Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 

Philippians 4:6-8

Many of us struggle daily with an ever-growing list of worries that convince us to be afraid. Some fears are rational, so God gave us the emotion of fear to alert us to actual danger and protect us from potential harm. But most of our fears are irrational. They may be based on a perceived threat or simply prove that we have an extremely active imagination. Even though the evidence confirms they are lies, we grab ahold of them and label them as truth. Even though the evidence is false, our minds tell our bodies to respond with a racing heart and sweaty palms as if we were being chased by a bear! It’s time to call out our fear for what it really is: FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real!

God doesn’t want our hearts focused on what isn’t true. Not only does He tell us not to be anxious about anything, but He goes a step further and tells us what we should think about instead! We need a perspective change before we can have a heart change. When our perspective is clouded by our fears, we can’t see anything clearly. When we focus our hearts on every scary scenario, we shut out everyone else and focus inward, rather than outward. And we can’t possibly see every good and beautiful thing on the outside when we are always only looking in.

Everyone loves certainty and absolutes, but certainty and absolutes don’t lead to deep trust in Jesus! They lead to independence. If you want to be free from your endless fears and worries, turn your worries into prayers and let God’s peace, purpose, and perspective fill your mind and your heart instead. When you begin to see everything from His eternal perspective, it gives you purpose and peace and pushes your fears right on out. Jesus is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. So think about HIM! Hand Him your racing heart, and lift those sweaty palms to the heavens and give Him praise. He will give you peace and so much more! You are loved!