Category Archives: Fear and Anxiety

Help is on the Way

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD: that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, (Psalm 102:18-21 ESV)

Before you were ever born, before Christ died and the Church was created and became the people of the Kingdom of Heaven, the words of scripture were recorded with you on the heart and mind of our God. From the beginning of time, he knew the horrors awaiting us and willed to save us from the grave. Before we groaned and cried out, he had already heard our cries as we were in the bondage of sin and determined to come and set us free.

So let’s not fear, brothers and sisters, as we groan and hurt and struggle. Let’s not quaver in doubt of whether our Father God cares and wants to hear about our troubles. He knew from the beginning and assured us with words recorded millennia ago that there is one who cares in Heaven and he has willed to bring us through this and deliver us home to His heavenly city and turn our groaning into praise and rejoicing in His name, too.

Thank you, Father, for knowing us from the beginning and willing to save us and bring us safely through this earthly turmoil. I pray we would trust in you and turn our eyes to the heights our help will come from. Grant us boldness to approach your throne and present our hearts to you as they truly are, to allow you to do the redemptive work in us that you have already purposed to do. In Jesus’ name we pray, Lord, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, Fear and Anxiety, Gospel, Grace, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , ,

Repost: Take Root in God

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream,and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Let’s skip the guilt trip today. We all have room for improvement when it comes to trusting the Lord and probably most of us will continue to have times when we struggle there. So what is your heat, what is your drought? That is, what leaves you anxious and fearful? What dries up your world and heats up your air? Lost job? Health issues? Political battles? Wars and natural disasters halfway around the world?

How do we remain spiritually fruitful, continue to flourish in the Spirit, in times of trial and uncertainty? We lift up to God our fears, we lift up our anxiety, we recognize when we are merely afraid rather than speaking our fears as reality (as I am prone to). We confess them to God, and release those emotions to him, and then we determine to remember what he has done for us in the past, to remember what he has promised us in his word, remember what he has done for others in our circumstances and in the scriptures, and we determine to take our eyes off the drought and the heat and trust in the living water (per the stream imagery) of God-with-us, nourishing and feeding us with his own flesh and blood.

Lord, as the old hymn says, we pray, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how you’ve proved yourself over and over. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace to trust you more. (Note to my readers: changes to wording are deliberate.) Today, Lord, we are choosing and making the conscious decision to trust you and take you at your word no matter what our circumstances tell us, and we release to you any fear and doubt preventing us from meaning those words (name them here.) We thank you for your healing, we thank you for your cleansing. We thank you for being with us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, Fear and Anxiety, Prayer and Devotions

Rejoice in the Lord Without Pretense

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18

We discussed these verses previously in light of verse 18. This is a picture of total disaster in an agrarian society, no security and no livelihood, but it is also a picture of barrenness.  His stores are empty, he has a great lack. This is a cause of great suffering, yet he will rejoice.

Let us not miss the will rejoice and that he does not deny the suffering and the barrenness. He does not smile and pretend his storehouses are full and praise God for what he does not have. He does not feel guilty and sub par as a person or in his faith for what is barren in his life. He does put on a show, faking like everything is fine.

Before Habakkuk rejoices, he declares honestly before God (and men, since we’re reading this) what his true state of affairs is. His stores are empty because his people appear to be under attack by their enemies and also suffered severe natural disasters.  In verse sixteen, Habakkuk says:

16 I hear, and my body trembles;  my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;   my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble  to come upon people who invade us.

In context, what he is hearing is the report of the current events that have led to his great losses. This rejoicing in the lord that Habakkuk does is not a Pollyanna joy or a delusional/deceitful joy thanking God for the harvest that didn’t happen. It doesn’t deny the reality of the present sorrow. No, first he acknowledges the losses and suffering and emptiness of the present. He feels honestly, fears honestly, trembles honestly, even questions God honestly (if you read the whole book.)

Through this process, he finds the faith to trust in God to save him and draw near to God and take joy in the close fellowship with the God who is with us even in the darkest hour.

Lord, forgive me if I have drawn near to you to praise you with my lips, while denying the true sorrow in my heart. I pray that I would worship you in truth, being honest before you. Help me not to present a false image, praising God before men when my heart is breaking out of false guilt and needless shame.  Teach me to rejoice in you honestly, drawing near to you from the heart, even though my limbs or heart might be trembling in fear or great sorrow. Should I stumble into temptation in this area, prick my heart and grant me the courage to be honest before you and men about my feelings rather than merely going through the motions of what I think a good Christian in my shoes should say/do.

My Commentary on Today’s Verse of the Day

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , ,

Relax! God Doesn’t Play Favorites

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:5-6)

Psalm 118 falls right before Psalm 119′s sometimes unappreciated, lengthy serenade to the law’s beauty and virtues.  In 118, the psalmist urges his audience to give thanks to the Lord because he is good and his love is steadfast. To these reasons, the psalmist adds his personal testimony: he was either troubled internally by mental or physical pain or suffering or he was in an external state of danger or desperate need, per the meaning of distress. He prayed to God for help, God answered him by freeing him from whatever was causing his distress.

Here he turns from past tense to present tense: the Lord is on his side. He will not fear now what men can do to him, he knows God is in control. This switch is implying that the psalmist is one again in difficult times; he is confident because he has past experience with God. He remembers what God has done for him in the past and trusts God to do what he has always done before.

Faith and trust in God grow over time, with each blind leap and each instance of God doing what he promised in His word. If you are young in the Lord and have not many personal experiences,  you can still make that leap with confidence based upon His peoples testimonies, if you trust in the accuracy of the bible (there are ministries who can feed your intellect with proofs of this) and also through the testimonies of your living brothers and sisters in Christ today.

God is not a respecter of persons, beloved. He does not play favorites with his children.  If you are His, and you know for a fact what God has done for His people in your situation, he will do it for you, too. Maybe not the exact same way, or with the exact same timing, but if you draw near to him and place your life and your situation wholly into his hands, daring to trust him completely, taking refuge in Him and His work in your life, he will deliver you and bring you through this, if not out of it. Even if we do face the pain of death, if we continue on with God, even in death, he will set us free forever.

Lord, forgive us for the times we have forgotten what you have done. Strengthen us today, remind us of what you have done in our lives and in our brothers and sisters’ lives in similar situations. Increase our faith. May we trust in you and your declarations over us, not the threats of men. Give us thankful hearts that praise you for who you are and what you do. Deliver us from fear and all emotional distress this day. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, Fear and Anxiety, God's Character, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , , , ,

Longing for your Heavenly Home or Fearing its Loss?

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

This is my favorite verse to turn to in times of trial and distress of any sort. Here the Lord reassures us that though he has returned to the Father and we cannot see him face to face and feel his physical touch of comfort, he is preparing a place for us, his bride, to dwell in, and he will return again and receive us as his own forever. No matter how hard and dark and cold and lonely the night is here on Earth, in Heaven, we have a warm place called home and we can always call home and talk to our Father and our Brother and be loved and welcomed and encouraged and strengthened and made whole where it matters most.

Older translations of this text render “rooms” as “mansions” while we can dispute which is more accurate and which is more desirable, the epistles suggest God is preparing not merely a literal dwelling place for us in Heaven, but a brand new body as well. God’s standards are strict, and we cannot hope to obtain to them on our own, but he is making preparations to transfer us from our old broken bodies of sin (spiritual corruption) and physical corruption to pure, spotless, incorruptible bodies, to transform us from sinners into saints.

Let us not lose heart then as we battle against sin within ourselves and to resist the external pressures of the corrupt world around us. No matter how many times we stumble and fall, so long as we continue to choose Jesus and trust him as both our Savior and our Lord, we stand secure, because He will never change His unfailing love for us. He will never abandon us nor forsake us, nor will he ask from us more than we are capable of or more than he is willing to equip us to do.

So many of us when our hearts are troubled turn to our friends and family. Some of us are fortunate enough to have strong loved ones who are full to overflowing and have plenty to give us and meet our needs. Others among us are surrounded by friends and family as every bit as troubled as we are and often are also running on empty. For those in this situation, leaning upon one another spreads the pain around like a game of hot potato being played with toxic waste.

Christ urges us this day to stop a cycle that tends to compound and multiply our troubles and bring our broken hearts to Him. The Lord is the ultimate source of the spiritual and emotional fuel we require to live and thrive, and He is the only true source of healing, and only He can take the toxic waste, nail it to His cross, and truly remove it from us and those around us once and for all.

Lord, open our eyes. Draw our attention to the times when our hearts are troubled. When we are tempted to unload the toxic waste building up in our fallen hearts on our loved ones, remind us to stop and pray and surrender it to you instead. Show us also when our loved ones are seeking from us what comes from you and handing to us burdens that only you can carry. Give us the strength to refuse to participate in what amounts to idolatry and the courage to gently, respectfully, and lovingly, yet firmly point them to you and offer to pray with them instead. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

 

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, God's love, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , ,

A Prayer for When You’re Under a Cloud of Darkness

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!” (Psalm 143:10)

David prays for instruction from God on how to do God’s will, and presumably what God’s will is to start with, at a time when he is being pursed by the enemy, who sounds more like depression than a human enemy in this psalm: his soul is crushed, he sits in darkness, his spirit faints, his heart fails–or he is overcome with dismay.

David remembers first what God has done in the past and cries out to God to speak comfort to him and deliver him, determining to trust God.

Before David asks God to instruct David in obedience to God’s will, he does ask God out right to give him knowledge of the way he should go–what path he should take, the choices he should make–because he’s lifting up his battered soul to God for healing, and knows through experience that depression compromises our ability to make sound judgments. In his weakness, he’s relying all the more upon God’s leading. David determines not to listen to depression’s lies that he is alone and abandoned. He puts his trust in God to be right beside him even though he can’t see God there and lead him through the darkness. He prays that God would direct him over a clear path without any obstacles or uneven places for him to trip over, and deliver him out of the grasp of the enemy of our souls.

Lord, we say amen to David’s prayer. Show us the way we should go. Lead us over level ground, that we might not stumble into sin. Lead us into your light. Strengthen our hearts within us. Open our ears to hear your word and the voice of your spirit. Enable us to recognize your voice and discern between your voice and the voices of fear and depression and the flesh. We have decided to trust you. Enable us to trust you in deed. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , ,

Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it.

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:18-19)

Is your foot slipping, stumbling and falling flat into sin’s mud? Trust in the steadfast love of the Lord–not to make the mud less muddy and falling acceptable–but to catch you by the hand and hold you up from doing a face dive into the mud.  His blood washes us clean, and his love can keep us clean. In the hour of temptation, take your eyes off the mud of this earth and look up to Heaven’s righteous king. He will give you the strength to safely walk around it and keep going on, hand in hand with him.

Burdened with a huge pile of debt? Medical problems? Marriage difficulties? Work politics ? Family drama? Afraid of natural disasters? What the government might do? What  your neighbor might think? If you’re drowning in a sea of fears and worries today, again cry out to Jesus. Let him take your hand and lift you up. It may not happen right away.  We often have to confess it all to the Lord, name what we’re afraid of (gasp!) and then loose it from our hearts, releasing that concern to him. Only when we’ve gotten it out of us do we often have room to listen to his voice in our hearts, receive his words of comfort and peace, to alleviate our grief, to soothe our distress, lift the heavy burden from our hearts, and give us joy and satisfy our need. Gratitude is our best response in that hour.

Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for consoling us and giving us peace and joy. Thank you for holding our hands. We pray in the hour of temptation, we would be reminded in our hearts to look up to you, and we ask you to strengthen us in our hearts to have the spiritual discipline to obey and meditate on your love, to hide in it from sin, rather than using your steadfast love as an excuse to roll in the mud like pigs. Forgive us for the times we’ve done that, wash us clean, and polish us until you see your son’s face reflected in us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, God's love, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

Tagged , ,