Stress, worry, fear etc & the Christian

Today, we’re finally going to talk about the practical methods that the Lord gives us in His Word to overcome stress, fear, worry , depression, etc. The things the Lord gives us to do are very easy and yet require total commitment. You have to stick with it every single day. In fact the things the Lord gives us to help us, are commands from Him that we are to be doing anyway, but most of us tend to skip over that little fact.

Let me assure you that the Lord is quite aware of your thoughts and feelings every day. He wants you to be aware of them as well and more then that, He expects us to take control of them. While the world teaches us that we are at the mercy of our feelings and thoughts, God’s Word tells us that instead we are to be in conscious control of them at all times.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Think of it this way. We know how powerful God’s Word is, well our words are also very powerful. We know that God’s Word is just as powerful when we’re thinking it, reading it, or speaking it right? Our words are also powerful in all those ways. In other words, the words we think, our thoughts, are “words” and they are powerful! It is our thoughts that produce our emotions.

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he

What the Lord wants us to do is take every thought we have captive and make it obedient to Christ. How do we do this and what exactly does that mean?

First let’s talk about what it means. When you have a thought that is saying something like, “What if such and such happens thought”. You know, those fantasy thoughts of “what if my husband died and I had no one” and things like that. God says to “capture” that thought. In other words stop it cold. As soon as you catch yourself thinking something along those lines, you tell yourself to “Stop!” You stop the thought and then you make that thought obedient to Christ.

How do you make it obedient to Christ? You replace the lie (because it is a lie) with God’s Truth. In this case since we’re dealing with fantasy type thoughts here, perhaps you could replace it with these verses:

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

You don’t have to worry about remembering an entire verse or anything like that, as long as you get the point that God is trying to get across to you in the verse itself. So while it is best to be able to use the actual verses, you can at first simply replace the “bad” thought with something like, “God will meet all my needs, I don’t have to worry” until you’re able to actually recall the verses that the Lord gives you.

Do you understand the principal here? No matter what the thought is, it is a lie if it is causing you worry, fear, stress, depression etc.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Therefore what God is commanding us to do is to first stop the lies in their tracks as soon as we realize we are thinking them and then replace the lies with His truth. This is what the renewing of your mind is which Paul refers to here:

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

This doesn’t happen by some mystical force, at least not entirely. This happens through good hard work on our part. Then when we do our part, replacing the lies with God’s Word, with His Truth, God then renews our minds, and little by little our attitudes are made new.

There is more to this, but I know this is getting long and I really want everyone to be able to read and reflect on this part alone for now, so I’ll add more tomorrow. Please feel free to ask any questions though!

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