“Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.
O God, come and slay these bloodthirsty, murderous men! For I cry out, “Depart from me, you wicked ones!” See how they blaspheme your sacred name and lift up themselves against you, but all in vain! Lord, can’t you see how I despise those who despise you? For I grieve when I see them rise up against you. I have nothing but complete hatred and disgust for them. Your enemies shall be my enemies! God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways— the path that brings me back to you.”
Psalms 139:17-24 TPT
https://www.bible.com/1849/psa.139.17-24.tpt
I’d like to write out some notes on a sermon I just got through listening to by Steven Furtick called Why am I Anxious?
Here are some reasons why you might be anxious:
1. Check your intake. How much are you getting on Social Media or the news (no matter where you get it from)? How full are you? You cannot receive the peace of God without making room for it. Your shock collar may be the news. It may be Social Media, but nevertheless, the devil has given us one and we don’t even realize it. Even in terms of relationships, this could apply. It’s time to put some protective armor on. Ninety-seven percent of your apps or what you consume are empty calories. Remember: what you don’t take in is just as fatal to your faith as what you do.
2. Check for imbalance. When you don’t have a sense of priority in your life and everything feels urgent in your life, this is a sign you haven’t figured out what is reY important. Make sure you are able to give to those that God has entrusted into your care instead of those who use you. Just because something carries the same size as something else, doesn’t mean that it weighs the same. Ninety-nine percent of what you worry about doesn’t matter. When you give weight to the right things, you will be ok if people get angry if you say, “No.” Christ is the solid rock, but if you don’t know how to stand on that rock with the right balance, the devil will push you around and you will feel unsettled and tossed and turned.
3. The prison of indecision. Don’t procrastinate. Make some decisions this week–at least 3. If you make dumb ones, appologize. It’s ok. Just start with making some decisions. Don’t take too long. Take everything to God in prayer so that you will know that you are in God’s will.
4. A -promise of your integrity. If you have secrets that you are hiding from people, it is hard to have the peace of God. Your life is made of so many different pieces when this happens. Integrity means, whole; all one person all the time. It is hard !pray the panic away when your own lifestyle is creating it. You don’t have to be “the same on stage as you are in public.” Although you might bring different approaches to different situations, the center of who you are should be brought to every situation. Be the real you in Christ. In a lot of our anxiety, the common denominator is “I.”
5. Fix your intention. You can reduce your anxiety by shifting your intention. Maybe think about others and not just yourself. Think about helping others instead of performing for them.
6. A lot of the anxiety you experience is based on your imagination. God consecrated that imagination for His purposes. Get back that childlike faith and imagination. God intended for your imagination to be a playground. The enemy wants it to be an internal ISIS–a battleground–a place of worry where you can’t even pray. Recapture your imagination. Make it where you can start telling storries like you used to, or make up songs and sing them out of tune, where you can dream dreams, see visions and more with God. If you are reY good at worrying, you will be great at worshipping. Stop checking the fearcast (the news, Social Media, etc. Just talk with the Lord on this topic). Check the faithcast. Stop imagining the worst-case scenarios and trying to perform for others.
7. The enemy wants to fight you in isolation. The answer can often be found to the question, “Why am I anxious?” right in the middle of the word anxious. I. The word anxious has the word I in the mi.le, but us at the end. Be sure to not forsake the assembling together of the Saints. Stay surrounded to stay at peace.
Kingdom Advance 