HOW TO HAVE LASTING PEACE
8 steps to move you closer to a life of true peace.
FEAR AFFECTS ALL OF US…
When I was a little boy I was afraid of the dark. By that time I became a teenager I grew out of that fear and grew into another. The fear of failure, fear of people, political fear, financial fear.
Fear is a natural emotion that leads to a state of anxiety if we allow it to hang around long enough. It might be mounting bills, a looming divorce, memories of a failure. Fear paralyzes us, divides us, it builds walls, it steals trust. Fear keeps us from new adventures and opportunities, however, how we respond to fear will determine whether we move forward or backward in life. It will determine whether we move closer or further, from what we want to accomplish. Fear will affect our relationships, business decisions, financial decisions, and your overall health. Fear never moves you forward it always sets you back. It causes you to question everything and everyone. Without the ability to trust you can’t succeed. You can’t succeed in marriage if you can’t move past fear and build trust. You can’t succeed in a career if you can’t trust those who are, working with you or that you are working for. You can’t succeed spiritually if you can’t trust God, His word or the spiritual authority that He is placed in your life. Here are eight steps that have helped me overcome fear and anxiety and experience peace. You can do this. Let’s go!
1.Stop and Breathe.
In through your nose, out through your mouth. Seriously. Breathing deep slows your heart rate and calms you down. You are going to make it. Take a break if you need to but keep breathing.
2. Pray daily.
Prayer quiet the soul and brings hope to the heart. People feel powerful when their political party is in control and powerless when it’s not, but your power is not found the politician, but in prayer. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but he has given us the spirit of power through prayer. Prayer can change a person even a politician. Prayer can affect policy. Prayer can change the direction of a nation. Prayer can unify people and bring peace upon a family business and an anxious heart. People who pray together stay together. If there’s someone that you can’t pray for or pray with you’ve got a problem and the problem is not them. if you’re not compassionately, praying for those you don’t agree with then you’re wrong. Prayer reminds you that you are not alone and someone is working on your behalf. Prayer works.
3. Choose wise friends.
I want to encourage you to use wisdom. Surround yourself with people who choose peace over panic. I believe a little bit of fear is a healthy thing as long as we keep it in perspective. Life can be scary, hard and sometimes dangerous. Wisdom allows you to see the realities the potential pitfalls while, not allowing you to stay in that emotion. When you smell smoke pay attention because it might be fire. There may be danger. The smell of smoke requires a heightened level of awareness and sensitivity and objectivity on our part. However, don’t allow the smell of smoke to cause you to panic. Because it may also be bread toasting, or if you’re Hispanic, like me, tortillas cooking on the griddle. It’s funny how our minds can often jump to the worst case scenarios. Overtime you will become the five people closest to you. If you hang around people who have experience, practice wisdom and keep things in perspective, you’ll find yourself doing the same thing. You may need to separate yourself from some people who cause you to panic or overreact and spend a little more time with people who don’t.
4. Write your vision.
Fear always reminds you of the worst case scenario. Taking time each morning to write down your top 10 life goals instantly moves you past fear and into your future. What do you want to accomplish spiritually relationally financially physically emotionally? Write them down every morning and they will become clearer every day. You will find yourself, feeling more hopeful and less fearful you will be more confident and have more clarity about the decisions you make on a daily basis.
5. Show love.
1 John 4:18 says that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. fear is definitely tormenting. If you are fearful you have a secret weapon love. We live in a world that loves those who agree with them and hates those who don’t. We are afraid of those who are different, who think different, act different, vote different. Loving people only when they agree with us is not love at all. Christ said to love your enemies. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but he has given us the ability to love those who don’t have the same perspective that we have don’t vote the way that we do, believe the same things that we do. We can even love those who might say things that offend us. God has given us the spirit of love. It’s not our love it is his. When we choose to love someone, by doing something nice for them, fear and anxiety begin to fall off. When you begin to love people by serving them or praying for them, you are no longer powerless. Can God love people through us or does God have to love people around us? God loves the person you don’t agree with. God even loves your enemies. By the way, the person who voted differently than you is not your enemy. If you’re not loving people who are different than you then you’re probably experiencing a level of fear or anxiety. You’re not responsible to agree with them, but you are responsible to love them.
Think about the person who gets on your nerves, who has hurt you, stolen from you or betrayed you. It may not be wise to hang around them, but you do need to love them. How? Pray for them.
6. Re-Train your mind
There is always a battle for your mind. The two opposing sides are fear and faith. Faith comes by hearing God‘s word. The word of God can transform your mind from fear to faith from reckless to resolute from lustful to righteous. Reading and memorizing scripture word keeps us steady through the storm. Reading or listening to scripture transforms our minds. From fear and hate to security and love from insecurity to confidence from anxiety to hope from confusion to clarity from the earthly to the eternal. You are not crazy, you are just afraid. God has a plan for you to train your mind. When we read his word, it retrains our mind. God‘s word is the anchor for all of humanity. Fear will make you crazy, but God has given you a sound mind. We all walk through storms that threaten to drive us crazy and cause us to lose our composure. One time Jesus and his disciples were in a boat during a storm. Jesus was asleep in the bottom of the boat and the disciples were panicked while trying to navigate the storm themselves. Jesus woke up stayed calm, spoke and calmed the storm. He then looked at the disciples and asked him why they were so excited. Why didn’t they have faith? Why did they lose their perspective? In the middle of political season, doctors report, divorce, inflation, job loss, or any other disappointment, frame your fear with Faith. The storm is not your destiny. It’s a part of your story. It’s a snapshot in your life. Don’t lose your mind over it.
7. Forgive others.
This life is not the end. When we remember how short life is, we raise our level of thinking. Even if the storm were to kill us, it does not have the final word. Because, a sound mind is set on eternity, not just the earthly. If the best that Satan can do is take our earthly life, he still has not won. Jesus came and won the battle for eternity once and for all. There was a steward who had mismanaged his Lords affairs. He was going to be fired. When he found out that he was going to lose his job, his thinking quickly changed, and he began to settle the accounts of those who owed his master. People who had once owed him a lot of money he settled with for much less. Why? Because he was preparing for his next season of life. Debts that were once so significant, suddenly became small and were easily forgiven. What others owe you doesn’t mean much when we realize how short life is and how long eternity is. When we realize we’re all going to spend eternity together our earthly perspective. Once you forgive the debts of others you will find freedom from anxiety. You can’t hate your neighbor out of fear and love and eternity.
8. Trust God!
I want to encourage you to trust God. You might feel like you’re all alone, but you’re not. Trust that God has your best interest at heart. Trust that God’s perfect will is being accomplished, even though the process may seem imperfect. Trust that God is doing something you can’t see and that somehow he’s going to use it for your Good. Trust God when he says that his plans are to prosper and not to harm us to give us a hope and give us a future. Jeremiah 29:11. These were God’s words to the Israelites, but they are also His words to everyone who becomes a part of his family through Christ Jesus. You are not alone. God loves you and you can trust him.
Summary: Anxiety is real but it is not your identity. I am confident you will move past the feeling of fear and move forward, try something new, take a risk, trust people, succeed. God has not given you the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
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