Hey guys, trusting everyone is doing well! I have decided to make this a biweekly new post blog as I have so much going on right now and I want to be publishing meaningful works. I have been and will continue to be praying for everyone reading this blog and that the Lord may speak through me as a vessel to communicate to you all so you may know you are not alone, and He is the light at the end of the tunnel.
In the past week and a half, I have experienced a massive amount of anxiety, and I wanted to share about it because I want to be genuine and real with you guys and so you do not feel alone. Often as Christians, I identify we are anxious/ intimidated to open about our anxiety. When we are known as followers of Christ, many people question us speaking things like, “Oh if you believe in God so much, why do you worry?” or, "Do you Believe in God then, if you doubt him so much?". The simple fact is: WE ARE HUMAN. We are natural helpless sinners. We doubt God, even when we shouldn’t. I want you to know just because you suffer from anxiety as a Christian does not mean you love Jesus any less. There is a stigma because you are saved means all your problems go away, and that is just not true.
Sometimes, believing is HARD and I don’t think a lot of Christians want to admit that, but it is the truth, sometimes following Jesus is not easy. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. There are all kinds of anxiety; Anxiety that something could go wrong, people might judge me, what if I fail, or just anxiety because you are plain terrified. Anxiety comes in all forms, and it doesn’t discriminate. I want you to know if you struggle with anxiety, your feelings as Christians are 100 percent valid!
Anxiety is one of the most powerful feelings in the world, many of us let it rule our lives. And the devil knows how strong anxiety is and he uses it to make us doubt our God. The devil wants to cause distrust between us and God because it’s his goal to separate us from Him. The devil wants you to live in fear because then you give in to sin even more and he wants to take over all of you. The devil wants you to run from God and he wants you to feel comfortable in your sin, so you don’t feel like you need Jesus. Luckily, nothing can 100 percent separate us from the Lord. Jesus will always find a way for us to come back to Him. See, Jesus longs for a relationship with us like many of us long for a spouse/best friend, Jesus craves that relationship with us, He longs and calls us to be close to Him so that we may join Him in one day in His kingdom. Jesus is always chasing after us, even when do not deserve it, EVEN when we disobey and reject Him. We must put our faith and trust in Him, no matter what our mind/anxiety tells us. For you see, if we don’t put full trust in Him, we will never get the entire satisfaction of the Lord’s glory, which is more precious than anything we could ever ask for.
If we are always worrying and anxiety-filled, how will we ever enjoy the glorious gift our Savior has given us, which is life? We simply cannot. I know myself and a lot of you are guilty of this, guilty of worrying about tomorrow, the day after, and the day after, and the day after, and so forth! Anxiety is mentioned numerous amounts of times in the Bible as God does not want us to have to deal with it. So, at this point, you are probably wondering, “Barrett, how do I deal with my anxiety?”. My answer to you: give it to God. God wants us to feel safe with Him because He is our home, and He wants to walk with us through all aspects of our life. Pray to Him and ask Him to walk with You. We need to TRUST HIM, my favorite verse (and the verse I try to live by) is 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight”. Know at the end of the day, He is going to take care of you and hold you.
I also advise digging into His word for comfort. I mentioned earlier the Bible mentions anxiety quite a few times so here are some of my favorite verses that deal with anxiety:
-1 Corinthians 7:32, “I want you to be free from Anxieties”
-Isaiah, 35:4 “Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you.”
-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."
-Luke 12:22 “Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear”
Anxiety must be a significant and common sin if numerous verses mention anxiety in the Bible. Honestly, I never realized it until writing this blog, but how incredible that our Lord knew how big of burden anxiety would be to so many of His people, that He incorporates it so many times into His word, He actively is giving us tools and a guide to tell anxiety, “BE GONE”. Praise Him that He is all-knowing and a generous God, He gives us a tool so great to fight our battles with that is the Bible. I pray that whoever is reading this today is rest assured that the Lord is going to heal them and take away their anxiety. I pray today whoever is reading this that they know God is never going to leave or forsake you! God bless you guys! If you have any other prayer requests, feel free to share them with me!
Have an amazing one,
Barrett
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