How to completely stop feeling anxiety

Do not be anxious or worry about anything, but in all things through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ~The Apostle Paul

What do you usually do when you experience anxiety, or when you worry?  I usually can't stop thinking about whatever worries me.  I can't sleep or concentrate.  I'm distracted by what I fear will happen, or by what's happening that I can't stop.  Is that true for you?  If so, God gives us a way to be free from anxiety and worry.  I know from experience that what I'm about to share is true. 

God commands us not to worry or have anxiety.  This means it's not God's will for us to worry or have anxiety, so much so that we are sinning if we do it.   But don't let that discourage you.  Because God commands us not to worry, we have a choice; we have control over worrying or not worrying.  It's up to us.  So, God commands us not to worry.  But He doesn't stop there.  He tells us what to do instead.  Pray.  Thank Him for what we have.  Ask Him for what we don't have.  Ask Him to take away whatever we have that is harmful to us.  When we do these things, God promises to replace worry and anxiety with a divine and incomprehensible peace.  This is an example of how it has happened for me.

Say I'm worrying about a financial need.  I've been sick and I need money for a specific doctor's bill that I just don't have.  I'm beginning to worry.  So, I pray, first thanking God for the services the doctor provided, and that I'm doing better.  Then I ask God for the specific amount of money I need.  I tell him why I need it (though of course He already knows,) and I tell Him when I need it.  After I've poured out my heart to God, one of three things may happen, resulting in a divine, incomprehensible peace:

1. God provides the money.  Someone feels led by His Spirit to give me the exact amount I need, though I never asked them for it.

2. I no longer feel the need to think about the money, though I can't explain why.  I don't have any money yet.  And I don't know when or if it will come.  But for reasons I can't explain, I feel absolutely no need to think about it anymore.

3. The due date for the bill is three days away, and I still have no money, or any guarantee that I will have money.  Yet I still feel no need to think about the bill.

In all three cases, after praying my heart out, I am no longer distracted by thoughts about the money at all, though I can't explain it.  I'm free from anxiety.  You can also be free.  This is how.

What are you worried about right now?  (Be very specific.)  First, thank God for what you have, for every blessing in your life you can think of, at least two blessings.  Second, tell God exactly what you're worried about and why you're worried about it.  Third, ask him to give you what you lack, and to take away whatever is causing you harm.  Keep asking until you no longer feel distracted by the thoughts at all.  It should feel like a gradual lessening of a need even to pray any more.  Your prayer will fade into thoughts about other things in your life.  You worry will fade away.  This is God's incomprehensible peace.

What is righteousness?

"The Spirit will prove the world wrong...about righteousness...because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer."  The Lord Jesus

We have seen that sin is rejecting Jesus, and that we are wrong to reject him.  We are wrong to reject Jesus because he was and is innocent, perfectly innocent, eternally innocent. He is love incarnate, having died for us while we rejected him.  We rejected the innocent and beautiful God, who is love, who is light, who is spirit and life.

It's like hurting a new born baby's feelings.
Like kicking a puppy or kitten.
If we do things like that, we know we are evil.

God is more innocent than the most innocent kitten, puppy, or baby.  God has never sinned.
Jesus never sinned.  The Spirit never sins.  God is not only good, he is goodness.  And we reject him.  We reject our good Creator and Maker.  We do this with the very breath He gave us to breathe.  We reject righteousness.  God is righteousness.  Jesus is righteousness.  And so are His followers when they follow His Spirit.

If you are a follower of Jesus' Spirit, you are as innocent as He is--when you follow the Spirit.  People see and feel that.  When they reject you, persecute you, hate you, it's like they are rejecting, persecuting, and hating a vulnerable baby, kitten, or puppy.  That's why Jesus said he sends his followers out like sheep among wolves.  We are to be as innocent as doves--we do no harm.  And our harmlessness is our righteousness.  The Spirit proves people wrong about rejecting us, and Jesus in us.

What is sin?

"When the Spirit comes he will prove the world wrong to be wrong about sin, and righteousness, and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me..."

When we think of sin, we think about breaking God's commandments, and this is right.  Yet we may not think about the first and foremost command that supersedes and summarizes every command:

Believe in Jesus.

Before we believed, we disobeyed this command, and thus we sinned the ultimate sin.

Another definition of sin given in scripture is that we don't do the good we know to do.  And what is that good:  to accept Jesus.  Yet another definition of sin in scripture is this:  whatever we do apart from faith.  Faith in scripture is the definition of righteousness, so doubt must be the definition of unrighteousness, or sin.  We keep getting back to the same things:

The good we know to do is to obey God, and God's command is to have faith in Jesus.

But we didn't do that at first.  We rejected Jesus, and thus the mercy and goodness of God.  Here we are, rebels against our Maker and Creator, worthy of the death that comes when a leaf falls from a tree.  Some fallen leaves are green, others are brown, and some are crinkled.  But every fallen leaf is in fact dead--separated from its source of life.  We are dead without our Creator, our source of life.  And that's our fault, because we rejected his offer or reconciliation.  That's what sin is.

Some of you who are reading have repented of rejecting God.  Some of you haven't.  

If you haven't, you can do that right now.  

Admit that you've rejected God.  

Accept God as God.  

Accept His Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.  

How to give them no excuse

If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.  As it is, they have seen, yet they have hated both me and my father.  But this is to fulfill what is written in their law, "They hated me without reason."  John 15:24-25

Why do we fear the supernatural?  Or make light of it's place in our lives as believers?  Even if we  truly believe that miracles were a thing of our Christian past, we at least believe these supernatural things:

1. Jesus is God incarnate, was born of a virgin, died, rose, and ascended.
2. We have the Spirit of God in us, and thus God in us.
3. God hears and answers our prayers when they agree with His will, causing things to happen that would not have happened if we didn't pray.  (In other words, something beyond the natural--something supernatural.)

Every believer, no matter what denomination, believes in prayer at least.  And prayer is asking God to do something that wouldn't happen if we didn't pray.  It's asking God to intervene, which is supernatural.  In other words, the Christian life is a supernatural life simply because we serve the one true God, who is above the natural, not limited by the natural, supernatural.

This is crucial.

The reason it's crucial is because people must see and know that God is in our lives, that Jesus isn't just a religious figure, but that he's actually alive and well--a historical and supernatural fact.  That's what we're telling people--that a man was God and that he rose from the dead.  We're telling them to believe this.  And we're trusting the Spirit in us to convince them--which is a supernatural act.  According to Jesus, if the Spirit doesn't empower us, people won't be convicted.  So we at least believe in two miracles: conviction and answered prayers.

When people experience at least these two things in our lives, we leave them without an excuse.

How We Abide in Christ (and He in us)

"This is my command:  Love each other."  ~The Lord Jesus

I used to wonder how to practically and permanently stay connected to Jesus--how to "abide in him."  I used to also wonder how to allow him to permanently stay connected to me--how he "abides in me."
I wondered this because of his command to the 11, "Abide in me, and I in you."  I understood the vine and branch analogy, but I didn't know how to do it practically.  The Spirit showed me.

First, to "abide in" or stay connected to Jesus, we "keep his command."  That's how we abide in him, or stay connected to him.  That's what he said.  (I'm not claiming new revelation, but insight into an old one, at least for me.  I hope the same for you.)  In other words, I'm learning that when I think something in scripture seems "impractical," it's because I'm not just trusting the simple instruction given in the very scripture I'm reading.  Jesus said it.  "If you keep my commands, you abide in my love."  So, that's how we abide; that's how we're like branches staying connected to the vine.  And the command is really simple and straight forward:  Love each other.  That's it.  Love each other like Jesus loved us.  So the Christian life has two simple commands:

1. Believe in Jesus.
2. Love each other.
(1 John 3:23)

This is how we stay connected to Jesus: believe in him, and love each other.

And this is how he abides in us:  We keep these very words in the forefront of our minds:
Believe in Jesus, and love each other.

By meditating on these words for the purpose of obeying them, we allow Jesus to abide in us.
And by actually obeying them, we abide in Jesus.

This is how we abide in him, and how he abides in us.

Jesus and the Whole Armor of God

"He has no hold over me..." The Lord Jesus, speaking about the prince of this world
"Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  
~The Apostle Paul

Satan had no hold over Jesus whatsoever.  None at all.  Jesus never gave the enemy an opportunity.  He lived in perfect victory.  And He gave us his pattern of perfectly resisting the evil one:  faith in the word of God.

Our faith is our shield, just as Paul teaches us in Ephesians.  Our sword is God's word.  We use our shield and sword the way Jesus did.  This is our shield:  IT IS WRITTEN.  This is our sword:  QUOTING WHAT IS WRITTEN.  When we do this, we secure ourselves in truth, which is the belt of our spiritual armor.  By faith in God's word, we are righteous, which is our breastplate.  Faith in God's word prepares us to preach the gospel of peace, and this preparation is protection for our feet in battle.  Our faith in God's word gives us the assurance of the things we hope for, and this is the helmet of the hope of our salvation.

IT IS WRITTEN.  This is our shield.
WHAT IS WRITTEN:  This is our sword.

By faith in the word of God, we are sanctified by the truth (our belt), righteous to God (our breastplate), at peace with God (our battle shoes), and have the hope of salvation (our helmet.)

When we follow Jesus' example, we are armed with the armor of God.
And Satan has no hold over us.

The Works of Jesus

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to my Father.  John 14:12

What are the works of Jesus, the works he spoke of to the 11 before Judas came to betray him?  Jesus himself answers my question in what he said to the 11 in John 14:11:

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves."

Jesus was responding to Phillip's request for Jesus to "show them the Father."  He told Phillip that there was no need for him to show them the Father because if they had seen Jesus, they had seen the Father.  Jesus wanted Phillip to take Jesus at His word, that he and the father are one.  But if Phillip couldn't take him at his bare word, he could at least believe based on the works of Jesus:

Signs and wonders, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead.

Now we get to it.

Not only are these the works Jesus spoke of, but these are works that we who believe will continue to do by the Spirit until Jesus returns--and even greater works than these, according to Jesus himself.

Now the purpose of these works are the same as Jesus' purpose:  conviction leading to salvation.  Any miraculous work that doesn't prove people have rejected God and lead them to accept Him as God is a false work.  But if people are to be brought to God, it must be by the power of God.

We have the power of God.  We have the Spirit of Christ in us.  By the power of God and the Spirit of Christ, we will do the works of Jesus until he comes.

I saw the Spirit do this.

"When the Spirit comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment."~The Lord Jesus

I saw the Spirit do this.  It was him, and only him.  Because only he can prove someone wrong about  sin, about righteousness, and about judgment.  Have you ever tried to prove someone wrong about anything?  How successful were you?

But the Spirit can do it without any help from you and me at all.  Again, I just saw him do it.

Someone spoke to me rudely.  I was angry.  I prayed that the Spirit would prove the person wrong in how she talked to me.  I waited.  I didn't confront her because I've tried before and it never works.  It only leads to arguments.  It only makes things worse.  So I waited.  And sure enough, she came to me and asked me to forgive her for how she talked to me.  I forgave her.  The Spirit did this.

I'll take something back.  I have confronted her before and it worked.  But again, it was because the Spirit gave me the words to say, and when to say them.  If I don't trust the Spirit to convict her through me, it leads to arguments.  But if I trust the Spirit, an apology comes easily.

What about you?  Is there someone in your life that did you wrong?  Pray that the Spirit convicts him or her.  Then wait.  Or go to the person if the Spirit gives you the opportunity, or tells you to take the opportunity.  (You'll know if the Spirit is leading it.  If you don't know, then he's not.)  Or wait for the person to come to you and bring up the situation.  Whether you let the Spirit do it for you or through you, it has to be him.  And he'll do it.  I saw the Spirit do this.  It was him and only him.

Glory to God.

When will judgment day be?

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  
John 12:31 NASB

We've been waiting 2000 years for the end of this world, not realizing it already happened.  At least I didn't realize it until I read Jesus' words recorded in John 12:31.  I didn't realize that Jesus' death was the judgment of this world.  I didn't realize that Satan was cast out by the crucifixion of Christ.  Now I know.  Now you do too.

But what does it mean?  By the Spirit in me (and in you who believe in Christ,) I believe it means that Jesus' death was the death of the old world, the world of Adam's descendants, the world ruled by Satan.  I believe when Jesus died, he took all of us with him, and in doing so, he freed us from slavery.  After all, when a slave dies, he or she is free.  The master can't command and whip a corpse.  And if the corpse rises, then there will be hell to pay for the former master!  The slave literally has nothing to lose, having died once and for all.  Having risen from the dead, eternal and immortal!  I believe that's what happened when Jesus, the last Adam, the second man, died and rose again.  He cast out Satan as the ruler of this world.  The day Jesus died was judgement day.

We live in a condemned world.  Like when a building is condemned, the landlord is powerless to charge rent, or even have tenants for that matter.  But there may be squatters, and they may be intimidated by the former landlord, if he's intimidating and powerful.  Yet he has not authority.  And they are free to leave, if they choose to live in a new building, owned by a new landlord.  If not, they will go down with the building and the landlord.

I believe that's how it is now.  The world has already been judged.  The ruler of this world has already been cast out.  Judgment day has already happened.

The one thing Christians must do

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am my servant also will be.  My father will honor the one who serves me.  John 12:26 NIV

Jesus gave one command to his disciples when he began his ministry:  Follow me.  That was it.  They were to go where he led them to go.  They were to go wherever he went.  He led.  They followed.  That made them his disciples.  They didn't vote on where they would go or what they would do.  They didn't determine their destination.  Sometimes they just went with him and listened to him preach and teach.  Sometimes they just went with him and watched him heal and cast out demons.  Later in Jesus' ministry he gave them authority to preach, heal, and cast out demons.  But first, he called them to simply be with him.  You and I who believe in him have the same calling:

Follow the Spirit of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul said, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God."  He also said, "Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh...If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."  The Spirit of Christ gives us the same command he gave the first disciples, "Follow me."  That's it.  We are his servants.  And as it is written, "Whoever serves me must follow me."  Paul said, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slave, whom you obey?"

Are you a servant and slave of Jesus?  If you want to be, it's simple.  Present yourself to him as his servant and slave. Then know that to be his servant and slave, you must follow him.  Wherever he goes, you must go, no matter the consequence.  And God the Father will honor you as a servant of Christ, as a true disciple.  True disciples and servants of Christ follow his Spirit wherever his Spirit leads.  Wherever the Spirit is, they also will be.  The Father honors those who serve Jesus by following His Spirit.