 When we call out to God for help, He will bring help. This help might look differently than we expected. We might not even notice His help. For example, we might run into a crisis. If so, don't question God, more than likely He is pointing out some of your basic problems. He is giving you an occasion to practice humility and obedience.
By a careful study of our lives before God, we can discover what our anxieties are. We will need to confess and repent of things that He brings before our mind. Similarly, we will need to put our trust in Him. This process can take a considerable period of time, depending on how serious you are about pursuing these matters. The good part is that one finds great improvement once they turn back to God. A person is usually worried about more things than they had thought. Oftentimes, a person will focus on one issue. Once that is cleared up, he will see other areas needing to be dealt with.
When we examine these four categories on the slide, we will become more aware of what is happening to our lives. Note how our emotions, minds, bodies and wills (decisions) are all involved. These problems occur because worry is not natural. Our minds, emotions, bodies and spirits are easily overwhelmed by persistent worries, stresses and fears. We were not designed to handle stresses and anxieties.
Let's deal with them one by one.
• Physical symptoms
Thyroid malfunctions because of stress, anxiety and fear. (p. 169)
The hypothalamus gland produces a rush of the hormone ACTH into the bloodstream instigating a panic attack. This is a disorder of fear and anxiety. (p.167)
Insomnia (sleeplessness) is also caused by anxiety and fears affecting the hypothalamus gland. (236)
Behind the Chronic Fatigue Symptom (CFS) is a very major fear anxiety disorder combined with a sense of drivenness (p. 165).
Fear, anxiety and stress compromise your immune system. Allergies and many other diseases come from a compromised immune system. (p. 62, 161).
Asthma is a fear-anxiety manifestation (stiffening of the cell walls of the alveoli). (p. 158)
So is hypertension (cell wall rigidity of blood vessels) (p. 159).
The list goes on! The point is that we often take medication for these things, but don't you think your Heavenly Father would rather you just get honest and humble yourself before Him and admit that you have been wrongly handling things? You have trusted things rather than Himself. You need to repent and come back to God.
The above conclusions come from a ministry that regularly see people healed from their many physical diseasesby helping them deal with their spiritual problems. (They do not believe all physical sickness is from spiritual problems though). |
• Worried feelings
Worried feelings include hurry, irritation, restlessness, lack of focus and confused emotions. The worrier is not acting by principle but by feeling. They are impulsive rather than evaluative.
• Anxious thoughts
Anxious thoughts dominate the mind with these thoughts and many others.
"I can't do it."
"What am I going to do?"
“What if this or that happens?”
“I'll never be able to do it."
"What will he or she think?"
Some of these are based on the lack of trust. Others are because of the fear of man. All are because we are doing things wrongly.
• Physical symptoms
An unbelievable number of sicknesses have their roots in unresolved anxiety. Note the sidebar named 'Physical symptoms' on the right.
• Sinful acts
Anxiety always leads to wrong decisions. These wrong decisions are always sinful in that they go against God's clear directed way. The anxious person might lie, steal, covet, be immoral, cheat, break the sabbath, be appetite driven, etc. These sins drive the soul from God and a genuine solution.
Anxieties are the fuel
which feed the fears
of our basic insecurities in life.
Insecurities are those unfulfilled needs of our lives. Our lives are occupied trying to meet those perceived needs.
So what do you do with these things?
What does your doctor tell you? Does he tell you why you have some of these diseases? More than often not. They see the consequences but not the root problems of the diseases. They have no cure for that. Their proposed medicine only deals with the consequences. Unfortunately, they often do not warn you of the many side effects. Alternative treatments unfortunately hide God's message from you. God offers a cure by humbling your heart and getting right with God.
This whole seminar is based on the premise that peace comes from a closer relationship with God. Remember the bridge. As you walk on over, you leave the anxieties behind and draw close to God's peace. When we trust God, we will not be anxious, worried and fearful. We will not face these symptoms which is God's reminder that all is not well.
Let us see how the whole process works together to overcome anxiety. Next page
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