Do you have fear in your life that's just paralyzing?
Well, I've got a word for you today.
I think it will help you tremendously, and I'm going to try to keep it straightforward
and simple.
I've got some great scriptures you might want to write down and think about this week.
We're talking about anxiety and fear.
This is season six, episode three.
I'm Leanne Friessman, and this is Restoring Word.
I really feel the need to talk about anxiety and fear.
I'm a special education teacher.
I work with children who oftentimes have a lot of hurt, and they've been bullied or they've
been abused.
And we're trying to get them to learn again so that they can succeed in life.
And really, that's a process.
You know, we're all on a journey, and this journey is not easy at times.
I'm going to start out first with some great scriptures out of Ephesians.
Then we're going to go to 2 Timothy.
But out of Ephesians, we're looking at chapter four here, and this is verse 17.
We're going to go all the way through verse 24, and I'm going to kind of start and stop.
And you might want to look at the Bible with me today.
This, I say, therefore, and I testify in the Lord, this is Ephesians 4.17, sorry, that
you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind.
When people don't know Jesus and they don't know any better, they're just trying to figure
it out in their head, right?
They're not inviting God into the situation at all.
Verse 18, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because
of the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
You know, God bless people.
They don't know any better because nobody shared the good news of the gospel with them.
And if they're in a church that doesn't teach them how to do what we're talking today, and
today it's really a verb, okay?
This is a verb.
This is something that we do.
We walk this out.
Well, if somebody hasn't been taught how to do that, they don't know any better, right?
Okay?
It's not necessarily their fault or because maybe they're in a church they haven't been
taught, but you can, you can awaken your spirit man and you can walk in peace.
Okay, verse 19, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work
all uncleanness with greediness.
That's not how we were to think.
We weren't to think sensuality or, or greediness or corruptness.
You know, that isn't the way that God wants us to think in, in life.
Verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ.
So they, they, they don't know about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit wants to work
in their life.
Verse 21, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, the truth is in Jesus.
Okay?
The truth, the spiritual truth, the spiritual victory is in Jesus.
Verse 22, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt
according to deceitful lusts.
So you have to literally, you know how, like how you put on a coat and you take off a coat?
It's an action.
When you're growing in God, it's a choice.
It's a decision to begin to renew your mind, to fill your spirit man with the word.
It's a choice to take the old you and discard it and bring in the new you.
And it's a journey.
I mean, it doesn't happen overnight.
And by the way, you get to do it for the rest of your life because I don't care who you
are or where you are, guess what?
You're going to always have to renew your mind.
It's a beautiful thing.
It's a powerful thing.
It will change you forever.
Verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
So this thing here, how you think what goes on in between your ears, you have to renew this.
You have to do it all the time.
That you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.
So what you do is, you know how your normal flesh is, but you make a choice to get into
the word.
And when you get into the word, then...
And your mind, your new man, is renewed, it's created in true righteousness.
Why? Righteousness comes when we know we are in what? Right standing with God.
And right standing with God leads us into 2 Timothy 3.
This is good.
2 Timothy starting in 17, 16 and 17.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
So we can go to the Word, we can go to our Bibles and know that the Word of God is inspired and it's profitable.
Profitable for what? Doctrine.
Number one, if you're studying the Word and you know what the Word says, you're not going to buy into some weird theology or some weird concept of who God is or who he isn't.
Why? Because you know the Bible for yourself.
That's why I teach everyone I know, go get yourself a study Bible and learn how to use it.
OK, it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof.
What are we talking about with reproof?
Well, when you read the Word, you realized, oh, I got some issues here.
And you might have been a Christian like me for 30 years, and then you realize, oh, I still got issues.
Yeah, I do still have issues.
OK, we're all on this journey.
But if you if you read the Word, you realize now there's something you got to repent of, right?
And for correction, what will happen?
Uh oh, this is off.
Now I got to fix it for instruction in righteousness.
So the Word is going to teach you how to walk with him.
Isn't going to be easy all the time, right?
And let me finish this verse here.
That the man of God might be complete and equipped for every good work.
Now, being equipped for every good work is a process.
You get the Word hidden in your heart, right?
You get it down in you.
And what happens is the old man, the old way of thinking, the depressed, the anxious, the fearful
man begins to change.
And some people will say, well, Leanne, how do you know God is real?
I can tell you God's real.
And you know how I know God's real?
Because I see what he does in other people's lives.
My dad was a brilliant man and a good businessman, but he had a lot of unforgiveness in his heart.
And I'm telling you what, when he started teaching the Word and sharing the Word with others, there was this awesome transformation that happened in his life.
It was beautiful.
And he began to grow and he wanted to teach.
And the more he taught, the more he wanted to teach.
And the more he got into the Word, the more hungry he got for the Word.
And it was beautiful.
You know, I really love the logo, Restoring Word.
If you look at my logo, now, Restoring Word came because my husband's an auto-bouting man.
And what does he do?
He takes vehicles that are old classics, a lot of them, and they'll spend a lot of money to restore them back to what they originally were.
Well, if you look here at what happens here, the Word of God is alive and it comes out and it restores your mind.
And then what happens when your mind is restored?
You want more of the Word.
And then the cycle starts over and over again.
I love my logo.
The Word of God will restore your anxious, troubled mind so that you can think clearly and walk in peace.
All right, let's look at James 1, starting in verse 2.
My brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
We're all going to have trials and we're going to have them our whole life.
But as you go through them, you learn how to walk victoriously through them.
All right.
Why? Because the testing of your faith produces what?
Patience.
Why? Because you know he's good and he always shows up.
Verse 4, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
And lacking nothing isn't a financial thing.
Lacking nothing is, you're so content with your life and who you are in God that you're not looking for something else to fulfill you and make you happy.
You know where that peace and that joy and that fulfillment comes from.
Okay.
Verse 5, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally without reproach.
If you ask God for wisdom, he wants to give it to you.
He will give it to you.
And it will be given to him.
Verse 6, but let him ask in faith with no doubting.
For he.
U-doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
You know, when you're on this roller coaster in life, you're going to have ups,
you're going to have downs, you're going to have ups, you're going to have downs.
Okay? That's not how you're supposed to live.
God wants you to just stay in this steady place.
Okay, so there's a storm. You're steady.
Okay, so there's waves. Okay, you're steady.
Well, things get difficult. Uh, I know God's good. I'm steady.
There's no more of these emotional roller coasters and depression and
happy, happy, happy and depressed, depressed, depressed.
There's a consistency that begins to form in your life from being in the Word.
For let no man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.
He's double-minded man and he's unstable in all of his ways.
You know, people that are fearful and anxious.
They're unstable.
They can do weird things and say weird things and like, where's that coming from?
And why are they thinking about it that way?
Have you ever run across people that are like that?
Like, why? What are you thinking?
Like, where's that coming from?
A lot of them.
Okay, but the Word of God is alive and it wants to come.
And the Holy Spirit wants to use the Word, the living Word, to renew your mind.
But guess what? You're going to have to do it.
What does that mean?
That means you have to crack your Bible open and nobody can do it for you.
You've got to do it for yourself.
I recommend that you get a good study Bible.
Okay, just go get it. Learn how to use it.
Okay, and verse, this is Philippians 4-6.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving.
Prayer, you pray, you're worshiping God, you're honoring God.
Your supplication, that means you're bringing your issues to God and He's carrying them for you.
You give those problems, you give that fear, you give that anxiety to God.
With thanksgiving, you're thanking Him for carrying it.
I can't tell you how many mornings I come and sit down in this chair and I think,
how in the world am I going to do this job?
I have no idea.
It was so bad when I first started.
It was almost like a panic attack.
I understand.
It's so hard. How are you going to do it?
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
That's what I choose to speak over myself.
Let's go on with the rest of this verse here.
Prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving.
Thank God for doing it.
Pray about it.
Give Him your burdens.
Thank Him for taking it.
Let your requests be made known to God.
Verse 7.
This is the gem.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
Do you know that you can have peace that doesn't make sense?
Do you know you can have peace that is so heavy you don't even understand it?
I experienced it when I lost my dad.
I was able to maintain clarity of mind and make decisions that he needed me to make.
Why?
Because of Jesus, not me.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.
You can have a peace that doesn't make sense.
You can have a peace that you don't understand.
You can have peace that is not logical.
How can I be logical in the middle of this?
You can be, because Jesus is in you.
And the peace of God, verse 7, which surpasses all understanding, again,
will guard your heart and your minds through Christ Jesus.
What does the word do?
Think of it as guarding you.
It's your protection.
It's the wall you place around you.
I like to think of it as a wall of fire that's around me.
The Holy Ghost is around me.
I'm going to walk through this today.
I don't have any idea how I'm going to get this done.
I have no idea what I'm going to do today.
I don't get it.
But I have him all over me.
And his presence is all over me.
And I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
And I can operate in that peace and be for others what they need me to be.
That I can't do in my own self.
It's not logical.
It doesn't make sense.
In my own self, I'm still wanting and lean towards this.
But when I'm in him and I renew my mind, I'm a different person.
And guess what?
I do it every morning.
And so should you.
I get up.
I sit on the couch.
I have a coffee and I say, Oh, Jesus.
How am I going to do this today? There's just no way.
I invite you into my day. Why? Because I know me.
But I also know you. And you're good. And I can trust you.
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Please share it with someone you think it would help today.
Thank you for listening.
You're welcome.