WE WERE IN Africa. Prisoners were dancing. The pounding rhythm created (continued)
4. May a Christian Worry?
Why, therefore should we do ourselves this wrong, Or others—that we are not always strong, That we are ever overborne with care, That we should ever weak and heartless be, Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, And joy and strength and courage are with Thee.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are indications of how wise we are. We think we see the dangers of life clearly. In reality, however, our fears are only an indication of how wicked we really are.
As Charles G. Trumbull says:
Worry is sin; a black, murderous, God-defying, Christ-rejecting sin; worry about anything, at any time whatever. We will never know victory over worry and anxiety until we begin to treat it as sin. For such it is. It is a deep-seated distrust of the Father, who assures us again and again that even the falling sparrow is in His tender care.
The words fear not occur many times in the Bible. The Word of God has no suggestions; only commandments. So if we fear and worry, we are being disobedient, and disobedience is always a sin.
The only way blunders and destruction can occur in our lives is when we forget to trust God. When we take things into our own unskilled hands, we get everything knotted and tangled.
Worry is utterly useless. It never serves a good purpose. It brings no good results. One cannot think or see clearly when worrying. Let pagans worry, if they will, but we must not, for we have a living Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His conquering power. His victory can be our victory. Life at best is brief, and there is so much to be accomplished. If we must burn ourselves out, let us burn out for God.
In this age of increasing pace, it is so easy to follow the crowd and let materialism become our god. But if we do, only too often we find that worry and tension become our masters. The effects of tension are seen in all spheres of life. Tension leads to inefficiency and frayed nerves with our fellow workers and students. In politics, it leads to strain in international relations and fears of war. In the home, tension leads to irritability with our husband or wife, destroying the very thing God meant to be perfect.
For with people who are not content, worry has a fair chance. Paul writes: "T have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be. I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of facing either plenty or poverty. I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me" (Philippians 4:11-13 PHILLIPS).
Lonely Contentment
I have never been so poor as the time that I was in solitary confinement. How difficult it was to learn to be content. But Paul wrote once, while in prison, that we are God's workmanship. I experienced the same. The lessons were difficult, but the Teacher was so powerful. The Lord was my all-sufficiency. I wrote home: "The Lord Jesus is everything to me. He never leaves me alone. I concentrate on the Saviour. With Him there is certainty, with the other things, only uncertainty and delayed hope, which hurts the heart. Once I asked to be freed, but the Lord said, 'My grace is sufficient for you.'" . That brought my thoughts to Paul. He had to learn a lesson. Three times he asked the Lord to take away the thorn in the flesh (see 2 Corinthians 12:8). Then he got this answer: God's grace was sufficient for him. That was true for Paul and it was true for me. In a way I knew that there was a danger that the joy I felt and my security in Him would lose some of their power when I was free; when the securities of the world would once again be a comfortable foundation to rest upon.
When the Lord gives you the ability, through His grace, to accept the situation, that contentment can help you to get rid of your worry, whatever happens. But could I ever accept being a prisoner alone in a cell? I surely could not, but Paul told about all grace, always, in all things (see Corinthians 9:8).
Once when I was in the cell; I heard the bolt on the outside of my door being undone. A guard opened the door and commanded, "Follow me!" I was being called
JESUS IS VICTOR
out to be questioned. It was the first time I had left the cell during that lonely imprisonment. Yes, lonely—night and day I was alone. First we had to go through long corridors with cell doors on both sides, then through a door which opened onto the outside. I breathed deeply. I was in a courtyard. The walk was almost too short to the small barracks where people were questioned. I looked up to the sky, then around me, and then down and saw blades of grass and some tiny white flowers. The little flower "Shepherd's purse" was growing between the bricks used to pave the courtyard.
When the guard who accompanied me looked the other way, I quickly bent down and picked some of those little flowers and hid them inside my dress. When back in my cell, I took a broken medicine bottle, arranged my bouquet, and put it behind my cup so that the guards could not see it when they looked through the peephole in my door. That tiny bouquet was my garden, and I enjoyed it as the only nice thing in my cell.
I was ready to accept my little bouquet of six blades of grass and three little flowers as my garden because of Him who was in me, and I could say then with Paul, "... I look upon everything as loss compared with the overwhelming gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I did in fact suffer the loss of everything, but I considered it mere garbage compared with being able to win Christ" (Philippians 3:8 PHILLIPS).
Demon Influence
When we are worrying, we are not trusting. Yet we who have burdens and responsibilities are inclined to worry. Again, it is so important that we recognize the enemy. Worry and depression are sister and brother. I want to tell you about something that I experienced—a time when the influence of depression was practically nationwide.
After I was released from the German concentration camp, I returned to Holland until the war was over. Then God told me to go back to Germany, to carry the good news of Christ's victory over fear and guilt. When J arrived in Germany, however, I found the people in great confusion. Many German people had beloved relatives missing. Were they still in Russian concentration camps? Had they died in battle or in the horrible bombings? This uncertainty drove many people to desperation.
Many of these people were turning to the fortune-tellers to find their answers. While the evil spirits, working through the fortune-tellers, often gave just enough accurate information to keep the people coming back, something else also happened. Many of those who visited the fortune-tellers later developed horrible fears, depression, and anxiety. Their hearts, it seemed, were always in the gloom of darkness. They often had the urge to commit suicide. I immediately recognized this as sure evidence of demon influence.
Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path" (John 8:12). Even if a child of God has visited a fortune-teller and come under demon influence, he does not have to remain in darkness. He can be set free.
Realizing this, I began speaking against the sins of the occult. It was the occult that was putting people in bondage, causing them to break down mentally and spiritually. I often read Deuteronomy 18:10-13 to point out how these sins are an abomination in the sight of God. Instead of depending on God's power, the people were rushing to the enemy for help. And as we know, the enemy is a liar, whose very purpose is to deceive people and lead them away from the truth.
I showed the German Christians how Jesus Christ has provided an answer to this serious problem. Satan is not the Victor, Jesus is. And even if the people had invited the demons in, Christ could overcome that. They did not have to live with their depression or fear any more. They had to be set free. I was able to say to them: . [God] gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins, and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. In this way God took away Satan's power to accuse you of sin, and God openly displayed to the whole world Christ's triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.
Colossians 2:13-15
In the Old Testament there is an interesting story of the lost axhead. A son of the prophets had been chopping wood, and his axhead had fallen into the Jordan
River. Since it was a borrowed ax, he was worried and afraid. He ran to Elisha for help. Elisha sent him back to the place where he had made his mistake, so the miracle of restoration could happen. The axhead floated to the surface, the young man grabbed it and replaced it on the handle (see 2 Kings 6:1-6).
Just so, you need to go back to the place where you opened the door of your life to the influence of the spirit of worry. Where did the fear enter? What was it that caused you to start worrying? Remember, the spirit of fear does not come from God. Instead, God gives us power and love and a sound mind (see 2 Timothy 1:7). Therefore, you need to ask the Lord Jesus to close the door that you opened.
How is this done? First you need to recognize that you have sinned. Most fear, anxiety, and worry come through the sin of not trusting God.
Second, confession is necessary. Face yourself. Tell God. And then, if possible, confess to someone close to you. When all of this is done, you may then claim the precious promises for cleansing. You will instantly be freed from the bondage of Satan.
Worry is a demon—fear of demons comes from demons themselves. As children of God, we have nothing to fear. He who is with us is much stronger than he who is against us. "And he asked them, 'Why were you so fearful? Don't you even yet have confidence in me?'" (Mark 4:40.)
"The seed among the thorns represents those who listen and believe God's words but whose faith afterwards is choked out by worry and riches and the responsibilities and pleasures of life..." (Luke 8:14).
May we worry? We have a whole Bible as our guide, Jesus Christ as our living Saviour who loves us, and heaven as our future!
From My Notebook
Worry is an old man with bended head, Carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead.
Worry means two enemies—the thing you worry about and the worry!
Why don't we try something lighter than worry? Worrying people are like tightrope walkers going over a rope from the past to the future. They balance between hope and fear. In one hand they carry a sack with the undigested past, in the other hand a sack with the anticipated future.
The heart lays aside its fears amid the accumulated blessings of our heavenly
Father. Worries pass away like cloudlets in the warmth of a summer's morning.
Yesterday He helped me, Today He did the same. How long will this continue? Forever, praise His name.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 kjv
FEAR IS THE atmosphere of worry. Nothing weakens us as much as fear. On the other hand, nothing weakens the tempter as much as a quiet, bold, steady fearlessness. Satan cannot operate in the atmosphere of trust.
Oh, but fear and worry can talk so wisely! You may often think they are right, but fear is often a stupid blunder. Once I worked for a month in Los Angeles during a flu epidemic. One morning my secretary woke up with a bad headache, and I feared that she had the flu.
"Girl, please stay in bed. I have to go to a college to speak at nine o'clock, but I will go alone," I told her. Once I was outside, I felt a headache myself. My eyes felt so strange. I knew that headaches and eye problems were sometimes symptoms of the flu, and I worried all the way to the college. I had so much work to do—I didn't have time for the flu!
Once at the college, I opened my Bible to begin my talk and found that I could not read even one letter! Fear whispered, "You have the flu in your eyes." I was not sure that was possible, but I listened to my fear. What would I do if I could not read? I need to prepare for my talks and to study the Bible, if Iam to speak about the Lord. Could I go back to my former trade of watchmaking? Impossible! I would need my eyes more for that than for any other trade.
I know that I did not give a happy talk that morning, for when worry and fear are on the throne, you are not an open channel for streams of living water. It is impossible to listen to the Lord's voice while listening to your own fear. Fear is so loud, so insistent, so time-consuming!
Near the end of my talk, my secretary came quietly into the room and sat down in the back row of the auditorium. When I finished my talk and the students left, I went to her. "Why didn't you stay in bed, when you had such a headache?"
"Oh, I am not ill. My headache is gone," she answered.
"All right, but it could have been the beginning of the flu. You should have stayed home and started answering the letters that I gave you."
"That's why I came. I couldn't work, because you havemy glasses!" Both our glasses had exactly the same frame, but far different lenses! We both laughed at our mistake. My flu had gone. So had my headache. Once we traded glasses, I could read perfectly, and I was ashamed to have listened to my silly, blundering fear all morning.
Trust the Vine
Anxiety, fear, and worry are the result of our unwillingness to trust God. To worry is the same as saying to God, "I don't believe You." Do you fear for your finances? Are you afraid you won't be able to feed or shelter your loved ones? Do you lie awake and fear your fears? Listen to what God says!
"Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall" (Psalms 55:22).
"And it is he [God] who will supply all your needs from his riches in glory, because of what Christ Jesus has done for us" (Philippians 4:19).
"Stay away from the love of money, be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, 'I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.' That is why we can say without any doubt or fear, 'The Lord is my Helper and I am not afraid of anything that mere man can do to me'" (Hebrews 13:5, 6).
Remember when Jesus told the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15? He said the secret to abundant living is in staying attached to the vine. An unattached branch has something to fear. Not only can it not produce fruit, but it will be burned in the fire. But an attached branch has no fears. All it has to do is nestle close to the vine, and the vine does all the work, sending its sap through the branch and producing luscious grapes. It is not the branch that produces the grapes, it is the vine.
"But if you stay in me and obey my commands, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce bountiful harvests. This brings great glory to my Father" (John 15:7, 8).
Fear does not take away the grief of yesterday, nor does it solve the problems of tomorrow. All it does is rob you of the power of today. Rather than wind up ona psychiatrist's couch or an undertaker's slab, do what God tells you. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. He will add everything else you need.
Fear or Victory?
There are many people who don't realize that fear is the enemy. When the fight is on and blows are being exchanged, fear is a sure element of defeat. Fear sucks the spirit out of one's fighting, takes the nerve out of one's courage, robs vim and zest from one's action. But this is always a false fear, because it tells us the enemy is stronger than we are. That is not true! We know that Jesus is Victor, and a fear that tells us otherwise is false.
When you become a child of God, you are a target for the enemy, and he will do his utmost to tell you that you are crazy. Sometimes you think that you are not a Christian when you have trouble, but I should very much doubt whether you are a Christian at all if you did not have trouble.
The whole of the New Testament and the history of the Church shows that when we are children of God, we are in a fight of faith. Not having any troubles in your life is therefore far from being a good sign. It is indeed a serious sign that there is something radically wrong. There is a special reason for my saying that, because we are special objects of the attention of the enemy. Why not have problems when it is God's way to bless you!
"... count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2 kjv). That is the way your faith is proved. The devil cannot rob us of our salvation, thank God! But he can make us miserable. He can fill us with his false fear.
It is the tempter who knows real fear. His fear is founded on fact and experience. He has met One greater and stronger than himself. Satan is afraid of his Victor. He knows what it means to be thwarted and resisted, beaten back steadily and driven clear off the battleground. There has been a man upon the earth whom Satan fears—whom he can neither trust nor resist—Jesus Christ. He learned to fear Him in Nazareth and in the wilderness. Jesus' absolute, steady obedience to the Father beat Satan. Even the storm on Galilee's blue waters, so unusually violent that it frightened the experienced sailors, failed to touch Jesus with fear.
Fear is as common as sin. If we could be wholly free of fear, we would have stronger bodies, minds, spirits, faith, courage, and power. The tempter continually plays on our sense of fear. For instance, people's fear of being in personal want is holding back huge amounts of money—money which could change the condition of the whole heathen world and move forward the date of Jesus' coming.
At our side there is always conflict with the tempter. Each of us must overcome or be overcome. Our victory comes through Jesus' victory, and we must fight in the strength of His victory. Throw out your self-seeking spirit—it allows Satan a free hand to do as he chooses. Yield to the Holy Spirit. He will burn out your self-spirit.
Men as Trees Walking
In his book Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cure, Dr. D. Martyn LloydJones wrote about the great importance of living as rich as we are in Jesus Christ.
If all Christians simply began to function as the New Testament would have us do, there would be no problem of evangelism. It is because we are failing as Christian people in our daily lives and witness that the Church counts for so little and so few are attracted to God. So for that most urgent reason alone, it behooves us to deal with this question.
We are like the man who was blind and healed, but still saw men as trees walking (see Mark 8:22-26). Yes, we have received the healing touch from Jesus—we were born again the moment we asked Him to come into our hearts—but people around us are not envious to receive the same. This is simply because we do not behave like happy, fearless people. We have unlimited riches through the promises of the Bible and the presence of the Lord in our hearts, but we still see men as trees walking.
Jesus asked the blind man, "Can you see?"
The man answered, "Not quite one hundred percent, Lord." How good it was that he told the Lord! Jesus gave him another touch of healing, and his eyesight was perfect. I am sure that even if Jesus had not asked him, the man would have told the Lord the problem and been satisfied.
So, if your sight is still only partial, tell the Lord, "Thank You, Lord, for what You did, for what You gave me—but I need more."
For Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6 kjv). He did not tell the blind man, "Try hard to see." The man had only to ask, and it was given to him.
You and I must ask Jesus to do the job through His Holy Spirit. He is the One who makes our eyes to see. "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..." (Galatians 5:22, 23).
We are often too content with a partial healing. I had an experience of liberation from resentment some time ago. Some friends, fine Christian people, had done something really mean against me, and I had forgiven them. That is what I thought.
A friend asked me how the situation was, but I told him, "I don't want to talk about it. I have forgiven it."
"T understand that," he answered, "but I should like to know what they think about it."
"Oh, they take it easy. They simply say that they have never done it. Perhaps they forget that I have everything in black and white, in the letters which they wrote to me at that time."
My friend looked at me and waited a moment. Then be said: "Where are your sins? You told us in your talk this morning that when we confess our sins, God casts them into the depths of the sea and you even believe that there is a sign saying No Fishing Allowed. But the sins of your friends you have in black and white.
'Lord, I pray that You will give Corrie the grace to burn all the black and white of the sins of others today as a sweet-smelling sacrifice before she goes to bed.'"
I surely did, and how well I slept that night. Now when I meet these people, I enjoy a peace that makes our friendship an unusual joy.
No, it was not easy. As a matter of fact, I needed the Lord just as much as when I had to forgive the people who had been cruel to my family. Forgiving is a hard job. But in 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paul tells us that there is always grace, sufficient for everything. The Holy Spirit taught me a prayer that always helps me, "Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You brought into my heart God's love through the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Father, that Your love in me is stronger than my resentment" (see Romans 5:5).
No compromise. The Lord is willing and able to give us clear sight. When worry gets static, it becomes depression. When unforgiveness is healed, there is a liberation that makes the enemy run.
Have you the black and white of the sins of others? Burn them today. Together with the Lord, you can.
Children of the Light
One time, artists were invited to paint a picture of peace. The pictures were many and varied, but the winner depicted a little bird sitting calmly on her nest, which was built on a slender branch overhanging Niagara Falls. The peace of the little bird did not depend on her surroundings. And so it is with us. As Christians, our peace of heart and freedom from fear do not depend on our circumstances, but on our trust in God. Fear is want of faith.
Being a Christian does not mean there is no more battle. It means we have a strategic point of attack in the battle. The battle position of the Christian is victory, joy, and abundance. The Lord expects us to do no more than welcome His assistance. The doors of heaven are open. If I hold on to feelings that prevent me from living under an open heaven, then it is no wonder J am fearful and depressed.
A great note of joy and victory is sounded in the book of Philippians—a book, incidentally, written from prison. Here Paul says: Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6, 7
It is God's intention that we live as children of the light. He wants us to be strong, free, peaceful, and happy. This was the secret Nehemiah learned when he was tempted to come down from the wall he was building around the city of Jerusalem. On every side there were worries and fears, but he grasped God's truth and sang, "The joy of the Lord is my strength" (see Nehemiah 8:10).
Now I have a very practical tip for you. Take good notice of all the blessings He gives and all those He has given in your past. As the old hymn says, "Count your many blessings, count them one by one, and it will surprise you, what the Lord has done."
Faith came singing into my room, And other guests took flight.
Grief, anxiety, fear and gloom, Sped out into the night.
I wondered that such peace could be, But Faith said gently, "Don't you see, That they can never live with me?"
ELIZABETH CHENEY
From My Notebook
THERE IS AN aggressiveness of love that is fearless. Fear is cowardly. Faith is aggressive, like love and goodness are aggressive. Satan is aggressive in evil, but Jesus is more aggressive in love.
Jesus Christ knows no fear, and He expects you to fear nothing while He is with you. When we confess His lordship and our hearts fully agree, then we turn our lives over into His care. That is the end of worry and fear and the beginning of faith.
Worry is double-parking on the avenue of anxiety.
— Christ = + fear
Christ = — fear
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
The folly of being anxious about the near future is just as stupid as worrying about what will happen about a thousand years hence. We have to live in the present moment, because we can do nothing about the past, and God is doing everything about the future.
GEORGE MACDONALD
God has made me put my heel on the neck of worry, of weakness, of fear, of inability, and I stand and declare that whosoever believes in Jesus shall not be put to shame.