How to deal with anxiety, fear, and panic attacks

When the fear comes, most of us do not know how to behave. When it is followed by panic attacks, we get scared even more. And if it develops into an anxiety we are blown away and have no idea what to do. However, there is a way to deal with your fear effectively. 

You can take care of your mental health and see how it improves. If you think that you are all alone in the world with your fears and worries, as well as panic attacks, that is not true. Millions of people around the world suffer from the same mental challenges and problems you face today. Your anxiety is not special. Your intrusive thoughts are not scarier than anybody else's.

 Here's a good video that will help you better understand how to cope with your worries and stress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I10CuBADb0o

So, how do you effectively deal with fear? You stop fearing the fear. You stop fighting it. What? Why? Because it gives the fear and your mental condition extra fuel. If you stop fearing fear, you are on the road to recovery. 

Then, you have to live focusing only what you have to do Today. Stop looking further than that. Focus on today, and don't allow anxiety to distract you. Fearful thoughts may buzz around for some time, but if you don't give in, victory is at hand, and you will overcome. So, stop fearing and engage with your today's plans. God bless you.

What is human value

"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" Genesis 1:26-27. 

Our origin is divine. God himself (The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit) participated in creating the first humans. We were not an accident, a mistake, or a consequence of a big bang. God made humans with His own hands. What else? He not only made us, He made us in His own image and His own likeness. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you can tell yourself that you look like God. God would not be offended, because it is the truth. There is something else.

We know that we sinned. Our spiritual nature changed from godly to sinful. But that is not the end. The Creator loved us so much that He decided to do anything that was necessary to change it. The only way to change human nature was for somebody innocent to die on our behalf by taking our punishment. The only one who could do that was God Himself. Jesus (God) came in the human form and took the sins of all the human kind on Himself by dying for us on the cross. By taking our sins, He gave us His righteousness. So, God, not only created us, He also died for us. This only confirmed how valuable we are in His eyes. There is something else.

For everyone who repents and believes in Jesus' sacrifice his/her nature changes as God Himself comes to live in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. We become the members of the family of God. This is a triple proof of our value by God Himself. The whole Trinity participated in creating us, all of them participated in saving us, and now God Himself lives in us. So, what is your value?

heart believes and mouth speaks

"For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved" Romans 10:10.

Believing in the sacrifice of Jesus is the only way for us to get justified in the eyes of God. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins to be forgiven, you are justified. Another thing, that we need to do is to confess what we believe. That is important. Not only our beliefs, but also our words shape our lives and destiny. We have to say the things about ourselves that the word of God says. You have to say that Jesus died for you and you are forgiven. You have to believe you are a new creation in Him and say it. Pick out the verses from the Bible that tell you about what God did for you and confess them. You don't have to be a parrot. But make a habit of saying out loud what the word of God tells about you and your redemption. Miracles will start happening. 

Measure of faith

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you" Romans 12:3. 

Each of us has got a measure of faith. You may think you don't have any, or lost it, but that is not true. It is in your heart and you have to activate it and use it. As you do it, God will purify it, perfect it, and increase it. In order for faith to be active and grow, you need to have the right focus. Remember when Peter walked on water? Well, he did, but only for a while. When he looked at Jesus, his faith was active and he walked on the water. When he looked away, he doubted and started thinking. However, Jesus is merciful and saved Peter.

Peter's example is actual for us too. We need to keep looking in the right direction for our faith to work. The word of God is the right focus. The testimony of our five senses, particularly when they contradict the word of God is not the right focus. Circumstances, five senses, problems, the world will misdirect our focus and cause us to doubt. Let's stay focused on what the word of God tells us, not how we feel, or what thoughts come to our minds, what the world tells us, or what our five senses tell us. Our true identity is in Christ and He should be in our focus daily. This is how we keep our faith active.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" Hebrews 12:2. 

Faith in God and Jesus did not start with us. Jesus is the beginning of our faith. He gave us faith. That's good news. Another piece of good news is that He also perfects our faith. We should always keep on looking at Him and that's how our faith grows and improves. We don't produce faith on our own; it is born, revived, strengthened, and increased when we look at Jesus and learn from Him. Never lose sight of Jesus. He is the one who will keep our faith strong. Don't spend too much time looking at yourself, because that's how your faith is weakened. Jesus is the source of your strength. 

Looking at unseen

"While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Corinthians 4:18. 

Life by faith is in direct opposite to life by our five senses. Faith is able to see things that cannot be tested by our five senses. Faith sees beyond this world. It opens our understanding to invisible reality. Five senses are good for moving about things in the physical world. But even here, in this world, we need to turn on our faith and trust God to do things for us in our daily lives. By faith, we know God, believe Jesus won eternal victory on the cross, and wait for Him to come back, or for us to go to Him after we die.

The things we see are all temporal. Everything we see is doomed to decay. People and things age. One day they cease to exist. But the spiritual/unseen world is eternal. It will never grow old or cease to exist. And faith is the connector that connect you to the invisible and the impossible. Faith connects you to your eternal hope. Here on earth, we are not with Jesus yet. But one day, we will be. The day is coming. Heaven is our home, where there is no sickness, evil, aging, corruption and anything we define as bad. We believe it. Let's never stop looking at the unseen with the eyes of faith.

Triumph in Christ

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place" 2 Corinthians 2:14.

Jesus won the eternal victory. He conquered death, devil, and sin. He redeemed us from the power of darkness. Now, even when you are facing various troubles, you can be sure, Christ won a victory for you. His victory was perfect. We are part of Jesus' trophies. We are walking in a triumphant march through Christ. All the world, both spiritual and physical can see that we belong to Jesus, the Savior that won.

When we fail, we have to remember that He has won on our behalf. We may not be perfect, but He is perfect and He can easily use our imperfections to win battle after battle for the kingdom of God. Never forget, that Christ won the war. Historians say, that when the German army lost at Stalingrad, the fate of the II World War was set. The Germans lost, the Allies won. The same is true when we talk about spiritual war. The fate of spiritual war was set at the cross. Jesus won the victory. We can now march with complete faith and joy and see how He finishes the enemy, and by the grace of God to participate in that. Never forget, Jesus won, and so did you in Him.

No condemnation in Christ Jesus

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1. 

Sin brings about condemnation for a conscience. When we were without Christ, that was rightfully on us. We were condemned and most of us felt condemned. Some felt it more, some less. However, we have really great news. Christ took our condemnation on himself. When He hung on the cross, the judgment of God and condemnation for the sins of the entire world fell on him. He took it, so that you and I would never have to experience that again. 

If you believe in Christ, you are in Him, and no condemnation belongs to you. You were freed from that on the cross. What a great gift God has given to us in Jesus. He no longer condemns us. He punished sin once and for all in Christ Jesus. You sins were on Him. He cannot punish the same sin twice, otherwise He would not be a just God. But He is a just God, and our condemnation fell on Jesus. So, no more condemnation for us. That is really a good news for us.

Seated in heavenly realms

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" Ephesians 2:6. 

Our identity in Christ is one of the most important truths from the Bible a Christian should understand. The enemy always tries to attack it by sending you thoughts that you haven't really changed after becoming a Christian. When Jesus, after the baptism went out of the water He heard Father's voice from heaven "You are my beloved son". Then, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. What did the devil told him? "If you are the Son of God...". Devil targeted Jesus' identity. He tried to cause Jesus to doubt what He had just heard from the Father. Jesus did not go into long discussions with the devil and answered him by quoting the scriptures. 

The same with us. The thoughts will come that we are same old sinners we used to be. But that is the voice of the enemy. Don't believe him. In the invisible spiritual realm, we are seated with Christ. We are part of God's family. We are sons and daughters of God. We have a new nature. The devil cannot do anything to change it. God has changed it forever. It cannot be undone. Praise God. 

Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 8:38-39. 

Through new birth we were placed in Christ Jesus. Christians sometimes get scared of being taken out of Him, or losing salvation. It's so good to know that God does not keep us in doubt. He gives us assurance of everything. The evil one always causes us to doubt. He causes us to doubt everything what God told us. God removes our doubts. He said that nothing can separate you neither from His love, nor from His salvation. Paul said that he is convinced of that. So, should we. Christ loves you with eternal love. Believe it and accept it. And thank God for His eternal love. 

Citizenship in heaven

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" Philippians 3:20-21. 

If you believe in Christ you are born again and are a citizen of heaven. You have a passport that declares that your homeland is paradise. Of course, you can't see it or touch it or feel it, as your five senses are incapable of understanding this spiritual reality. You can only accept it by faith, the sixth sense. We are both waiting for our Savior to return, and we want to return to our eternal home. When that happens lots of blessing will be awaiting us.

Our bodies will be transformed. They will become immortal, with no sin inside. Heaven is a place of righteousness, joy, and peace. There is no stress there. No hatred. You won't have to worry about your things as there are no thieves there. There is no darkness, no night, but an everlasting day as God is the light of the heaven. And He is your Father. Never lose the hope of heaven. Wonderful things are in store for you in the future. Praise God. 

More than conquerors

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" Romans 8:37. 

Christ won a victory for us. We did not do anything to help Him win it. It was purely His solo act. He loved us. He decided to pay a heavy price for our sins. Actually, he overpaid for us. On the cross, He shouted "It is finished". Then and there He won the eternal victory for our souls. We are redeemed and forgiven. He snatched us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the His kingdom.

Why are we more than conquerors? Because, we did not even participate in the fight and we got all the benefits: forgiveness of sins, change of nature, became sons and daughters of God, hope for the future, righteousness/peace/joy now, Holy Spirit inside of us and many more. We did not deserve anything, but we got everything. Now, you are more than a conqueror, because Christ won the victory for you. Praise God.

Jesus is our high priest

"Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us" Romans 8:34. 

The whole week I was sharing scriptures about prayer. This one is about the same subject too. But from a different angle. This time it is not us praying for others, but Jesus praying for us. The scripture tells us that Jesus is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father. That is a great comfort to know that He is not condemning you, but praying for you. And God listens to His prayers. Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant, and He intercedes for His people: you and me. 

When you experience difficult challenges in life, fail, sin, or feel depressed, be sure to remember that you are not alone. At those moments, Jesus is praying for you. If anybody's prayers are answered, you can be sure that His prayers are. So, take courage. God is for you, Jesus is for you, the Holy Spirit is also for you. Just know, that somebody is always praying for you and that somebody is your Savior - Jesus. 

Prayers for people in authority

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

It is very easy to criticize those who are in power. We see corruption, failure to keep promises, lies and etc. However, people have always been people, and those who were in authority in the times when Paul his epistle to Timothy, were even worse than we have now. Nevertheless, look what Paul encouraged Timothy to do about it. He told him to pray for them. 

We should do the same. We should bring them to the highest authority in the Universe and bless them, ask God to give them wisdom, to direct them. This is the attitude we should have. Criticizing does not help at all. Hatred is even worse. It leads to more hatred. We need positive change. God can bring it about and He wants us to pray. It is very important during times as we live now, when the world is experiencing a lot of turmoil: COVID-19, riots in the USA, and potentially other bad stuff that may arise in the nearest future. Let's pray for God's best to our politicians. Let God direct them in the ways He sees best. This will have good outcome for our lives too.

Do long talks make prayer effective

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking" Matthew 6:7. 

It is usual for people to be more occupied with the form than with the content. That's why a lot of people tend to drift towards rituals instead of practicing real relationship with God. The same can be true about prayers. God does not require of us rituals, pious face expression, or long prayers as it is said in the verse. Nothing of the above-mentioned guarantees answers to our prayers. You cannot convince God to answer your prayers by making them long. You shouldn't even try to explain to God the situation you are praying about. He knows it better than you. 

It would be right to say that quality is more important than quantity when we talk about prayer. The single most important requirement for prayer to be answered is faith. You have to believe that God hears you, He is good, and He wants to answer you. If you believe it, the prayer can be short. So, we should remember that God know everything, He cares about us, and He is ready and willing to answer when we believe. Let's believe and pray with faith.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41.

We are not strong in ourselves. The flesh, where the sin lives is not a strong part of us. Actually, it is easily influenced by various temptations and quite often gives in. Our spirit is ready to fight, but it also needs strength from on high. How does the strength come? Well, Jesus told us right in this verse. We have to pray. God strengthens us as we pray. We have to be humble and admit our weaknesses and pray for God's grace to strengthen us. 

God's grace and prayer are inseparable. Grace is God's part, prayer is our part, which is accepting whatever is necessary for that specific moment. It's not only for resisting temptations, but for absolutely anything we need and pray for. Let's not rely on our own strength in our daily lives, but pray daily and open ourselves for God's help to come. God hears every word you say. He knows what you need before you even utter a word. Yet, He tells us to pray. He wants us to cooperate with His grace. He loves answering our prayers. So, let's continue praying. The world is in tumultuous time and lots of challenges may be ahead. Prayer is a tool that will help us get to the throne of grace and get help in these tumultuous times. 

Pray and not give up

"And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly" Luke 18:6-8.

God wants us to be consistent in prayer and never give up. Jesus showed us how persistence gets things done. A persistent widow made a godless judge to defend her. She just wouldn't give up. The judge didn't care about anything. He solved cases as he pleased. He didn't care about the lady. And even that type of person gave in to the persistence of the widow. Eventually, he defended her. 

Will not God answer your prayers if you don't give up? He is a loving Daddy. He cares about you. He wants to help you and answer your prayers. Why would He not answer? I know we all get tired of delayed answers and tend to give up. But a believer shouldn't do that. Faith never gives up. Let's not give up praying. Whatever your need is, God cares. He cares about the birds, so much more about you. Let's stay persistent, and keep on praying. 

Earnest prayer

"Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit" James 5:17-18.

We know that God is a good and generous God, and anything good that comes to our lives is through His grace. Yet, God wants us to do something so that we could see more blessings in our lives What is it? He wants us to pray. Prayer is a form of conversation with God. By using it we develop deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father and open up even more for good things to come from Him.

James gives us an example of Elijah. He prayed even though God said that it would not rain, and later that it would rain. In both cases, Elijah knew the word of God. Yet, He prayed. Why? God wants to do things together with us. Of course, He does the bulk work, but He allows us to be part of His work and enjoy it. You don't have to be a spiritual Superman to pray and see answers. James assures us that Elijah wasn't one either. We all have flesh, but God does not answer to our prayers because we are perfect, but because we are His children and He sees us through the sacrifice that Jesus made. So, let's pray earnestly for every need that comes our way, let's fellowship with our Heavenly Daddy and watch Him answer our prayers.

Everyone gets God's grace for some work

"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" Ephesians 4:7-8.

We have already figured out that we are not saved by our works, but by God's grace. However, for everyone of us God gives grace to do something in life. In fact, He gives grace daily for specific jobs that we need to do, and also for some bigger works or you may say to fulfill your calling. God has called us to His kingdom and He destined us for some work to do to bless the world, to help save others.

This grace may come as a gift/talent, something that you like to do and it will serve greater purpose and have eternal value. Maybe you will find that you want to go to missions, or do something specific in your community, or church, or start a business and use the resources for the work of God. It may come in a million ways. God does not leave anybody empty handed. He gives His grace for you to do anything He has destined you to do. You will like it. Pray to Him to guide you. He will.

Shall we sin if we are no longer under law

"For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" Romans 6:14-15.

When people hear the message of grace and justification, they will always ask the question "Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under grace?" The apostle Paul repeats the question 2 times in the epistle to Romans. Does grace give us a green light for sinning? Nope. An attitude of a Christian should be 'I am dead to sin, and I live for Christ'. Christ died for our sins, and we died for sin with Him. We live focusing on Him, following Him, staying in His word, and then allowing the word to transform us inside out. No, grace is not a license to sin. It is a door for us to spiritual freedom.

The fact is that the law with its' commandments actually strengthens the power of sin in us, and the grace of God weakens it. Grace of God draws our attention from us to God, while the law draws our attention from goodness of God towards ourselves. These are ideas that the apostle Paul said. The law was given to show how hopeless we are without God, and how strong sin is in us. The grace of God is given to set us free from our sins as it comes with power that regenerates us. So, we shall not sin, because the grace of God gives us strength not to.