Are you believing a lie?

There is a part of our mind that goes into a panic mode without us even having to think about something. That part of our mind needs the help of the other parts of our brain to not always being in the panic mode. We panic because of the amygdala, but we can get control over panicked thoughts because the prefrontal cortex can bring reason into the situation. There is always a 'trigger' with any form of panic, anxiety, or fear. Our minds can go do the 'panic highway' and take us to the point of being overwhelmed by the thing we are keeping on our minds the most. If it is on our mind - remember it is in God's heart. He wants our mind's burdens to be given to him, so he can restore our minds to a place of peacefulness.

Finally, my brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things. Do what you have learned or received or heard from me. Follow my example. The God who gives peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

It is the peace of God that guards our minds. The brain can continually be renewed - we don't have to always think the same way we have a tendency to think. We can change the way we think through a very powerful technique we refer to as 'prayer'. Prayer actually changes the neural responses of our brains in a positive manner. If we want peace to reign in our lives, we might need a little more time in prayer allowing our brains to be changed and renewed. Anxiety is the result of a racing, irrational amount of thought on some issue. The part of our brain that causes this panic response is 'taking over' all the emotions we can muster.

Worry is saying we don't trust God. We perseverate over the thought we make the most dominant and we begin to question if God will actually help us out of the predicament we are in. We choose to place our trust in God by an act of our brains - we begin to think upon the holy nature of God, the true and pure things. We stop thinking about the things that damage the spirit, embracing the things that bring life and peace to our spirit. We take every thought - allowing our irrational part of our brains captive - by choosing intentionally to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts.

Worry is taking back the thing we gave to God. Our God is too small and our worries are too big. So we think we have to hold onto those worries because we have trouble trusting God to take care of those worries. We need a bigger God - it is time to change the way we think about God. Prayer can do a lot to change the way we think about him - the way we trust him. We begin to share our cares in our prayers. That wasn't just a catchy slogan to live by - it was truth! Let those worries out of your mind - stop trusting in them and start trusting in God to take care of those cares. 

Worries are irrational - we invest an irrational amount of time and energy into those things that are really not worth the investment. We lay those worries down in prayer. Peace is the replacement of our worries with God's presence. We need to let our worries be swallowed up in his peace - it begins in prayer, grows in prayer, and is rooted in prayer. Trust God - because of who he is, his nature of love and grace, and his promises of goodness toward his children. It may not come immediately - worry is likely a lifetime problem for us, but whenever we share those worries in even short prayers, we are allowing our thoughts to be changed about those things that worry us the most. 

Take control of your worries - this is a lie we have been told. God takes control of our worries as we lay them down in prayer. Then we take truth into our lives in place of our worry. We allow our minds to be filled with the newness of his peace. Worry is gradually displaced because we are growing closer to Jesus each day. We are being changed (renewed) and his peace becomes the dominant thought in place of those repetitive thoughts of worry and panic. Peace isn't us taking control of worry - it is us giving our worries to the one who will take control of them and deal with them once and for all. Just sayin!

Be at peace

So many today are exhibiting some 'social behavior' that is contrary to what I'd have to call 'trust'. Look at the shelves in your local grocer and you will find it is almost impossible to buy even the 'thin and cheap' kind of toilet paper! The hoarding of toilet paper is very real thing - if you don't believe me, look on Amazon right now to see how many brands are sold out with a 30 day 'expected delivery' date on them! The panic is real - somehow making it impossible to purchase basic necessities - but creating havoc for those who might actually have trusted there would be cold medicine on the shelf when they awoke feeling a little punk this morning! Workplaces are shutting down, meetings are being cancelled, and you know there must be significant panic if the national and professional sporting events all cancel their season! God has a message for those who are panic-driven: "Be still, listen, and trust in me. I am your shield, your protector, and your provision."

We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. Romans 8:28

The virus is real. The illness can and has claimed lives (so has cancer, car accidents, faulty wiring, and overeating). There are 'right' and 'wrong' things we can, and certainly must do to reduce the likelihood of the spread. Panic is not one of those things! Panic buying is not one, either. You don't need to steal the hand sanitizer out of hospital lobbies, nor do you need to grab fistfuls of face masks from their dispensers. What you likely need to do more of is use good old soap and water to wash your hands, cover your sneezes and coughs, and be diligent to stay home if you are ill yourself. Reason should not go out the door just because a new strain of the flu manifests! God didn't stop being God just because a new virus emerges! You and I did not stop being under his protection just because the Governor, President, or world leader declared a 'state of emergency'.

Do you know what panic does? It causes us to limit our perspective - giving us a form of 'tunnel vision'. We only see what we focus on the most - we only trust what we focus on the most, too! Focus on God and panic isn't a very practical response to life's difficulties or uncertainties. Focus on the uncertainty and your mind can get carried away in all kinds of imaginary scenarios of 'what if's'. The more we panic, the less we listen. The greater our inability to listen well, the more we allow the scenario of fear to continue. Whether it is a virus we fear, or the loss of a job, relationship, or financial well-being, God wants us to remember the way out of fear is also the way into trust. If we focus on his Word, his presence, and his will, we find we enter into his peace. Remember - panic is an 'unreasoning terror' that we feel. Reason leaves us and is replaced with all manner of emotional upheaval. This is not the way God wants his kids to live - be at peace my friends. Just resting in him!

The empty roll

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 

(Philippians 4:19 NLT)

If you have ever been in the bathroom, looked over at the toilet paper holder, then suddenly come to the realization someone used the last of the white stuff long before your arrival, you know that moment of panic that what you "need" is not at hand! I can recount this one time that my youngest grandson went off to use the facilities and then he just never came back - for a long, long time. When we went to look in on him, my older grandson found him crying fitfully. When he asked why, the simple answer came to light - there wasn't enough toilet paper to finish the job and he didn't know what to do - where to look or who to ask. 

At that moment, the greatest need he had was for just a few more sheets and there were none on the roll. Needless to say, he had no clue there were three extra rolls immediately under the counter in the cabinet! He could only see what was right in front of him, not ever thinking someone would have "prepared" for this very need. We are sometimes like that in much bigger issues in life - only able to see what is right in front of us and not ever thinking the need may have already been supplied.

Our "supply" often gets overshadowed by the "need" we perceive and the "immediacy" by which our supply is at hand. We often don't "go looking" for what we have need of simply because we expected it to be where we always found it in the past. When our supply isn't immediately at hand - in the familiar places we always go to find that need met - we almost panic. Panic has a way of shutting us down to the possibilities that are just outside of those "normal" places we look, though. Panic drives us inward, counting on nothing more than we can calculate or figure out on our own. The issue with panic is that it cuts us off from the supply that has already been prepared in God's foreknowledge of what it is we would need at this very moment.

God isn't going to leave us a breadcrumb trail to our every supply, but he does give us general "patterns" by which he supplies our every need. For example, he reveals some things to us through the simplicity of his Word made alive when we open the Bible and just seek an answer therein. He also sends gentle winds to cause a change in our course just enough to point us in the right direction on occasion. When we don't get the subtle promptings, he might send bigger ones that really get our attention - like an immediate downturn in the market that affects our investments and gets us to look beyond what we are able to accomplish in our own efforts.

The first step to having a need met is to acknowledge we have the need. This is often the hardest steps because it often requires us being humble enough to ask. My grandson didn't want me to discover him sitting in need of some wiping material - he was just at that awkward age of not wanting his grandma to see him without being clothed. So, he sat in worry and anxious panic - thinking he'd never be able to figure this one out. He didn't so much mind it when his older brother came along - which is why I sent him to find out the whereabouts of my little buddy. I knew he needed something, but I didn't want to intrude unless he asked. God isn't going to "intrude" in our lives, but he often sends someone or something into it to open the door to the need being met.

We learn to look beyond our immediate needs being met when we are challenged a little to "look beyond". We can see so much here and now, but until the need becomes urgent and the door is opened for us we don't discover the bounty of what has been "laid up" for our "future need". God might just challenge us now and again with an empty roll, not because he doesn't care about our need, but to help us look beyond what has been our common "go to" to have our need met. Just sayin!