On the right is a list of headings that you will find helpful :
By learning about fear and by reading the word of God, anxiety can lose its grip on you, and you in turn can reach out and help others . This website is full of amazing information. God is bigger than our anxiety.
Jesus said: Come to me all of 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 NIV)
An Anxious Christian?
Many people are under the misapprehension that when Jesus comes into your life, all the problems are at an end. It’s certainly true that God does help us out of many of life’s problems, but many will testify that becoming a Christian is only the beginning of a whole new series of problems. Christians are not immune to anxiety and many Christians suffer from anxiety and need help. This is made worse by the sense of 'this shouldn't be happening to me: how can I have problems as a Christian?', and so people don't seek advice or help. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we get an easy ride in life, if anything, the reverse is true. We still have the same stress that other people may have, and more besides, but there is one thing that we Christians have that non Christians don’t have, and that’s God walking by our side: we have a relationship with Jesus, the comforter, who understands us in every way possible. And he not only understands us - he likes us, and has committed himself to us – I will never ever fail or forsake you’!
There are two sources of problems that the believer has that the unbeliever is free from. The first is that, when someone becomes a Christian, they join an army and takes sides in a huge spiritual conflict. The good news is that we are on the winning side – God’s! The not so good news is that we have a new enemy who really doesn’t like us – satan, the devil. He is out to trip you up wherever he can, but if you are aware of this, and take the appropriate steps, then you can tread him under your feet, where he belongs. The main way that the devil attacks Christians is in their thought life – what goes on in your mind is the battlefield, and we have to learn how to discern where thoughts come from and how to deal with them. For example, God says we are valued sons and daughters, and precious to Him. This is truth. So the devil – who can only speak lies-, drops a thought into our head that we are worthless and of no consequence to God. At this point we have a choice – we can recognize the negative thought for what it is (and knowing the Bible here really helps) and decide to dismiss it, or we can agree with that thought and dwell on it, nurturing it, giving it more and more strength. The choice is do we want to align our thoughts, hence the rest of our lives, with truth, or lies? The key is to recognize these random, stray thoughts for what they are – flaming arrows from the enemy. There are negative thoughts that are true and helpful – for example, if someone said something unkind and wrong, they quite rightly should be thinking that they had sinned, and need to put it right with God and the other person.
The other source of problems that Christians will have if they are growing as they should is that God wants the best for us, and will want us to grow in holiness. This means leaving part of our characters behind – the selfish, lustful, proud, greedy aspects of us all. This is hard and painful, as we usually have to encounter hard times to realise that there is this rubbish lurking inside, and it is hard and painful to turn away from them and ‘put them to death’ in our lives. When we go though a season of God stripping layers away because He wants to remove deep sin, this is referred to as a ‘desert experience’. It is, actually, a normal part of growing with God, and a good sign that God is wanting to work at a deeper level in our lives. Sometimes, desert experiences cause Christians a lot of unnecessary anxiety, as they think something has gone wrong, as life has just got tough and painful.
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