Emotional Wholeness
How to Overcome Anxiety
Proverbs 25:28
A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with
broken-down walls!
Proverbs 5:22-23
An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that
catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self control; he will
be lost because of his incredible folly!
The Cause of Anxiety
Lies cause anxiety. The Lord has never, not even one time, told us that we should live in fear. The Lord Jesus sees our life from His perspective and He tells us to not worry. We are told to not worry for two very important reasons. First, our lives, from birth to death, are in His hands. And second, if we are born-again Christians, then He is making all things work together for our good. Carefully read the following scriptures.
Isa 46:3
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the
house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb:
4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I
have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Rom 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
The Power of Anxiety
Everybody experiences anxiety at one time or another. However, the kind of anxiety that debilitates or controls is neither normal nor acceptable, especially for the Christian. The Holy Spirit indwells every Christian and peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. So peace is within every Christian but is held captive fearful thinking.
Every Christian has peace within them, but we experience peace only when we renew our mind with the promises of God; peace is the product of a heart and mind ruled by truth. Anxiety, if not challenged by the Word of God, will grow and assume a ruling position within our personality. If left unchallenged, it will over-rule the Word of God and the have final say within our personality.
Anxiety Depends On A Lie
We can identify the message of anxiety by accurately describing what we fear. Then, when we have identified the fear, and the thinking upon which it depends, we can use the Word of God to defeat it. Make no mistake, the Word of God is more powerful than any lie.
As peace is a fruit of the Spirit, anxiety is a fruit of our fleshy nature. Christ has defeated our fleshly nature, but to walk in His victory we have to emotionally possess His victory. We have to have more than an intellectual understanding of the Gospel, we emotionally possess it by being emotionally dependent upon it. The Gospel becomes our source of happiness, peace, and fulfillment.
Emotional Health is Our Responsibility
As Christians, it is faith in what God says, that we allow to rule our thinking and our behavior. With chronic anxiety, we give ourselves to fear which rules our thinking and our begavior. It is our responsibillity to give ourselves to God and begin the life of faith.
Anxiety denies the character and trustworthiness of God and anxiety denies the truthfulness of His Word. God tells us to not fear, but anxiety denies reality as God describes it.
Anxiety denies God's protection, denies His direction, denies His purposes, denies His goals, and ultimately denies His Lordship. God has a plan for our life, He has people for us to meet, He has tasks for us to perform, and He gives us talents and abilities for His use. But anxiety, through fear thinking, will not allow God to direct our lives. We become too fearful.
An Emotional Disconnect
Anxiety is the result of an unopposed message of fear. Because we gve ourselves to patterns of fearful thinking our personality is profoundly affected. Intellectually, we may understand the promises and encouragements of Scripture, but fearful thinking prevents us from emotionally relating to them. Chronic, and life controlling anxiety, is the result of a disconnect between the truth of God's Word and our emotional foundations. Our emotions are supposed to find their health in the promises and grace of God.
Chronic anxiety will not allow us to be emotionally impacted by what God says. If anxiety rules, then we are held captive and we can neither enjoy the Lord nor relate to what He has done for us. His Words produce no strenght or joy, for we are not emotionally dependent on Jesus Christ, but we are emotionally dependent on our own desires. If we say we are in relationship with Jesus, and if we are not receiving hope , peace and strength from that relationship, then we are kidding ourselves. Our relationship is not with Jesus, but with our own fearful nature.
PS 37:37
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that
man is peace.
Peace is the result of being emotionally dependent on Jesus.
What Do I Really Want?
Who Defines Reality?
Do you relate only to your own concept of security, rejecting the security that God gives? Do you have your own definition of safety? Do you have expectations that are a fruit of your own perceived needs.
Is your life really about your own definitions, and is your anxiety a natural outcome of your own definitions of reality?
Who Has The Final Word?
The fearful wish to define and control their own way, so they cannot follow the Lord. The courageous submit their way to the Lord, and then follow Him.
Therein lies the problem. Emotions that are dependent on our definitions of the way life ought to be, are the root cause of our problems. Hearts that must define and control their own way, will not allow God to define and control their way. The person who defines life can never really relate to God or to what He says, because they, not God, define life. Fear has placed them above God and they have become more comfortable following fear than submitting to God.
God alone has the wisdom and the right to define reality. If we are going to be healthy, then we must learn to listen to what He says.
Every Christian has the power and ability to believe God because every Christian is given a measure of faith. If we refuse to live by fath then we become guilty of rejecting His Lordship by rejecting the rule of His Word over our intellect, over our emotions, and over our will. See faith.
If we do not accept His direction, His wisdom, or His counsel, then we have maneuvered ourselves into a godlike position, i.e., we are our own god, and we can be happy and fulfilled only if we control life to our own satisfaction. Is this what you really want?
If you want God to be in control then you must come to the place where you give God the final word. In short, we must quit worrying and allow the Lord Jesus to lead us in the way He chooses! As we become thankful, and emotionally fulfilled by the truth of the Gospel, then we become able to manage our lives and bring ourselves to a place of spiritual and emotional health.
