Monday, June 30, 2008

Anxiety replaced by true Fear

Mt 10:19-20 - When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

I think this is probably the clearest example of the power and intimacy of God working through our lives when you might be tempted towards anxiety. God commands us not to be anxious and the reason we are not to be anxious is because the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you. Don’t worry about what you will say because God is in control. The opposite of this though, if they chose to worry, God would not be able to speak through them, because they lack faith and thus are not controlled by the Spirit but are in essence controlling themselves and quenching the Spirit. God is always the answer for anxiety. We are anxious because we are trying to control the situation. Anxiety happens when we realize that we are not in control. Jesus reminds us that He is in control of the situation and thus we need to solely depend on Him. When we do that, we will not be anxious.

Ps 40:3-4 - He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

I like this verse because it is God who puts the song in our mouths, it is He who glorifies Himself through our words when we fear God instead of fear man. When we trust God, others will learn to fear Him as well. It is God who puts the words in our mouths when we commit to fearing Him only and others will learn to fear.