Everyday Kingdom

77. Escaping Spiritual Anxiety

• Kingdom Life Church

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In this episode, Kaleb and Miriam discuss living from the default of spiritual peace and not anxiety. And how it will interpret everything you encounter.

SPEAKER_02

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Everyday Kingdom podcast. My name is Miriam, and I'm here with Pastor Kayla Blay today, and I'm so excited. Yay!

unknown

Yay!

SPEAKER_00

We're missing Raphael today. We are. He uh took a trip up to Beach Grove and he's on his way back, but we were on a time crunch today, so he is going to be joining us next time. Sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so today you only get me and Miriam.

SPEAKER_02

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

Yay fun.

SPEAKER_02

Two voices instead of three.

SPEAKER_00

And we have a topic today that we have been discussing over the past few days. Uh, and it has to do with our spiritual default. And I had posed a question to Miriam uh a few days back and was just because I was thinking about, you know, you and I could have the same uh dream or the same prophetic word or the same some type of uh spiritual encounter, but we could interpret it very differently. Uh and and what we were talking about was you know, is your spiritual default a default of peace or is it a default of anxiety? Because that really makes it like that really matters.

SPEAKER_02

It absolutely does because your response to that is either gonna be out of fear or love.

SPEAKER_00

Right. A hundred percent. And and and that's the thing that you know we were talking about, say uh I have a dream that one day I have a dream, and if my spiritual default is anxiety, then I end up interpreting that whole dream anxiously and from fear, and then on top of that, my body responds to it with fight or flight, my nervous system responds to it with fight or flight, versus someone who has a default of peace could have the same dream and could actually be able to do something with it that is filled with the Spirit of God and peaceful because they're not interpreting it from a lens of anxiety.

SPEAKER_02

And you say that, and I'm sitting here thinking, okay, when I have this dream or or whatever this vision or or whatever this thing comes to me, am I filtering it through myself or am I taking it straight to him?

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

You know, and saying, Father, you showed this to me, or or I think this might have some significance. What is this?

SPEAKER_00

Right. Right. And and it's and that's I think that's the thing too, is it's because if you if if your spiritual default is anxiety, you begin to get worked up about things and it can be the smallest thing, you know, that maybe God's trying to show you or tell you, uh, and and it becomes a really, really big thing in your mind. Yeah, you blow it completely out of the way. You blow it up, you build it up in your mind, and then you get worked up about it, and then what ends up happening, what we see all the time, is because you get worked up about it, now all of a sudden you become paralyzed and you don't know what to do, and you can't you're not gonna move you don't move forward with it because you're scared, but because you blew it up into something massive. You know. Uh just to give an maybe a an easier simple example, say there was someone in your life uh who uh did something wrong to you, and there was an offense that took place and or hurt that took place and and you were dealing with it, wrestling with it in your heart, and and uh God gave you a dream. And in that dream, uh it was uh about uh birds and the birds were were vultures, okay. Those vultures were um eating the dead carcass of something, right? That's a very vague picture, right? But you wake up out of it, and all of a sudden, because your spiritual default is anxiety, you begin to take it down a road of, oh my god, am I gonna die?

SPEAKER_02

Are they gonna be am I gonna be devoured?

SPEAKER_00

Am I going to be devoured? And and so you start taking this, you start taking it, and then you begin to work it up. What do I need to fix? How do I need to and and you start going down this road of anxiety when say you're it was a default of peace, right? Say your your spiritual uh life was a a peace default, you wake up from that and you see and you realize that the vultures were eating something that was dead. Is there something in my life that is dead that needs to be i i is is is the way that I'm living right now, is there something that needs to be addressed in my life? Like, God show me, is there something that that is is being you know eaten on uh right now, or is it and and then and then maybe that's when he's like, okay, you know, you've got some bitterness going on, you're harboring some offense and it's eating you up inside.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And you're like, whoa, and now all of a sudden you have a picture of what offense looks like. Offense is like the vultures eating you up, you know, and and so it it's like, whoa, wait a second. So it it like really the the the way in which your uh spiritual life is your what your default is really affects how you walk out your life with Christ.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and and I'm thinking about it too. You you're saying because we're talking about spiritual, right? So oftentimes when the spiritual response is agitated and stress-filled and anxiety filled. If you hold it up before you, I always make it as simple as possible. Yeah. If I hold it up before me and I think anxiety or peace, okay, which one of those is a fruit of the spirit? Right. It's peace.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02

So the evidence of the spirit in my life is the fruit, right? Yeah. So the evidence of me walking by the spirit should be love, joy, peace, patience. Right, because anything that's counter to that, even though it might be my default or what I'm used to, or that stirring me up and getting me high on that spiritual emotion, yeah, it's not of the spirit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, and uh you gotta think about it. The reason that most people are anxious, like why do people get anxious? They get anxious because they're afraid. Ultimately, like at the core of it, it's because you're afraid. Um, and and most of the time, in order to um release that anxiety from their life, they need to understand what's going on. Like they need to have some semblance of control and understanding. Right. And so uh but the thing about peace is that you know, peace is not the reward for figuring everything out. Right. P peace is the like you said, it's the atmosphere of a life in Christ. It's the s it's the fruit of life in Christ. It's the it's the essence of who he is. He like he is the prince of peace. And so, you know, as I saturate myself with Christ and in Christ and I live from my union in him, that peace is what flows out of my life. But if I'm living from the space of I've got to have everything figured out, and I have to in order to control it, in order to be at peace, yeah, then I'm actually living from an anxious state. You know, I I I was thinking about this the other day too. I was thinking you see, um, a friend of mine posted uh about you know the scriptures, how you know, in the scripture it says fear not 365 times, right? And uh which is fear is the antithesis of love. And God is love. And I was thinking, you know, perfect love casts out all fear. And I was thinking about that, and I was thinking about how anytime there was some type of angelic visit or visitation in scripture, you see the angel, the first heralding thing they say is fear not, like don't be afraid. Right. And and I just thought that was interesting because to me it says that the default of most of humanity is fear. Right? The default response is fear. But in response to things we don't understand, in response to specifically in response to things that we do not understand, and that's very natural. Like I'm not saying that as if it's like what's your problem? Why don't you what what I what I'm saying is that the natural default response of of humans is to be afraid of the things they don't know, they don't understand. It's the same when you encounter a people group that you don't know, or a bug that you don't know, or a food that you don't know. Like there's there's an anxiety that that wants to well up inside of you. But then what I thought was, okay, I understand that. And then I thought, what about Jesus? You know, did would do you hear an angel come to Jesus and saying, fear not Jesus? Or or or is Jesus already in a space of like that's not a that's not an issue?

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And I thought if that's how Jesus lives his life, and I am in Christ, then I get to live my life that way too. And I don't have to be afraid. You don't even have to tell me to not be afraid.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Because I I I I'm shifting the my my lens of interpretation from all of the things that I'm encountering and I'm experiencing. I'm shifting that lens of interpretation uh to be able to filter it through the lens of Christ. And and so, and that's the that's the truth of all of it. Before you have emotion, you have interpretation. Right? Like we visually, we will see we see things and we interpret it, and then emotion follows up. Uh it doesn't just emotion doesn't just happen. Yeah. Right. And so what happens is we see it, we process it, we interpret it, and then emotion will follow. So what would happen if the lens with which we interpret things is the lens of Christ?

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

You know, that I I don't need, I don't need the fear not because I'm living unafraid. Right. Why? Because I've been perfected in love and love, perfect love casts out all that fear.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

I know that I'm protected, I know that I'm kept, and and I know that even if there are things that I don't understand, I don't have to understand them in order to control them and have peace. Right. Because I know who holds my heart, I know who holds me and who holds the universe, who spoke me into existence. Right. You know, and so and I can I can let my heart and my mind be at peace and at rest in that because I know he's got me no matter what. So I can encounter things that might appear as though they're frightening or scary, but I don't have to be afraid because the lens with which I interpret it is through the lens of Christ.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What would happen if that became our our natural default? You know, how how how how would you experience life then? Like how differently would you experience life then? How how much more how how much bolder would you be? How much chiller would you be?

SPEAKER_02

You know, chiller, like I was thinking about because you're talking about anxious anxiety and being like worked up. I was about conspiracy theories just now.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And you think about everybody that you know, and you know how I am because I can be very much well, that's the resident conspiracy theorists. Yes, I'm the resident, but and I own that, that's fine. But at the same time, like what I saw was somebody like with the red threadboard and they're pointing out like, and this connects to this and this, and and you because you were talking about proving right how this connects to this, it connects to this, connects to this. Why do we have to know all those details? Yeah, and so I even though like my natural tendency is like I suspect everything, and you know, everything's going to hell in a handbasket, you know, whatever, at the same time, I'm not gonna be all stirred up and even researching that because the fruit of that is just more anxiety. And it's and it's just stirring me up to get me like, well, I have to prove this and prove that and prove that to what end? Right. So rather than just say, Father, I'm turning this over to you and trusting in you and walking in that faith that I have, yeah, and I'll receive your peace.

SPEAKER_00

I think there's a significant difference between conviction and suspicion. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like those are two different things.

SPEAKER_00

And the Holy Spirit convicts us.

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00

But but it's not suspicious of us. Like, and that's and that's how he lives. And I think uh a lot of times what'll happen is people will use and they what they'll do is they'll put spiritual language to suspicion. Yeah. And they'll call it discernment.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and they'll be like, okay, you know, I'm I'm discerning. And really, you're not discerning anything, you're just being suspicious of something or someone. And and there's like there's a difference between the two because conviction, conviction of the Holy Spirit, uh like fear is not the source of discernment. Right? Right. And I think that that's what happens with anxiety and and suspicion is that it becomes this twisted element that becomes the source of what we would call conviction or discernment. When when in fact it's, you know, the scriptures talk about uh love and wisdom and the spirit of God. Like that's the that's the source, it ties in those things when it's talking about things like discernment, right? And and so when you have um anxiety and suspicion, what that does is oftentimes it will produce this very vague statement, and they'll call it, and it'll be called discernment, you know. And here's the thing, like this is how this is a way that you can tell if it's if it's anxiety or if it's uh the spirit of God. The spirit of God is very direct, it deals with problems, it it cuts straight through, right? Right to the problem, right to what it is. It's like you're dealing with bitterness, right? Boom, cuts right straight to bitterness, right? But anxiety, if it if it's anxiety driven, it's gonna be very vague and it's gonna be um it's like it's like the feeling of uh you're missing something and something wrong is gonna happen if you don't get it right.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Well, and our imaginations just take it to a whole other place, right?

SPEAKER_00

That's not discernment, that's anxiety and suspicion, that's not conviction. That that is that it all that is is is an anxious um heart that is trying to be spiritual. But what happens is if you grow up in an in an environment that is spiritually anxious, you begin to misinterpret anxiety for spiritual discernment. Right. You begin to misinterpret it for um wisdom. And and so then the feelings that you start to get, you you associate that with spiritual things when when in fact it's actually anxiety and that's and it's not from the Lord. No, and so then you get off and you get wonky on things and you start then going and prophesying to people and you start talking to them about stuff and it's vague and it's not it's not direct convicting, right? It is not because it's not of the spirit of God. And all it brings is confusion, and all it ends up brings division, right, and more anxiety, right? Anxiety begets anxiety. That's just what ends up happening is it when when you when you are anxious and you're part of an anxious culture, because that's all you've been taught, yeah, until you encounter peace, it will just continue over and over to uh multiply itself.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely, and it and it it clings to you.

SPEAKER_00

It's what enforces all of your understanding and and it like it becomes the lens with which you interpret society and life.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, because you can even like encounter peace and be around a peaceful atmosphere and you notice the difference. Yeah. And you're like, wow, why am I feeling so much lighter in this? And then it almost the that anxiety because I mean it will just try to suck you back in. You know what I'm saying? And so every time you go back to it, it just feeds that what is it? They say there's two wolves inside me or whatever there's and the one is the hunger, and the one is the, you know, and whatever you feed is what grows.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and that's I mean, and that's literally the choice that we have been given. Uh but before you life and death, choose life. Yes, you know, it's like it, it's it's it's the same exact type of scenario that these are things that you are going to encounter, which you're going to choose to interpret your life through the lens of the finished work of Jesus, or are you still working for stuff? Right. Is it not actually complete?

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Which then produces even more anxiety, which then is like, I've got to do something about this.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, and so and and and and then it's like when you have someone who's super anxious, and that's the culture that they've grown up in, then when they get around someone who's not, they're they get more anxious often. Yes. Because they're like, why aren't you worked up about this? Right. Why is why doesn't this matter to you? Right. And they misinterpreted it.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

They misinterpreted their anxiety for caring when it's like the other person may care uh actually more than you do, but they're instead of instead of letting the the appearance of lack be what then drives their motivation, they see they take it to the Lord who they know there is no lack and in whom there is no lack. That's right, and they choose to trust that he is gonna work this situation out. And so I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get all my to to use a an earthly term, get my panties in a wad uh about what's going on spiritually. Right. Because I know that God is certain sorting this stuff out and that he can work all things together for good. And I trust him. And so I'm gonna rela relax and release all of those things and not let anxiety become the thing that drives me. I'm to be anxious about nothing. That's right. And so instead of being anxious about it, and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, let everything else be taken care of. That's all the types of physical needs. I'm gonna go before the Lord, I'm gonna present myself with thanksgiving, with gratitude and gratefulness. I mean, like in prayer and supplication. Like, think about what that verse is saying to you. It's saying that the lens with which you're interpreting what you're seeing gets to be shifted because you've chosen to posture yourself in a place of gratitude, which is humility, yes, and prayer, which is humility. It's I don't have the solution to this. I'm praying, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's not saying that I've got the answers, and so I okay, now we're good. And that's what the majority of people are looking for. It's like, give me the answer so I can be good. So I don't know. It's like, no, you are the answer, so I am good. Right. Like, let that be the the reshaping of our perspective. Like, Father, help us to have the proper lens with which to interpret life.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, and if it's not the lens of Christ, then it's a distorted lens, and you will get distorted images and you will live a distorted life. And that's what will end up happening. But if we can have this lens, like Paul says, to keep our eyes on him, that as I behold him with unveiled face, I'm being transformed. Yes. Like as I can see him very clearly with this lens that I've been given now, which is Christ, the lens is Christ. You know, because the old covenant veiled Father, it veiled God, and it and so we saw through a glass dark. We thought he looked like this, but he actually looks like this. And we know now what he looks like, what God is truly like, because we see him represented in the person of Jesus. So that is now the lens with which we get to interpret life because that's who he is, is resurrection and life. So we get to interpret our lives through him, how we live and move and have our being in him. Like this, it's literally it's all scripture. It makes so much sense and it comes together, but it all culminates at this point of I see very clearly because I have my eyes focused on him. And when I do that and I have the lens of Christ that is clear, then my life has changed. I don't have to live anxious about what's going on. I don't have to receive spiritual things with anxiety, I can receive them with peace.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I don't have to look with suspicion, I I I live from conviction. And it's the conviction of the Holy Spirit through peace and love and wisdom. Like this is how I choose to live.

unknown

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

You know, and so I I think one of the biggest questions maybe we get to ask ourselves is what story am I telling myself?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because that's the really that's the the what it ultimately boils down to at the end of the day is what story am I telling myself? You know, whenever I encounter Miriam and uh she seems like she's having a bad day. I have the opportunity to tell myself a story. What did I do?

SPEAKER_02

Right. I have an opportunity to make it about me.

SPEAKER_00

I have an opportunity to tell myself a story. What what did I do? Is she mad at me? What's going on? That's what an anxious person says all the time. You can have someone else that instead sees Miriam having a a bad day, and the story they tell themselves is Oh, I wonder what's going on in her life right now. You know, I w I wonder what's eating at her, I wonder what she's having to deal with, I wonder what she's experiencing right now. What story are you telling yourself? You know, and and and maybe just maybe the the picture of Christ gets our eyes off of us, off of self-centeredness, which is the root of every sin, and on to him and on to others. We begin to look at people with a different lens. We look at them with compassion. And instead of presuming and and making assumptions or, you know, being giving uh anxiety riddled suspicions about their life, we we peacefully ask the Lord what's going on. Right. And then we have a conversation that actually gets to the bottom of what they're dealing with in their heart and brings this peace into their life, which happens to be not only a fruit of the Spirit, but a pillar of the kingdom of God, righteousness, peace, and joy. And it's like that's that's the life with that that we are called to live and we were designed to live from, right? Because that's our life in Christ. So like as a as a believer, I don't have to live with this spiritual anxiety. I get to live from a place of spiritual peace.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And and and and maybe today if you're listening and and you know you've been wrestling with that, ask yourself that question. Ask what story am I telling myself? Am I telling myself that you know I don't have it all together and I gotta Figure it all out, and that's how I'm gonna have peace. Or am I telling myself that Jesus, what you have done is enough?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Who you are is enough.

SPEAKER_02

Your righteousness covers me.

SPEAKER_00

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02

And because of that, I can sit in peace, and then the joy flows. And that is living in the kingdom. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_00

Well, and it's and it's you know, the the the scriptures say you will know the truth.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And the truth will set you free. It's knowing it. It's not just the just the truth being the truth, isn't what sets us free. Right. It's us knowing it. Yeah. Making it. And so it's it's it's it becomes ours, and it's and that's what sets us free. Is that it's exactly what you said, like you are righteous, and I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Like that's who I get to be and who you've made me to be. And so now I get to live from that place with no fear. There's no fear in love.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

I get to live from that now. And this is how I choose to live my life because I know the truth.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I know the one true God and the Son whom he sent. And have been freed from all anxiety. That that's not a space. I I I just I I thought about that with just with Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

And thought, okay, what did he do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

The the the one spot that I could find where Jesus would have been anxious was when he was in the garden.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And he's and he's sweating blood. Like that's that's high pressure, you know, stuff. And yet when he was in the garden, what was his response? Because this is this is what we get to look to. Right. What was his response when he was filled with anxiety? His response was, nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. He goes and he talks to his father and he and he says, This is what's going on in my life. He presents what's happening, he presents how he's feeling. Right. He presents what he wants to do.

SPEAKER_02

Here's my will. Here's what I'd like to do.

SPEAKER_00

If it if you if you could make this happen, like if you if you could make this situation go away, that would be awesome.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want. Yeah. And what's beautiful about what happens next, like we see that that whole point and we think about the sweating blood and the high anxiety. What happens next, I think, is one of the most powerful points of scripture. It says the angels came and they ministered to him. Yeah. And and and I think that's the the the point for each one of us is that even in our you know most anxious moments, if we look to the example of Jesus, do what he did.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Live from that space, do what he did. Father is taking care of us. Yes, that's right. He takes care of us. Yes. And and and you know, maybe today you are in a a split a place of spiritual anxiety and and you need angels to minister to you. I would encourage you to take it before the Lord just like Jesus did.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, and ask him to to to reveal to you the story you've been telling yourself. Ask him to uh reveal to you the the truth of who he is and who you are in him. Yeah you know, and and watch how things begin to shift and your default goes from uh an atmosphere and an environment of anxiety to an environment of peace. Yeah. We were created to live from peace. Yep. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

unknown

Amen.

SPEAKER_00

And thank you for listening to the Everyday Kingdom podcast today with Caleb and Miriam. We hope you had a wonderful day and uh peace be with you.