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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Max Lucado
Read between
August 6 - September 26, 2022
Anxiety is a meteor shower of what-ifs.
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...
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“Do not fret,” wrote the psalmist, “it only causes harm” (Ps. 37:8).
Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are reaching epidemic proportions.
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.”
“The United States is now the most anxious nation in the world.”
“Stress-related ailments cost the nation $300 billion every year in medical bills and lost productivity,
between 1997 and 2004, Americans more than doubled their spending on anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium, from $900 million to $2.1 billion.”
“The average child today exhibits the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.”8
What is the cause of our anxiety?
Change, for one thing.
the Western world’s “environment and social order have changed more in the last thirty years than they have ...
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we move faster than ever before. Our ancestors traveled as far as a horse or camel could take them during daylight. But us? We jet through time zones as if they were neighborhood streets.
the onslaught of personal challenges? You or someone you know is facing foreclosure, fighting cancer, slugging through a divorce, or battling addiction. You or someone you know is bankrupt, broke, or going out of business.
Without exception we are getting older. And with age comes a covey of changes.
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.
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
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Five verses with four admonitions that lead to one wonderful promise: “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds” (v.
Celebrate. Ask. Leave. Meditate. C.A.L.M.
The Bible is Kindle’s most highlighted book. And Philippians 4:6–7 is the most highlighted passage.
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.
To 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.
In 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.
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.
Your anxiety decreases as your understanding of your father increases.
antidote for anxiety. “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” (Phil. 4:6–7).
with thanksgiving.
Gratitude is a mindful awareness of the benefits of life.
As you look at your blessings, take note of what happens. Anxiety grabs his bags and slips out the back door. Worry refuses to share the heart with gratitude. One heartfelt thank-you will suck the oxygen out of worry’s world. So say it often. Focus more on what you do have and less on what you don’t. The apostle Paul modeled this outlook.
Worry refuses to share the heart with gratitude. One heartfelt thank-you will suck the oxygen out of worry’s world.
Contingent contentment turns us into wounded, worried people. Paul advances a healthier strategy. He learned to be content with what he had.
He had eternal life. He had the love of God. He had forgiveness of sins. He had the surety of salvation. He had Christ, and Christ was enough. What he had in Christ was far greater than what he didn’t have in life.
what you have in Christ is greater than anything you don’t have in life.
Treat each anxious thought with a grateful one, and prepare yourself for a new day of joy.
Are you bouncing about in a northeaster? Like the sailors you’ve done all you can to survive: you’ve tightened the ship, lowered the anchor. You’ve consulted the bank, changed your diet, called the lawyers, called your supervisor, tightened your budget. You’ve gone for counseling, rehab, or therapy. Yet the sea churns with angry foam. Is fear coming at you from all sides? Then let God speak to you. Let God give you what he gave the sailors: perfect peace.
Heaven has helpers to help you.
Jesus’ allegory is simple. God is like a vine keeper. He lives and loves to coax the best out of his vines. He pampers, prunes, blesses, and cuts. His aim is singular: “What can I do to prompt produce?” God is a capable orchardist who carefully superintends the vineyard. And Jesus plays the role of the vine. We nongardeners might confuse the vine and the branch. To see the vine, lower your gaze from the stringy, winding branches to the thick base below. The vine is the root and trunk of the plant. It cables nutrients from the soil to the branches. Jesus makes the stunning claim, “I am the real
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Our assignment is not fruitfulness but faithfulness.
Saturate your heart with the goodness of God.
you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32 ESV).
Celebrate God’s goodness. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4).
Rejoice in the Lord. This is step one. Do not hurry past it. Face God before you face your problem. Then you will be ready to… Ask God for help. “Let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).
