23-04-26 - ‘Do Not Fear: Surrendering Anxiety to God’

In this message from the Midweek Church Service, Reverend Hayley Ace speaks directly into the fear and anxiety many people face amid troubling world events, rising antisemitism, political uncertainty, family pressures, and personal struggles.

Drawing from Isaiah 41, the Psalms, and Job 11, Hayley reminds listeners that God repeatedly calls His people not to fear because He is with them, strengthens them, and upholds them. She explains that anxiety is often rooted in fear, but Scripture gives believers a pathway of trust: preparing the heart, stretching out our hands to God, repenting of sin, and refusing to let evil dwell in our lives or homes.

The message offers practical encouragement to begin each day in surrender, committing our ways to the Lord rather than only praying for requests. Hayley challenges listeners to meditate on Job 11:13–19 throughout the week, choosing not to be ruled by fear but to trust God’s control, goodness, and presence.

The sermon closes with the promise that as believers devote themselves to the Lord, acknowledge their need, and surrender their worries to Him, His shalom and peace can guard and fill their lives.

Listeners can watch the full Midweek Church Service live every Thursday at 7pm on Revelation TV.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Well, it is a joy to be able to bring the word to you this week. I really enjoy listening to Tim. I think he's such an amazing preacher. But what God's put on my heart to share with you is all around fear and anxiety. And I know that some of you have written in previously to talk about some struggles that you've had in that area. There is a lot going on in the world. And if you spend time on social media or watching the news or just listening to other people, we could almost be fearful and anxious all day long. Because you look at politics, it seems worrying. You look at what's going on with Iran and the Strait of what is it? Hermot of Humus. Homous. And you know, our energy prices are going to be, you know, look out for the great blackout and the use of EPCs and war. And there is so much. Not to mention the explosion in anti-Semitism. Another synagogue was firebombed in the last week since we last met. And it was Kenton Synagogue, where I actually went recently and spoke and just gave an encouragement and said, you know, remember who you are as the Jewish people. You are the descendants of Caleb. And remember that they put their faith in Yahweh and trusted him. And, you know, there is a lot going on, and there's a lot that can naturally, even in our own lives, as parents to children that range from 22 down to 10. 22. Oh yeah. Yeah. Ethan is going to be um 22. You know, it's um it's hard. It's hard being a parent, it's hard watching your children when they suffer, when maybe they get bullied, when they go through their own challenges. And it's worrying. I think as soon as you have a child, you start worrying about them from the moment you give birth. And the thing is, God tells us not to worry. And I was just Googling to see how much is fear the root of anxiety. And it said, according to the statistics, fear is the major component of anxiety, and it is often the underlying condition for driving anxiety, and it's fear of the clear and present danger, but also perceived danger. And the uh last statistics that they did on mental health was in 2023 to 2024. It said 20%, 20.2 actually, to be accurate, of adults in England reported suffering from anxiety or depression. That's a lot of people, isn't it? Among young people is 25.8%. So even higher. So that's one in six adults will suffer from anxiety, as in medically, they will be on medication, and 1.4 youth. So if this is just about the medication, can you imagine how many more people are suffering from anxiety? Yeah, wow. And if we know that fear is the component, the root emotion of anxiety, it seems obvious to me to look at the root and say, right, we've got a problem with fear. And don't think that because you follow after God, um, it doesn't automatically mean you won't get anxious because there are certain things we have to do to put into practice so that we don't let fear dominate our lives. I've got a couple of verses I'd like to share. Um, Isaiah 41 um says this, fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. It reminds me of being a parent when our kids have been anxious. And I just say, Well, don't be anxious because God is with you, so don't be. And so many times throughout the scriptures, God tells us, do not be afraid, do not be afraid. And I'm gonna share with you after a couple of mess uh sermon, what are these called? I've just I've got a memory. Scriptures. Thank you. My producer just had to tell me scriptures. Please pray for my menopause out there, ladies, with the rain fog. Um, I'm gonna share a couple more scriptures and then the anecdote for um fear and anxiety, because I don't want any of you suffering from that. And this is what I tell myself when I feel worried and concerned about things. So Psalm 27, 1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And then again in Psalm, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? I think that's such a key one, isn't it? And that's a key one for those I feel it's you know, those are worried who are worried about war and who are worried about what's going on in Israel at the moment, you know, our God He does not sleep or slumber, he loves his people, he loves Israel, and he doesn't sleep or slumber. And so we can trust him, can't we? What can man do to us when we have God on our side? So this is the anecdote, and this is what I want to share with you. And it's inspired from antidote, sorry. Antidote, thank you. You can't say esophagus, and I can't say anchor. There we go. We're a perfect pair. Job 11, uh, verses 13 to 15 says this if you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hand toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish, you will be secure and will not fear. You will forget your misery, you will remember it as waters that have passed away, and your life will be brighter than the noonday, its darkness will be like the morning, and you will feel secure because there is hope. You will look around and take your rest in security. So if we can just go back, can we go back to uh Job 11, 13 to 15? Can we go there? So it kind of brings up, just wanted to pull out three things that God says instructions that he gives us. Um and if we do these three things, I feel like the the advantages that he gives us, there's about eight of them. And I personally read the NIV, and it's laid out a bit differently in the NIV. So if you're an NIV reader as well, I'd encourage you to read this scripture and in fact print this scripture out, which will be on our Instagram page. I'll do that this week because this is so incredible. Um it talks about this. This is what God is saying. If you prepare your heart, you'll stretch out and stretch out your hand towards him. So he's saying, prepare your heart by stretching out your hand towards him. If iniquity is in your hand, if iniquity in the other versions it's talking about um sin, and if you repent of your sin, if you seek him in prayer, and if you submit to him, then he will give you a face without blemish, secure and not fear. Can I read it out of the NIV as well? Just to give the give people the I'm gonna give you the difference of the NIV version. I'm not I don't know if I'd normally do this to our producer will probably be telling me in my ear that I can't, but I want you to hear it in the different version as well. Thank you. Job 1113. Job 11, 13 to 15. It says this yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then free of fault, you will lift up your face, you will stand firm and without fear. So it's saying, all you need to do to not have fear is devote your heart to him, stretch out your hand to him, put away the sin that is in your heart, which means repenting daily of the sin, coming to him daily, and not allowing evil to dwell in your heart and in your house and in your home. Then, because you'll be free of fault and you can lift up your face and stand firm without fear. And then it goes on and says, if you do that, you will surely forget your trouble, and you'll recall it only as water's gone by. Aye, you know, when the waters flowed past you, it's gone. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure because there is hope. You will look about and take your rest in safety, and you will lie down, no one will make you afraid. I think that is just such an encouraging verse. And this is something that I would really encourage you to meditate in your own time. It's so challenging to bring a message that has so much about um what we would like to normally go into on a Sunday morning, but in 10 minutes, I'm not very good at this. My husband is amazing at bringing it together as a short, short thing. But I would say this week, this is my challenge to you, and if I invite you to get involved, if you would like to, is to write this down from Job, Job 11, 13. You could even go verses 13 to 19 and let it prompt you as every day you wake up and you say, Lord, I surrender to you, I surrender to your will for my life, I love you. Um, pray as you wake up in the morning, not just four things, but actually commit your ways to the Lord and then see what He does. Acknowledge your sins daily, daily, carry the cross, and the shalom of God will enrich your life. And I really feel that if you all and all of us devote ourselves this week to doing this, if it's not something you normally do, then why not try doing this? Putting all of your surrender to God, which means yes, the world feels mad, yes, things are scary, yes, there are situations maybe in your life with your health, with your children, with your church, with your family, with your work. I don't know what you're going through, but no doubt there will be a reason for you to worry because there naturally is. But let's for this week say, actually, I'm choosing not to worry. I'm choosing to surrender to you, God. You are in control. You tell me in this book. 325 times it says, do not fear, be strong and courageous, or thereabouts, those sorts of words. There are 325 days in a year, so it's he's saying for every day, do not fear. And if you come to him in prayer and you give your life to him in that way, acknowledging that you are, we are all flawed and broken, he will bring shalom and peace to us.