Heart of the Matter
(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
Matthew 6:31 (emphasis added)
Anxiety is said to be a natural response to stress, perceived threats, and fear. For most, once that stimuli ends or is removed, the anxiety passes. For some, anxiety isn’t a natural response to anything, but a constant miasma that clouds their whole existence. It can colour things less vibrant than they should be. It can also be a crippling condition that physically prevents them from functioning as they should. Neither is anything that we as believers should put up with. It isn’t that the stress, perceived threat, or fear disappears. It isn’t that we ignore it or deny it. The believer can come against that stress, threat, and fear with the Word. We can stand against receiving it into ourselves. We can leave it as external stimuli. We can respond with our faith, not the flesh’s fear.
But I have a mental condition, you say. I have been diagnosed. There isn’t a choice for me. I hear you and I can see where you are coming from. It is just that you are not entirely correct. Yes, it is a mental disorder. Yes, it can hijack you and prevent your decision making process from operating as it should. But that isn’t where your freewill should be working. It isn’t in coming against the black dog as it is attacking you. It is ignoring your mind completely and dealing with it at the spirit level. You are a spirit being. Your flesh doesn’t control who you are whether it is functioning as it biologically should or not. Your existence is on a spiritual level filtered through your consciousness as understood by the physical framework you find yourself in. A spirit speaking through a soul inhabiting a body. Does an engine tell the driver how to operate the pedals and steering wheel of the vehicle, or does the driver use the vehicle to control the motor?
The problem with anxiety or any other mental disorder is that our physical hearts within these bodies of ours contain memory cells. They have within their makeup cerebral memory cells. But these are heart cells, not mental cells. Our minds cannot touch them. They are the unconscious backup for our lives. That is a good thing when it comes to remembering our grandparents, the cute moments in the early lives of our children, or our deep love for our partners. This is a bad thing when they are filled with negative experiences, thoughts, and memories. Because they send more signals to our brains than our brains send to them. Every time we deal with something in our head, our heart sends out a reset signal and re-informs the mind about what happened.
This is how triggers work. This is why we have to go to counselling again and again and again. This is why we seem to struggle with the same issues over and over. What we have put into our hearts comes back to reset our minds. To refill the physical mind with what we have stored in our souls. “But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man” (Matthew 15:18). “The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things” (Matthew 12:35). “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). This is serious stuff. This is the heart of the matter. Literally.
There is only one way to deal with these things. We need the cells in our hearts healed. We need THEM reset. If we don’t get this done, they will forever reset our minds. They will bring us back again and again to the embrace of our mental disorders. They will dis-order whatever we seek to do with our minds, and we will be doomed to live with coping. Is there a way to get to the heart? Not by us. Right before Proverbs tells us that we need to keep our hearts with all diligence, it states truth in verses 20–22. A prophetic utterance from our Father in heaven to us: “My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the centre of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.” Why is it that we are called to place the Word so highly in our training of the heart? Because Jesus is the Word and the Word is what saves. It is a mystery where Jesus is the physical embodiment of the Word of God which is the Will of God which is what was sacrificed in order for us to be saved; not the Word but the man who was the Word who is God.
Abraham needed a sacrifice and God provided one (Genesis 22). Abraham named Him Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who Provides. God provided the sacrifice. God sustained. Jesus was also the sacrifice. The one through whom we are sustained. The one through whom we have been provided with life. Adonai was the name by which Abraham called God (Genesis 15:2). Lord of Lords, Lord God, Lord of Hosts, Lord of all the earth. “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Jesus is the meal that we need to be sustained. He is the food we thrive on. The source for all that we rely on. He is the means by which we are renewed (He is the Word made flesh, John 1:14). He is the way in which we are restored. He is the mechanism by which we are renewed and birthed into something other than what we are on our own.
The process is the same for all of us. It happened to Paul (Acts 9). It happened to John the disciple and apostle (Revelation 1). It happened to Moses (Exodus 3). It happened in the garden (John 18:6). We must be broken before the Lord. We must fall before Him. Acknowledge His majesty. His sovereignty. He may have given us free will. He may restrict Himself in how He acts with us. It does not change who He is, what He CAN do, or the Glory and Righteousness that is His. We must acknowledge that. We must say ‘You are my God, my rock, my fortress, the one in whom I trust’ (Psalm 91). If you don’t acknowledge His total strength and your total weakness, you cannot move forward. You have to submit all of your life to Him, not just the parts you personally don’t like.
Until we are broken, we cannot be built up. It is not a one-time thing. Our foundation is trash. We need to make Jesus our foundation and then we have to stay on Him. If we move off, we crumble. On Him we are crumbled, but made strong. It is the paradox of abiding in Jesus. He is our strength. He is the Vine. We are dependent on Him. “Behold, the LORD’s eye is on those who fear (reverence) him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine. Our soul has waited for the LORD. He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let your loving kindness be on us, LORD, since we have hoped in you” (Psalm 33:18–22).
We can do a lot. We can. Have you ever been to therapy — good therapy — or seen what psychologists can do to help people? It is amazing. But it never seems to stick. There always seems to be something else that comes up and back we go. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if we let the Lord heal our heart, then it isn’t going to bring anything up. “For the LORD’s word is right. All his work is done in faithfulness” (Psalm 33:4). God is the ultimate therapist. He deals with us on every level that exists. He heals the physical, the mental, and the heart. When Jesus died on the cross He had on Him your physical infirmity, your mental condition, and all the symptoms and triggers your mind holds. When Jesus was resurrected again to life, none of that stuff came out of the tomb. All of it stayed dead. If we will believe it and receive it, we can walk in that freedom of wholeness (Luke 17:11–19). Once we are broken before Him, He can restore us to where we should be: “But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
We can be healed. We can be whole. Our hearts can be made anew. They can be purged of all the bad memories, all the poisons, all the lies, and all the trash that we have been putting into them consciously or unconsciously all these years. That is when we will start seeing ourselves delivered from chronic mental disorders. That’s when we will see solutions for anxiety stick — because Jesus IS the solution. We can walk away from anxiety. We can leave depression. We can have the freedom we crave. We won’t start being like everyone else. We’ll start being a shining example of what they can be too. Jesus loves you too much to let things come on you again. Jesus wants to bring an end to your problems and conditions (Nahum 1:9). He wants you well, whole, and complete. Just like He created you. Abide in Jesus and let Him abide in you. Let Him restore you, heal you, and cleanse you. It won’t change your personality, it will perfect it. Embrace Him today. He loves you too much not to free you. He loves you.
Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Exodus 12:21–24
God Himself said He would walk through Egypt on the night of Passover (Exodus 11:4). The Lord Himself would go through the land and bring judgments on Egypt (Exodus 12:12). Walk through the land the Lord did. But the Lord Himself was not striking anyone dead. The Lord was protecting. All GOOD things come from the Lord. The Lord God is our provider and redeemer. He is the Light of the World and the Good Shepherd. He did not allow the destroyer to enter any home to judge where the blood was protecting them (Isaiah 54:16). He raised His hand and prevented the destroyer from entering in. There had been an altar against Abraham and his offspring since Abram had lied to Pharaoh and brought judgment against Pharaoh’s house for no just reason (Genesis 12:14–20). It had enabled other Pharaohs to think they had the right to enslave Israel. Four hundred years of an oppressive altar culminating in abuses toward the people of God. Toward His children. The Lord is protective over His children — Acts 9:4 has Jesus saying flat out to Saul “why do you persecute me?” The Lord takes it personal. The children of the Lord were meant to reside in Egypt. To serve (Genesis 15:13). But it turned to oppression. It turned to abuse and affliction (Exodus 1:11) . Babies were murdered (Exodus 1:22). When the time came to take His people out and bring to pass the judgment that was due these acts, God protected His people. That is who God is. God protects. There were Egyptians who listened to God’s words throughout the plague times (Exodus 9:20). There were those who reverenced Yahweh so much they left with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38), including the adopted mother of Moses, daughter of Pharaoh (1 Chronicles 4:18). God is a GOOD God. He loves us all. He didn’t come to judge us (John 3:17). He came to love us (John 3:16). But not to judge us (John 3:18). Again and again God is the one who protects, the one who redeems, the one who preserves life. The curse tries to take it, but God preserves those who love Him. Because He loves us. Let Him preserve you. Let Him protect you. Let Him redeem you. The world may be chaotic, but you will have His peace. The world may be famine, but you will lack nothing. The Lord loves you. Walk with Him today.
Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:
Today God loves that I ___________________.
