Under Attack
When I was younger, I remember when I would have bad dreams and wake up in the middle of the night. When this would happen, I would call my dad to sit with me to make sure I was okay and so I knew I was not alone. The moment I would wake up from my bad dream, I would be filled with anxiety and fear that it was real and would need to be comforted. While the bad dreams were always just dreams, a lot of us are living in what we would describe as a nightmare and wish someone would just sit with us until it all passed. We wish that someone would come to calm our raging anxiety and fear. What if I told you that there was someone who never leaves you, who fights for you, and who gives you a spirit of life and peace.
If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you have this person. 2 Corinthians 10:5 states, “And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I know that when I am facing anxiety or fear, I need the Lord to guard my mind and be the keeper of it. Satan is good at making us doubt God and his goodness to try and pull us away from a relationship with Jesus. Satan is so good at it that a lot of us do not even realize it is him and just accept anxiety and fear as part of our daily lives.
The thing a lot of Christians, including myself, fail to realize is that we do not have to keep playing defense in this life and consistently accept feeling like we can barely get back up on our feet. So, hear me clearly, Jesus has already defeated your anxiety and fear. You can get back on offense because you have the same power inside of you to defeat fear and anxiety through the holy spirit that Jesus had to defeat death, hell, sin, and the grave. Romans 8:11 states, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” Now I know this does not mean we will never face anxiety and fear but know that as Christians we do not need to just lie down and accept it. We can fight it because, through Jesus, we can beat it.
We have a God who loves us more intimately than we could imagine and does not desire us to live in anxiety and fear. If you are facing anxiety and fear, I encourage you to give your burdens to God and be honest with Him about what you are facing. Not only that, but I also encourage you to bring a trusted community into your struggles to walk through this hardship with you and seek professional counsel, if needed.