Episode 6 anxiety

The speaker discusses the topic of anxiety and the importance of surrendering our burdens to God. They share personal experiences of dealing with anxiety and not seeking God's help, as well as the consequences of not doing so. The speaker emphasizes the need to rely on God and trust Him with our worries. They highlight Bible verses that encourage casting our anxieties on God and finding rest in Him. The speaker concludes by emphasizing our imperfections and the ongoing process of growth in our faith. They encourage listeners to give their problems to God and trust Him to handle them. I Believe He's Not Done Yet with Bill Naylan. Welcome everybody, this is Bill Naylan with I Believe He's Not Done Yet. And we, sorry we missed last week, but we have a good one today. This week is episode 6, entitled Anxiety. This week I want to talk about something each one of us deals with, and that's anxiety. So let's pray first. Father God, we thank you for giving us life. And we thank you for taking care of our needs and for the life we have. Help us to learn from your word today and be able to use it in each of our lives. Amen. In the bustling and often overwhelming pace of our life, it's easy to become burdened by worries over our responsibilities of family and work and the desire to be successful. Our spirit gets weak. We have heavy hearts. In Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, Jesus isn't talking about taking an afternoon nap. He is talking about giving a rest for our souls. Jesus is not just there for our troubles, but he can be our source of strength and renews our soul and refreshes our spirit. When we reach out to Jesus, it's important to bear our souls. Tell him all your troubles and surrender them to him. It's by faith that we can give him our burdens and receive grace and peace. He has the ability to guide us even when we are going through the most difficult times. I didn't post a podcast last week, one, because it was Resurrection Sunday, but also I was in a time of heavy burden. I had someone accuse me of wrongdoing that wasn't totally incorrect, but wasn't part correct. I got angry at the part I was innocent of. I also blamed an innocent person for possibly telling someone of what I did wrong. Yes, I'm being vague, but the point is, I was accused of multiple things, but only a few of them were true. And instead of praying and surrendering it to God, I let it anger and fester inside of me. Over a year ago, I realized that after a few trips I took, that I needed to go on anxiety medication. I would get so bummed up that it made me ill. Now, I'm not one to go on medication for long periods of time, but this actually helped me. Until last week, I was so upset at what he accused me of that I let it get to me. I didn't pray about it until later that night, but I was still wrongly accusing someone else for ratting on me. No, I didn't admit to the person who was my accuser that I was guilty of some of it. Instead, I gave them the silent treatment and would only talk about certain things. It wasn't for a couple days for me to confront the person who I wrongly accused of ratting on me. And of course, he didn't say anything. But I was so upset that it made me nauseous. For four days, I let it get to me. Finally, I prayed to God and went to the Word for help. Philippians 4 verse 7 says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. What did I do? The exact opposite. I should have said, yes, you're right, I did these things wrong, and I apologize for breaking the rules. I was angry not only at myself, but at God. Why was I mad at God? Because he allowed it to happen. Yes, that's dumb. And yes, I was wrong on that as well. 1 Peter 5 verse 7 says, Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. I shared on a previous podcast about my suicide thoughts when I was younger. Even though I was going to church and learning about how to live my life or the life I thought God wanted me to live, I was depressed. I liked this girl at church, and it didn't end well. Then I liked another girl from church, and she wasn't wanting to date anyone. At the same time, I was struggling with what career I wanted. So I went to this youth retreat with members of my church. I thought it would be good for me to get away from everything. But I was so depressed that one day I was sitting out on the dock and saw this rope swing and thought, Hey, I can hang myself from that, and I can end my misery. I was angry at me. I was angry at God. I was trying to get out of trouble with the law at the same time, and I was just overwhelmed by it all. I thought my way out was suicide. I sat staring at that rope for a long time, but I realized I couldn't do it because of the pain it would put on my family and friends if I committed suicide. What didn't I do? I didn't go to God with my issues. I didn't cast my burden on Him. God didn't want me to end my life, but He wants us to learn from our mistakes. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. Yes, yes, I know. Are you asking me to be happy I'm going through a rough time and want to commit suicide? No. What I'm telling you is like this last week. I didn't go to God and load my burdens on Him. In Matthew 11, it says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. God wants to give him our burdens. He doesn't want us to suffer. He's begging us to give it all over to him. And if we give it all to him, he promises that as we unload all our anxieties from deep down inside us, that he will guide us to rest in the embrace of God. Did I do that last week? No. Did I do that when I was contemplating suicide? No. Did you know in the U.S., we average 130 suicides per day or one every 10 minutes? In the time it takes to hear this podcast, two people may have committed suicide. What am I saying here? We need God. We must go to him and unload on him. In Luke 12, 22, it starts out saying, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, or what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than the birds? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do that, the very little thing. Why do you worry about the rest? What is Jesus saying here? Look at the birds. They don't work for their food. They're not tilling the soil, planting seeds, watering it, harvesting. They're not feeding the cows and milking them or slaughtering them for food. So why are we worried about it? If God can provide food for birds, won't he provide it for us? I know life is hard. I know because I deal with it along with you. I worry about my job. I worry about my mom's health or my brothers and sisters' health or what they are doing, if they are safe. I worry about driving to and from work, that I don't get in an accident or someone shoots at me. I worry about what I'm going to eat and how I'll buy food with what I make. Or I worry about the U.S. and the crap that's going on in the U.S. or in the whole world. Believe me, I get it, how we can be so overburdened. But what does God tell us? Give it all to him. Some years ago, I was laid off from a job I had for maybe 10 years. And a good friend, when I called him to share that I was laid off and worried how I was going to pay all my bills, he said, Bill, maybe this is a good thing. It will teach you something new. Just because one door closes doesn't mean another door will open. Did you just say it was good I was laid off? My point is that God is asking us to give over all our troubles, all our worries, all our issues, all our problems, all that we have that we are burdened with and give it to him. God is there for us. He loves us. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be prosperous. It breaks my heart because I'm sure yours is broken. When you hear the troubles others go through and you want to help them. When you see someone that's fallen, you want to run over and see if they need help. Or you see someone crying and you want to console them. That's what God wants to do for us. He's there to console us. He's there to take our burdens, our anxieties. He gave us his only son to die on the cross for our sins. His son for the pain and agony of all our sins, past, present, and future. Jesus suffered for our sins. That's what God was willing to do for us so we could live forever with him in heaven. I know I'm not perfect. Far from it. I know I don't do everything God wants me to do, but I'm trying. Do I make mistakes? Yes. Do I always admit I make mistakes? No. Should I have prayed to God 40 years ago when I was contemplating suicide and given all my troubles to him? Should I have reached out to my minister or a family member about what was going on? Yes, I should have. Should I have not got angry when I was accused of doing something wrong last week? Yes. Should I have gotten on my knees and asked forgiveness for what I did wrong? Yes. Should I have wrongly accused someone of something? No, because I was doing the exact same thing that I was being accused of and angry about. We are not perfect, but I believe you and me are a work in progress. He is not done with us yet. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for allowing us to live on this earth. We admit we can't do it on our own, and we give over all our problems to you. Now, what I want you to do as we finish praying, I want you to lift your hands up like you have a load of laundry and turn your hands over and give it all to God. Think of that laundry, so to speak, as all your problems, and give it to him. God, I give you all my problems, everything I worry about, everything that concerns me, everything that scares me, every burden, I give to you right now. And I ask that you will shower me with peace, with the spirit of restfulness, and renew my spirit so I can serve you in the way you desire. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. And we all say, Amen. Thank you for a clean day. Bless you. That was I Believe He's Not Done Yet with Bill Nielsen. Thank you for listening.