Anxiety

Navigating Hard Times

Anxiety

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.” (Proverbs 12:25 NKJV)

The truth is everyone has anxious thoughts and feelings. It’s what you do with those thoughts and feelings that matter. However most people are not equipped to deal with those thoughts and feelings correctly. If we don’t reject anxiety we actually accept depression. Anxiety must be acknowledged and rejected or there will be a very real downward spiral from anxiety to depression. Whatever we fail to deal with will eventually deal with us. Anxiety becomes depression, anger becomes bitterness and worry becomes fear. If we renew our mind and guard our heart the anxious thoughts or feelings will not have the power to control us and become depression. The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, which means we have power / authority over anxiety in Christ. If you are a believer and you believe and obey you can be free from anxiety and or depression. Some people are healed instantly many go through a process of recovery and the restoration of soul. Either way you can be well in Jesus. When you identify an anxious though acknowledge it, reject it and think faith not fear. Think trust not worry, think forgiveness not anger. Use your mouth to agree with God’s mind and speak and pray out what God has said in his word. If you are unaware of what God has said in his word, start reading your bible and renewing your mind. That will give you the ability to discern between good and evil. When you humble yourself you will find God’s grace will b e there to help you change. Humility leads to victory. You will get stronger in the struggle and you will build history with God. There is nothing more important than having a real relationship with God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the scriptures.

Pursuing Your Vision

Temptation

Superficial Relationships

Promise & Pain

Trust Issues

Glory in the Ghetto

Slapped or Kissed?

Would you rather be slapped or kissed? That is not a trick question. It is a question about what type of relationships do you want? Do you want people who actually care about you? Or do you want people in your life who are seemingly nice but really do not care about you and are only in it for what they can get? We need to ask ourselves, what kind of person are we? Do we genuinely care for others? Or are we just nice to people for the purpose of what we can get from them? Are our compliments genuine and sincere or are they filled with flattery for the purpose of manipulation? Sometimes the people who feel and sound safe are actually not. Sometimes the people who rub us the wrong way are actually better for us than the feel good flatterer who is really lying to us to try to manipulate us. Remember iron sharpens iron but never without friction. We need more friction and less flattery if we want to be sharp and on point.

“Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.” (Psalms 141:5 NKJV)

David is welcoming the correction of the righteous. I would rather be slapped by the righteous than stroked by the self seeking. What about you? Do you want real relationships where people love you enough to be honest with you? Learning to respond to correction is essential for our personal growth. People who can’t hear correction position themselves for deception. Someone who is humble has the ability to hear hard things that others would want to avoid, deny or make excuses about.

“Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:5-6 NKJV)

Open rebuke is more beneficial than a deceitful kiss. It’s better to be slapped or wounded by a friend than kissed by an enemy. We need to have courage to develop relationships where there is enough trust for us to be honest. It’s possible to be honest and honorable. The goal is to be able to slap someone with truth and it feel like kindness to them.