Speak Truth

As weakly humans who are descended from the ultimate wimp (Adam) who hid from his fear, we continue to have a weak mind. It returns to the thoughts and the stream of worry starts flowing again if we don’t stop it permanently. After all, God made water come from the rock, surely, he can make the rock stop water too!

Self-discipline of our thoughts

Remember, we let go of ourselves as the center of control and are now letting God ‘take the wheel’ (see last article). But our recurring habits include bad thought patterns. The thing is, we have been given the Spirit, which is not of fear, ‘but gives us power, love and self-discipline’ (2 Timothy 1:7). So, it in the Spirit that we have the self-discipline necessary to capture these thought patterns and subject them to Christ.

No fear

I’m not sure I ever truly appreciated this verse before. No fear in the Spirit, but power, love, and self-control. No fear, but enough strength and courage to do all things. No fear, but love which conquers and carries us through all. No fear, but of self-control, moderation or prudence to undertake all things. It sounds like we are not alone in our self-control; the Spirit is with us, keeping us on that path. Thank you, Lord, for having sent the Helper!

Speak truth

In this self-control through the Spirit, we can stop our stream of worry, firstly. Then, we can consider the issue with prudence. What is the reality of the situation? The truth of what I am facing? No more rampant ‘what-ifs.’

When we worry, we claim for today the issues that may never happen. We claim for today the worry and stress of things that are not real. We reject that God has everything in His hands and is better at this than we are. We have to relinquish the tomorrow that is not real and hold on to the truth of the issue. What if I lose my job? What if we get the coronavirus? What if Trump wins again? What if my kids get cancer? What if my spouse leaves me? NO MORE. Stop now. None of it is real. It is only taking up space and mind and power, uselessly. Truth only. I have a good job. We don’t know anyone with the virus, so we just need to prudently wash often. The country is in God’s hands, not mine; I will vote. My children are healthy, and God is with us every day, in sickness or health. My spouse loves me and chooses to love me each day. The truth of the situation.

So, with the Spirit, we have stopped the stream, and declared the truth. But we need to go one step further and claim the truth of God for ourselves. We need to consider the issues that were on our ‘worry stream list’ and be prepared to fight them with the Word of God. If your finances, future, children are on the list, then look up and (self-control here) memorize God’s truth about each of those so that it can be declared in moments of worry weakness.

An example of Speaking Truth

Speak truth. Thoughts like: oh no, we are late to pick up the kids. What if a stranger comes by and offers them candy? Or a ride home? STOP. Situation Truth: Teachers accompany the children outside until they are picked up or brought back for supervision in the office. They are not left alone. God’s truth: God is my refuge and the refuge of my family. He will watch over the coming and going of my family. God is faithful and will protect and strengthen us, he goes with my children and will never forsake them.

I felt like we needed an example. God’s Truth above is a bit of a conglomeration of these verses: Psalm 62:8-Psalm 121:8-2 Thess 3:3-Deut 31:6. Our brains need to be re-wired with the Word and Truth of God so the worry stream will be stopped by the Rock of Truth.

Prepare to fight with God’s Truth

So, we need to take out that list of things that we gave over to God and prepare ourselves for the next time that the worry stream starts. The Spirit will work in us to stop the stream. Then honestly, we have to buck up and know our scripture to fight the stream. To prepare ourselves, we need to look up verses that will fight the worry and anxiety. Remember it needed to be a specific list? Now you can specifically list out verses to counter the concerns.

Use a concordance or just google ‘Bible Verses about [issue]’. Use people or situations you recall from the Bible who triumphed. Claim them for yourself. Know the truth of God; declare the truth of God.