A Kingdom Perspective on Worry and Anxiety

LoveLetter March 2022

 

Hello Friends,

I am enjoying Florida’s Spring time. I get pretty excited when I see tiny dots of green on the branches of my plants in the Spring. 

A Garden Story

Here’s my garden story for Spring:

Last summer, I special ordered two little vitex trees (also called chaste trees) that came through the mail. I planted them at the end of last summer, and between my chickens breaking off branches, and my bad timing with planting them, I have thought for sure most of this winter that they are probably dead. I’ve been tempted to pull them up. There are just a few sad, straggling little bare branches sticking up out of the ground, and I worry that someone will trip over them because they are barely visible. 

Hope

However, I had really been wanting a vitex tree ever since we saw this big beautiful one in Georgia a few years ago, so I wasn’t ready to give up on them. All winter, I held onto a tiny ray of hope that maybe (please, please, please!) Spring will come, and they won’t be dead after all. Maybe they will come back to life when the weather changes. I didn’t have a lot of hope, but I had a little ray. 

Life

Then about a week ago, I went out and bent way down to take another look, and guess what I found? Yes. Teeny, tiny green buds! Wow! It was an amazing discovery… all that time, life was being sustained down under the ground. Roots were growing deeper.  The green was on its way. I kind of knew that was a possibility, but I really could not see any signs of life at all. 

I pray for little gifts to come your way today, and that your faith is strengthened. And if your hope is waning because the winter is long, and you see no signs of life, I pray you will be filled with hope today knowing that God does not forget you, that Jesus is ever interceding for you, and that all the roots are growing deeper in the wait.

Word of Encouragement

Worry and Anxiety

In prayer today, I have felt to share some encouragement about worry and anxiety. 

This partly came up as I was reading the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Three chapters of red letters. That’s a lot of words of Jesus. That’s a lot of spirit and life! 

Matthew 6:25

As Jesus is teaching, He says…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25).

Perspective

Putting this verse into context helps us understand that Jesus is not just giving us rules about what to do and what not to do. He’s not just saying, Don’t worry. Just trust God. Rather, as he teaches, he is inviting us into something much bigger than rules and laws. He is revealing God’s kingdom and God’s ways and extending an invitation to ‘come up higher’ and begin to look at everything from a different perspective.

Matthew 6:22

Jesus teaches us about perspective when He says The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light (Matthew 6:22). When I take something in, what lens am I seeing it through?  Am I looking at things from man’s perspective, or from God’s perspective? Am I looking through a worldly lens, or a kingdom lens? Am I seeing with my earthly eyes or my spiritual eyes? Are my eyes full of doubt or even cynicism? Or do I have eyes full of faith? 

I believe that having ‘good eyes’ is one of the most important aspects of our faith journey on this earth. Having eyes to see what God sees. And this is not just believing that God’s going to ‘take care of everything’ although He always will.

It’s more than that. Holy Spirit wants to bring us up higher, beyond the limits of our earthly circumstances, beyond even our short 80 or 100 years on this earth, to reveal kingdom truth to us.

Isaiah 11:2

Isaiah 11:2 says The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him [Jesus], the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The Seven Spirits of God rested upon Jesus even as He spoke of the kingdom. And all of these things, God, by His Spirit within us, wants to impart to us as well and increase in our lives–as much as we want to receive. Himself (the Spirit of the Lord), wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.

Impartation, Not Worry 

The Holy Spirit waits to impart to us. He waits for us to fix our gaze upon Him, ready to receive what He has for us, and as we receive, we find that the wisdom from above offers clarity and direction in decision-making; that the counsel of God steadies us and offers strategies as well as comfort; that spiritual understanding offers a higher perspective, and peace; that the Spirit of might reveals and releases God’s power in our lives and specifically into our circumstances. Do we have ‘good eyes,’ open, fixed on Him, and willing to receive all of these and more?

The Feast of the Sermon on the Mount

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is inviting us into God’s perspective. When we get God’s perspectve on something, we find His rest. His peace. There becomes no room for worry. Anxiety is not welcome in that place of rest. Remember the blessing of His Shalom.

1. Kingdom Perspective

The Sermon on the Mount is about God’s kingdom and God’s ways. 

The laws and ways of God’s heavenly kingdom are very different from the laws and ways of man living on earth. Interestingly, Jesus uses the Law (that God gave to Israel) as the standard of man’s earthly laws and ways. 

Mathew 5:38, 39

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ (Jesus is quoting a Levitical law from the Torah) But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also (Matthew 5:38, 39).  

Jesus is saying, There is an earthly justice system (man’s way), and then there is a heavenly justice system (God’s way). Let’s talk about the heavenly justice system.  Here’s how it all works in God’s kingdom…

2.  Take It Personally

This sermon was not for the crowds and multitudes. 

I always pictured Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount to the multitudes. I mean, it’s called the Sermon on the Mount. So of course, Jesus must be standing on a mountain to be heard by the multitudes, because he is outside without a microphone, after all. And it is a sermon, right?

Matthew 4:25

The multitudes sought after Jesus because of his fame and because He had performed miracles, healed sickness and disease, and cast out demons. And in fact, this is what was happening at the end of Matthew chapter 4. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan (Matthew 4:25). 

Matthew 5:1

The very next verse, (Matthew 5:1), begins this way: And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit…’ 

Jesus’ words apply to His followers. It was not to the multitudes that Jesus was speaking. It was to His disciples—although more than just the inner circle of 12, as Jesus had many other followers. But He was speaking to those who had chosen to follow Him. He was revealing the ways of God’s kingdom to them. God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom—above earthly things, earthly disputes, earthly problems. He is inviting them, and us, to begin to live with our hearts and minds set on a kingdom that cannot be seen with our eyes, but is discovered and understood by our spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

When we choose to follow Jesus, God’s kingdom way becomes personal, and His loving care and provision is promised us. 

3. Understand How Much God Values You and Me

Jesus talks about God’s love and tenderness toward us and the immense value He places on each one of His children.

Matthew 6:32

Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ Or ‘What shall we drink?’ Or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things (Matthew 6:32).

Luke 12:6, 7

Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:6,7).

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26).

The Greek word used for ‘value’ in these verses is diapherō which also means “to bear or carry through any place; to carry in different directions, to different places; of people who are carried hither and thither in a ship, driven to and fro.” 

This is such a great picture of how God cares for us. Because He values us, He also carries us through this life. He is the strong, safe ship, bearing us up, carrying us ‘in different directions, to different places…hither and thither,’ safely across the waves. 

There is a tenderness in the way Jesus describes God’s care, both for the birds and the flowers and for us, His children. As He speaks of ‘your heavenly Father’ again and again, He keeps reminding us that the Father’s loving heart is constantly tuned in and aware of us and of our needs.

4. Recognize and Release Control

When my children were very small, I sat and shared one day with my mentor that I was struggling with ongoing thoughts of worst-case-scenarios and tragic things that could happen to my kids. These thoughts were coming up often. And because of it, I was feeling a lot of anxiety. And here’s what she told me that really helped me, she said, “Yeah, I had those thoughts too when my kids were little, but what helped me stop having them, was when I came to the realization that I had absolutely no control.” 

Could our worry and anxiety be connected to a need for control? It can make all the difference just to admit it and release it. In reality, we are not, and have never been, “in control.”

Colossians 1:17

Do we erroneously believe that we are holding our own world together by our skill, smarts and elbow grease? We are not. He alone sustains the life of every living thing and He holds us in His Hands. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).

One Thing Is Needed

Luke 10:38-42

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ 

And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her’ (Luke 10:38-42). 

Good Things Are Still Not The One Thing

Martha was serving Jesus! But even her service was considered a distraction. Jesus calls her by name—Martha, Martha—Jesus laid out what was really going on… You are worried and troubled about many things. I can just hear Him sometimes saying my name… Chalis, Chalis… you are worried and troubled about many things. Does He ever call your name that way? And can you hear that love in His voice? 

One thing is needed, He tells Martha with so much love. One Thing.

When King David, who had ‘chosen the good part’ like Mary, wrote about his One Thing, his words demonstrated rest and faith in God’s love and care for him. And if there was any man who had reason to worry or to be anxious, it was David. But he knew that God was with him and protecting him through every trouble.

Psalm 27:4

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:4).

Times of trouble are really times of being hidden in God’s pavilion. Times of trouble invite us into times of intimacy with Him. In times of trouble, He hides us in the secret place with Himself. Times of trouble are opportunities for God to show us His ways. In times of trouble, we experience His love and protection, as we witness the ways that He lifts us up and sets us high upon a rock. 

Prayer

Lord, give us eyes to see the way you see. We ask for eyes that see from a kingdom perspective. We believe and cling to your promises, Lord! Thank you for your loving care and constant provision. Let us be like Mary. We want to ‘chose the good part’ and learn to sit at Your feet, even though we often struggle with being worried and troubled over many things. Lead us beside Your still waters, restore our souls.  Hide us in the secret place with You, and reveal to us where our worries and anxieties are rooted. Teach us how to live at rest in knowing and believing that You will always make provision for our needs—even our spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.  

Heart Matters

1. Have you been dealing with worry or anxiety? Journal about anything that comes to mind as you consider this question. Then write a letter to God, telling Him how you are feeling, your concerns, fears and any anxious thoughts. 
2. In Luke 12:32 Jesus says, Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). If we are a part of the Father’s little flock, then He is our Good Shepherd. Read Psalm 23 (written by David) and take notice of the imagery He uses.  Meditate on all that God as our Shepherd has for us as we choose to sit at His feet. 
3. Read Psalm 27. If you are in a season that you might describe as a ‘time of trouble,’ pray and inquire of the Lord about the secret place that David writes about in verse 5.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how He is hiding you in the secret place, and to give you insight into what this season is meant to be about for you. The Holy Spirit loves to minister to us in the secret place, because when nobody is around except Him, we can be unreservedly candid. It is in this place that He often reveals to us the ‘truth in the inward parts,’ David writes about in Psalm 51:6, things we had not known even of our own hearts, things we would not realize or understand in any other way but in the secret place with Him. 

Psalm 139:23

Search me O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23). 

 

Love,

Chalis