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.