Christian Recovery

This is the 2nd chapter of my book ‘CHRISTIAN RECOVERY, GIVE US THIS DAY’

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
(Psalm 23: 4)

call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honour me.
(Psalm 50: 15)

Anxiety, stress and worry are linked with a common bond we all know as irrational Fear.  We often deny our fears by judging others. Pointing the finger prevents us from speaking up about our innermost thoughts. We condemn or praise in order to slip away undetected. I could lay in the gutter and still point the finger.

“You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgment do the same things.  Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.  So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance”? (Romans 2: 1-4)

Many of us experience fear in every day of our lives and to cope we hang onto varying schemes to deal with this difficult emotion. All systems fail nevertheless, so we carry on developing our personalities around a pretentious stance while attempting to struggle up the stream of our hardened lives. We battle on regardless believing wholeheartedly that we have become strong in our devotion to facing our fears, rather than disposing of them by using the redemptive spiritual God given methods from the Bible.  Being so convinced of ourselves, we could pass a lie detector test when asked “how are you”?  Fine!

For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
(1 Corinthians 11: 28-32)

Many of us believe we experience fear as a unique concept, making the outcome personal to each of us. We isolate trying to think of a way out. It is a lonely, indescribable place.  Fear becomes our own personal concept. Searching for an individual solution to solve our very own personal problems enhances the fear itself leaving us in an insulated position. We yell ‘you’ll never understand’ and when we meet people that we believe do understand, it isn’t long before we find disagreement with them too. We keep people away from us and justify our distorted reasons in doing so.

Many of us search through the labyrinth of spiritual books to find a solution that is so simple, that we make difficult. There are shelves full of such books, but fear breeds confusion and elaborates on our ‘special case’, ‘individual needs’ and ‘personal story’. We focus on our story when all along we should be focusing on His story – the story of Jesus.  It is what He had done and not what we are doing that can guide us toward more peaceable lives. 

The energy from God is the same as it was back then when Jesus walked the earth. The same Jesus yesterday, today and forevermore. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are a constant same regularity that can never change. The same therefore must be said for the bad energy that we know as irrational fear. Fear is the same today, yesterday, and from time immemorial.  Even before you were born the fear energy was around simply waiting for us to arrive, to use as vessels to carry its burdensome weight around until the next person comes along.  Fear is an ever-flowing constant external source of power that holds frequency that keeps going with or without us keeping up its appearance.

We are not individuals regarding fear, the energy in all of us is identical. Fear is the same energy source that began in the Garden of Eden all those years ago delivered by a talking snake.

When wrapped in fear, we are in a common energy that tells us it’s uncommon and unique. Fear has an innate ability to fake individual mutation depending on each specific situation, making you believe that only you alone can feel this way. We are led to believe that the fear in you is different from the fear in me, when it isn’t. The fear energy is a constant source in whoever it resides.

The cause of fear may come from varying situations yes, but the energy source is the same and cannot be different. Fear is like electricity; it is the same regardless of whenever and wherever! The fear energy in you is the same energy that flowed through me many years ago. We are inseparably twinned by the fear energy that had settled within us, that came from without.

I gave my fear to God via prayer, the Bible and many discussions with Christians who share a universal loving energy (The Holy Spirit) that can deal with such fears far easier than I ever could. The expansive fear that heated up in my head like a burning match was snuffed out by the simple embrace of Gods hand, which was delivered through Christian prayer. The scars that are left over from the burn are still there, and God tells me to show them to others who still suffer, but with a smile and with the same hands-on embrace that God gave me.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3: 17)

To counterbalance fear, we must recognize the energy force that drives fear, a devilish energy that is universally the same in you as it was in me, that there are no individual fear factors at all. Your problem alas is my problem, the same energy source, so we can share in the delight of conquering our fear together in harmony with Gods love. Jesus said that with a little faith we can move mountains. To be sure, the mountain of fear that is in you, at this moment, will be gone in that moment once you grasp the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which are both in the Bible and faithfully flow out from the mouths of mature Christians. Many of us could stop our obsession, but we could not stay stopped.  For that we need divine intervention, we need the Love of Jesus. To begin our spiritual journey, the smallest amount of faith will be more than enough.

Jesus replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Mathew 17: 20)

Very few of us set out our day to harm ourselves or others, and yet by the end of each day we are right bang in the middle of our sickness.  We soon become abusive in one way or another. We fail to complete a single day without fear hindering us at some point. Subtle fear glossed over with pride, or fear dressed up as determination rehashing the same old sentence every morning ‘I won’t do that again’ over and over until it becomes easier to drink, drug, gamble or whatever it is we do, just to stop the repetitive and dogged madness from raging in our heads.  Why on earth do we do so much damage to ourselves and have little control over what we do?  We are so determined to do the right thing, but on impulse we are flung once again into disarray.

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my addictive nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)

Anxiety and worry dispel the idea of having ‘one day at a time’ based on our spiritual condition.  Remember – Jesus tells us in His prayer;

“Give us this day our daily bread”. (Mathew 6: 11)

We must allow the seed to be planted in us first and accept that growth can take place from God directly into our hearts. Saint Paul tells us;

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow”.(1Corinthians3: 6-7)

Seed equals word. Once we get the idea of God through Jesus, we can only then allow the sprinkling and eventual saturation of the Truth via Biblical words that come from God, to enter into our hearts and minds.  What seemed to be a labyrinth of unapproachable Biblical pages finally become settled on our laps in an orderly fashion.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
(John 14: 27)

God’s love can be brought on by pain and fear, which becomes our best advocate.  We sense that He knows our defects and sins, but we still need to tell Him, to speak out.  God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden “where are you”, and Adam had to answer where he was and what he was doing.  God knew where he was, but Adam had to speak up, to admit.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3: 8-10)

Fear and shame took over, so Adam hid, taking an escape route that many of us have taken after feeling naked and exposed.

 Having said this, speaking out comes in time. To begin, we must find the courage to take on the idea of wanting change. We’ve had enough. We come to realize early in our recovery that simply wanting change through fear is enough for the time being, and if we follow spiritual suggestions, He will do the rest.  We are like the thief who was crucified next to Jesus. He is often known as the ‘penitent thief’, ‘the good thief’ or ‘wise thief’. He is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke’s account of the Gospel. Jesus told him that he will be in heaven with Him before the days out due to his immediate ask for redemption.

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23: 42-43)

Perhaps it is unfair to compare our lives with a thief, but we must admit that the illness within us stole everything from us. It was like we had our own personal thief within that was killing us off slowly. Having a ‘wise thief’ or a ‘repentant thief’ we are much better placed and seeing that deliverance is straight off the bat once repentance is within the grasp of Jesus. Once you are in ear shot, you have a chance. God’s listening is vast and universal, you speak and He will listen. You surrender He releases. You fall down, He picks you up.

Having noted this, through our experience we can see that the doctor, on the other hand, offers a softer option, and therefore ultimately fails to confront truth. Many of us take a scientific rout that simply overshadows the fear within. What is being nullified under science is both the fear energy that resides in you, and your own energy, which is the natural you. The doctor connects the patient and the fear as one personality, when Jesus details two persons that can be separated.  The fear and the person are separate individual energies. Your fear therefore, leaves you!  Like a burglar that has invaded your home, fear has invaded your head.

For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” (Mark 5: 8)

It is clear that Jesus is ordering the spirit to depart from the man. He says “Come out of this man” (person 1), “you impure spirit” (person 2).  They are separable. For the person to survive the bad spirit must therefore leave that person, that individual, that YOU.  We must see this as a primary factor that you and the fear are not the same entity. The fear is attached but can be unattached by God.

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.  And when the demon (person1)was driven out, the man (person2)who had been mute spoke.
(Matthew 9: 32-33)

Jesus rebuked the demon (person1),and it came out of the boy (person2), and he was healed at that moment. (Matthew 17: 18)

Again, on two occasions, Jesus drives out the demon (1) from the person (2). Two energies colliding within one person. Once the bad spirit is cast out, the person is only then free.  In the Gospel of Luke we are told.

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people.  They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God!”

“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon  threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. (Luke 4: 31-37)

Once again we see the demon (1) come out of the man (2) and that all the people were amazed. Many of us at church are still amazed when we witness someone change from a dishevelled wreck of a person that was full of fear, to a brighter shining light full of Jesus. Some have been barely recognizable after the fear energy has been removed, the change is remarkable. They often look much younger, taller because they are less hunched with broader smiles and a freedom that is unparalleled to their previous personas. Jesus makes this happen.

The doctor on the other hand offers a diagnosis to the patient, which combines the fear and person as one energy. Keep the fear annulled, which also annuls the patient.  With Jesus there are clearly two persons involved, or two energies if you like. Jesus only attacks the bad energy within, which allows the person to be free and grow.  The first energy is you, and the second is the serpent that resides in you. Jesus kills off the serpent and lets you go free.

Once we see that the fear energy is a separate energy from us, and we ask Jesus to remove it via redemption, prayer and talks with other Christians the results inevitably are positive. We become free and are often amazed and full of surprises.

On most accounts it is through people that we first encounter God. Once settled we read and listen to those old words long written down – the Bible. Jesus will guide you toward a freer, healthier and more peaceable life by displacing your old fearful self and by bringing in the new faithful self.  He will, through your searching of His word, introduce you to a new and refreshed life. We must continually allow God to remove our self-styled barricade to let His love in. We must allow the crevice in our ego to be got at, which is not easy.  If we stand still long enough, He will shoot the spiritual arrow that will hit us right in the heart.  Old ideas must go and a new Godly narrative must enter into our hearts and minds. We must always remember too, that worry creates fear, an energy that must be overcome or we remain condemned.

Whether you’re guilty or not, during the process of completing the 6 Step programme set out in this book, being asked to speak about your own history will cause anxiety. We found it easy to point the finger at others but fell by the wayside when we thought we were being looked at ourselves. When Jesus looks at you however, through the eyes of Christians, the fear will disappear and be replaced with love. This can happen quickly or slowly, but it will happen if you remain in the company of Christians and surround yourself with His words.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of addiction and death. (Romans 8: 1-2)

Like boxers we turn up wherever fit and ready for the inevitable fight, or so we thought. Fear in one corner and you in the other. The bell rings, like an alarm clock, and off we go shadow boxing our inner selves with such gusto, yet we fail to see that we are doing nothing more than punching the air, and we eventually deflate all of our own accord.  We slowly kill ourselves off with one blow after another, because we judge ourselves in comparison to what the world has offered us and yet we still feel that we missed out on something, whatever that something is changes in varying guises making us unsure of what we really want.

Moving forward will be determined by our battled hardened self. We are ready to take on anyone and anything. To confirm ourselves we have a few friends who say “you go girl/boy” and share with us a camaraderie that is filled with unconvincing smiles that suit us perfectly. Not having to dig deep into our inner souls to find that concealed truthful gem that must be revealed or else, will have to do for now. The gem we have inside us is a particular resentment that we have held onto for years.  Superficial talk about our hair, clothes and all external ‘stuff’ will suffice. The need to look further into our souls may awaken the Kraken monster that sleeps deep within us all. We must not disturb the resentful gem that is by now covered over with all kinds of disturbed memories. We are momentarily enthused to cope by doing, or at least talking up, some moral deed that will show others how good we can be. We often throw 5 bucks in the charity box in full view of others to enhance our tragic self. When others think we are ok, then that’s ok with us.

The time has come to admit complete defeat, or so we believed. After brief moments of realization, some of us pay for the surgery couch and hope that psycho-professional can overcome what we feel is our losers reach.  We fail to see that we cannot buy the Spirit of Truth with money, or any kind of payment from insurance companies or financial groups who pay the rehab bill. Having listened to the words of a professional, many of us find it difficult to admit that the Kraken deep within us is still sleeping on the gem, or defined words if you want, that will release us from our turmoil. We have a deep pain that can only be excavated by God, and no amount of digging with an intellectual shovel will suffice.

Finding it difficult to complain to our professional friends (because the psychiatrist knows more than we do right) we leave after saying “thanks I feel so much better”. There is little room for buyer’s remorse. The words that the psychologist gave us have already slipped through the gaps in our shopping trolley and have disappeared into thin air, and we know it, yet we feel entrapped to say anything at all, other than ‘thanks’ of course.  We paid the money or at least spent our time with a professional, we have a receipt so it must work right!

“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”  Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!  You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.  Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.  For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” (Acts 8: 18-23)

We can deal with our anxieties by brushing them under the ego rug too.  We seldom think it through and make the best possible decision we can under such unsteady circumstances.  Much of the time we smother anxiety under the kind-hearted softening blanket of modern medicine. Doctors take ownership and we learn to tame the messy mindful bog that is in us like a cowboy would a wild horse. We ride on the back of our new ways of thinking, and the results are inevitable, self-will running riot and we think we are in control, until we realize we are not. After a few ½ hour visits to the psychologist, we can look down upon those people whom we used to be like, which means more judgement of a more sobering kind, for the moment anyway.  We convince ourselves that we are talking it through with professionals and friends, yet underneath we are soon feeling isolated and alone – again. We release a certain amount of shame, but the gem of what really happened, we keep all to ourselves. On approaching middle-age we depend on one left-over friend and one more professional who will listen to our ramblings, and we chat endlessly in hope that they too will see how we have overcome our struggles. New psycho-professional or spiritual books align our shelves. They become our puppeteers, pulling our strings making us move this way or that to the rhythm of their limited words. Sociopaths and the “spiritual but not religious” camp can also destroy us with their cleverness, intimidation, subtleties and all controlling behaviour. How on earth do we overcome such obstacles?  The truth is, we don’t need to do, simply attend church, read Scripture and spend time with Christians and all the rest will fall.

Fear is a constant companion to many millions of people who are just like you. Certainly every addicted, selfish, over-bearing, anxious and depressed person we know indulges in fear. Some without knowing that fear is the energy source that they live by, keeping us locked up in our physical homes from bedsits to mansions. Through our minds eye we view all the ills and histories we have afforded ourselves, and we react constantly. We failed yesterday and much of today, but with clenched white knuckled fists we are so damn sure we will conquer tomorrow. Any past success we have is polished over and over like a trophy on the shelf reminding us how clever we are.

Eventually we develop an eagerness to defeat our fears, which boomerangs on us and breaks through every weak psycho babbling boundary we put in place. Rather like an evil presence taking on a course of its own passing through our solid steel egotistical minds rendering us powerless, and there is nothing we can do about it. Fear slips and slides into our minds like the Genesis serpent creeping up on us with the sole purpose of whispering sweet nothings in our ear, just like the serpent did with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3: 1-5)

Our own knowledge will suffice, so we believe. We can go it alone without the need for a loving God, which is solely where fear resides.

The serpent approached Eve while she was alone, therefore focusses on the individual. It is you, that fear challenges. Fear cannot cope with we as a group of people who are searching for spiritual recovery, or who have found Jesus. To counterbalance these attacks Jesus says “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18: 20). Jesus brings us together, but the fear energy tears us apart.

While saturated in fear many of us hide ourselves where-ever we can. We often walk along hunched over, looking down at the pavement while we rattle around deep inside our own skulls thinking only of ourselves. It becomes impossible for us to think of anything else with positive overtones.

Fear takes away our ability to be in the moment, which in turn prevents us from offering care and love to family, friends and those around us. We are too busy thinking about our hard done by history to even take a glance at supposed loved ones. Fear prevents love, and by its very nature it keeps us in touch with our self-centered hindered past, which dresses our tomorrows as futile. If we fail to deal with our past, how on earth can we face today, let alone tomorrow? Fear avoids the moment at all costs. The true inherent danger of fear is its ability to play with our emotions and challenge our perceptions of what needs to be done NOW.

With only a little faith we can still conquer fear, and nothing else can quite match the words of the Bible to change our character into His; to take on and defeat our trepidations.

Jacob battled through the night with God and was renamed Isreal in the morning. Names were very much a part of a person’s character, and having a name change was the evidence that a change of character would be sought, from the self to God.

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”  But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. (Genisis 32: 24-29)

Selwyn Hughes in his book ‘Every Day with Jesus’ explains;

‘Not all fears are harmful. When fear is spelled with a small ‘f’ it can have useful, biological ends. It makes the frightened deer alert with fleet of foot; it makes the surgeon skilful, for he sees the dangers that beset him if he does the wrong thing. Fear harnessed to constructive ends may be constructive. When we use fear and control it then it is good. But when fear uses and controls us, it is bad’. (P853)

To be sure, for those of us who fail to recognise the need to have the Bible as the primary narrative in our lives, take a look at some of the online solutions that attempt to help people conquer fear. Professional counsellors selling good ideas on how to combat anxiety and stress. A woman who had a fear of heights was told to walk a rope bridge that stretched across a canyon, being held tight by an expert she managed just about ok. A gentleman was asked to sit on the edge of a tall building while all harnessed up, which is still quite daunting for someone scared of heights.  Having paid their money, they probably ended their day with many more grey hairs and trembling legs. I am sure that they felt proud of their achievements and no doubt returned home elated, and probably very tired. Exhilarated is the word I would use here, which is not conquering irrational fear at all. Would either of these two run across that rope bridge or have lunch sat on the edge of a tall building, I doubt that very much. Paying a psychotherapist to challenge our rational fears seems rather odd, although paying money helps us conclude a positive outcome. They paid however, for an adventure where their fear remained intact. They have certainly not conquered anything at all. I would suggest, if you’re scared of heights, keep away from the edge of tall buildings!

The fear I am referring to here is not rational, but irrational, has no need for heights, board a plane, or to practice any kind of adventurous jay walking. The fear this book refers to is an illogical type where rationality is hoped for. We would do anything for a peaceful day. A doctor prescribed tablets to a friend of mine who refused to attend church with me, and after consuming a tablet or two, she managed to leave the house and go shopping for an hour or two. These prescribed tablets are the real opium for the anxious, in a very true sense. We manage under the delusional state of modern medicine. The professional diagnosis suggests what you must take, and that’s the end of it, you are nullified into a stupor.  Jesus is the powerful alternative that works, only my friend wasn’t to know this at the time. To her it all seemed a little flighty, namby-pamby, weak, silly, and lacked energy and direction. How could a person free themselves up with just a Bible narrative and a church? She failed to see the answer. How could anyone out argue a doctor who has the keys to the surgery, the credible e-mail address, a receptionist who works in a large very visible clinic that holds weight within the community. In one group that I knew, two of them are now dead because their obsessions to drugs and alcohol remained lurking in the background of their thinking. For many years they never really found freedom from their dilemma, and yet they argued their ‘fine’ debate right up until the end. Andy, I knew for many years; we played in different blues bands back in the day. We hung out in the same pubs and we could both see our addictive demise taking shape. Andy died in his flat due to alcohol consumption.  Tom, who I knew for 10 years, died from a heroin overdose in a supermarket carpark.  Follow me I asked them both, and neither did. The Jesus in me was obviously not clearly visible, when I was sure He was? The Scripture in Acts 19 comes to mind as I write.

One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you”? (Acts 19: 15)

Separate energies.

To highlight the two-energy factor, we must ask ourselves, how far did we take our dilemma? Was it simply us, our own ego that did all this damage when many times we woke up and swore off of any drug, gambling or alcohol that was destroying us. Never again we said and that very night there we were tapping a coin on the bar while smiling our way to a drink, or once again phoning our drug dealer or swaggering our way into the bookies. Is it possible that there is an energy that renders us out of control? An external energy – a devilish energy that destroys us from within, but is an external force that is separate from us but visits us when and where-ever it wishes.

This being the case, breaking away from the impure spirit can be quite painful. The last thing we need is a doctor to throw cushions to the floor every time we fall, making us land on a softer place, which unfortunately keeps us in an ever-lasting roller coaster ride of emotional softer options. The pills dampen our inner thoughts preventing a true and loving wellness to evolve that can only be found through God. All our fears can be dealt with by Jesus. We must counteract fear with love, and Gods love at that. The Bible tells us that you cannot fully love with all its freedoms and fear people, places or things at the same time.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4: 18)

God’s love is perfect love that drives out fear. To be sure, all of our fears are worldly fears that have something to do with human commodities, like food, alcohol, prescribed or unprescribed drugs, the way we look to others, how we feel about ourselves, a disgruntled boss who niggles at us, not having enough money or indulging in too much worldly stuff. Under such heavy burdens we can drive out our own families too, who we detest at times, all due to the fear that is inside our minds.

We must repeat and confirm that the fear in you is the same as the fear energy that was in me. My fear has gone now and my hopes and prayers are that the fear in you will be gone too. Taking on the 6 Step program as outlined in this book will be a great start. The Bible has provided us with an ample supply of Scripture to help us along. To be sure, the Bible provides us with a vast supply of sacred spiritual terms about fear and how to overcome such a monstrous state of mind.  With God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and the Christian faith all things are possible.  Be assured, the Bible will strengthen your spirit, encourage your soul and allow you to walk on in freedom! You will experience everything differently, and with the vast distances out there that are available to you, all that limitlessness starts from within you…today. Complete the steps as set out in this book and you will be free from the fear that has haunted you for what feels like an eternity. Let God in and He will do the rest.

Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.  That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest, as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them.

In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isaiah 28: 1-6)

The Psalms and Scripture in the book are not simply good poetry, let’s not full into that trap. All quotes are the truth coming from the book of life itself, which is The Bible.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
(Psalm 19: 7-9)

Within all the chaos this world offers us we have found a loving energy in Jesus that we can rely on.  Once we have a little confidence that God is utterly reliable, we will see that He can deliver us from our incapacitating anxiety, worry and fear. To continue on in our overwhelmed state by relying on any substance reflects poorly on Jesus, now that you know, you can move on.

Prayer can sometimes feel like we are in a rehearsal for a new life, with all kinds of emotions travelling through our minds. Other times, when the anxiety is strong, fear feels like an emergency where we don’t have time to rehearse. We feel like, ‘what we need we must have now’.  My favourite Bible study website ‘The Bible Hub tells us;

‘An anxious mind is rarely idle; it repeatedly returns to the same threats. Scripture calls you to a different steadiness: a mind that keeps returning to God. This is not mindlessness; it is disciplined attention.

One practical way to do this is to replace “what if” fear thoughts with “even if” faith thoughts: even if things don’t go as I want, God will still be God, and He will still be with me and for my good.

The Bible will give you a faithful script for the emergency; admit fear without shame, then move from fear to trust’. Amen.

 God bless