When Anxiety Strikes // Battlefield of the Mind - Part 1 - Pastor Vlad

I want to speak today about a message that would be titled when anxiety strikes. Few vivid moments in my life when I've experienced anxiety. One of them was when I became a lead pastor and I moved from the youth ministry to lead the church and I was hit with 20 different problems.

I didn't have to deal as a youth pastor. One of them was to figure out a software the church needs to use for its management. And I said, you know, in youth ministry was easy. You just choose the type of pizza you feed the kids with. You know, Papa Jones or Little Caesars but software?

And then there was the kid's ministry protocol. We didn't have kids' ministry we have today. And then somebody said, "We have to have check-ins for kids' ministry." And then there was gazillion other problems we never had to deal with when we were just having a youth church. Kid you not, for next three months, I would wake up at 2:00 in the morning. my brain wouldn't sleep.

All these worries and concerns and software and this and what people were saying and decisions that I had to make to the point I would tell my wife, I'm leaving the house. And I would go to church from about 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning, not because I was prayerful.

It's because I was stressed out. It's because there was a lot of anxiety. And I would just pace back and forth. And I say, God, you didn't give us the power for this stuff. You gave us power to heal the sick, but we got a lot of problems in the western church that we need to solve.

And I don't know how to solve these. I don't know what to do with these things. People looking at me and say, "You need to make the final decision." And I do not want to make a mistake. After about 6 months, started to sleep better and no longer was waking up at 2:00 in the morning because of those pressures.

And then it came again last year and this time it had to do not with the church structure. It had to do with what we were going through the church building where certain decisions, certain pressures and responsibilities were placed on me. Today I'm not going to give you a solution or some kind of a quick fix to solve this problem.

But I believe the Bible holds keys that you will find revolutionary in how you're dealing with something that is happening in our culture that is very dominant. Anxiety disorders are now among the most common mental health conditions in the United States. Shockingly, young adults report historically high levels of anxiety.

And not because they stepped into the roles of being some CEOs or anything. It's just living through normal life. Constant smartphone exposure connects people to increased anxiety and sleep disruption. Social media comparison also increases feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. Chronic news consumption lifts up your stress hormones. Modern psychologists describe our anxiety as something like ambient anxiety.

It's not heavy panic. It's not some crazy crisis. This is why a lot of our parents cannot understand what we're talking about when a 16-year-old comes in and says, "I have anxiety." You know, parents want to pull the belt and says, "I want to beat that out of you.

You have no idea what anxiety is." But we cannot treat that and come up to every teenager and simply pull the belt and say, "You have no idea what I went through." Because we do have to acknowledge the problem is real. Ambient anxiety is when there's no panic, there's no crisis, but there's a constant low-grade hum of unease.

Men experience financial pressure, career comparison, silent emotional burden, a fear of failure. Men don't say, "I'm anxious." That's embarrassing. We say, "I'm stressed. I'm tired and I'm frustrated." Women experience beauty standards that are they cannot live up to, performance pressure, social comparison, emotional overload, multi-roll exhaustion. Social media has amplified this the comparison issue where comparison breeds insecurity and insecurity leads to anxiety.

Young adults are uncertain about their future. There's housing instability. To afford a house today, you need to work three jobs. There's a digital identity pressure. There's a constant comparison. There's a fear of missing out. Your best friend is already married and has two kids and you're still trying to figure out your life.

You're the first generation to grow up with the permanent digital memory. There's a constant peer evaluation. Your metrics of significance are measured by popularity. And you need to figure out your whole life by the time you're 22. Parents have different levels of anxiety. It's the fear for their children children's future.

It's the fear for the children's education. It's the safety for the children. It's the cultural instability. It's fighting the screens with the children. Parents were worried in the past about famine. Today, we worry about algorithms, discipling our children and confusing them about their identity before they reach 12.

Anxiety over your children's future, unfortunately, doesn't secure their future. But prayer, the Bible, and the word of God does. When it comes to anxiety, I see mainly three reasons in the Bible. And I'm not a medical doctor. Just going to put it out there. But three main reasons by which it comes.

The first one is shocking. The first reason why some anxiety experience we experience is actually because of our sin. David actually says that this is what happened to David. He said that when I kept silent, meaning I lived in sin, my bones grew old. Day and night my your hand was heavy on me.

I acknowledged my sin and you forgave me. Isaiah 57 it says the wicked are like a troubled sea. There is no peace for the wicked. This is what I want you to know. When you don't have peace with God, you will not have the peace of God. When you're living in sin, when you're living in compromise, for example, you're married, you're watching pornography, you're married, and you're not faithful to your spouse.

I don't care how many meditations you do, you will be sick inside because your secret sins make you sick. There's no scripture you can quote to remove anxiety until you remove the sin through confession and repentance. The beautiful part about the Lord Jesus Christ is he's the prince of peace.

He gives us peace with God and that happens through repentance of our sin. And that's why when people go to a therapy and counseling that avoid spiritual realities like the broken relationship with our creator, we miss the root of anxiety which first and foremost the Bible says are broken relationship with God.

Is this the only root of anxiety? Absolutely not. But it's a major one. The second one is the spiritual roots. The Bible talks about the spiritual world. The Bible talks about the warfare. The Bible talks about the enemy roaring like a lion seeking him whom he may devour.

The Bible says about thoughts coming like arrows. The Bible talks about Saul the king had oppression so powerful that he would go crazy almost. We would call it today a schizophrenic manic disorder, a panic disorder. But the Bible says there was an evil spirit attacking Saul. Now is everything demonic?

No, but if you treat anxiety, stress, depression only physically and you avoid the spiritual realm, when you have access to the book that talks about the spiritual realm, you're missing a large portion of your solution. There is a spiritual warfare. And sometimes you talk to people that they have done everything they can.

They eat their broccolis, they put the 10,000 steps in, and they get eight hours of sleep, and they avoid toxic people like a plague and they cannot explain why they cannot get rid of that thing that lingers in their mind. Sometimes it could be spiritual. Am I saying everything is spiritual?

No, but everything natural has the roots in spirit. And the third one is seasonal or situational. It's when you experience certain situations or seasons in your life, sometimes of your own making or not your own making, that bring enormous amount of stress, enormous amount of anxiety. For example, we see Jesus being in agony.

His sweat became like great drops of blood. That's stressful. Talk about anxiety. Talk about pressure where your sweat is blood. Now, did Jesus experience that 24/7? No. But was there a season, a situation in his life where the pressure was so high he was betrayed by a friend; he was falsely accused; the weight of the world laid right on him.

And Jesus experienced those moments. Now, in those moments, he didn't revert to drinking. In those moments, he didn't revert to drugs. In those moments, he didn't become bitter. And he didn't become a person that was spreading venom and become toxic person. But he experienced those things. The Bible says about David that David was in such a great distress that his men were talking about killing him.

Why do they need enemies if you have friends like that? 2 Corinthians 1, Paul says, "We were burdened beyond measure." Burdened beyond measure. Despaired even. This is a great apostle who says, "Rejoice in the Lord." I say always rejoice. Look what he said. He said we were despaired even of life, but it drove us to rely not on ourselves but on God.

Psalm 30:5 it says weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. What does this mean? That means that every Christian can have anxiety even if they have no sin. Even if spiritually, they don't have any spiritual roots they can experience it in a season or in a situation of their life that is above what they can bear.

What they feel like they can I can't even handle that the beautiful part is its seasonal meaning it comes to an end. The bad part if you don't treat it right, if you don't walk through it right it won't be seasonal, it will be mental. And a stressful season will make you into a stressful person.

The season will change and you will remain an anxious stressed-out person who in the normal environment still in panic and in anxiety. Let's go to Luke 12 and I want to show you something in here where Jesus said in verse 22, therefore I say to you do not worry about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

But if you go to verse 29, so verse 22, Jesus says don't worry about your life. Worry is just thoughts, rehearsing, repeating about the outcome that's negative of tomorrow, concerns. Everybody experiences that. But look what verse 29 says. Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.

Have you noticed in verse 22, Jesus says, don't worry about food. Don't worry about clothing. By the time we get to verse 29, he says, "Don't have an anxious mind." Verse 22 is just a worry in your thoughts. It's just thoughts. Verse 29, it's not a thought or thoughts; it's a pattern.

It's a mindset. It's who you are. You're now an anxious person. Whether you have anxious situations or not, you now became that person. There is worry, just a thought, anxiety, it's when your body now responds to those thoughts and you actually feel tension, you feel pain, you feel tightness in your chest.

And those could be seasonal. But the enemy wants to move to the third part is when you become an anxious person. The season is over, but you changed. You became a depressed person. You no longer have anything to be depressed about. You're just depressed. You no longer have anything to be anxious about.

Your life is actually good. Your mind is not. It started as a worry, became anxiety, but the enemy's goal is to turn you into an anxious person so that when the season changes, you're so wrecked by what you went through that you stayed broken even in a good season.

But the Lord is good and he wants the weeping to endure for the night. So, when the morning comes in and the sun comes up, you have a smile. You don't weep anymore. Why? Because the night is over, that season is over. The pressure has lifted. And with-it lifted tension, with it lifted pressure, and now you can enjoy your life because you stepped into a new season.

It's okay to have seasons of anxiety. What is not okay is to live in a state of anxiety and to have an anxious mind. Meaning your life is good, but you're so broken that you find things to be anxious about when there are none. And you live in perpetual state of anxiety.

And God wants to free us from that today in Jesus' name. Let's go to the word of God. We'll start with Solomon; what Solomon said about anxiety. We'll go back to Jesus and we'll finish with Paul. Solomon in Proverbs 12:25, said the following. Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression.

The original word here for depression means to be weigh down. Pushed like down when you have a weight and it's putting your head down. So, anxiety in the heart of man causes you to be weighted down, but somebody say but, a good word makes it glad. Point number one, you can overcome anxiety by limiting information overload and filling your mind with the good word.

Now, anxiety for people living in the days of Solomon was not a war in Iran. It was not Epstein files. Anxiety for people in the days of Solomon was not COVID vaccines. It was not children's education, and it was not retirement funds. Anxiety for them was not AI will take my job, and my future is not secure.

Their problems were actually real anxiety like not enough food, political instability, war, disease. There was problems with family honor because that culture was very honor and shame culture. We live in a different culture, and this is not to belittle the causes of our anxiety, but this is to say that anxiety is a human problem when we have education, medicine when we have telephones running water and sewer or when we don't, we always find reasons to be anxious.

Now let me give you the four reasons our anxiety exists today in our generation. Number one is information overload. During those days, you only knew about the cow that died in your neighbor's farm. Today, you know about a guy that loaded a gun, went to a school in a different country that you probably will never travel.

You know about that. You watch the news cycle of that. Did you know that your nervous system was not designed to have a 24/7 information access to every global crisis in the world you have no control over, but you do. Technology changed our life, made our life so much better.

Today when you have a small little problem you run to the doctor and most of it gets cured. Children get born and so many children survive. Whereas in those days they wouldn't survive because of so many complications. Our life is so much easier. But technology is a double-edged sword.

What it did is it gave our brain access to information we should never been wired to have that much information and to live with that information all the time. Am I saying to reject the news? No. But like Denzel Washington said one time, he says, if you don't watch the news, you're uninformed.

If you watch it, you're misinformed. What I'm saying is you have to limit amount of information. Why? Because your brain wasn't designed to solve world's problems. You're not the president of United States. Even the President of United States was not elected to solve world's problems. He was solved to lead this nation.

You are not that man. You simply have your company. You have your family. And these problems, the Bible says, are enough. Jesus even says tomorrow's problems; you can't put it on your brain today because God didn't design your brain to worry about tomorrow's problems. Can you imagine if you put another country's problems on your brain today?

But that's what television and news do for us. Am I saying to not follow the news? Follow the news but in a very calculated manner. The nervous human system was not designed for a 24/7 global crisis intake. The second thing that causes anxiety in a lot of people's lives today.

Number two is a comparison culture. Ancient people, they compare themselves to their neighbors. Today our comparison is global. You're comparing your normal life to somebody who has 60 million followers on Instagram and makes 20 million a month. You're comparing your life to a football star. You're comparing your life to a movie star.

You're comparing your life to somebody else. You're watching their life. You're comparing your life to somebody else who chooses to put the best versions of themselves online. Their vacation, their photos, their marriage is hanging by a thread. They're sleeping in two different rooms for the last 10 years.

But the pictures they post that you and I fall for and we're like this is what happy life looks like. This is what happy see they didn't have that during those days. What they had is this is we have a job and we need to feed our family.

Oh, and I found out my neighbor got another calf or another cow or another cattle. Man, I wish we could have more cows. Today what you're looking is you're following a thousand people on Instagram, another 2,000 people on Facebook and you and I subscribe to few hundred on YouTube and then few more on Tik Tok and you have everybody's lives that your life begin to compare and nothing makes you feel inferior about your life when you're watching everybody else's life.

The Bible says to aim to live a quiet life, mind your business and to work with your hands. See, when you stick your nose into everybody else's business, you can't mind your business. God wants you to mind your business. And if you do more of that, stick your nose not in somebody else's business.

One of the best things you can do for your mental health is delete social media. At least out of your phone. Keep it on the computer. Social media is not fun on the computer. In last, some time ago, I deleted social media off of my phone. I don't know half of the things that are happening in the world today.

But I wasn't created to know everything about everyone. I want to know what is happening to my son. I want to know what is happening to my wife. I want to know what is happening to my family. And I want to know what is happening to my leaders.

I don't even know what is happening to everyone in the church. I don't have the capacity. I am not God. Imagine being constantly plugged in with all the information, checking what this pastor is doing, what this pastor is doing, and all of this stuff. You're not wired to do that.

That's why Solomon is saying, he says, "A good word." When you have all kinds of words going into your world, all kinds of images going into your world, you are paying for your anxiety by the things you're paying attention to. That's why it's called pay attention. Your attention is the currency by which you are spiking your anxiety.

Decrease information overload. You're a young lady. You feel inferior, insecure about your appearance. Unsubscribe from some of the things that you compared to and mind your business. Meaning work on your own body. Work on your own gifts. Work on your own life. The third cause of anxiety today is loss of community.

Ancient people lived in tribes. Today we live online. Today we don't know our neighbors' names, but we know 3,000 people's names that we DM, we message. At the time you knew your neighbor, your neighbor knew you. At this time, what happens is the digital world made the world smaller.

But at the same time, it made us isolated. We will not go to a small group, but man, we exist in virtual groups everywhere. Anxiety gets spiked when you prioritize your online communities that you don't meet with them and you find excuses never to be engaged with the real community.

Your online friends aren't going to be there for your funeral. Many of them won't be there for your wedding. They won't be there when the crisis hits. That's why you need to prioritize a local community, whether it's this church or another church. Can somebody say Amen? And the last thing is illusion of control.

The ancient people did not believe that they control their life. The modern people have been sold a lie. You can't control your life. But you can't. You can have self-control, but that's about all you can control. Everything else is outside of your control. You are not in control.

And the faster that we grasp that the easier our life becomes in Jesus' name. Stop negative information overload because Jesus says take heed to what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. And to you who hear, more will be given. Romans 10:17 says, "Then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."

Not only I stop or not stop personally for me, I don't watch the news, I read the news. It comes to me in a written form and it comes to me from few sources and I quickly browse through it so that I can be aware of what is happening.

But I don't want to sit there and watch the shock, watch and all of that being imprinted on my soul. And so, you have to limit intake of the negative things coming inside of you. Number two, in order to do that to overcome anxiety is you have to increase good words coming inside.

And good words could be the preaching of God's word. Good word could be preaching of lessons in life groups, connect groups. The good words could be somebody giving you a prophetic word. You know, statistically, 93% of Americans own a Bible. An average home has about four Bibles. Only six out of 10 people read it occasionally.

And less than two in five read it once a week. Only one in four Christians strongly agree that they regularly study the Bible in direction. I've found this study that said this, if a Christian reads the Bible once a week or twice a week, even if they read it three times a week, their life is no different than somebody who doesn't read the Bible at all.

This study, and I'll drop the link on Slack, they did it, this study, and they found out this. It's when you cross the threshold of reading the Bible at least four times a week, that's when really your life starts to change. So these researchers found out when you read the Bible at least four times, somebody say four.

The power of four. If you do twice a week and your life isn't changing, statistically it's been proven that it won't change. Even if you read it three times a week, it won't change. Statistically, they found out that it doesn't change your life. It's when you're doing it at least four times a week that something begins to happen.

You're 57 chance lower to drink. Your chances of drinking and being addicted to alcohol is 57% less. Sexual immorality falls by 68% less. Pornography intake falls by 61% less. If you were struggling with gambling, you will be 74% less likely to gamble. And all other bad habits that people struggle with who read the Bible once, twice, three times, you are 57% less likely to have bad habits.

If you read the Bible at least four times, so if you've noticed that reading the scriptures didn't change you, you're reading it too little. To consistently four to five times guarantees, I have a scripture to back it up, your word I've hidden in my heart that I will not sin against you.

I have a scripture to back it up. Your words are life and spirit. The Bible is not another book. Solomon said, anxiety causes you to go down, but he said a good word brings you up. A good word gives you joy. A good word gives you peace. A good word gives you freedom from pornography.

A good word lowers your anxiety. So, if you had a struggle with your mental health, I want to give you a practical thing to do whether it's 10 minutes a day, 5 minutes a day, 40 minutes a day. The interesting part when I read the research, the research did not indicate how much of the Bible you need to read.

It's that you read it daily, at least four times a week. Your mental health changes. Read a book. Go to a small group. Let somebody give you good words because that's when your anxiety goes down. Amen. Number two, and this one is we're going to go back to Luke 12:29. and do not seek what you should eat.

Jesus didn't say don't care about what you should eat. He says don't seek it nor have an anxious mind. And verse 30, for all these things the nations of the world seek after. In verse 31 but seek. I want you to notice Jesus isn't saying anxiety, worry is overcome by being a person who doesn't care.

You're like, I don't care what I'm going to eat. I'm not going to work. I'm not going to care about anything. I'm going to be a free spirit. Meaning, I'm going to be careless. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying don't obsess. Don't seek after. If you're taking notes, write this down.

Overcome anxiety by not by stopping with obsession over anxiety. Instead of obsessing over anxiety to get rid of it, replace it with greater pursuit of the kingdom of God. A lot of anxiety is not because we care about something too much, but it's because we care about something that is actually too small.

Minor things start to feel massive when they become the center of your attention. It's minor things that create major anxiety. What you seek first and the most determines what you stress about the most. Augustine, St. Augustine said, anxiety comes from loving temporal things too much, peace comes from loving eternal things first.

So, the goal is not to find God isn't saying, hey, I want you not to seek these things which they they're important to you. I want you to think about something bigger to worry about. He's saying, look for someone bigger to pursue, someone bigger to chase. The vision of Hungry Gen is to lead people to encounter God daily.

The verse we use is Matthew 6:33, which says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Now, let's imagine you're concerned for your school grades. Let's imagine you're concerned for you know, the house that you're about to purchase.

Let's imagine you're concerned your credit score is down. Let's imagine you're concerned. You can't have kids and you want to have kids. You're worried. You're anxious. You're thinking about it. And then you get a doctor's report that says you have 30 days to live. How many of you know whatever you were concerned about after that report flies out of the window.

You no longer care about those things. It's not that they stop being important. It's that something bigger came in and that is no longer important. And somebody will say, hey, so what about this problem? You say that that's not important. I got something bigger to worry about. So, Jesus is saying whatever you're thinking about, I know this is important, but he says you actually have access not to a bigger problem.

He says you have access to a bigger world that is coming slowly into this world. It will overtake this world. You are currently in between two worlds. And that world, world of justice, world of peace, world of righteousness, world of joy in the Holy Spirit is overlapping in your heart.

And it's the kingdom of God. That world can heal the sick. That world drives out evil. That world can bring financial provision. And Jesus said that world will make this world perfect and all right one day. And he says I don't want you to think about these things, they're petty in comparison to that world.

They're important. If that world is not real, if eternity is not real, then your doctor's report is the biggest, most important thing you should stress about. What is happening with your child? That should give you sleepless nights. If God doesn't exist, if eternity doesn't exist, your problem is the biggest thing you should obsess about.

But if there is another world, if there is a bigger person who can solve things, fix things, Jesus says, I'm going to give you a small tip. If you obsess over the minor things, I know they seem big, but you have access to a different world. He says, you obsess over this, you can't really solve it because worry is like a rocking chair going back and forth, doesn't actually move you anywhere.

Worry doesn't improve the circumstances, t only changes you, makes you more negative. But he says, If you turn your back from obsessing over these things and you chase that world, you chase my spirit, you chase the supernatural, you obsessively pursue my kingdom, it's not that you're turning your back on your problems, is that you're opening a door for that world to come into those problems.

And Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God," not my kingdom where I have problems, his kingdom where he has solutions. And when you seek his kingdom, he says all these things, the nations of this world, Matthew says the Gentiles, the pagans, the heathens, meaning people who don't know of that world, people who have no access to the Holy Spirit, for people who have no access to prayer.

He says they obsess over these things. I don't blame them. That's all they know. He says you have access to another world. Obsessed with that, Amen. But I want you to notice a little bit more in here. Jesus also said, "Your father knows these things." Verse 32, "Your father's good pleasure."

In Matthew in, excuse me, in Luke 12 and Matthew chapter 6, Jesus talks about to convince the people not to worry about tomorrow. He talks about the birds, he talks about the lilies, and he talked about the nature. And he says, look at the ravens, look at the lilies, look at the flowers.

And he says, God closed them. God feeds them. They're not anxious. He says, you don't see mental health crisis among ravens. You don't see mental health crisis among lilies and the flowers. Now, you may look at them, and you say, well, it's easy for them. How much different is it for them than you?

God takes care of them. Now, you're like, well, unfortunately, I'm not a raven. I have an intelligence. I have imagination. I'm not a flower of the field. I am actually a human being. And then Jesus switches to you and I and then he says he no longer calls God our father.

Excuse me, he no longer calls God our creator who will feed us and take care of us; He says your father. See creation depends on the power of the creator. He said you depend on the care of your father. You're not like a flower expecting God to take care of you.

You're greater than that. you're part of his family. So, caring for you is part of God's job. Every dad who gets a child, if he's a good, decent dad, has to be thinking about the child, not just about himself. And Jesus is saying, you don't have a creator in heaven, you have a father in heaven.

And so, you don't have to be anxious. You don't have to be worried. My sister sent this meme this week, and it's a funny one that said, "Are you related to anyone famous?" And the little boy responds, he says, "I don't want to brag, but I heard dad call God his father."

The word father meant a lot to me as I was growing up because I have a very good dad. But it changed the meaning when I became dad. And now when I see the word father, see you don't overcome anxiety because you know that God is powerful. You overcome anxiety.

Write this point number three. When you know that God cares. As long as you believe God can. Yeah, He can answer my prayer, He can save my son. Oh, God can heal my daughter. God can. Can, won't help you. You still be anxious. It's when you know he cares.

What is the root of anxiety? Nobody helps me. Nobody cares as I do. Nobody is concerned. Nobody's going to help me. I have to figure this out. The moment you have this mindset, nobody cares. That's not true. God the Father cares for you. Let's just say that you drive a Tesla and you happen to work for Elon Musk.

Elon Musk currently is the richest person on the planet. And I don't care what you think of him. Personally, I think he's cool. But let's just say whatever you think of him. One thing is certain; the guy has money. And one thing is certain is he is very wealthy.

Let's say you drive one of his cars. Let's say you have internet. That's by him. The Starlink. That's where you get the internet through the satellites and you actually happen to work for one of his companies. How many of you know that doesn't solve your financial problems? Why?

You can know him, you can even have him on a speed dial. The problem is he isn't your dad. You got your own problems, and you got to deal with them. But if you're one of his 20 million kids that he has or how many kids that he has now, he believes in having a lot of children from a lot of women.

Lord, save his soul. That part of Christianity he got right, except he uses different women instead of from one woman anyway that's a different message for a different day but let's just say you're one of his kids that he carries you see sometimes he goes on big business meeting with world leaders carries his kid on his shoulders.

Let's just say you're one of those kids on his shoulders; I'm going to tell you one thing you don't have financial problems. Why? Your daddy does, why because your dad cares for you. This doesn't mean he'll solve all your problems all the time, but there's one thing, he will share the care.

When you're a Christian, the reason why Jesus says you shouldn't be concerned is not because you're irresponsible. It's because you're in a relationship with someone who number one has the means and number two has the heart. God has the means to help you. Worry is not solved by a better theology.

It is solved by a deeper intimacy with the father. You can have a theology about God's omnipresence and power. But when you develop the intimacy, he cares for me. It gets solved. You may say, Vlad that's great. I get it. Yeah, I got to remember God cares for me.

But what do I do with these anxious thoughts? What do I do when they come? What do I do? How do I fight them? How do I overcome them?" And this is where Paul gives us a final piece of advice. Philippians 4:6, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." And then Paul tells us this final verse, what to think about, meditate on good stuff, not bad stuff. So, in one sense, if I allow bad information inside of me, it will increase my anxiety.

Now, of course, if I have sin, I got to deal with sin. If it's spiritual roots, I also have to seek prayer, seek deliverance. But if it's a seasonal, temporary situational anxiety, I have to lower the amount of information that comes in and increase the good information, good word to come inside of me.

Jesus also tells me I should not have a reason to be anxious because I have a good relationship with somebody who has the means and who actually cares for me. And Jesus also tells me that I got to obsessively seek his kingdom because his kingdom is the kingdom of solutions instead of seek the minor things that don't necessarily have solutions in themselves.

And then what do I do with my anxiety and my thoughts? And Paul gives a practical breakdown. And he said, the way you overcome anxiety is you turn your anxious thoughts into prayer requests. You move them from your head into God's hands. Overcome anxiety by moving your thoughts into God's presence, praying about it instead of replaying it.

How does it happen practically? You're trusting in God that he cares for you. You're allowing the word of God to come inside regularly. You come to church. You are a person who obsessively seeks the kingdom of God and the advancement of the kingdom of God. Then what do you do with that lingering anxious thought and thoughts?

You get into the secret place, and you transfer them from here, verbalize them to God. And as you're verbalizing them to God, remember prayer is an exchange of hands. You're giving him your problem and you're getting back his peace. Prayer is moving your thoughts from your mind into God's hands.

And in return, God gives you, his peace. And while you're giving God the problem, you're telling the Lord what is happening. Jesus is saying through Paul, don't forget to drop a little thank you with thanksgiving. Don't just tell God how terrible life is, remind Him that you know that He has still been good to you.

So, when you're telling him to save your child, when you're telling him to solve the career problem, you also tell him say, Lord, thank you for giving me two hands and two feet, both eyes, both ears, and a nose that works, and my body that works. Lord, I just want to say thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for me, filling me with the Holy Spirit.

God, I just want to thank you for letting me be born to this beautiful family that I have, planting me in this wonderful church. God, I do want to thank you for every time you've answered my prayer, every time you've answered my cry. God, I want to not forget how you delivered me from the spirit of depression.

I want to not forget how you saved me from that accident that's supposed to so should have claimed my life. So, Lord, I'm presenting you my anxiety, but I also not want to be with amnesia forgetting what you've done to me. Because see, worry has a selective memory.

It reminds you what is not happening. But when you begin to thank God, it's a spiritual warfare that attacks anxiety. And as you're doing that, then Paul says, think on these positive thoughts, Amen. Some time ago, which was about 20 years ago, our church did a play at the Yora Center.

It's called Everything; Everything Drama. It got the most views at the time. And actually, one of our leaders, Britney, was this girl that was playing in this drama. And all these demons were attacking her. And then she was trying to get to Jesus, which was Josue. And then he finally broke through and he saved the day.

And then you see these demons over there trying to attack her and this Jesus figure is keeping them away. And as I woke up yesterday morning, I got this image in my mind. That's how some of your minds are. Some of our minds are that you get this attack of anxiety.

Anxiety. And there is Jesus on the outside that seems like he doesn't care. Seems like he's not getting in. But I want to encourage you to keep pressing into the kingdom of God. Keep pressing into Jesus. And a shift is going to happen where anxiety will come from your mind into God's hands.

A shift is going to happen where you will still feel the anxiety but no longer on the inside but on the outside. And the peace of God, the peace of God is not a feeling. The peace of God, the Bible says, will guard your hearts and minds. The peace of God, Julian, could you get up for just a second?

The peace of God. Julian is a police officer. Julian is a guardian. Julian works as serves here as our watchman. See, Julian is not an emotion. Julian is a guard. See, the Bible says when you turn your anxiety to God, something happens. God puts between you and your anxiety a guard.

A security guard. You know what it's called? The peace of God. The peace of God is not a fuzzy feeling. The peace of God is a guard. What anxiety now attacks the peace, not the person. If anxiety is attacking you, there is still peace for you. Press into the presence of God.

Press into the glory of God. Press in for your miracle. Press in for your breakthrough. But before God gives a breakthrough, He will take the peace and put the peace between the person and the pressure. So that the pressure will hit the peace until as you saw in this video, the peace of God will not only guard your mind.

The peace of God will create resistance against the anxiety and eventually that anxiety will stop attacking and you will walk in the perfect peace. He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him. Thank you, Julian. I want you to rise to your feet. In just a moment, we're going to invite our ministry team, our pastors and our ministers to pray for people.

As I've had the opportunity to pray for some of you already in the lobby who came with the doctor's report that only a miracle can solve. And maybe you're here today and you're like; I need a miracle. Yes, but I also wanted to share with you that before that miracle comes, the guardian of God's peace can separate your mind from that problem where you can live connected to another kingdom.

We're going to pray for you that God will meet you at the point of your need. If you're battling with anxiety, if you're battling with depression, if you're battling with sleeplessness, you can't sleep, your mind cannot turn off at night. God didn't bring you here today an accident.

He wants to touch you and minister to you. Maybe you're saying, Vlad, until God solves the problem, my mind will not change. I understand that and partially that is how it happens. The problem gets solved; the mind gets better. But if the mind is damaged, the problem gets solved.

You stay the same. And God doesn't want that to happen to you. And we're going to pray for you for that just stretch your hands forward. And those of you here in the front, stretch your hands like this, like you're receiving a gift. Say this out loud with me.

Say, Lord Jesus Christ, I believe. I believe you are the son of God. Who died on the cross for all of my sins. I am so sorry. For how I have lived, everything I have done. Would you wash me with your precious blood? Make me clean, make me whole, and make me new.

Fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me eternal life. I give you my life and I will follow you. I will read your word at least four times a week. I will pray. I will be in the church, and I will be more like you, in Jesus name, Amen.