More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Max Lucado
Read between
January 1 - January 2, 2024
Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs. What if I don’t close the sale? What if we don’t get the bonus? What if we can’t afford braces for the kids? What if my kids have crooked teeth? What if crooked teeth keep them from having friends, a career, or a spouse? What if they end up homeless and hungry, holding a cardboard sign that reads “My parents couldn’t afford braces for me”?
Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one. Fear screams,
Get out! Anxiety ponders, What if?
Fear results in fight or flight. Anxiety creates...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Do not fret,” wrote the psalmist, “it only causes harm” (Ps. 37:8).
In a given year nearly fifty million Americans will feel the effects of a panic attack, phobias, or other anxiety disorders.
Anxiety disorders in the United States are the “number one mental health problem among… women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men.”2
“The United States is now the most anxious nation in the world.”
The land of the Stars and Stripes has become the country of stress and strife.
Citizens in other countries ironically enjoy more tranquility. They experience one-fifth the anxiety levels of Americans, despite having fewer of the basic life necessities.
“What’s more, when these less-anxious developing-world citizens immigrate to the United States, they tend to get just as anxious as Americans. Something about our particular way of life, then, is making us less calm and composed.”6
psychologist Robert Leahy points out, “The average child today exhibits the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.”
Why? What is the cause of our anxiety?
“environment and social order have changed more in the last thirty years than they have in the previous three hundred”!
In addition we move faster than ever before. Our
We have been taught that the Christian life is a life of peace, and when we don’t have peace, we assume the problem lies within us. Not only do we feel anxious, but we also feel guilty about our anxiety!
The result is a downward spiral of worry, guilt, worry, guilt.
“Be anxious for nothing” (Phil. 4:6). “Be anxious for less” would have been a sufficient challenge. Or “Be anxious only on Thursdays.” Or “Be anxious only in seasons of severe affliction.”
“Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually breathless and in angst.” The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.
Anxiety is not a sin; it is an emotion. (So don’t be anxious about feeling anxious.) Anxiety can, however, lead to sinful behavior. When
“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with… the anxieties of life” (Luke 21:34 NIV). Is your heart weighed down with worry? Look for these signals: Are you laughing less than you once did? Do you see problems in every promise?
Would those who know you best describe you as increasingly negative and critical? Do you assume that something bad is going to happen? Do you dilute and downplay good news with doses of your version of reality? Many days would you rather stay in bed than get up? Do you magnify the negative and dismiss the positive? Given the chance, would you avoid any interaction with humanity for the rest of your life?
Philippians 4:4–8: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there
...more
“the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds” (v. 7).
Celebrate God’s goodness. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (v. 4). Ask God for help. “Let your requests be made known to God” (v. 6). Leave your concerns with him. “With thanksgiving…” (v. 6). Meditate on good things. “Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise” (v. 8 NCV).
Celebrate. Ask. Leave. Meditate. C.A.L.M.
Anxiety is not a sin; it is an emotion. (So don’t be anxious about feeling anxious.)
“Everything is secure. You can rest now.” By his power you will “be anxious for nothing” and discover the “peace… which passes all understanding” (RSV). Dear Lord, You spoke to storms. Would you speak to ours? You calmed the hearts of the apostles. Would you calm the chaos within us? You told them to fear not. Say the same to us. We are weary from our worry, battered and belittled by the gales of life. Oh Prince of Peace, bequeath to us a spirit of calm. As we turn the page in this book, will you turn a new leaf in our lives? Quench anxiety. Stir courage. Let us know less fret and more faith.
...more
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Paul’s prescription for anxiety begins with a call to rejoice. Paul used every tool in the box on this verse, hoping to get our attention. First, he employed a present imperative tense so his readers would hear him say, continually, habitually rejoice!1 And if the verb tense wasn’t enough, he removed the expiration date. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (emphasis mine).
Paul’s prescription for anxiety begins with a call to rejoice.
are urged to “Rejoice in the Lord.” This verse is a call, not to a feeling, but to a decision and a deeply rooted confidence that God exists, that he is in control, and that he is good.
Belief always precedes behavior.
change the way a person responds to life, change what a person believes about life. The most important thing about you is your belief system.
the treatment of anxiety, a proper understanding of sovereignty is huge. Anxiety is often the consequence of perceived chaos. If we sense we are victims of unseen, turbulent, random forces, we are troubled.
The formula is simple: Perceived control creates calm. Lack of control gives birth to fear.
Anxiety increases as perceived control diminishes.
A health fanatic can eat only nuts and veggies and still battle cancer. A
That’s why the most stressed-out people are control freaks. They fail at the quest they most pursue. The more they try to control the world, the more they realize they cannot. Life becomes a cycle of anxiety, failure; anxiety, failure; anxiety, failure. We can’t take control, because control is not ours to take.
God calmed the fears of Isaiah, not by removing the problem, but by revealing his divine power and presence.
Stabilize your soul with the sovereignty of God. He reigns supreme over every detail of the universe.
Your anxiety decreases as your understanding of your father increases.
The next time you fear the future, rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty. Rejoice in what he has accomplished. Rejoice that he is able to do what you cannot do. Fill your mind with thoughts of God. “[He is] the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom. 1:25). “[He] is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). “[His] years will never end” (Ps. 102:27 NIV). He is king, supreme ruler, absolute monarch, and overlord of all history.
The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. (Lam. 3:21–26 NASB)
mind cannot at the same time be full of God and full of fear.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought. (Jer. 17:7–8, emphasis mine)
Examine the poles that sustain your belief. Make sure one of them is etched with the words “My God is sovereign.”
Adam and Eve didn’t know how to process their failure. Neither do we. But still we try. We
We have more sophisticated ways to deal with our guilt.
We… Numb it. With a bottle of...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Deny it.
