Last week, I shared a message entitled “Choosing who you will serve”, describing how you must choose which master you will serve. If you obey the commands of fear, then fear will be your master, but if you choose to obey God, then he will be your Master.
This week, I want to share how you can choose to obey God rather than fear.
Let me start with one of the Ten Commandments: “You must never worship or bow down to [other gods], for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god!” (Exodus 20:5).
For years, you may have bowed down the god of fear. Has irrational fear ever commanded you, “Don’t go there”, and you obey willingly? Has fear every whispered into your ear, This must be a very serious disease. Surely you will die from this. Or how about this one:You’ve done some really bad things. You can’t go to God now. He’s mad at you.
So, where do you start? You start with repentance. Repentance is confessing your obedience to fear as wrong and then choosing to do the right thing. Repentance is action. You must choose to do the right thing and then follow through with action.
“But, I don’t feel very strong,” you may say. “If God will just give me the strength and courage, then I can overcome this fear.” Here’s where the problem lies. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is how you respond while experiencing fear.
More than likely, you will never “feel” strong when it comes to fear. If you did feel strong, then there would be nothing to fear, and this wouldn’t be an issue.
Here’s the key: no matter how you feel, choose to follow God and not the fear. God promises you that if you will make the choice to follow him and trust him with all of your heart, even in the midst of fear, then he will strengthen you.
“The LORD who created you says: ‘Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’” (Isaiah 43:1b-3c).
“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
If you would like to make this choice to follow God instead of fear, pray this prayer:“Father, I have obeyed the voice of fear and it has controlled my life for too long. I want to follow you. I want to obey your voice. Today, I repent for my idolatry–for bowing down to the god of fear. I confess it to you as wrong, and I ask you in Jesus’ name to forgive me for these wrong choices. Lord Jesus, come into my life and give me strength. Today, I choose to obey your voice. I won’t obey my feelings, if they are contrary to what you want. I will step forth in faith, trusting you to take care of me, trusting you to give me strength. No matter what happens, I will trust you, because I know you love me. Father, I ask these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
About Russ
Russ,
First of all I am glad I found your site. Actually I am a member of the Freedom from Fear forum (David Johnson/Claire Weeks program) and a fellow member forwarded one of your blogs to me. The FFF program and forum have been helpful in dealing with/understanding the strong anxiety/attacks that I have experience over the past couple of years (actually further back than that, 10 years+ on medications, etc) since I got off meds. Yet in all this I have felt absolutely abandoned by God throughout most of it. Yes I acknowledge that He is present and will never leave or forsake me, that is what his Word says. But the intensity and at times the pure exhaustion of this stuff leaves you shaken to the core. I finally got to where I could go to church and actually want to be there. I have progressed to the place of deciding to trust as best I can and start connecting with the body of Christ through individual and small group relationships. However, in all honesty, I find it hard to pray or even believe that God is with and for me in the midst of this. I just don’t want to talk to him about it, it is too scary, too painful. I don’t want to be disappointed.
So when I read this blog and the one previous, my heart is awakened in ways, but in other ways, I am afraid of being disappointed with my pursuit of God with this matter. Yep there goes that word. Afraid. As much progress as I have made with FFF (I work, teach, function, etc), my life does not experience the peace and joy that I hear you speak ing of. Instead, I see growing glimpses at a time, but in all of it I have lost that passion and desire for Father God that I used to so easily walk in. I feel abandoned.
So trusting, believing and obeying are hard words for me. Then again, I am sure they are not easy for many believers of all backgrounds and experiences.
I am very tired today, so my anxiety, weariness and yes anger are much closer to the surface today (not much sleep last nite due to strong anxiety symptoms). I am not sure of my own heart during these times and things look and feel worse than normal. But at the same time, when I am honest in both the good and hard times, I am not where I want to be in life with God or myself. I hope as I read more of what you have learned and hear God speaking, that with His grace I can walk in the faith and obedience required to come out on the other side to real joy and peace.
Thanks for the comments, Jay. I appreciate you taking time to share your thoughts and experience. I know how dark those times can be–very lonely, confused and discouraged. It’s in those dark times that God’s light is there. You may not see it, feel it, hear it–He may seem very distant, but he’s there. Through Christ, God is always there. Always.
I want to encourage you that there is hope. You can be free. I really, really believe that. Living free from panic and anxiety is amazing and wonderful. For the longest time, I just accepted that I would have panic and anxiety till the day I die, but then something happened, something changed. I found hope. I found that God doesn’t want us to live our lives in fear, but in peace, in trust and in hope. So, I believed him, and he started working on my heart. It took some time to get all the junk out, but freedom came through Christ.
Russ
Thanks for your encouragement. As with many in this situation, the tendency is to look for formulas. Sadly we christians are good at looking for principles, methods, etc in order to have a “successful life”. I in my journey have searched it all out (counseling, deliverance, medications, you name it) and yes it has included a lot of prayer and tears. You said that somthing happened, something changed inside of you, you found hope. That covers a LOT of territory in a persons heart and life. Encouraging words, but what did/does that look like in the midst of this stuff? Sorry, lots of questions.
You are the very first person I have come across who truly has had God work in his life with this stuff. I am so used to reading what the rest of the world has to say, but haven’t been able to understand how God works this out in my life. The FFF program basically says that recovery occurs when the anxiety symptoms just don’t matter anymore. I am sure that is part of it. But I cannot help believe that it is much deeper than I am understanding. I guess I keep bumping into those words of Jesus who said, “I came to give you life and life more abundantly”. I understand that to be a rich inner life of peace, joy, kindness, love (the fruits of the Spirit), that you are walking in now as a result of your “recovery”. I want to believe that is possible for me also. But like I said just a bit discouraged, and my fatigue today doesn’t help that.
Hi Jay,
I read your post and I want to tell you that I am living the same and have some of the same questions you have, and it is hard some days, yesterday, I was telling the Lord that I have felt abandoned by Him but today I feel in my heart a deep hope in the midle of this battle. I wish I don’t have it but here is where I am right now and I am learning to trust the Lord.
My relationship with God is not what it used to be and I was a frustrated but today I am trusting his love is enough for this time.
Since I am a perfectionist person my anxiety goes up easily, so today at church I decided to leave perfection at the cross and I am learning to live the way I am.
Don’t be discouraged, there is hope, Jesus will save us, eventhough deliverance seems to be far away today (an hour ago I was struggling with anxiety) but He will come.
Omar,
Thank you for sharing your struggles in this journey with anxiety. The hardest part of all of it is the impact it has had on my relationship with the Lord. Or maybe the better way to say it is my “perception” of its impact. It is hard to say. Because on one level it is probably better than I think it is and in other ways, I think that the anxiety is a revealer of where my heart is. So somewhat confusing, because we tend to lean on our feelings vs what is truth as the word of God reveals. Today is one of my “exhaustion days” from lack of sleep last nite. The previous day had been one of my more “normal”(good) days, but last nite after a day full of good activity (work, etc) it hit me pretty strongly (both physically and mentally). Getting to sleep and staying asleep was hard. So when I got up this morning, I chose to move forward with a right attitude, but its feels like I am walking around with a 50 lb wt on my back.
Jay,
I feel the same way when I don’t have a good sleep, those are my worst days, the days I have more anxiety and I struggle in my mind but what I tryed to do is not to lose my focus on God and who He is, there are days that it is so hard to believe God is with me but I go to the bathroom at my work and I start praising God and declaring who He is, I have to fight back the feeling of abandontment with Praises to the Lord.
Something that helps me a lot is to speak about the way I feel and what is causing my anxiety, sometimes God reveals that to me but others I just speak my thoughts and feelings.
Thanks for sharing Omar. Some days it is definitely and act of FAITH to keep praising, to keep looking to God, to keep believing that I will come through this into peace and joy. We are learning the meaning of “taking our thoughts captive”. I realize for me anger and self-pity are not far from me during the very difficult days. I was reminded from your post, that I need to keep praising him and thanking him no matter how difficult or tired I may be.
I am also trying and trying to follow the right path. Then I found something that said OCD. I’m afraid this might be me. But couldn’t I also choose to obey God and not need medicines and doctors. Up to about a month ago I feel I was totally normal-then bam. Everything went into fear. When I choose to obey God, it really does help, but somehow I end up back here or begging God to help me. Sometimes I feel so alone. Peace and Joy and the normal life I had seem so far away. I want them back.
Mary, I know it’s hard. When in the midst of this struggle, I felt like I was taking one step forward, twelve steps back. It was hard, but I kept pressing in and really listening to God, because I found that he has so much to say to us, especially when it comes to freedom and peace. Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). So, I would encourage you to keep pressing in and pressing on. Freedom is possible. I really do believe that.
When you say so I believe you. I’m not sure why. But I will keep pressing on. It is just scary because I never felt like this before. It kind of hit me from left field. I do choose God Russ, as there is no choice there, I just wish the fears would listen and go away. I’ll try to be stronger.
Mary, I have lived most of my life in fear, and today I’m completely free. Fear and panic no longer control my life. I no longer have panic attacks, and I don’t live my life in fear of what might happen. I’m free. And, in God’s eyes, I’m no more special than you. You can be free too. I’m sure of it. You need to find the right tools and let God show you how to get free.
Mary
I completely understand your bewilderment at what has hit you. You feel like you have been blindsided and feel disoriented. But you are in a good place because you have chosen God in the midst of your struggle with fear. It is not an easy path, but I am encouraged by Russ’s testimony and that of others I have read about on this site. Along with the word of God planted in our hearts with prayer we can overcome. A tool that I have found helpful is a “behavioral therapy” program that basically teaches much of what I have read in Russ’s writings as far as how we deal with anxiety (i.e do not fear it). It is called “Freedom from Fear Recovery Program”. It is a program based on Claire Weeks MD, teachings. The URL is http://www.healing-anxiety.com. This program is only a “tool”, as Russ has shared and truly experienced, God is our answer and our hope.
Thanks for the reply Russ and Jay. Today I heard the phrase “count your blessings”. I’ve heard that for a couple weeks now. I think I finally realized like Russ says, listen for God to talk to you, and I believe it is him saying for me to count my blessings. I’ve been obsessing over little things like hand washing. Then it lead to bigger and much more fearful stuff. I gave up all the small stuff and now I’m trying to work on the big stuff. I think God wants me to realize if I can give up the little stuff, the big stuff can go the same way. Say a prayer for me-I’m really trying. As for the tools Russ, any examples? (Jay I am looking over that package you spoke of-but Im afraid it will give me new anxieties).
Mary,
I am not sure what your concerns are concerning the resource I shared with you. All I can say is that the program was developed by a gentleman who suffered for years with panic attacks and agoraphobia. He has counseled and helped many people with anxiety, OCD, etc for many years. The program simply consist of CDs or downloadable teachings, which explain the anxiety condition, the effects of adrenaline and the thoughts associated with anxiety, OCD, etc. The cost is very reasonable as well. This gentleman is not making money doing this. The online forum associated with the program is safe and encouraging, because it is made of persons like yourself who are at different places in their journey to recovery. I have seen people who started the program/forum simply terrified and in deep despair, but now are doing wonderfully in their journey to recovery. The difference for you is that you also have a relationship with a loving heavenly father and the truths of His Word. Whatever you decide, the best place to start is to listen to the Father’s prompting and begin counting your blessings. He will definitely lead you from there.
Thanks Jay. I’m not ruling it out, as when I went on his FAQ, something their already helped me. So thanks for your input, you’ve been very kind. It helps to know you are not alone.