoughts of worry and anxiety because I can actively activate thoughts of the Lord and what He is. I don't have to fear the unknown because God knows all and will tell me what I need to know. If I haven't been told a specific, I have a general guideline on how to act, what to do. I can pray for wisdom and use what I have been given. I don't have to have strength to do these things because Jesus is my strength. I don't have to fear the future because I have hope in the Lord. I don't have to worry about what people will or won't do because Jesus overcame the world. It is a pattern of thought that I have developed because Jesus told me to. Jesus is telling you to do as well. The Sermon on the Mount, Luke 6, 20-49 and Matthew chapters 5-7. It is the constitution of the kingdom. It is the guidelines for behavior, much like the books of the law, Genesis to Deuteronomy. Jesus' impassioned teaching of John chapters 13-17 is the guideline of how to apply the constitution. Together, they encapsulate Deuteronomy 6, 4-9. Put God first in all things. Seek Him above all. Put Him above all. Make every single little thing about God. If you do, you will not fear. Every time you experience fear, you are experiencing something not God. The human body is a sensation input device. We get information from it about this world. That is the fear that comes on you when you are in danger. But we don't have to accept it. If you get the sensation of cold, you can put on a sweater. If you get the sensation of hot, you can take off a jacket. We don't have to let our sensations rule us. If you get the sensation of fear, you can pray, praise, worship God, and stand on the Word. Don't let the specifics and unspecifics of the world's unknowns take you down. Let the Word inform you, guide you, lead you, comfort you, and correct you, bless you, and bring you peace. Jesus is all about peace despite the storm. Calm regardless of chaos. Love amidst persecution and hate. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled. Neither let it be fearful. If Jesus said it, we can do it. In Him. By letting Him accomplish it. By strengthening our faith. By reading the Word. Believing the Word. Receiving the Word. And walking in the Word. Jesus does the rest. Amen. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 1 Peter 1, 13-16. When a child breaks something, or can't make something do what it is supposed to do, they come to an adult and ask for a fix. They expect us to solve the issue, and we try. We try and fix the item, mend it, retool it, and if we can't, we want to replace it. Sometimes we don't have the ability to, but we want to. Now why do we think God is any different? In fact, the only difference is that God comes to us to show us where the broken is. He comes with His restore kit and talks to us. If we let Him, He restores us. That's right. He doesn't fix us. He remakes us. Better than new. If we will set our minds on Him and actively obey His Word, there is nothing that won't be accomplished in us. Nothing that isn't made new. Nothing that isn't solved. Nothing left the way the curse wants it. If we will be holy as He is holy, it will be done. Jesus wasn't sick. Jesus wasn't broken. Jesus didn't lack. Jesus had peace in persecution. Jesus had calm in storms. Jesus navigated this world with God at the forefront center of His self, and it never wavered. We can do the same, because in Jesus we are the same. It is a process, to be sure. It relies on God's will, His way, when He says and how He says. But we can be renewed. We can be sanctified. We can be completely and totally whole and complete. It may be today, tomorrow, next week, or in heaven. The time doesn't matter when you're abiding in Jesus. In Jesus, time has no meaning. Be confident and call it as it is in Christ, not as it is in you. Do not conform to human thinking in anything. Be confident in obedience to the Lord God Almighty. The cross may be heavy, but the yoke of Jesus is light. The cross is only heavy because the flesh is an obnoxiously loud, tantrum-throwing child. Be as Jesus enables us to be. God loves you too much to let you be the way your flesh wants you to be. We can be like Jesus. Why be anything else? As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only-born Son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear, too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.