STRESS-FREE LIVING? - GIVE ANXIETY THE BOOT!

 A LOOK AT THE MOST POPULAR VERSE ON AMAZON.COM

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be 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).

Rightly dividing the Word of Truth, we have seen that there can be no justice no peace except THROUGH Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7). Once this fact has been established in your life through repentance and Faith in the Savior, as Lord, the next step to defeating fear, panic and worse is - hold on - THANKSGIVING!

All of this goes contrary to the teachings of this World, the reasoning of mere mortals and even the psycho-babble of modern 'churchianity". The good news is we have arrived at the moment where the prepared soul, properly focused with a heart and attitude of gratitude, can now approach the Lord as only an adopted son or daughter can.

Scripture promises, under the unction of the Holy Spirit that "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). We have the right, duty and obligation to go boldly to the Throne of Grace at all time, in all things.  So many people will go on social media - Facebook, Twitter etc and post, repost or "retweet" inspirational verses, quotes, photos with beautiful scenery  and more, yet would not do what those things instruct.

Reading or getting a temporary "fix" from someone else's inspiration or even

their walk with the Lord does not fix the situation you or I find ourselves in, as regards the issues of daily life. It is only through a firmly resolved intentional trusting and walking in the Light of Christ that we can really get what He says in Matthew 6:25-24"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?"

Those are great exhortations and SHOULD and OUGHT to be believed...but unless you click "save" and "apply" this means absolutely nothing to the person who is out of fellowship with the Savior. So, now, the most popular verse on the most popular retail website in the world - Amazon.com - says "Be Anxious For Nothing"...HOW?
PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION:
By Prayer - whether you pray in the morning before leaving home (if you work outside the home) or in class before a High School Algebra test, or before going up on the roof with a bundle of shingles, how you pray or speak to the Lord your Creator, matters not as much as what you pray and the condition of your heart. 

There is nothing wrong with approaching the King with a troubled spirit, in silence and just weeping. 
There is nothing wrong with just saying "Father, I have absolutely NO IDEA how to do this, please help me". 
There is nothing wrong with going to one of our local Christian bookstores (or looking up prayer books on amazon.com and learning from the masters, how they did it.) 

One resources that is timeless and speaks volumes to the Power and Majesty of Prayer is The Valley of Vision. Sure, most of us cannot pray like these men and women from 300 years ago, but the more you read these prayers, even daily, you will sense their hearts for Christ and slowly, you will find your own spirit, moving in this anointed direction and pathway of purposeful Puritan like prayer, where the Holy Spirit (as promised in Scripture) will take the longings and desires of your heart and move it into a fragrant offering of prayer to the Lord, acceptable before the Throne. Please do yourself a favor and click on the following link, to see what I mean. Try it at least for one week, and watch your entire prayer life change, and less anxiety will be present in your environment!

GET A FREE PDF DOWNLOAD OF THE VALLEY OF VISION BY CLICKING HERE

By Supplication - Supplication is the act of asking for the Lord to respond to a personal request, on your own behalf (such as Jesus taught as in "Give us this day, our Daily Bread"). It is different from a petition, which is intercession on behalf of another. If you have a friend or family member in need of urgent and critical prayer and you go into a time travailing prayer, and carry that other person's burden (from the Greek word "bastazo"), you are basically standing in the gap and petitioning the Lord for that person.  Supplication is for you and I directly, (paga- entreat and beg the Lord), even if you and I are parents and entreating the Lord to intervene on behalf of our child or our parent (petition). However when we need help and guidance as regards our health, our home, our finances, a broken furnace or water pipe....anything....ask the Lord! 

Really, there is nothing wrong with asking Him for help for your car to last until pay day when you can afford new brake pads etc....There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking. We have not because we ask not. It is great to ask others to pray for us...but unless we pray for ourselves, we are sitting on a two legged stool (Jesus and the person praying). The only way it because a three  legged stool worth sitting on is if Jesus, our prayer warrior friend and you are in sync, in one accord, praying the same thing. We know from the Bible that Jesus LIVES to make intercession before the Father for us (Hebrews 7:25). So think about this for a second - we have the High Priest of ALL Heaven - Jesus, the Commander in Chief of both this world and the entire universe - waiting for our prayers, petitions and requests - and we don't approach Him!...er...WOW!!! 
By Bringing Your Requests to God - The great Prayer Book of the Bible - The Psalms has everything we need to pray away anxiety and make our requests known to God. The Holy Spirit, through the author of most of the Psalms (King David, wrote these down as an example for us. Here is how we pray away and therefore, give ANXIETY the boot it deserves:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 17:6)

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.(Psalm 18:6)

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.(Psalm 25:16)

Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me; LORD, be my help."(Psalm 30:10)

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.(Psalm 86:3)

There is so much more...and they can all be found in the Mighty Word of God. Scripture is sufficient for every need of man. It contains the keys to a life full of power, joy, and gracious Godly living. I will be posting a 12 part series on 1st and 2nd Peter on this same blog, next, under the PLUMBLINE TV show Tab, which will go through most of these same principles for the woman or man of God, to not just "be anxious" for nothing, but be all we can be, according to our calling. We can live so much more victorious as Christians, even in a filthy corrupt, lying and perverted world. All we need do, is believe God, believe His Word and keep His Commands...and we too, shall have the peace which passes...AND SURPASSES...all human understanding!