Anxiety Self Help

A Great Trade

Did you know that God wants to make a trade with you? He has a standing offer every minute of every day, and it's amazing how few of us actually take Him up on it. He wants you to give Him all your cares, problems and failures. In return He'll give you His peace and joy.

God really does want to take care of us, but in order to let Him, we've got to stop trying to take care of ourselves and worrying about every little thing we can't control. Many people would like for God to take care of them, but they insist on worrying or trying to figure out an answer on their own, instead of waiting for God's direction.

God will give us peace, but we must first give Him our worries. What a great trade! We give God our worry, and He gives us His peace. We give Him all our cares and concerns, and He gives us His protection, stability and joy. That's the amazing blessing and privilege of being cared for by Him.

Prayer Starter: Lord, You have offered me an amazing trade. You are so much more capable than I am, so I give You all of my cares and receive all of the peace and joy that You offer me!

How to Experience His Presence in Your Everyday Life

Life is busy and filled with distractions. It's so easy to get caught up in our cares, errands and worries that we lose sight of what matters most.

There's an interesting little story at the end of Luke chapter two about when Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem for Passover when He was twelve years old. After the festival was over, they left to go home, supposing He was with them.

I wonder how many times we suppose God's with us when we've wandered off to do our own thing?

Now here's the interesting part. Mary and Joseph had traveled a day's journey before they realized Jesus wasn't with them and then it took three days to find Him. Three days! The message here is that it's easier to lose that special presence of God than it is to get it back once we've lost it.

We need to be careful to remain in the presence of God. When we do, we make God feel at home in our hearts.

This simply starts with being obedient to His Word. A commitment to turn from behavior that offends God is the number one sign of spiritual maturity. It shows you care about what He thinks.

That means you choose to be generous toward others, you learn to forgive, let go of your offenses and live in peace. When we choose to be intentional with our words, giving thanks to God and lifting up others, we'll feel connected to God all throughout the day.

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for making Your home in my heart. I need Your presence today, Lord. Help me to honor You with my thoughts and my words and to be a blessing to those around me.

ometimes I marvel at how long we can struggle in a situation before we think to talk to God about it and listen for His voice. We complain about our problems; we grumble; we murmur; we tell our friends; and we talk about how we wish God would do something about it. We struggle with situations in our minds and in our emotions, while we often fail to take advantage of the simplest solution there is: prayer. But worse than that, we then make perhaps the most ridiculous statement known to man: "Well, I guess all I can do is pray." I am sure you have heard that before and maybe you have even said it. We all have. We are all guilty of treating prayer as a last-ditch effort and saying things like, "Well, nothing else is working, so maybe we should pray." Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that we really do not believe in the power of prayer as we should. We carry burdens we do not need to bear - and life is much harder than it has to be - because we do not realize how powerful prayer is. If we did, we would talk to God and listen to what He says about everything, not as a last resort, but as a first response.

God's word for you today: Let prayer be your first response, not your last resort.

So many times we act one way on the outside, but we're actually different on the inside. Because we have weaknesses, faults and fears, things that we think make us less likable or desirable, we'd rather hide them from other people. So we wear masks.

The danger of wearing a mask is that it misrepresents us. What other people see is a lie. It's not who we are or who we were bor

Give a Love That Liberates

Love is liberating. It provides a sense of belonging and a sense of freedom. Love does not try to control or manipulate others or reach fulfillment through the destiny of others.

Jesus said that He was sent by God to proclaim liberty. As believers, that is what we are meant to do also, to free people to fulfill God's will for their lives, not to bring them under our

Remembering Past Successes

To be honest, a lot of us are negative thinkers when we find ourselves in challenging situations. But to move past trying times, you have to take your negative thoughts and turn them into positive thoughts.

God wants to take you on a "truth journey" through studying His Word that produces amazing results. It will help you purge your negative thoughts and give you theability to see the positive in your situation.

Being positive is powerful. And a big part of being positive is simply reminding yourself of your past successes.

When David faced the giant Goliath, he remembered the lion and the bear he'd already defeated, and it gave him courage in his current situation.

If you're going through a difficult time right now, let me remind you that this probably isn't the first challenge you've faced. You survived the last one (and probably learned some valuable lessons through it) and you will survive this one too.

Like David, remember your past successes. Then go to the Word and see what God says. Better days are on their way. God promises it!

Prayer Starter: God, sometimes the situation in front of me seems impossible, but You have brought me through difficult times in the past, and I know You can do it again. Help me to remember past successes and to think positively about my present situation.

Free to Think Positive Thoughts

This scripture shows us how important it is to think healthy, positive thoughts about ourselves. You cannot love life if you're always thinking negative thoughts. If you struggle with this, I encourage you to make up your mind to work toward changing your way of thinking. I've found the best way to become a positive thinker is to ask God for a lot of help, and to ask for it often.

That's really the hardest part of being set free from negativism: admitting that it's a problem and asking God for help. But once you do that, you can overcome it because according to the Bible, you're a new person in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Many people are afraid to hope because they've been hurt so much in life. Their philosophy is: "If I don't expect anything good to happen, I won't be disappointed if it doesn't."

That's how I used to think. I had encountered so much disappointment and I was afraid to be positive. When I began to study the Word and trust God to restore me, I realized my negative thoughts had to go.

We need to practice positive thoughts in every situation. If you're going through a difficult time, expect that God will work things out for your good. As a Christian, it's time for you to fight for your thoughts, because your mind won't automatically come into agreement with God's plans.

I encourage you to spend time examining His Word and comparing it to your thought life. Give God time to help you put your thoughts in line with His. He showed me how to be a more positive person, and He'll show you how to be one too.

Prayer Starter: God, I admit that I struggle with negative thoughts and I need Your help. Line my thoughts up with Your Word. In every situation, remind me that You will work things out for my good.

of Your WEating the "Solid Food" of God's Word

I remember feeding my babies and as long as I was giving them bananas and peaches, everything was great. But when I'd slip in a spoonful of peas, they'd go "Phftt!" So I'd scrape the peas off their chin and shove it back in their mouth again. It took me awhile, but sooner or later, they were eating peas.

It's the same with baby Christians. When we start consuming God's Word, we start growing up spiritually. We stop walking in the flesh and start doing what He wants us to do.

Proverbs 4:18 tells us the path of righteousness shines brighter and clearer every day as we continue in God's Word. The key word here is continue. We've got to love the Word, study the Word, and listen to the Word so it can transform us.

Have you ever run a yellow light? Maybe you're in a hurry and think, I can make it through this. If you do that over and over, you're bound to end up in a wreck. Well, it's the same with God's Word.

If we go ahead and do what we know we shouldn't be doing and just try to sneak by, we can end up getting hurt. God's Word is here to protect us.

Hebrews 5:14 says, "Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong" (NLT).

The "solid food" of the Word will convict you, and that's a positive thing. It's the Holy Spirit letting you know in your heart that your attitude stinks or that you're on the wrong path.

Getting in the Word is the key to living life in the right direction. So don't be a baby...take in the solid food of the Word!

Prayer Starter: God, I know that Your Word is the only path to maturity. Don't let me be a baby! Guide me and help me to grow as I take in the solid foodord.

Being an Imitator of God

Being a Christian isn't about making a weekly trip to church. We need to develop the character of God so others can actually see Jesus working in a practical way.

Ephesians 5:1 says that we are to be imitators of God. Unfortunately, saying it is a lot easier than actually doing it.
So many times we do things that don't reflect God at all. It's easy to get discouraged, give up on and condemn ourselves when we fall short.

Thankfully, God isn't bothered that we haven't arrived yet. He knows we're only human. He knows that we're not going to instantly, perfectly mirror Him overnight, but He does want us to continue growing.

We're not meant to live stagnant lives, never moving forward in our faith. Where's the adventure in that? We need to be able to look back on our life and see some changes taking place.

I used to be a Pharisee. I think I could have been the chief of Pharisees. I had a real religious act going on, but I wasn't really doing anything to truly "imitate" God. At some point, God led me to ask myself: "What am I doing to be more like God? Am I actually helping anybody? Am I just in this thing so God will make my life better?"

When we're in a place of questioning, that's the best place to be. It's a place of constantly striving toward being more like Christ.

As you're striving, don't fall into the trap of perfectionism and self-condemnation. We all make mistakes but the important thing is to be willing to take steps every day toward being more like God.

Prayer Starter: God, I thank You that even though You see my mistakes, You still love me and help me live a godly life. While I refuse to be discouraged by my failures, I also refuse to stay the same. I choose to follow You and imitate You more and more each day.