They say over 40 million adults in the U.S. live with anxiety. The world love to make diagnosis’s and prescribe medication and extensive therapies that cost millions of dollars.
But, God diagnosed anxiety over 2000 years ago. Did you know that the literal definition of anxiety in the Greek is a divided mind?
Therefore, we have to make a decision to make. Where we will focus our mind.
I suffered from anxiety for years, was on a cocktail of medicine to help, The medicine would almost put in a zombie state. I didn’t care about anything or anyone.
We I chose to follow God to my surprise my anxiety turned into tranquility.
I think if someone has anxiety we have two choices.
Choice one: Focus on our problems. The situations and circumstances in our lives that shuffle in confusion and disorder. Fury and pain.
Choice two: Focus on God. Fix your eyes on heaven. View the world for what it is -our temporary home. One that exists with smoldering ashes. But from which eternal beauty abounds.
The first choice produces anxiety.
The second choice peace.
Scripture teaches us to set our mind on the things above. Colossians 3:2 tells us, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.”
Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is good well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
And Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Messiah Yeshua.”
Remember that we are what we think. Feelings follow facts.
Philippians 4:8 tells us to, “Set your minds on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy.” Do this things and see if God’s peace -not anxiety fills your heart.
Something I love now that I hated when I was younger was my father Al way listening to Paul Harvey during while he was eating lunch. As a child I never understood why someone would listen to someone talk for 30 minutes. I was happy when I heard Paul Harvey said, “And now you know the rest of the story.”
I think the two scariest ones, were the cancer and the cyst on my carotid artery they thought was a tumor. One nick and I was a goner. By the grace of God it was a cyst the drained completely and they didn’t have to touch it.
God has been protecting me all my life, that’s why I will never stop being a faithful servant.
Our gut or intuition helps us make decisions and solve problems that our conscious minds and responding skills cannot adequately handle. Intuition is an instinct, deeply rooted and an Integral part of who we are.
My intuition has been right more often than not. So, I have learned to trust my intuition because when I don’t, it usually gets me into a mess I don’t want to deal with.
Throughout scripture, God reminds us of our true identity. Who we are and who’s we are. It is important to hide the Word of God in our hearts, so when the lying whispers of Satan attacks, we can refute them with the truth.
Remember who you are because worldly identity changes, but God’s kingdom never changes.
For those days when I need an encouraging reminder, I have highlighted some Bible verses that affirm our identity.
If you have embraced Jesus and turned from your sins, your true identity is in Him. Believe what God says and walk in faith. Make a habit of memorizing and speaking out loud these verses every time discouragement comes your way. This will help you remember your relationship with Jesus and the real purpose of serving Him here on earth.
There is a story that I heard years ago about a farmer who needed help on his property. A man applied for the job and when the farmer asked, “What are your qualifications?” the man answered:
“I can sleep through a storm.”
Understandably, the farmer was confused. He probably thought, “I’m not hiring you to sleep, buddy.” But hired him anyway, thinking he could use him, and teach him a few things.
One night, a heavy storm swept through the valley. The farmer woke up in a panic and rushed to find the new worker – and found him fast asleep. The farmer and his wife started checking the farm themselves, worried that everything might be ruined.
But as the walked around, they realized everything was already taken care of:
The shutters were fastened
The logs were stacked by the fireplace
The barns were locked
The tractor was put away
The wheat was covered
The animals were calm, fed, and safe
That’s when the farmer understood. The man could sleep through the storm – because he was prepared.
When we prepare, we can rest easier
We live in a world where storms -both literal and figurative are guaranteed. Emergencies, heartbreaks, financial hits, personal struggles, unexpected loss… life has a way of surprising us.
But if we are living prepared, those surprises don’t have to wreck us.
Preparation isn’t just about food in the pantry or gas in a generator. It’s about being mentally, spiritually, and practically ready. So when life gets hard, we’re not scrambling.
That’s exactly what God wants for each of us.
Proverbs 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, no overseer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
Here are a few ways to prepare:
Build a steady prayer life. Don’t pray just when things go wrong, pray everyday. A regular prayer life that’s consistent makes peace, a regular visitor in our minds. When chaos shows up, our first instinct will be to stay calm and not panic.
Keep Things in order. whether it’s finances, repairs on the house, relationships, or health, maintaining responsibilities keep small issues from becoming a big crisis.
Have a support system in place. Life feels heavier when we’re trying to carry things alone. Invest in relationships, whether family, friends, church, or neighbors -so when the storms come we can have people checking up on us.
Know the Bible. God’s truth won’t magically pop into our heads when we never read it. But when it’s already in our hearts, it comes back when we need it most.
Peace comes from preparation.
Imagine if that farmer had hired someone that was lazy or unprepared. The storm might have destroyed everything. Instead, it didn’t even wake the farmhand, because he had already done the work before the storm came.
That’s real peace. It’s not about pretended life is always sunny. It’s about knowing that when it rains -or pours – we’ve already secured what matters.
Spiritually speaking, this means abiding in Christ Jesus, practicing wisdom, and living responsibly. It’s less about trying to control every outcome and more about doing what we can, with what we have, right now.
Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
That’s the kind of peace that lets us sleep through any storm.
Storms will come, but if we prepare in advance, we can face them without fear.
Peace isn’t just a feeling. It’s a byproduct of preparation.
When I was a child in the 70’s at school there was something called the Mcgruff crime dog. He would come tell us to “take a bite out of crime.” To keep our doors locked, and stay off drugs. I always thought it was ridiculous that they were come to school to take our fingerprints, and give us papers to take home. The ploy was to take our fingerprints to keep in their files so if something “bad’ happened to us we would be able to be identified. But few failed to recognize the police had our fingerprints if we committed a crime.
I thought this was ridiculous because the generation I lived through was what I called the latchkey generation. We were expected to come home, lock the door, do our homework, and sometimes feed our siblings, all before our parents got home, with my mother being a stay-at-home parent. I didn’t go home. I stayed gone as long as possible to avoid her. At night, I would come home, get whatever was in the refrigerator to eat cold, and sneak off to bed.
Most kids were expected to do everything this program taught. It was a waste of funds and time. It failed, as you can imagine. It except allowed the police to get our fingerprints.
A few books changed my perspective. The Bible allows me to understand what’s happening in the world. Which gives me peace that surpasses all understanding.
The second book is The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr Elaine Aron gave me understanding of why I never felt like I belonged anywhere. It helped me why I feel emotions intensely, and required strategies to avoid becoming overstimulated by things around me.
There’s a moment when the day comes for us to step into our callings.
The very thing God has been preparing us for. When God speaks, doors open. It’s will be time to take the step. But then, suddenly, we may feel unqualified.
That’s where Joshua found himself in Joshua 1. Moses was dead. And the weight of leadership rested solely on him. God told him something impossible, “lead these people.”
Joshua watched the great leader, Moses, fail to gain entry to and possess the promised land. And now, it is him. No warm-up, no gradual transition. Just a call that felt bigger than him.
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people…” Joshua 1:6
God isn’t asking Joshua to feel ready. He is asking him to move anyway.
Our calling will often stretch us beyond our natural ability. This is not a flaw -it’s be design. Because if we could do it in our own strength, we wouldn’t need God. The size of the assignment isn’t a mistake – it’s an invitation.
An invitation to trust
An invitation to grow
An invitation to parter with God
Where is God calling you to step up, but you feel unqualified? I was told the other day to “speak up, that I had a lot of good things to say.” I know I need to find the courage and to trust God. Then I came across Joshua this morning. God was speaking to me through it, that it was time for me to step up.
We don’t have to feel ready to go. I’m sure we have all had a responsibility we weren’t ready for. A dream which feels beyond our capacity.
The step God asks us to take, but everything in us is holding us back. God didn’t deny Joshua’s fear. He spoke to it -move anyway.
To have eternal life and inherit the kingdom of God is probably the best goal anyone can have. But how can we save our souls? How can we save ourselves on judgment day and avoid eternal damnation?
The world has many religions and churches. They have their own belief systems and doctrines. They offer various ways of salvation. But if you strongly believe the Word of God (the Bible), here’s a way to save your soul according to God’s Word.
1. Believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” -John 3:16
2. Believe in Jesus as the head of the body -the church.
“And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence” -Colossians 1:18
3. Accept Jesus Christ as Savior of the church.
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body” – Ephesians 5:23
4. Be part of the church or the body of Jesus Christ and Accept Him as your Savior.
“Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually” – 1 Corinthians 12:27
1 Corinthians 12:27 when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
5. Be part of the church through baptism by the Spirit of God.
“For by One spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into One Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” -1 Corinthians 12:13-14
6. Receive the grace and mercy of God, accept the gift of salvation given to us when Jesus Christ sacrificed His life and died for our sins.
“Even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast” – Ephesians 2:5-9
7. Have Spiritual Rebirth.
“ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘Rabbi, who know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him. How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit (Holy Spirit) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” -John 3:2-6
8. Live in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revealings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such, there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” – Galatians 5:19-25
9. Confess your sins.
“He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” -Proverbs 28:13
We need to trust in Jesus’s sacrifice and live a life of righteousness. These are central to our salvation.
God warns against false prophets in the last days. In 1 John 4:1 he tells us to test the spirits or teachings to see if it is Him. They must measure up against biblical truths and spiritual fruit. We do not want to be deceived.
From Pity to Praise 