Do you struggle with anxiety? Is it affecting your health in some way? If you’re a Christian, it’s important to understand the spiritual roots of anxiety. In this podcast, Father Deacon Don Purdum offers insights into the roots of anxiety in spiritual warfare and how to begin the process of overcoming it.
Transcript
[Music] Hey everyone, welcome to the full armor of God podcast, I’m your host, Father Don Purdum. You know a lot of us are dealing with anxiety. Some of us it’s slightly less than others
and some it’s very extreme. Since the pandemic the number one health issue in America is dealing with this issue, this restlessness, this stirring of the soul, the stress, the mayhem, the worry about what’s going to happen.
Of course the media loves to whip a lot of this up but at the end of the day what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen to my life? Am I going to lose my job? Am I going to be able to pay my bills? Am I going to lose my house? Am I going to continually fight with my spouse? Am I going to lose my marriage? My children, my children, my adult children are walking away from the faith. This is happening, that’s happening and it’s all coming so quickly. What am I going to do? Okay, first off let’s take a deep breath. Let’s talk about spiritual warfare and anxiety for a few minutes.
You know this podcast is titled The Full Armor of God and in episode one at the end of the episode we kind of went into Paul’s writings about what that meant and the full armor of God is part of spiritual warfare. It’s predominantly defensive tools and the one offensive tool that helps us in this battle.
But he says in verse 10 of chapter 6 finally be strongly the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Folks there is no greater scheme than anxiety. It is like I said the number one driver that immobilizes Christians today. We have fear of sharing the gospel because there could be a consequence. We have a fear of being who we are because of not being accepted.
When I say you know a fear of not being who we are as Christians because we might not be accepted. Where is this coming from? Well I want to talk for a second about your spirit. See scientists have been unable to tell us about how or where our mind comes from. Your thoughts how does your brain do that?
There’s not a physical thing that is your mind.
It’s an immaterial thing. Where did it come from? How did it get there? See your spirit is that part of you that is your mind. Your spirit indwells this body, this vessel for the short time on this earth. And your mind is very open and connected to the immaterial world. We just don’t always recognize it.
Paul talked about when he went into the heavens and he saw all the different levels of heaven. Well he saw this with his mind through his spirit. This immaterial part of us. And if we can open our mind or if our mind is susceptible to heavenly things it’s also just as susceptible to the schemes of the devil.
Doubt, worry, all of these things. It’s all connected together and the immaterial and the spiritual part of us. And so we have to really grasp with where is anxiety coming from? It’s just that little bit of thing in the back of your mind or in the forefront of your mind.
Maybe it’s a big thing that’s saying much as the devil tempted Adam and Eve, do you really believe that God is never going to leave you? Do you really believe he’ll never forsake you?
Do you really believe for just a moment that this omnipotent God who is in all places of time at one moment for a lack of a better expression? But this omnipotent God who is everywhere and at all time who’s already gone ahead of you who already knows how all of this is going to play out in your life. Do you really believe that that’s true?
I want to go to Joshua for just a minute. The book of Joshua, chapter 6, verse 1, there’s the wall, there’s a wall around Jericho.
If you’ve been to Bible study or you’ve been to Sunday school, you know about the wall of Jericho, right? See, under Moses, the people that had been in captivity for hundreds and hundreds of years in Egypt, God had finally set them free and was taking them to a land of milk and honey. And they had to wander in the desert because of their sin and they had to now relearn God.
And they’re coming through to receive this promise of the land that God told them they were going to get, but there was one obstacle standing in their way. It was this massive city with walls that was just huge. And God said to them that you are going to take down that wall and you are going to take down that city. And could you imagine what the what the people thought? This was not a military campaign.
We need to understand what’s really going on in Joshua because when the people start going around the walls, it’s the priest that are leading them, not the soldiers. But listen in chapter 6, what it says, “Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel. No one went in and no one came in. Or no one went out, excuse me, no one went out and no one came in.” The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and the valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling in the city once and you shall do so for six days.
Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets on rams horns before the ark. And he goes on and tells them what they’re to do is they go around the city and God tells Joshua, “Be courageous and be strong.”
Folks, God did not have to tell them to do this for six days. In the snap of a finger, God could have crumbled the walls of Jericho.
As much as Jericho is about the people of Jericho and the walls and the event, it was also about the Israelites.
It was about their faith.
Now what is the difference between living in faith and being paralyzed by anxiety? When you have anxiety that shuts you down, that’s not faith. I’m sure that there were some people, some soldiers that were going around the walls of Jericho day after day, after day that were anxious, that were wondering, “Why are we doing this?”
Because the test wasn’t about what God could do. It was about what the Israelites were willing to do.
It was all about faith.
See, when we take faith and we put it into action, something changes us, something in our spirit changes us. Getting rid of anxiety is knowing God. How well do you know Him? I don’t mean know about Him. We all know something about Him. We live in a culture that, you know, we watch Charlie Brown Christmas, we know about the Christmas message.
We know something about God, but do we know Him?
There are moments in Jesus’ ministry when when Jesus was told by a man that his daughter was dying, “I know you. I know you can do this, because I know who you are.”
See, if we want to be set free from all of this, we have to recognize the spiritual warfare that’s going on around us as Christians. We have to recognize that the things that are happening to us are happening for a reason.
And God knows. He knows it all.
There are no secrets with Him. But Satan, he wants to plant stuff in our mind. Does God really love you that much? Well, God really do this thing for you in your moment of desperation.
Has your checkbook goes upside down?
The mortgage payments behind the cars aren’t being paid.
You don’t have enough money to buy groceries.
Does God really love you enough that he’s really going to take care of you?
Those are the questions that in the back of your mind, in the recesses of your spirit are being asked. As that little devil sits on your shoulder and whispers sweeten nothings into your ear.
But faith. Oh, faith says, “I know you, God. I know you.
Be strong and be courageous. Know that I am God. Know that I am the one who knows all things about you and have set your feet before you. It is I who in the future will deliver you.
When we know all of this about God, we don’t have to worry. We don’t have to feel anxious. We know that God already has taken care of the problem. We just have to do what God’s asking us to do today.
But don’t live in fear.
Fear inhibits you, fear paralyzes you, fear keeps you from the kind of faith of knowing Jesus Christ. See, Jesus is so much bigger than all of our fears and all of our worries. And why does it take so long for us to get this?
Why does it take so many experiences?
Because just like the walls of Jericho, I believe that right now I am going through a moment in my life where I am going around the wall. I’m going around and around and around. And God is asking me to just have faith to keep going.
God didn’t ask me for the result.
He asked me for the faith to do what I needed to do to trust him.
See, the Bible tells us that we were not given a spirit of timidity and of fear, but one of power and strength.
Are we going to live in that power and strength?
Are we going to be that kind of testimony to the world about how big and great and good our God is? Or are we going to live in fear and let this moment, this fleeting passage of time paralyze us?
I don’t care what’s happening in your life right now.
God loved you so much that He gave up His life for you through His Son, Jesus Christ. And on that third day He was resurrected from the dead. And He ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father and all power, glory, and dominion.
He knows it all.
Your life is in His hands.
And back in Ephesians 6, were reminded in verse 12 for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It’s not. This body is not what we’re at war with. The people around us is not what we’re at war with. The physical things that make up this world that provide for our needs and sustain our bodies. This is not what we’re at war with.
We’re not at war with the government. Make feel like it sometimes, but we’re not. No, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
It is in those heavenly places that those with that wickedness talks to our sinful nature and tricks and deceives us. And it tricks and deceives us into believing all kinds of lies.
How do we protect against that?
By putting on the full armor of God.
One of those pieces is the human salvation and then the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We know God through three ways.
First we know God primarily through His word. The Bible tells us, the Apostle Paul tells us, that we have given all things we need for godliness and for proper living. Through His word, we have what we need.
Jesus said, “I am truth.” He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through me.”
Here’s the truth.
The truth is that God has called us to holiness. He’s called us to know him so well in His personhood that we can trust Him with every single thing in our life. Something bad happens to you. You got into a bad car accident. Well, that’s okay. God knew and God has got the plan to move forward, whatever that might be, even as you might be sitting in a hospital bed.
Whatever the worst thing is that you can imagine, God has already got it.
Why are we even allowing ourselves to go there?
When we have the glory of God and the goodness of God with us all of the time, everything that we need is here with us in Christ.
If you want to overcome anxiety, it’s right there in Ephesians 6; 18. When you put on the full armor of God, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit.
So you don’t have to always be saying prayers out loud. You don’t always have to be reading the liturgy of the church. Those two things are vitally important and the reason why they are important is because when you know God’s Word and you become intimate with the liturgical prayers, you have taught your mind, your spirit, how to pray in His Spirit.
Pray at all times in the Spirit.
Wherever you’re at, wherever you’re going.
Oh God, I am praying to you right now. In your soul, you are communing with the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Paul says, “And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”
See, we need the church. We need each other in the body of Christ to remind each other of these truths. No soldier goes into a battle by himself.
When they went around the walls of Jericho, the entire nation went around the walls, praying and praying and praying and doing what God said to do and to be bold and to be courageous, to not be fearful, but to be bold and be courageous. T
hat’s how we’re to live our lives brothers and sisters. We do that. We live that kind of life.
Our anxiety will begin to flee from us because we will see an experience and witness the power of God in our lives. We need the church. We need her sacraments. We need the sacraments of confession of our sins. We need the sacraments of marriage to keep us holy within that relationship and pure. We need the sacraments of the Eucharist so that Christ be with us. We need each other in the body of Christ.
No one goes into battle by themselves.
Who is praying for you right now?
Where are the saints around you? How many people know that you’re even struggling with something? Folks, if you need someone to pray with or you need someone to pray for you, go to my website at faithentrust.org and click on the link for prayers and fill out the form I will pray for you.
I will pray for you every single day. But find others to also pray with you and to pray for you. And you find people that you can pray for because when we’re united in prayer together, God hears our prayers. And the saints that have gone before us deliver up those prayers to the Father. And He hears them. And He answers them.
Brothers and sisters, you do not have to live an anxiety or fear.
Be bold and be courageous.
Just like that whole situation in Jericho is all about the Israelites. Your challenge is all about you. It’s all about your faith. It’s all about how deep are you willing to go and how much are you willing to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you really, really living that kind of life?
Because that’s the peace.
That’s the peace of God that surpasses all understanding right there.
I don’t understand where all the peace comes from all the time, but I know by faith it’s there. And I know that this omnipotent God has me in his future.
So if you know God, if you really know God, this omnipotent God who has gone ahead of you and has made your path straight, are you ready to trust Him by faith completely?
This is the key. This was the key to the walls of Jericho coming down.
And you have walls in your own life. What walls have you erected that by faith need to start tumbling down?
What path will you set straight to follow the Lord Jesus Christ to ensure that your faith is so rich and so deep that at any moment you can say no matter what trial you’re going through, what challenge that you’re faced with.
You can say, I know you. I know you. I know you. I know you.
And that with all prayer and petition, you’re praying at all times to the creator of the heavens and the earth, the person who made you so wonderfully and beautifully in the womb.
You weren’t made for worry. You weren’t made for anxiety. You were made for Christ.
He wants that relationship with you to be so deep that whatever trial you go through, like the priest going around the walls of Jericho, you will by faith trust him that he knows what is best for you.
All right, if you need a community to pray with you, if you need someone, please reach out to me. You can find me at faithentrust.org, that’s faithentrust.org. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Wednesday to this podcast. I’ll be talking about something practical, something relevant, something going on in the world, talking about spiritual warfare, and talking about the full armor of God. Put it on. Put it on. You won’t ever regret it. [Music]