Even strong Christians feel what you feel. Just because you feel anxious doesn’t mean you are actually weak. It doesn't mean you don't have faith. It means that the enemy has planted a thought that has turned into an emotion that makes you feel weak.
Fear is not the absence of faith but an attack on our faith. If we tolerate fear, it can lead to us putting our faith into the wrong thing. If we quickly deal with the attack of fear, recognize the lie and return to the truth (primarily what Jesus accomplished on the cross and who we are in Him), we are using our faith to overcome the fear.
I find this concept so important because without it we feel shame and condemnation for feeling fear. We feel weak under the attack and more likely to run and hide. Instead we need to recognize the fear as a fiery dart of the enemy and quickly extinguish it in brave, confident, warrior fashion.
Bill Johnson of Bethel Church has a son Brian that...
If I want to live in the covenant blessings of joy, peace and rest, I must come OUT of agreement with lies which imprison me to stress, worry and fear. I must become a lie buster to be a stress buster! I must bust through the lies that don't line up with biblical truths such as "I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."(John 10:10 AMPC) I share these truths with you that God has shown me because I'm passionate about YOU living a life of victory and not a life of stress!
I come OUT of agreement with lies which imprison me
I renounce the lie that I need to accept this issue (sickness, lack, confusion, fear, worry, condemnation, failure) because…
Truth: None of the above are greater than the the power of the cross that set...
You have a magnet inside you. Is it a magnet of fear or faith? A fear magnet draws to you exactly what you fear. The Bible is clear, "What I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me." (Job 3:25) This was the open door / legal right satan had to operate in Job's life.
A faith magnet draws to you what you are believing for. "It shall be done to you according to your faith." (Matthew 9:29)
Fear actually is faith. It's just faith in the wrong thing. God honors and responds to faith in Him and His word. Satan uses your fear as an open door for him to attack. Science has shown us how fear wipes out your immune system. Fear turns off all your healing genes and turns on all your inflammatory genes.
It is very easy to look at the world around us and see only the sickness, death and lack. If that is what you see and focus on, of course you will be afraid! Fear will steal your joy and all of God's blessings. ...
Have you ever had something just come out of nowhere that was so surprising that it sucked the breath right out of you? An unexpected storm of life that came upon you suddenly and threatened great damage, violence or even death? Your spouse said they want a divorce and you thought everything was good. Your doctor tells you that you have cancer and you just thought you had a cold. You lost your job right after buying a new house.
Talk about stress! These situations (and I’d venture to say we’ve all had at least a couple) are pressure-filled moments that truly test your faith in God and his word. You might be tempted to think, “this one is going to kill me” or “there is no way out of this one."
Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus understands this temptation…”He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin...
“Close before you doze!”
Have you heard this fun little expression about closing your bedroom door before going to sleep for safety reasons in the event of a house fire?
Well, I want to suggest to you today that you need to close some other doors in your life for spiritual and mental health reasons too.
Satan and his evil helpers have absolutely no power to destroy your life unless they can find an open door into your mind. Oh, they can bring about trouble in your life, but they can’t win unless you give them entrance into your life.
Jesus told us “In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;” (John 16:33 AMPC) I call that pressure. Some call it stress. It’s the pressure to allow that junk inside your mind and heart. If you let it in, you have anxiety, fear, unrest, and depression.
If you don’t let it in, if you push back, you can keep toxic thinking out. You can keep thinking that goes against what...
“The devil made me do it!”
This common phrase became popular by comedian Flip Wilson and his character Geraldine who says, “The devil made me buy this dress!” She didn’t want to do it but the devil told her how good she’d look in it. Well, it might be a funny story but in light of the spiritual warfare conversation we’ve been having in the last few blogs, how much of a concern is this for us?
Stressbusting is spiritual warfare. Does this mean we look for the devil and all his demons behind every stress that happens in our life? Well, ultimately yes, the devil and people’s cooperation with him is behind everything that is wrong in this world. But in the day to day moments of the trial, troubles and problems that we face, is satan right there making it happen?
In many cases, he doesn’t need to be. Your flesh and other people’s flesh is doing it all on their own!
First of all,...
What do you think would have been the most stressful time in history to live?
Is it now with the political dramas and threats of war, the frantic pace so many people live at, and the technology that we are constantly tied to?
Would it have been during one of the World Wars when it looked like the whole world was going to kill itself? Or perhaps in the Dark Ages when there seemed like no hope and plagues ran through the town?
Have you ever considered what the stress must have been like at the time that Jesus entered the world as a baby?
Well, Jesus came to earth in a time that looked very much like our time looks...but it was actually much worse. Before Jesus came and brought salvation and the Holy Spirit, only kings and prophets had the Holy Spirit. It was a time of such darkness that we can’t understand it today. Satan was definitely the god of this world. The occultic paganism of the hour was running rampant. Spiritual oppression was so thick you could cut it with a...
Your view of stress-busting must begin with the basic foundational truth that Jesus already defeated the devil’s power in your life at the cross. The battle was won and the victory was complete. There is nothing more you can add to what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
In Colossians 2:15 we are given a vivid picture of what actually happened.
“[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against
us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing
over them in Him and in it [the cross].” AMPC
“And then having drawn the sting of all the powers ranged against us,
he exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in his final
glorious triumphant act!” Phillips
“He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority
at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.” MSG
The Greek word used for “spoiled” the enemy used in other translations is shown here as disarmed and ...
“I'm here, Satan," he said. "I can't see you, and maybe you can move faster than I can, but I'm still here, and by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit I intend to be a thorn in your side until one of us has had enough!”― Frank E. Peretti, This Present Darkness
I remember when I read This Present Darkness. It’s a captivating book. It opened my eyes up to what was happening in the spiritual realm.
I didn’t know too much about demonic activity. I hadn’t been exposed to many teachings on it or any overt operation of the devil in people’s lives. I didn’t know any person that I could tell was demon-possessed or see any casting out of demons at church.
In fact, in most places in America, we are shielded from such things. I’ve heard stories of missionaries in other countries that have seen people shapeshift and turn into snakes and werewolves. Way out there things!
But for...
In the 1920s, Hans Selye noticed that no matter what his patients were in the hospital for they all seemed to be under physical stress. He determined that this stress was coming from irregularities in the body’s function.
Others said, well, what about psychological stress such as the loss of a loved one, frustration, tending to an ill child, or work problems? And it was agreed that those circumstances could also bring on this non-specific phenomenon called stress and the very real physical reactions associated with it.
Well, if stress is a real thing then shouldn’t everyone react the same way when a stressor is present in their life? Some people are stressed by a roller coaster and others are not. Some are stressed by the idea of jumping out of an airplane and others love it. And so the study of stress was born!
Although we all have different reactions to various stressors in life, there are some things we all have in common when feeling stressed.
The recipe for stress...
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