Post by Admin on Jan 16, 2020 7:26:36 GMT
Anxiety: the choking feeling caused by worries, what ifs, imagined threats, versus fear, which is reaction of flight or fight to an actual, present threat.
This first of five sessions in Max Lucado’s study, Anxious for Nothing, looked at the first verse of Philippians 4:4-8 to focus on rejoicing in the Lord. All five sessions include a 20-minute video with Max delving into a topic and sharing a dramatized story to further illustrate the concepts he is reviewing. Before we watched the video tonight, we shared the names of people in our lives who are continuously, always joyful. A few people called out older parents or friends; the upshot was that we don’t know too many people who we would characterize that way, and certainly not any younger or middle-aged people.
After the video, we gathered for discussion and got started by reading three scripture passages to discern the prescription each one offers for our anxiety.
Psalm 56:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?
Advice to the anxious: trust God, He has your back.
Secondary thought: what are we holding so tight, that’s so precious, that we can’t bear the thought of losing it - is it spiritual, or earthly?
Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV)
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Advice to the anxious: Keep your view of life in perspective; be prudent, not greedy and desirous of more and more.
Secondary thought: Take time to see the wonder and beauty and blessings of each day, and rejoice in them, rather than worry about holding on or getting more beauty and blessings.
1 Peter 5:6-8 (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Advice to the anxious: Beware of your conceit that you can or should have control over the matters of life; yield.
Secondary thought: Anxiety, that gloomy sense that we are mistreated or suffering too much, is a chink in our spiritual armor through which Satan will poke us and feed our ego-centered view.
A number of interesting points arose over the course of the short discussion period. Why are Americans, in many ways relieved from much of the survival stress humans face elsewhere, so anxious? Perhaps because we have received so much, and therefore have so much to lose. Was the strain suffered by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane anxiety, or fear? Is anxiety a sin? We discussed the perceived divergence of anxiety and fear, and where worry falls between them, and ultimately came to consider that some anxiety – like other human emotional failings – is bound to strike us from time to time. How we dispel it or learn to avoid it – that can be what Rejoicing in the Lord helps us do. It is very hard to be gloomy and stressed when feeling the joy of God’s love.
This first of five sessions in Max Lucado’s study, Anxious for Nothing, looked at the first verse of Philippians 4:4-8 to focus on rejoicing in the Lord. All five sessions include a 20-minute video with Max delving into a topic and sharing a dramatized story to further illustrate the concepts he is reviewing. Before we watched the video tonight, we shared the names of people in our lives who are continuously, always joyful. A few people called out older parents or friends; the upshot was that we don’t know too many people who we would characterize that way, and certainly not any younger or middle-aged people.
After the video, we gathered for discussion and got started by reading three scripture passages to discern the prescription each one offers for our anxiety.
Psalm 56:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?
Advice to the anxious: trust God, He has your back.
Secondary thought: what are we holding so tight, that’s so precious, that we can’t bear the thought of losing it - is it spiritual, or earthly?
Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV)
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Advice to the anxious: Keep your view of life in perspective; be prudent, not greedy and desirous of more and more.
Secondary thought: Take time to see the wonder and beauty and blessings of each day, and rejoice in them, rather than worry about holding on or getting more beauty and blessings.
1 Peter 5:6-8 (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Advice to the anxious: Beware of your conceit that you can or should have control over the matters of life; yield.
Secondary thought: Anxiety, that gloomy sense that we are mistreated or suffering too much, is a chink in our spiritual armor through which Satan will poke us and feed our ego-centered view.
A number of interesting points arose over the course of the short discussion period. Why are Americans, in many ways relieved from much of the survival stress humans face elsewhere, so anxious? Perhaps because we have received so much, and therefore have so much to lose. Was the strain suffered by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane anxiety, or fear? Is anxiety a sin? We discussed the perceived divergence of anxiety and fear, and where worry falls between them, and ultimately came to consider that some anxiety – like other human emotional failings – is bound to strike us from time to time. How we dispel it or learn to avoid it – that can be what Rejoicing in the Lord helps us do. It is very hard to be gloomy and stressed when feeling the joy of God’s love.