Bill Johnson - It Is Possible to Live Free From Anxiety
Peace is a huge part of God’s economy for us as believers. I’ve talked to you even in recent weeks and months about this issue. For me, whenever I feel anxious and stressed—for example, let’s say it’s 11 o’clock in the morning and I go, «Man, what happened?"—I ask myself the question: where did you leave your peace? Because I had it; it’s mine, my possession. So I just need to find out where I dropped it. Why don’t you grab your Bibles and open to Philippians chapter 4? I’ve had two recurring themes in my heart for at least the last six months.
In fact, I wrote out a study on that, which we’re going to read verse 8 of a little later. I did that maybe as much as a year ago, at least six to eight months ago, just for myself, because I could feel what was happening, so to speak, in the air. I’ve been very aware of the battle that has been going on for many people in their thought life, in their minds. I don’t like talking about anything negative in a way that fuels it; sometimes we have the ability to discuss problems, and we actually make them grow. I’m not interested in that, obviously, but I do want to address a couple of things. The two items that have been on my mind a lot are going to emerge today in this talk. One is the issue of prayer and the whole idea of our first love relationship with Jesus, and the second is what God has assigned for us to do with our minds.
The enemy is very nervous about several things regarding your life and mine. One is that he works to keep us exposed to anxiety and stress because that undermines our creative expression. It’s very difficult to operate out of a place of health when you’re anxious and stressed. The goal is survival, not creative expression. The Lord truly desires to express who He is through His people—His own nature, the way He functions, His beauty, and all that flows through a yielded believer when they are free from the issues of anxiety and stress. It is possible to live free from anxiety and stress; Jesus illustrates this as He heads to the cross, giving thanks. We’ll look at that a little more later.
The point is that both Paul and Jesus illustrate something almost profoundly scary in how they model life going into the most difficult situations possible. They did it not just as survivors or to stay positive but as overcomers. They entered a hellish situation and came out absolutely glorious because there was a way to think. I’m not talking about mind over matter; I’m not talking about mere mental exercise. I’m referring to a perception that comes when we see as Jesus sees, and we perceive the way He perceives.
The enemy has several concerns, and I believe he is particularly nervous about three I’ll mention to you today. The first is the issue of creativity. I’m not putting these in any particular order, but I’ll randomly mention them. The first is creative expression; no one who knows who God made them to be would ever want to be anyone else. The uniqueness of every individual is so beautiful and profound that stepping fully into who God made us to be is the greatest privilege in life. There is no comparison when you look at another person and see what you could actually become by God’s design. So, the creative expression is very rich and real.
The second thing is that the enemy is very nervous about our first love relationship with the Lord. That’s been on my mind a lot lately. The Lord has been stirring my heart, so to speak, about this intimate relationship with God. What happens is that anxiety infects love. You can’t be anxious and maintain the fervent relationship with the Lord that all of us long for. I don’t mean that we’ve rejected Him or that He’s rejected us. I’m not saying that; I’m just saying anxiety elevates another ideal over what He has promised. I am actually giving my heart and thoughts to something inferior to the Word of the Lord. It’s true that love annihilates fear, but it’s also true that if I embrace anxiety or fear, I allow something to enter my life that will infect love. The first thing to be addressed is my first love relationship with Jesus.
I remind you of the passage in Revelation chapter 2, where Jesus addresses the church at Ephesus, a great church. He honors them for many things, but then He says, «I have this against you: you’ve left your first love.» That burning passion you once had is no longer there. You’ve got the structure down, you’ve mastered the skills, you’re functioning in the gifts well, but this first love, this burning affection that we are to carry for Jesus, is not what it used to be. He gives specific instruction, so we have the creative expression, the first love, and the third thing I would mention is the attack on our thought life. Every thought comes from either fear or love. Every word out of my mouth comes from fear or love. So what does the enemy want to undermine? If he can get me to compromise my first love, he can get me to lose my sense of identity, and that’s what fear and anxiety do. They cause me to lose sight of the tools and authority God has given me.
Peace is a huge part of God’s economy for us as believers. I’ve talked to you about this issue in recent weeks and months. Whenever I feel anxious and stressed—say it’s 11 o’clock in the morning and I think, «What happened?"—I ask myself where I left my peace because I know I had it. It’s mine, my possession. So I backtrack and go, «Oh yeah, I was feeling stressed when I got that phone call this morning.» It might not have even been a bad call, but my reaction to the information or situation made me anxious. I embraced a lie and inferior information over the Word of the Lord, over my life. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but it happened nonetheless. So what I need to do is repent my way back to where I left my peace, repent, confess my sin, pick it up, and realize it’s my permanent possession.
Peace in the kingdom is profound because peace is not the absence of something; it’s the presence of someone. Peace is actually a person—the abiding presence of the Spirit of God in my life. I’m not saying I can drop it or leave it, as if He abandons me, but my felt awareness of Him can be set aside in the world. Peace is always viewed as the absence of something: the absence of noise, war, or conflict. Yet in the kingdom, you can be in the middle of all those things and still have peace because peace is a person. I repent my way back, embrace peace once again, and use that as my lifestyle. I really felt strongly this morning that the Lord is going to end a mental battle that has been going on for a long time for many people. In fact, I feel like I should announce that this is the end of that season of anguish and anxiety. Sometimes circumstances don’t immediately change, but often it’s me who needs to change so that they can change. I truly believe the Lord is releasing grace for this right now, so let’s pray together.
Then I’ll turn it over to Tom, and we’ll wrap it up. Father, I thank You for the tools that work, and that we can expect and anticipate things to be different because we have anchored our hearts in the superior, not being influenced by the inferior. I’m asking now for grace over the hearts and minds of the people of God, that our thought life would accurately represent who You are and the resources You’ve made available for us. I ask all of this in the wonderful name of Jesus.