Thursday, June 18, 2009

Fighting Unbelief--the Root of Anxiety

When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with
Isaiah 41:10
"fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with
Isa. 55:11 "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ: ""My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you" (Ps. 32:8)

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

When I am anxious about the welfare of those I love, I battle unbelief with the promise that if I, being evil, know how to give good things to my children, how much more will the "Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matt. 7:11)

And I fight to maintain my spiritual equilibrium with the reminder that everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for Christ's sake, "shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30)

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all." (Ps. 34:19). And I take the promise with trembling: "Tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proen character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Rom. 5:3-5)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, "Even to your old age, I shall be the same, and even to your graying years I shall bear you! I have done it, and I shall carry you; and I shall bear you, and I shall deliver you." (Isaiah 46:4)

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that "not one of us lives for himself and not one of us dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." (Rom. 14:7-9)

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief withthe promises, "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ." (Philippians 1:6); and, "He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb. 7:25)

(Taken from "Future Grace" by John Piper, pg. 60-61)

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