God is desperately searching for you as much as you are looking for Him, “But how can I worship God with a clear heart when I’m worried and anxious about so many things?!”
God knows what you need and draws you to Himself so that you seek after Him. He wants to calm your anxious heart and He wants for you to get to know Him. You want God to know that your soul yearns for Him, “…my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Ps. 82:4). And He wants you to know that “the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23)
As Christians who love the Lord, we are keenly aware of the importance of worshiping with our whole hearts, minds, and souls. We find, however, that there are often emotional issues that encumber us in our ability to worship God more fully.
We have each experienced the myriad of stresses life throws at us. These can lead us to form self-defeating strongholds of fear and anxiety. We will see, however, that we don’t have to live subject to stressful emotions, and that these feelings can be overcome with help from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
God is specially looking for true worshipers…
John 4:23 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”
Yes, we love God! And yes, we want to worship Him! But we are too frequently bothered by worries and anxieties that creep into our minds. When we are emotionally distressed, we are unable to focus and cannot worship the Father as He wants us to.
If we are to worship God with our whole hearts, minds, and souls, how can we do so when uncomfortable emotions disturb our minds and stress our hearts?
In this series, we will look more closely at how the emotions of fear, anxiety, and worry can each be overcome by the Word of God. We’ll then look at the spiritual weapons granted to us by God, to specifically conquer such troubling emotions. Finally, we’ll look at the action steps we can take to put these weapons to work in our lives on a daily basis, and defeat negative emotions.
To assist you in overcoming debilitating emotions, I want to clearly define three of them that each of us frequently encounter. Doing so will enable you to more quickly identify and accurately analyze what you are feeling.
- Fear – is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or is threatening. It has to do with something specific or tangible: “I’m afraid the icy roads will cause me to get into an accident.” “I’m afraid the neighbor’s dog will hurt my children.”
- Anxiety – is a feeling of nervousness or unease, typically about something with an uncertain outcome. It is a vague feeling about something that might happen: “What if my house is broken into?” “What if I get cancer when I’m older?”
- Worry – to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles; tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances: “My boss wants the report early, and I can’t sleep worrying about how to finish it.” “Our taxes are due soon and I’m worried we won’t have enough money saved to pay them.”
In this month’s blog series, I’ll help you better understand three very powerful weapons God has made available to you, to counteract negative emotions that attempt to disturb our lives. Those weapons are peace, love, and faith. I refer to them as weapons because they are explosive forces of positivity that can be used to destroy the negative emotions that come to destroy you.
We will also see that God’s Word reveals the necessary steps to take whenever we feel the pressures of negative emotions, by implementing prayer, gratitude, and faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Phil 4:6
God is not seeking worried, fretful worshipers. He is looking for those who worship Him in Spirit and in His Truth. He enables us to overcome the things of the world like tormenting emotions, that are detrimental to our well-being and hinder us from fully worshiping our Lord.
It is God’s deep desire for such true and special worshipers to be found. Are you ready to be found?
James E. Ward Jr. is a pastor, author, and entrepreneur who speaks nationally and internationally on cultural and spiritual issues. James is pastor and founder of INSIGHT Church in the north Chicago suburb of Skokie, IL.
