Read: I Peter 5:6-11
I worked in a small office consisting of five employees (counting myself). Four of them were on anti-anxiety meds. They would regularly compare how their meds were working and the dosage required.
I pondered how 80% of my fellow employees were 24/7 on anti-anxiety meds. So, what was up with that? Was it the drinking water or something in the air?
AS AN ADVERSITY MAGNET….
As the only one who was not medicated, please note that I’m not a strong person and make no claims to being so. My life can be a circus. At times I feel like an adversity magnet. The past few months have especially appeared so. Circumstances and people stampede through my living room, heart, and soul. How is a believer to manage life when one’s mind is racing, and the future appears bleak?
DECISION TIME
Those moments are decision time. Who/what am I battling? It is not the people or situations I’m facing; it’s the enemy who would like me to renounce Jesus. That may sound melodramatic to you, but it’s true. Satan’s chief goal is to make believers flake out, run away, forsake the faith. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. Yes, your scariest human adversaries may wish for your demise, but they are not the ones pulling the strings. Satan is.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
What does God tell us to do in such a conflict? Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. In other words, choose to allow the Holy Spirit to reign in your mind. Don’t impulsively blurt out the first words that come to mind. Refuse to send out a nastygram text, zone out on TV, or punch a hole in the wall. Afterall, you are not alone in this battle. None of our current struggles are new to believers. We have a universal family of fellow combatants. Christians around the globe join us in this battle.
STANDING FIRM
God’s Word tells us to take a stand when the lion roars. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Exactly how is this to play out? Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time, casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].
MY CHOICE
When that crazy destructive circus of circumstances and individuals desire to capsize my life, I kneel before the feet of God. I choose to fill my mind with the promises of God and proclaim directly that I’m taking God at His Word. There is a decision involved. I disregard how dire the circumstances appear, run to the Father and completely believe His Word. God is my anti-anxiety medicine, even when chaos comes to town.