Christians Don’t Worry, Have Anxiety or Stay Depressed Because…

Stressed

Luke 12:13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” ¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

²² Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. ²³ Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁶ If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸ If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? ²⁹ And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. ³⁰ For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. ³² Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. NKJV

Wow What a life!

Do you live a life free from worry, anxiety, fear and impatience?

Paul tells us we can experience this freedom of mind and commands us not to worry.

Phil 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 1 Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. NKJV

Is this the experience of your life? Are you able to cast all your cares upon Christ?

Are you free of anxiety and worry? Or do you get overly concerned about some areas of life at times?

Worry, anxiety, depression or stress, these all come from our flesh and not trusting God for who He has revealed Himself to be in the word and living in accord with that. Consider:

How presumptuous of a person to even assume they will be here tomorrow.  Perhaps that is the root of this sin.

God has only given you the grace to handle today’s challenges, He has not given you grace for tomorrow and for you to disobey Him and try to handle tomorrow’s challenges today must only be out of the flesh; so what results would one expect to have without the grace of God and only their fleshly abilities and talents to rely on?  Wait for tomorrows grace to handle it.

Elijah worried about dying and the other kings and people killing him. How foolish. For God never had it in His mind to even let him die at all but he was translated into heaven.

How foolish and what a waste of time to worry about tomorrow as if you knew the future and that you would have this problem tomorrow or next year and God might not already bring a solution to it.  Why have you not prayed in faith not doubting trusting that God will give you what you want and take care of this?

As if God did not already know how this would turn out and be giving you the grace to handle it, working it all out for good.  So rather than trust Him, rather than worship and praise Him for being the sovereign and good God, rather than obeying, rather than rejoicing in all things, giving thanks for trials, and giving God glory in the midst of them by not letting them get to them and  showing the power of God and their trust and being at peace in the midst of turmoil,  rather than living out of faith and His power one would worry about their own abilities to solve this, or what will happen to them, as if that would not be God’s perfect plan for them and He would help them through it. Rather than resisting His will for their life they will hold on to what they want and aren’t getting, which makes them feel sad and unblessed, rather than seeing What God is doing in their life, sanctifying them from their desires and making them yield to His will and submit to it and be content in it. No wonder they are depressed. They are trying to be God, rather than trust God; a very hard job.

So yes this disobedience and lack of trust and seeking to resolve out of the flesh can cause physical weakness, illness, mental problems, all because they are not trusting God.

Can it be cured by sedating a person with pharmakeia (Gk for Sorcery, man’s manipulation of the creation via chemistry, alchemy, poisonous substances, etc.)?  No. It will just stave off the lesson God wants them to learn and numb themselves to His disciplining hand.

What can be the end of that course??

That would be the same as seeing your arm cut severely and the blood and tissue hanging out looks so bad that you poke out your eyes so you do not have to see it anymore. Great, you are cured.

Do you believe God is sovereign?

Dan 4:35  All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven  And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”   NKJV

If we believe in the Sovereignty of God we can have no worry. We should have a peace that passes understanding. For one who does not know God is in control of all things, this would not be easy. But for us who know we should stand strong as lights in the midst of darkness. We should be fully assured that if God could take our heart and give us a new one that can serve Him, and has chosen us to be with Him for all eternity; then what harm can come to us.

If He has saved us and specially chosen us would He do this for nothing, to let us be destroyed?  No way!  So no matter what comes our way we know it is from His sovereign hand. He is in control and it is for good to us. We should feel this confidence and manifest the peace that comes from this knowledge all the time.

Whatever our temporal difficulties may be, we know all will ultimately work out well.

So we can relax.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose NKJV
Yes we may make plans for the future, but we still do not worry if we have planned well enough or thought of every negative possibility under the sun that could arise. We do not dwell on the negatives or become saddened over delays and not getting things we want. There is a clear difference to a clear mind between healthy planning and worrying and anxiety over what we cannot control. It is the same as witnessing. We sow the seed but it is not our job to stress out trying to pull the grass out of the seed. We leave the results to God. He decides to give the results 10 times or 60 times or 100 times as the parable of the sower explains.
We are just to focus on and do our calling and not worry about or be attached to getting results. Be content with what God provides, yet do not be complacent so that you are not diligent.
It is a balance of His working through our efforts and trusting that He gives what results He will. So we relax, trust and enjoy what results we get and patiently wait for the next harvest.

We can trust the results to Him and just go about doing our duty as best we are currently able, with repentance over our imperfections in it and asking for continual sanctification of our heart and mind. But be free from the worry that must plague others, because you take comfort in knowing that God is in control of every detail of life.

Do you live in this experience of underlying rest in the sovereignty of God?  If not then you may want to examine if you really believe the scriptures and God or just say the doctrines. If you know this to be true you should be able to act and feel the peace and freedom it offers. To ride on the high places of the earth emotionally as we wait for His return.

This does not mean we don’t feel pain or sorrow or initial fear at things in life. Just that they have no lingering effect that robs us of that bliss of peace and rest that all is well, though we may be in Baca’s Vale or the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Look to the word of comfort He gives and drink freely of that water of life. Joy and peace in the midst of turmoil should be our experience so clearly that it shocks the worldly people.

Phil 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. NKJV

If we do not have trials that surpass human ability to handle them, then how can we experience peace that passes understanding?  How can we manifest this to others?

Preach to yourself. If God be for us who can be against us?  And God is our Helper, I will not fear what man can do to us.

If this is not your daily experience ask yourself why. Allow the facts to have effect on your emotions and change them. Remind yourself often of these things, and seek to serve others by example. And freely receive all that God has for you and waste none of His gifts.

Why would you worry?

Do you think this will help solve the problem, or bring and end to the difficulty sooner?

Or is it just something you learned by watching others who worried and fretted?

Or is it just impatience with God’s timing?

Does it help you be more productive in problem solving or less?

Does it help you to be more loving and serving to others and show Christ’s amazing grace to them?

Try being a detective with yourself and investigate why you are not experiencing as much joy and peace in your life as God wants His Children to experience.

Consider what it is costing you to worry.

What price are you paying to be able to be busy minded over things you can not control.

If it is not serving you in life to worry and if it robs you of peace of mind, clarity of thought and the ability to be more emotionally available and engaged with others, then why not decide to stop it?  It is a choice to stay there. Yes it take self control and discipline of the mind to control the thoughts and think on things that are good, pure, lovely etc. but this is God’s will and He will give you grace to do it if you call on Him and submit to His providence in your life cheerfully.

If you say, I have tried but I can’t; then either you do not believe and trust God or there must be a reason that you benefit from the worry and want to continue.  Is it serving you and benefiting you somehow?

It may help you to investigate what benefit you derive from worry, how does it serve you, what do you get from it?

Perhaps it keeps your mind busy so that you do not have to feel the pain or fears that come up.

Perhaps you feel it will show others that you are concerned or being diligent.

Maybe you think it will get you some sympathy and support from others, or that they will see how difficult your life is\ and not ask you to do more things.

Yes this is nasty stuff to have to consider about ourselves. And that is why most people never do.

It is deep selfishness that opposes God and interferes with His Kingdom.

It is giving Satan a foothold in our lives when we do not trust that our God is sovereign over all.

We miss experiencing that He is a loving Father who will do what is right for us and we can relax. It robs Him of our rested free mind being able to serve Him and others in many ways.

The proof it is a choice can be seen as we are driving in a car and feeling down, then a song comes on the radio reminding us of old good times and we are at once happy and smiling, until we remember, Oh I am supposed to be mourning or sad or worried, so we drop back into the mood.   The mind can switch quickly. We must not feel guilty about allowing ourselves to experience happy times, though we have recently lost a loved one, or are going through other challenges. We can experience some suffering and yet have joy in the morning. It is no denial of the reality of your situation, it is not hypocritical to live out of faith and trust and be happy when we can though there are times of sorrow that come upon us. But we must switch and not be controlled by one.

Who did Jesus say those things to and make promises to of God’s favor to in the Luke 12 passage we started with? They were the people who had just heard these words earlier.

Luke 12:4-8 “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. ⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! ⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ⁸ “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. ⁹ But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  NKJV

Jesus had just told these people that they should not fear what others think of them or may do to them. They needed to fear God who could send them to Hell for all eternity.

And that if they did not confess Him before men and denied Him in front of others would be denied entrance to heaven.

This is not the only place people are warned about the seriousness of living as Christ commanded or obeying God’s word.

Matt 7:21″Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ NKJV

But for all of those apparently good things they did it was not enough. They must see their own human inability to please God and to make restitution for their sin and denial of God in life.

They must humbly call upon Christ as their only hope in full dependence upon Him to make satisfaction for their sin and its punishment.

So regardless of why you do worry or are caught up in any other sins, do you see that they must stop?  Do you see that there is no need for you to be robbed of peace?

That it is actually a denial of your faith in God to be and to do in your life what He has promised?

This is the seriousness of what we may consider as, not so bad a sin or habit.

Ask the Spirit to renew your heart and be resolute, decide today to commit to trusting God with those things that you cannot control.

As you become aware of the price you are paying in life to be in bondage to your sin nature and what it is costing you now in loss of peace and joy as well as for eternity turn to Christ.

Rebelling against God in this area results in stress and pressure that speed up your aging process and you much sooner experience the reward of sin in poor health and premature death.

Yes we have real feelings and suffer and cry, but we do not stay there. We go there but we do not live there. Jesus suffered in the Garden but He resolved to leave it with the will of the Father and did not continue to agonize or cry but went on at peace about His work.
Ask others to help you bear your burden and encourage you to be strong in trust and not waver. Resist the devil who wants you to focus on circumstances and the world and take your eyes off of God and His provisions and the chariots of fire and angels all around you.

Have you asked Him to increase your faith?  Then this may be it, the answer to your prayers, a trial to cause you to take your eyes off the world and your self and cast yourself into your Father’s arms, wholly trusting Him. How ill you gain trust and feel His love and care and protection for you if all is well in your life?  It is only in the fire, the lion’s den, that we can see God deliver us. And will you not walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Is your religion so superficial and intellectual that you have no heart to suffer for the Lord, to endure trials giving Him glory as you peacefully trust Him to deliver you? How then will you grow in faith?

Call upon the Spirit to change your desires and decide never to let yourself dwell in worry, anxiety, murmuring, complaining, depression again.
Take responsibility for the things you can control. And do your best to raise your child, or with your financial planning, or being patient with those you have relationship problems.

Stop thinking about their part of the problem that you have no control over and see if you can find something you can do differently that may not push their buttons.

Keep focussed on your motives and why you do what you do and sanctify these desires to God.

Be much in prayer about situations and cry out to God as your loving caring perfect Father who can bring the best resolution.

And do not just suppress your pain and fear with worry or anxiety, alcohol, drugs legal or illegal.

Believe God that you have a resolution coming and thank God in your prayers for the answer. Expect an answer. Believe God to answer your prayer.

Be involved in the lives of others, helping and serving them rather than selfishly focused on your own issues which cripple and disable you to serve God and others as you are called.

And if you are busy about these things, where is room for worry?

It is settled already in the heavens. Rest and relax in this. Wait and expectantly watch for it to resolve.

Your fleshy worrying can add nothing to this and costs you too much in life to allow.

Resolve to be responsible to be diligent in the means of grace, reading the word, praying, and attending worship services and speaking to others about Christ.

Be continuous in catching yourself if your mind wonders to worry. Stop it immediately and remind yourself that you do not have to do that.

That God is in control and all things will work out well.

Glorify God in your mind and thoughts. Give God glory by stopping yourself each time you are tempted to worry and put your mind on praising and thanking him for handling it, and all the things He has given you.

You choose what to think on, what He has given you and done for you or what He has not. Which glorifies Him?  Then think on those only.  Do not say to me, Oh but you don’t know the thoughts are so strong and the emotions overwhelming I cannot control them.  Then God is a liar and you are the only one who has such trials?  Have you not read of David, how his life was in jeopardy constantly, before being king and then even after?  Have you not read of Job, and others in the word?  Then take heart from them and when the thoughts come read the word until they pass.   Fill your mind and program it with truth, not your history and past experiences when you did not trust God, or of course you will have the same results as in the past.

Let Christ shine through you to others that they may observe the peace and joy you have in the midst of turmoil; so much so that they may ask the reason for the hope you have in you.

1 Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We are bondslaves of Christ and we have no right to use our minds and emotions in ways that do not serve Him.

Do not let the world tell you it is OK, it is a disease. Hogwash, reject this satanic deception to get you to eat the forbidden fruit. Read the word, obey the word, trust God, and go on in service to the kingdom. Examine yourself, be sure you are in the faith, and then rejoice that this is not your home, you are a pilgrim and ambassador representing Christ, while here on your way home.