Leadership Ministries Worldwide

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Anxiety

Peace Comes Through Prayer

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Peace Comes Through Prayer

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."   Philippians 4:6-7

Once we have made peace with God, how do we maintain that peace? How do we keep the peace of God ruling and reigning within our souls?  Peace comes through prayer.

We are to walk in God—live, move, and have our being in Him—and we do this by prayer. We live and move in God through prayer. We pray “in everything”—all day long as we walk and move about our daily affairs. We are to pray about everything no matter how small and insignificant it may seem. God is interested in the details of our lives, in the most minute details. He wants us acknowledging Him in all our ways or steps because He wants to care and look after every single step.

Now picture the scene: we are walking throughout the day, and God is taking care of every step of the way. What then can take the peace of God away from us? Absolutely nothing! For as we walk in prayer and fellowship with God, God is infusing us with His presence and peace. No matter the conflict or trial, we are continuing to share with God and God is continuing to infuse us with His peace. Through prayer He is giving us the peace to conquer and walk through the trial. Our relationship with God and His peace is unbroken.

Study Questions:

  • When anxiety arises, is your first instinct to pray?
  • How can you begin to pray “in everything” throughout your day?

 

He Cares About Your Anxiety

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He Cares About Your Anxiety

"...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."   1 Peter 5:7

God cares for us. He cares about all of our anxiety. Think back to the believers of Peter’s day—they were suffering terrible persecution. They had been forced to flee for their lives, leaving everything behind: homes, jobs, and possessions. They had only what they could carry by hand, and they fled to whatever places they felt were safe. They were, so to speak, an underground people, having to live, wherever they could. They never knew when they would be discovered and forced to flee again.

The point is this: imagine the anxiety, the pressure, tension, and stress being experienced by the believers. Yet there was great help: God was available to help them. Note that the exhortation is not only clearly stated; it is a command: “cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” God’s mighty hand will…

  • Save and deliver you
  • Look after and care for you
  • Strengthen and secure you
  • Provide and protect you
  • Give you assurance and confidence

Study Questions:

  • What anxiety are you feeling that you need to cast towards God?
  • What does it look like for you to cast your anxiety on God?
  • Do you believe God cares for you?
  • Do you believe that God’s mighty hand will do all of those things for you?

The Source of Peace

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The Source of Peace

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."   John 14:27

If you are experiencing anxiety, usually that means there is an absence of peace. Peace means to bind together, to join, to weave together. It means that a person is bound, woven, and joined together with them self, with God, and with others.

The Hebrew word is shalom. It means freedom from trouble and much more. It means experiencing the highest good, possessing all the inner good possible. It means wholeness and soundness. There is the peace of the world which is a peace that is sought through pleasure, satisfaction, positive thinking, or denial of problems. That is what leads to anxious thoughts and feelings. There is also the peace of Christ. This includes several kinds:

  1. Bosom peace—a peace deep within. It is a tranquility of mind, composure, a peace that is calm in the face of bad circumstances and situations.
  2. A peace of conquest. It is the peace independent of conditions and environment; the peace which no sorrow, no danger, no experience can take away.
  3. A peace of assurance—the peace of unquestionable confidence; the peace with a sure knowledge that one’s life is in the hands of God.
  4. The peace of intimacy with God. It is the peace of the highest good. It is the peace that settles the mind, strengthens the will, and establishes the heart.

Ultimately, peace is always born out of reconciliation. Its source is found only in the reconciliation wrought by Jesus Christ. Peace always has to do with personal relationships: a person’s relationship to themselves, to God, and to the people around them. A person must be bound, woven, and joined together with themselves, with God, and with others to experience true peace and freedom from anxiety.

Study Questions:

  • How would you define peace?
  • Which kind of peace are you struggling with the most? Which one do you experience the most?
  • What do you need to go before the Lord about and ask for peace over?
  • Is there somebody in your life that you need to reconcile something with?

Download a free PDF of this section in Hebrews from The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible® to continue your study.

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The Great Invitation

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The Great Invitation

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

In our busy and performance based culture today, worry and anxiety are felt by the majority of people to some varying degree. What often times that leads to is extreme weariness and pressure. In Scripture, God offers us two invitations in dealing with this:

  1. Come to Him
  2. Take His yoke and learn from Him

Who is to come? The weary and burdened—the person who is laboring and heavy laden, weary and burdened, exhausted and despairing, extremely tired and weighed down, ready to stop and collapse. Why should they come to him? Christ will give them rest. No matter how intense the struggle and despair or the emptiness and loneliness, Christ will give rest. No person has gone too far for Christ to inject His rest into them—if the person will only call upon Christ.

Why should a person take up the yoke of Christ? Why should a person begin to learn of Christ? Christ is gentle and humble. He cares and looks after us; He is concerned and compassionate knowing how far we can go and how capable we are. He made us; therefore, He has the right yoke for us. By taking Christ’s yoke and learning of him you are learning how to live and labor under His leadership, direction, guidance, and care. He is the only one who can teach and assure true rest (of body, mind, and spirit) and the only yoke that really fits and proves to be easy.

 

Study Questions:

  • What are you dealing with today that is causing extreme weariness and pressure? How have you been dealing with it?
  • What does it look like for you to “come to Him”?
  • Is it hard for you to lay down your anxieties and worries and take up the yoke of Christ?
  • How can you rest in this truth going into the new year?

God’s Promises

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God's Promises

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

God assured His people that He would protect them in the here and now, in the present distress they were experiencing. But a lot of times, we need far more than just a distant, future hope of deliverance. Believers need to know that God will be with them day by day in their present anxious circumstances. God tells us that whether in the present or in the future and in whatever circumstances, we are not to fear. Three reasons are given why righteous believers should not be anxious or afraid.

First, God’s people were not to fear because He Himself would be with them. He would strengthen and help them and uphold them with His right hand—his righteous, victorious hand. Even in the very worst times believers are not to be dismayed or frightened by the oppression of any enemy.

Second, the Lord tells believers that He is “your God” and that He will take “hold of your right hand” He will “help you.” Meditating upon this promise should give enormous encouragement to believers who are facing oppression and anxiety.

Third, God’s people are not to fear because He is their Redeemer. In the present Scripture, the Lord calls Himself the Redeemer, the family protector of His people. As their Redeemer, He promises to help them. As the Holy One, He is distinct, completely set apart from all other creatures by His power, knowledge, and understanding. Thus, He is able to completely fulfill His purpose in the lives of His people despite their anxiety evoking circumstances. As our Redeemer, God will empower us and he will also give us hearts that rejoice and glory in Him.

Study Questions:

  • How can God help you in times of distress?
  • Do you see God as a Redeemer?
  • Give yourself time to meditate on the promises of God. Let it ease the places in your heart where you are feeling anxious.

Counsel on Worry and Anxiety

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Counsel on Worry and Anxiety

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6:25-34

The believer is not to worry about the necessities, about food and drink, about body and clothing. The words “do not worry” mean do not be anxious; do not be overly concerned and caring.

In these verses, Jesus is talking about being preoccupied with the material possessions of life. Many fall into the trap of centering their mind and thoughts on the necessities and luxuries of life. A believer is not to be wrapped up and entangled in the affairs of this world (2 Tim 2:4).

Jesus is talking about being so wrapped up in securing things that we become anxious, disturbed, and sleepless. Being focused upon the things of the world keeps a person from walking in the fullness and enjoyment of life.

He is also talking about being so consumed with getting that we think little of God. Fear of not having enough and spending all of our time trying to get more and more causes disbelief. A person who works to gain more and more security never knows God. He never knows God’s love and care. He never learns that God looks after those who truly trust him.

Lastly, Jesus is talking about being so entangled with the affairs of this earth that we forget eternity. We just forget to take care of our lives and bodies beyond this life.

The charge is clear. We are not to worry. We are to be consumed with God and people, not things. We are to seek God first and serve Him and the people around us first. Then the necessities, and in some cases the luxuries, will be given to us.

Study Questions:

  • Do you tend to become preoccupied with material possessions?
  • What do you find security in?
  • Have you experienced God’s love and care in your life?
  • How can you become more consumed with God and less consumed with worldliness?