Note: If you missed Part I of this article, please read to have the foundation for today’s message.
Fear over imagined potential problems or difficulties will often give rise to anxiety, worry, and dread. In the previous post, we considered the practical responses a person can take to get the upper hand on fear and its expressions. Fear can be real or imagined, and this post will explain how the imagined kind is a spiritual problem.
First. we must acknowledge human beings are made in three-parts: body, soul, and spirit. Simply addressing a matter practically, does not necessarily address the entirety of the issue.
Most agree our bodies are temporal, whereas our soul and spirit are eternal. Additionally, most agree our body is subject to our soul (mind, will, intellect, unique personality) and our soul is subject to our spirit. Another way of saying this is the mind controls the body, but the spirit controls body and soul. Our thoughts have tremendous impact on our physical reality. Additionally, our physical actions have tremendous impact on our internal chemical realities. A perfect example of this proven by science, is the study of endorphins. When we physically laugh, endorphins are released making a chemical change in the brain, resulting in a “feel-good” experience. All of our physical actions result in some form of chemical change—some feel good and some, such as fear, do not.
This means anything we experience in our body, soul, or spirit is entirely integrated, and all parts are impacted. God created us this way. The secular world however, excludes the God and spiritual components and relies upon a mind-over-matter reality, which only provides limited results. Unless we address the spiritual component, any improvement accomplished through the mind is incomplete. We must acknowledge the existence of the spirit world and attain sufficient knowledge about it, or by default we will be subject to it and very potentially led in a way we don’t truly want.
Clearly both good and evil co-exist which gives us compelling reason to explore the origin of these opposing forces. Of all the major world religions, Christianity provides the best explanation for the origin and ultimate outcome for good and evil. The Bible, which is the supreme document of authority for the Christian faith, explains everything good comes from God who is holy and is love. Everything evil comes from the enemy of God named Satan, who is the father of all evil and instigator of all fear. Once we understand anxiety, worry, and dread are fear-based, and that all fear comes from the father of evil, we then have the ability to address the origin of the problem.
The Bible explains how we are all naturally born with evil eternal spirits. This is not how God created us. Rather, it was a free-will choice of the first man and woman resulting in an inherited condition upon all humanity. God’s love for us is so great, that He devised a plan for us to be restored and our natural-born evil spirit, replaced with a supernaturally re-born pure and godly spirit. To attain this spiritual transformation we must place our faith in Jesus who made our spiritual redemption possible.* Once we have a transformed spirit, we then must retrain our brain to understand the realities of the spiritual world. The Bible states, “Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (Romans 12:2 AMPC).
Our regenerated spirit makes it possible for us to communicate with God. As we learn how we can live our life as a believer in Jesus Christ, our minds are transformed more in keeping with our new spirit, and our bodies are favorably altered as a result. Unless we address the spirit, mind, body connection we will not have hope for any real physical improvements. If you suffer from anxiety, worry or dread, and you now understand these conditions, which can be utterly debilitating, are from the enemy of God whose only purpose is to destroy you, you now have a new pathway for victory. Your path for victory begins with faith in Jesus and continues as you cooperate with the Holy Spirit of God to be entirely transformed.
You can choose to place your faith in Jesus right now, by simply believing with your mind and receiving in your heart that Jesus was and is the Savior of the World, from God, who took upon Himself all the sin of the world to give you a way of escape from evil and an eternal hell. In your own words, speak aloud declaring you willingly give yourself to God wanting to be transformed and placed in a restored relationship with God the Father, through faith in Jesus the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen. If you made this declaration for the first time, or are making it with a genuine sincerity of heart, you are guaranteed by God that you are reborn!
This is just the beginning of and the most important step in a tremendous transformation. If you need help with your next step in this process of becoming a Christian, contact me using the Contact Us form which sends me a private email.
I pray my ministry work which is given for the benefit of others, truly benefits you. I’d love to hear from you about my blog posts. Please use the comments section below to provide your input on this post.
- To learn more about the Christian faith in contrast to other major world religions, consider getting the first book in my Faith to Live By series, Examine Your Faith! Finding Truth in a World of Lies.
Disclaimer:
I began my study on anxiety, out of a deeply held compassion for my loved ones. I wanted to better understand their reality so I could best respond when they experience fear in my presence. I hope to have learned helpful information to post here for them and others to find solutions. I am not a doctor of any kind. Anything written on my blog is strictly opinion and not professional advice of any kind. Readers are expected to do their own due diligence with the hopes that what I write encourages them to do so.
Anxiety, worry and dread, for many people are matters that can be managed and controlled with proper education and practical applications. For others, professional help is needed. If anyone cannot manage the matters on their own, professional help is highly recommended.
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