Cure for the Culture

I've seen a popular post going around social media right now, and it's not the first time this particular post has resurfaced. It says, "loving Jesus doesn't cure..." and you can fill in a number of struggles that our society is facing today.

Every time I see this post or something similar to it, my heart just breaks. My heart breaks for the person that is facing anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, PTSD, or whatever burden that they may be carrying. To that person, first and foremost, even if you don't read any further, I want you to know that there's a God in Heaven that loves you more than you can even comprehend.

If you're still reading, there's something you should know about me. I struggled for a long time with anxiety. At the time, I just thought it was stress. My life was changing in so many ways, going from high school to college, and what I was experiencing seemed to be the norm. Sadly, anxiety has become the norm, especially in college. The world had put so much pressure on me. I was so empty, and I felt the crushing weight of my life on my shoulders. I had nothing left to give, yet I still kept pushing. I pushed through school, through my friendships, through my relationship, through ministry. I kept going because I didn't realize that the burden I was carrying was breaking me.

In the midst of one of my lowest seasons, I attended a Christian retreat weekend with my campus ministry. One of the guest speakers offered a workshop: "15 Ways to Deal With Anxiety." In a room full of sixty or more college students, most likely all dealing with anxiety in some way, this speaker said that God does not heal you from anxiety, He only helps you learn how to manage it.

Deep down in my spirit, I didn't want to believe that. I mean, was that really going to be my life? Was I going to have to battle this forever?

I felt so defeated. Even though what that speaker said didn't really seem right to me, what else was I supposed to believe? So, I just gave up and accepted my anxiety. I even embraced it. I told people that I was an anxious person as if I was telling them "I am anxiety." I laughed about it, I joked about it, yet all the while, it was crippling me from the inside, out. From there, the darkness just kept growing around me, and my anxiety started affecting every area of my life.

That was about when Covid-19 hit, and my world continued to spiral out of control. I struggled to finish my schoolwork, which was now all online. I wasted away most of my days in front of the t.v. by myself. I couldn't see anyone or do anything. Isolation was not a healthy place for me. I began to feel numb to everything in my life.

What I felt like was the lowest point in my life, now I can look back and be grateful for that point because it was in rock bottom that I finally looked up. I was at the end of myself, and that's right where I needed to be. When I looked up, I saw Jesus, and I found hope.

The moment that I finally realized that I could do nothing else was followed my many more moments that God said, "I can."

A life verse for me in that season was Exodus 14:14 that says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." The interesting thing about this verse is that it had been a life verse for me for years before I actually understood how it applied to me.

You've probably heard this story a hundred times before, but let me just give you the context of the situation. So, the Israelites have just been delivered from slavery in Egypt. God sent Moses time after time to demand that Pharoah "let my people go." Finally, Pharoah consents after many plagues have tortured the Egyptians, and he even orders them to leave. But as soon as Moses leads the Israelites into the wilderness, Pharoah decides that it was a bad idea, and he goes after them with a large army. When the Israelites see Pharoah's army coming, they panic. They ask God why He would deliver them from Egypt just to let them die in the wilderness. They cry out, wishing they could just return to slavery in Egypt. Moses tells them not to fear. "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still," he says.

Might I add, this was the moment right before God parted the Red Sea...

Anxiety is kind of like quick sand. The more you panic, the worse it gets. Though there was so much chaos, so many responsibilities, so many obligations, so much noise going on around me, all God was asking me to do was to be still and let Him fight for me. That's why the Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). When I finally came to a point of giving up, I was really in a perfect position to surrender control to the only One who is big enough to be in control.

It wasn't a one time thing. It wasn't an immediate change. But it was a season of healing and restoration! They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and I feel like that's pretty true. When I set my gaze upon Him, I gave Him access to fight the battle warring within me. I kept my eyes fixed on Jesus, and He ministered to my soul. He's the One that did all of the fighting within me, and even though my external situation didn't really change at all, my heart experienced true peace for the first time in years.

It was not an easy season. God took me down a long road of self-reflection and repentance. I realized that I had been holding on so tightly to my own plans for my life. I had taken the control, and when things were too big for me to handle, I crumbled every time. I realized that my anxiety was rooted in my own distrust in God. I didn't trust Him to lead my life, and trust was something that I had to learn from scratch in that season.

It took me choosing to set my mind on Him each and every day until one day, I was able to look back and realize that I was no longer under the bondage of anxiety. I found freedom and rest in His faithful hands. My heart was healed, and it was all because of Him.

My healing was not a result of my own fighting. My healing was a result of surrender.

I've always wanted to go back to that speaker who said that God doesn't heal and tell him that he was mistaken, and I thank God that he was wrong!

I know God has given me this testimony to share as a hope for someone who might now be where I once was. To that person, whoever you are, please know that there is hope. There is life more abundant and free. There is a cure, and God is bigger and stronger than any stronghold you're facing.

If you're still here, just know that I'm not pointing a finger or judging anyone for the battles they face. I still face anxious thoughts, but I am no longer a slave to anxiety. How can you truly overcome anxiety? Let's dwell on the word together:

1 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Anxiety is different than stress. Anxiety is a state of being. While stress is temporary and conditional, anxiety is a sickness of the heart. Similarly, sadness is temporary and conditional, but depression is a state of being. Opposingly, happiness is temporary and conditional, but joy is a state of being. I hope you see the connection I'm trying to make here.

Everything starts in the mind, in your thoughts...stress, sadness, happiness. Whatever you are allowing your mind to dwell on will affect the heart, whether good or bad. Your mind is the gateway to your heart, and you are the gatekeeper.

2 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every though captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The first verse describes the reality behind what we are facing. You are not fighting a battle against your body. The Bible says that we are facing spiritual warfare, and this especially includes the battle of our minds.

We cannot win a spiritual battle with physical weapons. There is no medicine, no doctor, no friend, or anything in this earthly realm that can fix the root of whatever it is that you are facing. Just like this earth, those things are only temporary. They may help reduce the stress or the sadness temporarily, but they can never cure your heart. Only God can truly heal you from the wounds of the enemy.

The second verse is something that I struggled to understand for much of my life. I always thought that if something came across my mind, I couldn't do anything about it. If intrusive thoughts made their way in, I dwelled on them as if they had freedom to be there.

Once I realized that as a child of God, I had the power to control my thoughts, the game changed. When the enemy attacks your thoughts, you have the authority to let it in or kick it out. Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ means comparing your thoughts to the truth of the word. If it doesn't line up with the truth, it doesn't belong in your mind. I fight those thoughts by rebuking any thought from the enemy out loud with the truth of the word.

3 "Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2

It is so important to focus on the truth of the word. If I am focused on the worries of the world, then that's the seed I'm sowing into my heart. If I am focused on the problems or overwhelming responsibilities around me, then that's what I'm sowing into my heart. When I'm focused on the storm around me, that's when my heart becomes anxious.

Setting your mind on things above means setting your mind on God. When your mind is set on God, you are feeding your heart the only thing that it truly needs...the one thing it was created for.

4 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

We are commanded to not be anxious...for any reason. I've heard many people in modern Christian culture quote this verse and begin by saying, "this verse isn't talking about medically diagnosed anxiety..." However, the truth of the word boldly proclaims to be anxious for nothing.

I know that there are chemical imbalances that can happen in the body, but to that I question, what is causing that imbalance? Going back to truth number two, our battle is not of the flesh. There is nothing in this physical realm that stands idle to the spiritual war going on around us.

How can we not be anxious? Well, it won't be easy, and we definitely won't ever be perfect at it. But thankfully, the word follows up this command with a way to follow the command. We fight our battles through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, making our requests known to God! When we do this, we use our spiritual weapons, we give the battles over to God, and He fights the battle for us.

How will you know that you've truly overcome anxiety? The second half of the verse says that the peace of God will be evident in your life. This peace is undeniable, unbelievable, and doesn't make sense in a chaotic world. This peace is much deeper than contentment. Contentment is the temporary and conditional. Peace is a state of being, so when your heart experiences the peace of God, you know that anxiety no longer has a hold on you. Anxiety is the absence of peace, so the presence of peace is the absence of anxiety.

The most comforting thing about this verse is that the peace of God will guard us...both our hearts and our minds! He gives us peace to stand guard within us and to protect us from the worries of the world.

5 "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” John 8:31-32

If you are seeking God and setting your mind on Him, don't become discouraged if you don't experience change right away. Fruit takes time to cultivate!

When Jesus says to "abide," He is saying to dwell on these things, which means to be consistent, diligent, steady. To abide or to dwell literally means to live in. Living in the word leads you to know the truth. When you know the truth in your mind, you are sowing the truth in your heart, and the truth will set you free. You will experience freedom...freedom from anxiety, freedom from depression, and freedom from all bondage of the enemy!

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I pray over the person reading this. My hope is that you feel encouraged and empowered through the testimony that God has given me and the truth that we can depend on in His word. I pray that you find hope in the midst of the battle. I know there are so many voices saying that there's no cure, but I can promise you that there is. If Jesus was strong enough to defeat death, I know that He is strong enough to overcome any attack of the enemy in your life.

Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). He came to take your burdens so that you wouldn't have to bear them. He came so that we could have an abundant life in Him, and that looks like freedom from the chains of this world.

The culture is saying, "there's no cure." But God is saying, "I AM, and I will fight for you."