Freedom from Anxiety

Anxiety robs us of our peace and joy, spawns other negative emotions and adversely affects our physical health. It is a "killer". God has a tip for us to use to receive freedom from anxiety.

He advises us not to allow anxiety to enter our soul on any level (Philippians 4:6). He shows us the futility of worry by pointing out that anxiety cannot change anything anyway (Matthew 6:27). Then He tells us a secret.

We can avoid these debilitating, negative emotions. The first step is to continually rejoice in the love of the Lord and to realize that He has His best in store for us regardless of our circumstances (Philippians 4:4).

When we realize that the Lord is near to us, even dwelling in our spirit within, we walk in gentleness and peace (Philippians 4:5). We lift up every concern to God in prayer.

In faith, we thank God for dealing with the issue before we ever see the first sign of evidence that He cares about our immediate problem. We lay out our burdens and leave them in His capable hands (1 Peter 5:7).

He gives us the wisdom to know how to deal with the issues of our self, or the courage to leave them for Him to resolve in His way and time. He may just give us grace instead of resolution, the way He did Saul's thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthian 12:9).

When we compare our distress with the weightier matters of life, or the reality of eternity, we may see our anxiety evaporate before our eyes. The magnitude of eternity's reality erases most concerns from our troubled soul (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

God provides for the birds and flowers of the field; and He cares about us so much more, because we are made in His image. As we make His Kingdom our priority, He works out everything else for our good (Matthew 6:25-34; Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, draw us close to You and never let us go. Remind us of Your saving grace throughout our lifetime and build up our faith with this continual evidence of Your goodness and provision for us. Flood our soul with a waterfall of Your love and allow it to vanquish our fears (1 John 4:18).

The fruit of Your Spirit replaces our carnal nature and we find it easier to walk in Your Spirit and to trust in Your goodness rather than to fear the future. Remind us to ignore Satan's lies and our negative self-talk, which pull us away from faith in Your faithfulness. Thank You for giving us Your freedom from anxiety concerning the temporal issues of this life.

Thought for the Day:

Consumed with worry, we cannot enter and remain in God's rest; yet, if we walk in the center of God's will, we abide in the happiest place on earth. - Hebrews 4:10-11

Dreaming Dreams

God used dreams throughout the Biblical accounts of His interaction with mankind (Job 33:15-16; Acts 2:17). He spoke through dreams to kings, prophets and saints of old (Genesis 15:12, 17-18; 28:12, 37:5, 46:2; Daniel 7:1-9; 1 Kings 3:5).

He also used dreams with New Testament characters such as to calm Joseph's fears about marrying Mary and to save Jesus from sure death (Matthew 1:20-21; 2:12-13, 19; Acts 2:17, 16:9-10, 18:9-10). Pilate's wife dreamed that he should not condemn Jesus in spite of the insistence of the Jews (Matthew 27:19).

The Word of God makes it clear that God uses dreams in our life (Joel 2:28-31). He gives us wisdom, insight and guidance to bring a resolution of issues in our life.

In our sleeping state, our soul and spirit are still very active. They are less influenced by our issues, fears and insecurities, which plague us during our waking moments. 

Through dreams, God often reveals to us His character, intentions and lessons that He wants us to learn. 

He will use dreams to give us wisdom on puzzling experiences in our life, peace which transcends human reasoning and direction for some activity He calls us to perform.

Satan and our own soul can inspire dreams as well as God (1 John 4:1). They are often brief and unrealistic (Psalm 126:1; Isaiah 29:8). The interpretation of our dreams will never contradict the Word of God (James 1:5).

Sleep and dreaming restores our soul to equilibrium. If dreams badger us during our sleep, we can ask God to give our soul peace and allow us to enjoy uninterrupted sleep (Psalm 127:2).

As we dream about issues that need resolution, and which we ignore during our waking moments (Ecclesiastes 5:3), God heals our soul. Our spirit sings praises to God as we sleep and we often awaken to our soul singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for giving us such a fail proof and complex brain that works like a computer as we sleep. It categorizes, files and works through issues which need resolution. Once we are Born Again, Your Spirit who abides in our spirit, will influence this series of chemical impulses and the outcome of this activity in our brain.

We would probably explode or self-destruct with the intensity of our anxiety and other negative emotions if You did not give us the ability to work out these issues in our dreams. You are our great and mighty God; and we can never thank You enough for Your vigilant care over each and every one of us in every facet of our waking and sleeping life.

Thought for the Day:

Dreams are tangible and helpful; they are made of memories, concerns, direction, hopes, vision and reality all rolled into one plot with several sub-plots and they influence the story of the rest of our life.

Understanding Our Mind - Part 1

Our Subconscious Mind

God gave us two compartments in our mind: the conscious and the subconscious. We are aware of our conscious thoughts, but the information filed in our subconscious mind comes from a lifetime of thoughts and experiences. Even the briefest encounter in our past is recorded in our subconscious mind.

We react to life in ways, which are prejudiced by the stored memories in our subconscious mind. They even affect our body’s health and our soul’s well-being. The visual information and emotional impressions of our past affected us all of our life and continue to influence us today. This is often helpful.

For instance, if I cannot remember whether or not I turned off the stove before I went to work, I can pause and review my behavior, which is stored in my subconscious mind. I can actually visualize or replay my actions to see if I remembered to turn off the stove. The subconscious helps us in so many practical ways. However, unresolved conflicts from our past are also stored in the subconscious.

These memories will not lay dormant, but need resolution and closure. They attempt to gain our attention by inflicting us with physical or mental illnesses, nightmares, binging, sexual deviance, addictions and negative emotions. Paying attention to the thoughts from the subconscious, which filter into our conscious mind, help us to resolve these unsettled issues and restore our health and give us peace of mind ( www.theophostic.com ). 

Pleasant dreams also aid our subconscious mind to uncover the unresolved concerns in our soul. Our soul is attempting to dialogue with our conscious mind through our dreams. Dream interpretation sites online give us the meaning of the symbols in our dream, and God uses these to inform our conscious mind about these unresolved issues.

Prayer:

Father God, You created us as such complex creatures both physically and mentally. Thank You for giving us Your Spirit to bring healing to our body and soul. We are so glad that our Born Again spirit controls the carnal aspects of our body and soul by Your Spirit’s direction. We live a life of serenity and joy because of Your presence in our life. Remind us to pay attention to our dreams, negative emotions and times in which we over-react to situations in life, so that we can come to You to shine Your light on these hidden issues in our subconscious mind and bring healing to our body and soul.

Thought for the Day:

Life has inflicted our soul with injuries since conception, and the pain of these issues continue to control our thoughts, words and deed even now; only God’s Spirit can set us free from the wounds of our past.