ANXIETY WEIGHTS DOWN THE HEART
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25
I have always warned ministers in training to be careful about what they preach. Often God authenticates your message by letting you experience the circumstances of the message you preach. As I was about to write this book on anxiety I begin to go through an anxious time. There are some decides that I have to make that is causing me anxiety. Some of the decisions that I have to make have to do with being middle age. Middle age is the time you enter that you have to worry about your parent and your child that the same time.
A new opportunity has presented itself but to take advantage of the new opportunity I have to let go of a good old opportunity. I have also had some health issues I had defeated but has made a comeback. With another health issue and being involved in the ministry, I have learned firsthand that anxiety weighs down the heart.
To be even more forth coming worry for me has been a sin that easily besets me. I can remember being worried as a child. My step-dad was a raging alcoholic and use to come home and take the cares of the world out on us. He was a huge man with the voice of a lion. He and my mother argued all the time. I was always worried about being kicked out of our home. I always worry about my mother coming home when she was gone. When a child grows up in an unstable family environment. That child will grow up struggling with anxiety and fear. The person will grow up physically but will still be an afraid child on the inside. Many grown children are afraid to take risks or challenges because of the anxiety sow in them as a child. Children can grow up with hearts that are weighed down. God wants to remove this weight from your heart.
Even if you had a stable home growing up you still could have issues with anxiety. Because you have come from such a safe environment it may be hard for you to take risks or challenges because you fear failure. Overcoming your fear will be key to a greater success in your life.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.” God wants you to overcome anxiety in your life. For the Christian worry is a sin. When you worry, you say that God is not in control of your life. You cannot worry and have God’s strength at the same time. With God on your side, you are never to lose a night of sleep. In this book, you will discover the secret to worry free living.
Worry free living does not mean you will have no troubles in life. Worry free living means that the troubles in your life have no grip on your life. John Stott once said, “A Christian’s freedom from anxiety is not due to some guaranteed freedom from trouble, but to the folly of worry and especially to the confidence that God is our Father, that even permitted suffering is within the orbit of His care.”
God loves you not from the troubles in your life. God loves you through the trouble of your life. My prayer for you is that God will enable you to overcome the anxiety in your life. God through this book is sending you a kind word to cheer your heart.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
The Invitation from Jesus
What if I told you there is a cure for anxiety? What if I told you that from this point in your life you will never have to worry again? You from this point will not have to take another drink for anxiety. You will from this point never have to smoke another cigarette or weed because of anxiety. You will never have to take another drug or any other escape from your problems. I know what you are thinking. Give me this miracle cure for anxiety!
George Mueller once said, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” Jesus Christ gives an invitation for an anxiety free life. Having faith in Jesus Christ and accepting His invitation will end anxiety. This is a powerful statement to make because undoubtedly some people believe they have faith in Jesus but they have anxiety.
The fruit of a Christian life is to live a life free from worry. If you are weary and burdened, you have not come to Jesus. Can you come to Jesus and be a worrier? Can you be a Christian and be a worrier? The answer to this question is no! The evident of soul salvation is to be living from the burdens of this world. So the question becomes if I have a life of anxiety do I have a life with Jesus Christ? Jesus says the interval of coming to Him is rest for your soul.
The Interval from Jesus
In the interval with Jesus, He says I will get you rest. If you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savoir, He will give you rest. If you do not have rest, you do not have Jesus. So the first thing we have to make sure is that we are saved. Then, how do you get saved? What is salvation? What does salvation mean?
ABC’s of Salvation
Salvation means to be saved from something. Biblically this salvation means to be saved from the punishment of sin. The punishment of sin is eternal separation from God. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 says, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…”
To escape the punishment of sin you have to first admit you are a sinner.
A - Admit
Admit that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
B - Believe
Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again as a payment for your sins.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
C - Confess and Choose
Confess and allow God to the be in charge of your life.
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
If you would like to be saved invite Jesus into your life. Please repeat this prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I ask You for forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins so I could receive Your forgiveness and have eternal life. Please come into my life right now and become my personal Savior. From this day forward, Lord, I give you control of my life. Make me a new person and help me to live for You. Amen
When you truly have gone through this process of salvation you can truly get rest. Jesus invites you to come to Him and He will give you rest. True salvation in Jesus Christ makes a difference in the lives we live in time and in eternity. A.J. Gossip once said, “Do you find life too difficult for you? So did we, but not now, with the amplitudes of grace there are for us in Jesus Christ, it grows satisfying and successful and exciting beyond measure, becomes another and a richer thing.”
The Interrelationship with Jesus
After you are saved you interrelate with Jesus Christ. Jesus says to come to Him and He will give you rest your soul; however, you still have work to do. When you come to Jesus you must exchange the worry of the world for the work of the Lord. Don’t worry, work for Jesus! Jesus says to take His yoke and learn from Him. This is the call to discipleship. A disciple is a learner. In My Utmost for His Highest daily devotional discipleship is defined. “Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause— He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus.”
There was a time when you would call the Concord Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. You would hear everyone who answered the phone say, “Saved to Serve.” You are saved to serve! You will ultimately find rest for your soul by finding your greater purpose in Christ. It is easier to be concern about eternal things than temporal things. You trade your temporal worry for an eternal purpose. 2 Timothy 2:4 says, “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” When you truly give your life to Christ you will no longer worry or be entangle yourself in civil affairs. Your overriding passion will be how I can please Christ who is now my commanding officer. You are now a soldier in the army of the Lord Jesus. You will not worry about the world when you as a soldier are on an eternal mission. This mission in life makes Jesus’ yoke easy and His burden light. The more you interrelate with Jesus the less you worry about the world.
