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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

My Thorn: Part 3

I mentioned in my last thorn post that I had found the Girl Talk Blog fear series and it has been so good for me to read!! Last time I was reminded to not listen to the lies of my fears but to listen to the truth of God's Word!

Here is an excerpt of the most recent post I've been reading over and thinking about:

"Our fears are due to our failure to stir up--failure to think, failure to take ourselves in hand. You find yourself looking to the future and then you begin to imagine things and you say: 'I wonder what is going to happen?' And then, your imagination runs away with you. You are gripped by the thing...this thing overwhelms you and down you go. Now the first thing you have to do is to take a firm grip of yourself, to pull yourself up, to stir up yourself, to take yourself in hand and to speak to yourself." Dr Lloyd Jones

Even before reading this I have found myself putting this into practice. I talk to myself OFTEN! And it is really a helpful tip! So, what do I say to myself? Well, lot of what I say is straight from God's Word.

Philippians 4:6-7 ~ "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

The above verses I put to memory a long time ago. I can't tell you how many times I've been up in the middle of the night repeating those words over and over and over.

Sometimes I remind myself,

"I am free. I am not a slave to sin anymore. Christ came to set me free! There is freedom in Christ"

And I repeat that with Galatians 5:1 in the back of my mind,

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

and

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 1 Timothy 2:7

And you know, sometimes I just say,

"Crystal, get yourself together!! You are being ridiculous! Take a deep breath and calm down!"

Then I follow with a verse to remind myself why I'm being ridiculous! Like,

"And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" Matthew 6:27

Remembering, meditating, and praying God's Word can really do wonders with anxiety and fear! I pray for you and for myself that we can be like the Proverbs 31 woman:


"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." Proverbs 31:25


Need to catch up? Here are the first two posts in this series:

Part 1
Part 2

I'm linking this post up with Time Warp Wife's {TITUS 2}SDAYS.





6 comments:

Traci said...

It was good to chat w/you on Twitter about this. I will check back to read more.

Bless you and know you are in my prayers.

"and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" Rev 12:11

xoxo
Traci
www.illtaketea.com

Kathryn said...

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee"-- so true, right? I love how those verses I put to memory as children come back and encourage us during times of trial and anxiety.

Cintia Listenbee said...

I admire your honesty and belief in the word. It's very clear in this post. May God continue to bless you!

Jessica said...

I struggle with fear myself, and often have to repeat Matthew 6:27 over and over.

Jessica said...

great post and great scripture!

~Babychaser~ said...

These are such good things to remember! I've never struggled much with fear (for which I'm grateful... I have other vices though!), but I do struggle with fear of being home alone at night. Those noises. I'm grateful I isn't often, but I will have to remember those verses you mentioned. And I love the "Get a hold of yourself, your being ridiculous." That's a good one too!

Thanks for visiting over at my blog! I'll look forward to seeing you back!