The Love of God- A Remedy for Anxiety.

Today I'm going to discuss something that really is a key issue. You could say it's the remedy for anxiety and depression. And we're going to look at some scriptures about the love of God. This is so important for us to have great understanding of how much God loves us and cares for us. I'm going to start out today reading from John chapter 17, verses 20 through 23. And Jesus is praying a prayer here for his disciples, but he's also praying for those that would come after them. So that would include you and me. He says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that's us, that they all may be one as you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me and now notice this part and have loved them as you have loved me. You know, none of us probably has difficulty believing that the father really loves Jesus. You know, Jesus is his only begotten son. But I think most believers struggle with the concept that our heavenly father loves us just as much as he loves Jesus, his only begotten son. You know, that's kind of hard for us to wrap our heads around because we see our shortcomings. We see how many mistakes we've made in life. And we think that God's love for us is kind of like the love of people on earth. You know, people, they have fickle love. They'll love you if you do the thing they want them to do. They stop loving you if you upset them or offend them. Well, that's not the God kind of love at all. Our father loves us no matter what we do. As a matter of fact, before we were even saved, while we were yet sinners, the Bible says Christ died for us. So he loved us before we were saved. He loved us after we were saved. He'll love us throughout eternity. And we don't earn his love by our good works, thank God, but his love is everlasting. And because he loves us, he has shown us through his word that he'll take good care of us. So it's paramount that we get revelation of the love of God because when we understand how much he cares for us, when we understand how much he wants to take care of us, it helps eliminate fear and anxiety and depression. You know, I am convinced that anxiety and depression are expressions of fear. And we know this, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. We discussed last episode that fear comes from Satan, who is our enemy. And he himself is filled with fear. He is a being that is wholly filled and flooded with fear and terror, and he knows no other way. And so when you get around his influence, you're going to feel that fear. But if we'll spend time with our Father, we're going to get the influence of the love of God. And that makes, it makes you a calm person. It gives you a good disposition. It helps you to enjoy your life when you have peace. You know, there is nothing greater than the peace of God. I was in a state 31 years ago where I was having panic attacks and anxiety. And I can tell you this, I coveted peace above anything else. Somebody could have given me a poor diagnosis. They could have taken everything I owned away from me. And that would have been better, in my estimation, than actually having these feelings of fear and panic in my life. Because when a person is full of anxiety, it's like being in hell. I'll tell you, nobody wants to go to hell for eternity because they will never stop being panicky. They will never stop having anxiety. They will never stop having the influence of depression and discouragement and fear in their lives for all of eternity. But thank God, through our Heavenly Father, we have peace. And it's eternal peace. And it's something to look forward to. And if you've not made Jesus the Lord of your life, it would be a good time for you to do that this very day because you want heaven to be your eternity. You want the peace of God to be a part of your eternity. Now, let's look at another scripture here. Paul also prayed for the saints. Not just Jesus, but the Apostle Paul. He prayed for the saints that they would comprehend the love of God as well. In Ephesians 3, verses 17-19, I'm going to read through the amplified translation because it's a better translation. It says, May Christ, through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience of that love. What is the breadth and length and height and depth of it? That you may really come to know practically through experience for yourselves the love of Christ. You know, the only way to know practically through experience the love of Christ for yourself is to go through hardship. You know, if we never had any opposition, if we never had any hardship, we wouldn't have to depend on God to rescue us and deliver us out of it. But the more he comes and helps you and gets you through hard times and blesses your life and places you into a state of peace, the more you comprehend how great the love of God really is. And it says here, that surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being unto all the fullness of God, may have the richest measure of the divine presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God himself. You know, the Bible says God is love. So his will for your life is that you be wholly flooded and filled with the love of God. When you're filled with the love of God, there's no room left over for fear or anxiety. So this is a key component to walking in victory over fear and anxiety. People that have the revelation of the love of God are fearless people because they know no matter what comes my way in life, my father loves me so much that he is going to deliver me from this right away. As a matter of fact, he's provided for our deliverance in his word in advance, before the foundation of the world, but through Christ who came and fulfilled all the word of God, he has given us soundness and peace. You know, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53 that the chastisement of our peace was upon Jesus. The punishment of our peace was upon Jesus. So he took the punishment of fear and anxiety. That's good news, folks. He did it for us. We don't have to have it. Now let's also look at 1 John 4 and verse 18 from the Amplified Classic. It says there is no fear in love. Dread does not exist. Oh, that's such a good thought right there. You know, a lot of people, when you talk about fear or anxiety, maybe they don't think they have a problem with it. But when you use the word dread, that gives us another twist on this, because sometimes you could be dreading something and you don't even recognize it as fear. You know, some people, they dread going to the doctor. They dread when the mortgage is due. They dread going to work. There are things that you might dread, but that dread is just another form of the spirit of fear. But according to this scripture, there is no fear or dread in love. But full-grown, complete, perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror. For fear brings with it the thought of punishment. Now that's an interesting thought as well. The reason we fear things is because we know there's going to be a bad outcome. We could say, like this scripture is saying, it's the fear of punishment. The fear of being in a situation that causes us harm, that causes us pain, that causes us destruction. But as we just quoted from Isaiah 53, Jesus took the chastisement of our peace was upon him. He took that terror. He took that fear. He took the punishment. So we don't have to fear punishment anymore. And so he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love, is not yet grown into love's complete perfection. So we see this. If you're still dealing with fear and anxiety, all that does is it's an indicator for us that we're not yet perfected in the love of God. Now his love is always there. It's on the inside of us. He loves us. He cares for us affectionately. He watches out for us. But yet if we don't believe that, if we don't trust that, we're going to continue to fear. So when you understand how much your father loves you, you have gotten into a place where you can begin to trust him. And trust is really just saying faith or belief. I believe God's taking care of me. I believe there's a good outcome to this situation. I believe I'm going to be all right. You know the old song, I've got a feeling everything's going to be all right. Well it's more than a feeling. It's a fact. It's a truth from the word of God. Your father really, really loves you. He wants you to cast off fear and begin to trust in him. Now I'm going to close this session by reading Psalm 23 from the Amplified Classic again. This is a psalm that I personally like to read on a regular basis because it brings the comfort of the Lord into your life. And it reveals how much he cares about us. So in verse 1, it says the Lord is my shepherd. To feed, guide, and shield me, I shall not lack. So right there, we don't have to fear any type of lack in our lives. Verse 2, he makes me lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures. He doesn't lead you to the dead grass. He leads you to the place of abundant supply. It says he leads me beside the still and restful waters. So I always say this, everywhere he leads me, there is peace. Verse 3, he refreshes and restores my life. And I always add this so that I'm normal again. You know, when you're tempted to be anxious or worried, he'll restore you back to a state of soundness. He leads me in the paths of righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with him, not for my earning it, but for his name's sake. In other words, he makes his word good. He watches over his word to perform it. Verse 4, yes, though I walk through the deep sunless valley of the shadow of death, that means living in this world system because it's in darkness, I will fear or dread no evil for you are with me. You know, folks, we don't have to dread anything because we know our God is for us, our God is in us, and he is greater than he that's in the world. And then it goes on to say your rod to protect and your staff to guide, they comfort me. I like to say it this way, your word and your spirit, they comfort me. Oh, hallelujah. Thank God for the word and thank God for the Holy Spirit. Verse 5, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. That means everything we need is on the banquet table. And if believers would just stay focused on the table and quit turning around to look at what the devil's doing, they would stay in peace. Stay focused on God's provision. Stay focused on what God's word says about your life and quit looking at what the devil's trying to do. And it says you anoint my head with oil. My brimming cup runs over. He does exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think. And then verse 6, surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life. And through the length of my days, the house of the Lord and his presence shall be my dwelling place. You know, meditating on this psalm daily will keep you free from fear, keep you free from anxiety, and keep you free from depression. And the more you read it, the more you say it out loud, the more you believe it, the more you believe it, the greater your faith is. The greater your faith is, the less room there is for fear because perfect love casts out fear. Well, that's all for today. I hope you were blessed. And if you were, please like and subscribe to our channel. Until next time, I want to remind you that God has a great purpose for your life and it's greater than you know. God bless you.