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A Prescription for Anxiety
Article copyright by Bob Rogers.
Doctors regularly write prescriptions for all kinds of ailments. We have medicines to relieve pain, relieve high blood pressure, reduce fluids in the body, fight infection, and even to calm our nerves. These are good and useful to our physical health.
Anxiety is often a symptom of those who are sick. Good news–there is also a spiritual medicine available for that! If you are feeling anxious, fearful, and frequently worried, then I encourage you to consider the prescription found in Philippians 4:4-9.
To take this prescription, you will need a Bible and paper or a device to take notes. Read the following verses and then take the doses below:
Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Determine to name your worries and fears. Write them out. Go to Matthew 6:25-34 and take note of the worries that Christ names and dispels in that passage. Then, do as Philippians 4:6 says, and instead of worrying about the problem, present your problem to God in prayer. Instead of telling God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is.
Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” As you pray, ask yourself, against what does your heart need to be guarded? Is it fear? Against what does your mind need a guarded? Is it doubt? Is it something else? Ask Christ to stand guard over your heart and mind.
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.” Divide your page into two parts. On the left, list each of the good things in this verse. On the right, list a specific example of how you have seen and experienced this in your life. Then, do as the verse says and meditate on “these things.” Go back and read Philippians 4:4, which urges us to rejoice. Spend a few moments rejoicing over the good things you listed.
Philippians 4:9: “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Now it is time for action. In this verse, Paul urges the Philippians to do what they saw in him. Likewise, you can think of a hero of the faith, and what you have learned from him or her. Now is time for an action plan! Just as Paul urged them to do, write down what you will do. Put a specific time and date on it. Notice the verse ends with a promise, “and the God of peace will be with you.”
Praying and reading Scripture is good medicine-you can’t take too much! In fact, you may want to take the above medicine in different doses every day. You could take each of the above verses and actions one day at a time. Then, you may want to read the entire fourth chapter of Philippians each day for a week, making notes on the assurances and encouraging words.
A generation ago, people joked that a doctor would tell a patient, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” Let me encourage you to take whatever your medical doctor prescribes, but also take these doses of Philippians, then comment to me in the morning! I would like to hear from you–so leave a comment below. Feel free to send us other scripture that you have found helpful. May the Lord bless you as you meditate on His word.
Book review: “Not Forsaken” helps those who had a bad Dad
Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church, a megachurch in Atlanta, writes Not Forsaken to help people see God as a good Heavenly Father, especially those who have had a bad earthly father. The subtitle says it well: “Finding Freedom as Sons & Daughters of a Perfect Father.”
Giglio begins by stating that every person has an innate need for a good father who is proud of him or her, yet the author readily recognizes that many people have had an abusive or absent earthly father, and this makes it difficult for them to affirm God as good. Giglio confronts this dilemma step-by-step, making frequent use of scripture. First, he explains that God is good, even if Dad was bad: “God is not the reflection of your earthly dad. He is the perfection of your earthly dad” (p.76). Then, Giglio encourages the reader to “reverse the curse” through forgiveness of a bad father, saying, “Bitterness continues to pave a path to your past, while forgiveness paves a way to your future” (p. 114). Next, Giglio guides the reader to an understanding of the good fatherly qualities of God. He acknowledges some people will ask, If God is so good, why doesn’t He stop evil? In a paragraph worth repeating, he responds to this question:
I think the answer is because the moment He steps in and removes all the collateral damage of this broken world from ever happening again, that will mark the instant life on earth is over. And in that moment the lost will be lost forever and many whom God wanted to become sons and daughters will be separated from His arms. So, He waits and extends grace another day. And for twenty-four more hours, we are caught in the crossfire of a sin-shattered world. (p. 178)
Finally, he challenges readers that just as we tend to pick up the qualities of our parents, so we should “grow up like Dad,” our heavenly Father.
Although the book is only 235 pages, divided into 10 chapters, Giglio tends to repeat statements he has already made, which is normal for a public speaker like himself, but seems redundant when reading a book. Perhaps with more editing, he could have communicated just as well with fewer than 200 pages. Nevertheless, Giglio writes in a personal, encouraging style, based on solid Biblical interpretation, with many insightful illustrations. This book can be quite helpful to readers who struggle with the idea that God is a good Father.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this book from B&H Bloggers, but I was under no obligation to write a favorable review.
Book review: “Out of Control”
Ben Young & Samuel Adams’s book, Out of Control, has a very long subtitle: Finding Peace for the Physically Exhausted and Spiritually Strung Out. But the subtitle is accurate. They describe how our culture is out of control because rather than letting the greater efficiency afforded by technology such as cell phones and computers give us more time to rest, we have instead tried to cram even more activity into shorter time.
Young and Adams describe seven symptoms of an “out of control” lifestyle: out of shape (physical), out of sorts (emotional/mental), out of touch (relational), out of time, out of focus, out of balance and out of order (spiritual). Then they confront the lies that keep us out of control, particularly the idea of pleasing the world to be successful and the idea that getting rest is laziness.
The rest of the book takes a pleasantly surprising turn, as it is NOT another “how-to” book with seven easy steps. Instead, they dig into the spiritual disciplines of the Bible, and encourage the reader to practice a real “Sabbath” and take time to unplug completely from technology in order to practice the other spiritual disciplines of solitude and prayer.
This book influenced me to become more serious about unplugging from technology for a large portion of the day on my day off in order to spend more authentic time with God. It was a truly rewarding experience that I pray I will continue to explore for a long time to come.
Who is to blame for the theater shooting in Colorado?
Copyright 2012 by Bob Rogers
The Dark Knight Rises is the name of the much-anticipated third Batman movie in the wildly popular films produced by Christopher Nolan. But it was a dark night in a different sense in a theater in Aurora, Colorado, where gunman James Holmes took to the stage himself and shot 70 people, killing at least 12.
When such horrific tragedies happen, we gasp, we hug our children, we lower our flags, we pray, and we ask, “Why?”
Soon a number of scapegoats will be brought forth to be sacrificed at the altar of our need to blame someone or something.
Some will blame a lack of gun control. They will say that if we had stricter gun control, this man could not have obtained so many weapons. However, mass shootings have occurred in other nations that have strict gun control.
Some will blame a lack of security, since the gunman carried so much artillery into the theater. Perhaps improvements in security can be made but the police and security guards cannot be everywhere.
Some will blame violence in the movies, saying that it desensitizes the viewer and can lead to copy-cat actions. Some news reports today say that the shooter was dressed as the Joker, lending some credence to this theory. However, millions of other people have seen the Batman films without having an urge to hurt anybody.
Others will blame the man’s upbringing, environment, how he may have been treated at the school where he dropped out, and so on.
But in playing the “blame game,” we often fail to look at the greatest reason for the actions of James Holmes and for each of us: the human heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jesus said that evil comes from within, out of the heart (Mark 7:21).
When the Gospel of John describes how Judas Iscariot got up from the Last Supper, left Jesus and the other disciples, and stepped outside to betray Christ, John adds this short sentence: “And it was night.” (John 13:30). John was speaking of the spiritual darkness of that moment. But after that dark night, a light arose, because this Jesus who died on the cross also arose from the dead to defeat evil and give us hope.
The greatest need that mankind has is not gun control, more police, controls over movies, or psychologists. Our greatest need is for a Savior who can change the heart. He alone can change our dark nights into bright mornings.
Bob Rogers 