The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 39: Emotional Intelligence

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Note: Today’s blog post is excerpted from my book Soul Physicians. You can visit here to learn more about Soul Physicians and to read a free sample chapter.

Take an Emotional Intelligence (EI) Test to Test Your EQ—Emotional Quotient

If we’re going to defeat anxiety, then we need to manage our moods. To manage our moods, we need emotional intelligence. Take an Emotional Intelligence (EI) Test. What’s your EQ—Emotional Quotient? Evaluate yourself using 10 as “Emotionally Mature” and 1 as “Emotionally Immature.”

1. I’m aware of my feelings and moods as they occur.

2. I’m able to recognize and name my feelings and moods.

3. I’m able to understand the causes of my feelings and moods.

4. I maintain a sense of ongoing attention to my internal mood states.

5. I’m aware both of my mood and my thoughts about my mood.

6. I actively monitor my moods as the first step in gaining control of them.

7. I soothe my soul in God.

8. I have a sense of self-mastery—frustration tolerance and anger management.

9. I self-regulate my emotions—self-control.

10. I can harness my emotions in the service of a goal.

11. I can stifle my impulses (“passions of the flesh”) and delay gratification.

12. I’m a hopeful person.

13. I turn setbacks into comebacks.

14. I’m resilient and longsuffering. I demonstrate perseverance.

15. I practice optimistic self-efficacy—“I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” “I can meet challenges as they arise.” “I’m competent in Christ.”

16. I’m learning contentment in whatever state I’m in (external situation or internal mood).

17. I’m attuned to others, not emotionally tone-deaf. I have the ability to sense another’s mood.

18. I have empathy built on self-awareness. I’m open to my own emotions and, therefore, skilled in reading the feelings of others.

19. I practice the creative ability of perceiving the subjective experiences of others.

20. I make another person’s pain my own.

21. I can take on the perspective of another person.

22. I forgive.

23. I’m emotionally nourishing toward others.

24. I leave others in a good mood.

25. I’m effective in interpersonal relationships.

26. I help others to soothe their souls in God.

27. I can initiate and coordinate the efforts of a group of people—helping them to move with synchrony and harmony.

28. I can negotiate solutions—mediation, preventing or resolving conflicts.

29. I can make personal connection—ease of entry into an encounter along with the ability to recognize and respond fittingly to people’s feelings/concerns.

30. I’m a good team player.

31. I’m skilled at social analysis—being able to detect and have insights into people’s feelings, motives, and concerns. Ease of intimacy and rapport.

Keeping It Real

How well did you do? What areas do you need to work on? How will you go about that?

The Rest of the Story

Our series on The Anatomy of Anxiety is nearing its end. In our next post, we’ll take a look at the role our physical body plays in anxiety and what we can do about it.

Join the Conversation

Why do we hear so few sermons, messages, and lessons on emotions?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 38: Emotions 911

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Note: Today’s blog post is excerpted from my book Soul Physicians. You can visit here to learn more about Soul Physicians and to read a free sample chapter.

Mood Disorder: Emotions 911

Emotions and “moods” are not innately bad at all. Our struggle with negative emotions and “bad moods” is yet another result of our fall into sin. Emotionally, we’ve moved from “mood order” to “mood disorder.”

All disorder ultimately arises from a state of disconnection. Separated from the life of God, we demand that one another become like gods. When our fellow finite beings fail us, then we face personal dis-integration. We’re shamefully exposed as false trusters. The emotional result is disordered moods:

• My inability to accurately sense and experience my own inner and outer world and my failure to maintain a healthy self-awareness of my prevailing emotional mood state(s).

• My inability to accurately read my emotional thermostat so that I inaccurately gauge the relational temperature outside and my personal temperature inside.

• My inability to respond to my inner and outer world courageously, lovingly, and wisely.

In mood order, we perceive unpleasant or distressful moods as messages sent from the soul to the body (from the mind to the brain). The message is communicating: “Necessary changes requested. Please reply ASAP! Thank you.” The symptom (the distressed mood) is thus seen as a potential gift. It is like the warning light in our cars reminding us to “check under the hood.”

In mood disorder, we misperceive our distressed mood and respond in non-God ways. We attempt to manage our misperceived moods self-sufficiently.

Mood Reorder: Emotions 411

Satan wants our moods to overwhelm us, control us, direct us away from God. Or, at least he wants us to respond to them by entering survival mode. Overwhelming moods lead to survival mode.

Jesus came to give us life, and that abundantly. “Abundant” means beyond what is necessary, surplus, left over, greatly enlarged. It is used of the abundance left over after the feeding of the 5,000. Spoiling! Jesus came to spoil us. Resurrection power allows us to do more than survive. We can thrive (2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Philippians 3:7-15). We can move from anger to love, from despair to hope, and from fear to faith. Resurrection power offers fresh, creative energy, and a reawakening of courage—of mood. As Paul Tournier insightfully describes it:

The person matures, develops, becomes more creative, not because of the deprivation in itself, but through his own active response to misfortune, through the struggle to come to terms with it and morally to overcome it—even if in spite of everything there is not cure . . . Events give us pain or joy, but our growth is determined by our personal response to both, by our inner attitude (Tournier, Creative Suffering, pp. 28-29).

In reordered, redeemed moods, intense moods lead to a thriving mode.

We must recognize how marvelous moods can be when managed in Christ and recognize how pernicious they can be when mismanaged under Satan. Appreciate your moods as God-given sources of instant insight into your inner and outer world. Enjoy the usefulness of reordered moods in a disjointed world, which include:

• My God-given ability to become aware of my moods, whether pleasant or unpleasant, and to accept that I am experiencing that mood.

• My God-given ability to face and feel whatever mood I am experiencing, allowing it to grant me insight into my inner self and my external situation.

• My God-given ability to bring rationality to my emotionality by coming to understand the sources of my moods and my resources to manage my moods (responding to my inner and outer world wisely).

• My God-given ability to bring volitionality to my emotionality by choosing how I will manage my moods instead of allowing them to manage me (responding to my inner and outer world courageously).

• My God-given ability to bring relationality to my emotionality by allowing my moods to motivate me toward deeper connection or reconnection with God, others, and myself (responding to my inner and outer world lovingly).

Keeping It Real

On a scale of 1-to-10, how well do you manage your moods?

The Rest of the Story

In our next post, we’ll take an emotional intelligence test to measure our EQ: emotional quotient.

Join the Conversation

Do you agree or disagree that emotions and moods are gifts of God?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 37: Emotions 411–Emotional Intelligence

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Note: Today’s blog post is excerpted from my book Soul Physicians. You can visit here to learn more about Soul Physicians and to read a free sample chapter.

How We Relate, Think, Act, and Feel

Obviously, our emotions are useful, beneficial, and very good. Just as obvious, our emotions often are hurtful, harmful, very bad. We are to be angry, but not sinfully so. Anger can be good, it can be evil. So it is with all emotions and moods. Designed for mood order, we experience mood disorders, and can experience reordered moods.

We tend to develop rather patterned approaches to life. Relationally, we cling to our Creator or to created realities—pure or impure affections, lovers of the soul or idols of the heart. We worship God our Spring of Living Water or we dig broken cisterns that can hold no water. We enjoy intimacy with Christ or we weary ourselves pursuing false lovers.

Rationally, we develop mindsets that persist over time. Either we direct our lives according to the mindset of the Spirit or we pilot our lives off course according to the mindset of the flesh. Either we guide our lives along the narrow path of wisdom or along the broad road of foolishness.

Volitionally, we develop purposeful pathways of intentional interacting. We trod a path toward what we perceive will satisfy the hunger of our heart. We habituate ourselves either toward willing God’s will or willing our own will. “Your will be done,” or “My will be done.”

Emotions are no exception. We not only experience instantaneous emotional responses, we also encounter ongoing mood states.

Emotions and Moods

A mood is a background feeling or emotional state that persists over time. It is less intense and longer lasting than emotions. My mood is my prevailing tone or coloring, my state of mind, frame of mind. In a sense, it is my emotional outlook that occurs both at a particular time and settles deep inside me over time.

Moods are the intersection of our emotional/feeling responses and our rational attitude/perceptions. My mood reacts both to the external events of my life and to the internal longings, images, ideas, goals, and actions of my soul.

Created by God, moods, like emotions, were a very good thing. God intricately fashioned us to experience a variety of positive emotional states, the most optimal moods. Our moods and emotions contain vital signals of readiness not simply for action, but for interaction, and rest from interaction. They signal when we need to interact and when we need to come apart (before we fall apart). Jesus identified within himself moods that led him to seek solitude (Mark 1:45; Luke 5:16) and that led him to engage in intimate interaction (Luke 5:15; Mark 3:1-6).

Our moods guide us to mobilize our resources for wise relating. They work with our self-awareness so that we can become attentive to our emotional states as our inner person interacts with our outer world. Moods motivate, or better, moods jolt us into awareness, promote pondering, and motivate us toward appropriate interaction.

Taken together, we can define mood order as:

• My God-given ability to feel my own feelings, to sense my own life experiences, and to become self-aware of my prevailing emotional mood state(s).

• My God-given thermostat that quickly gauges the relational temperature outside and my personal temperature inside.

• My God-given capacity to courageously, lovingly, and wisely respond to my inner and outer world. I perceive what I feel and I choose how I respond.

In the Beginning…Moods

What was the mood process like for Adam and Eve? All order ultimately arises from connection. So when Adam felt happiness and joy in the presence of Eve, his entire being became focused on connecting, attaching. “I like being with her. I want to be with her. When we are together, I am outrageously happy.”

Sinless Adam and Eve also could have experienced legitimate sadness—a sadness due to absence that impelled them to reconnect. Adam is working in one part of the Garden. Eve in another. Happy in her work, but aware of a growing sense of sadness, a developing mood of aloneness, Eve stops. She ponders. She recognizes the source—she misses her hubby. She runs to him, throws her arms around him, kisses him impetuously. “Just wanted you to know how much I missed you!” Separation, whether physical or psychological, is a basic cause of human sadness. Sadness provides a driving force to restore attachment, in the same way that hunger impels us to eat.

Keeping It Real

What “mood” are you in right now? How could you apply today’s biblical principles of “mood order” to better understand and manage your mood?

The Rest of the Story

It would be nice if we could stop at “mood order.” However, the Bible tells us and we all experience “mood disorder.” Why? What can we do about our disordered moods and emotions? And how can we “reorder our moods”? How can we manage our moods? Our next post begins addresses these vital personal issues.

Join the Conversation

Why did God create us with emotions? 

Soul Physicians

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 36: Emotions 101

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Note: Today’s blog post is excerpted from my book Soul Physicians. You can visit here to learn more about Soul Physicians and to read a free sample chapter.

Emotion by God

Before we can explore how to renew our emotions as we defeat anxiety, we must gain a biblical perspective on our emotions. What does the Bible say about emotions and how does that contrast with the world’s way?

It’s so typical that it has become trite, “How do you feel about that?” We even mock it, “I feel your pain.”

We’re awash in an emotionally shallow society. Do we throw the baby out with the bath water? Or do we realize the world’s counterfeit and choose God’s real deal, the genuine article?

The real deal is biblical emotionality. Like our Creator, we experience life deeply and all of our feelings are in-relationship-to-God feelings.

Our emotions reveal our deepest questions about God. They vocalize the inner working of our souls. Listen to and ponder your emotions in order to discern what your heart is doing with God and others. Emotions are a voice that can tell us how we are dealing with a fallen, hurtful world. Emotions force open the stuck window of our soul, compelling us to face how we are facing life.

Emotions are God-given. They are not satanic. Adam had them before the Fall. God has them. Christ has them. In and of themselves, they are not sinful. They are beneficial, and yes, even beautiful.

The Psalmist understood this. In the classic passage describing God’s utmost care in creating us, Psalm 139, emotionality is the one aspect of our inner personality specifically referenced. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). “Inmost being” is kidneys. In Psalm 73:21 and Proverbs 23:16 the kidneys are the place of sorrow and rejoicing, respectively.

In the Ancient Near East, the kidneys were seen as prompting or urging people to action by aroused emotions. The Semitic languages used terms for kidneys, reins, stomach, bowels, and womb to describe the feeling states. As we literally experience and feel an emotion in our physical being, so we feel an emotion in our psychological being. That’s why we say things like, “I have butterflies in my stomach.” God created your inmost being, your kidneys, your emotions.

Emotional Experiencing: Emotional Reaction

What are emotions? Emotions are our God-given capacity to experience our world and to subjectively respond to those experiences.

This capacity includes the ability to internally react and experience a full-range of both positive (pleasant) and negative (painful) inner feelings.

The very root of the word emotion is motere, the Latin verb “to move,” plus the prefix “e” meaning “to move away.” This suggests that a tendency to act is implicit in every emotion. All emotions are, in essence, impulses to react, the instant plans for handling life that God has instilled in us. God designed our emotions to put us in motion. They represent a quick response that motivates action—emotions signal the mind to go into high gear.

Emotions play a crucial editorial role that force us to do a double-check, to look outward and inward. They are our “psychological sentinel” that connect us to our inner and outer world.

Once connected, then we react to our external and internal world. What we desire, think, and choose (our inner world) determines our emotional reaction to our external situation (our outer world). What we believe (rational direction) about what satisfies our longing for relationship (relational motivation) provides the direction we choose to pursue (volitional interaction) and determines our experiential response (emotional reaction) to our world.

Understanding Your Emotions

Consider a basic formula for understanding emotions: E.S. + I.P. = E.R.

Our External Situation plus our Internal Perception leads to our Emotional Response. Picture it like this.

Understanding Our Emotional Responses

   External Situation + Internal Perception  = Emotional Response

• Negative Action            +  Biblical Belief            = Legitimate Painful Emotion (Sorrow, Sadness, etc.)

• Negative Action            + Unbiblical Belief        = Illegitimate Painful Emotion (Hatred, Despair, etc.)

• Positive Action              + Biblical Belief            = Legitimate Positive Emotion (Joy, Peace, etc.)

• Positive Action              + Unbiblical Belief        = Illegitimate Positive Emotion (Pride, Self- Sufficiency, etc.) 

Your boss says to you, “You blew it.” Your emotions react to this external event and to your internal images and ideas. What if you believe, “I must have my boss’s approval”? Then you will respond with illegitimate negative emotions such as anger, depression, hopelessness, or hatred.

If, on the other hand, you believe that “I would like my boss’s approval, but I know that I am accepted by God,” then you will respond with legitimate painful emotions such as sorrow, disappointment, or remorse (if you were truly in the wrong).

The key to our emotional reaction is our belief or perception about the meaning behind the event. Thus, events determine whether our emotions are pleasant or painful, while longings, beliefs, and goals determine whether our emotional reaction is holy or sinful.

Keeping It Real

Ponder a recent emotionally intense situation. Use the ES + IP + ER “formula” to trace the tracks of your emotional response.

The Rest of the Story

Why did God even create us with emotions if they seem to cause such a mess! How does God intend for us to manage our moods? In our upcoming blog posts we’ll address these relevant questions.

Join the Conversation

Why do you think many Christians, churches, and biblical counselors throw the emotional baby out with the bathwater and make emotions “the black sheep” of the image bearing family?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 35: A “Can Do” Spirit

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Can Do…In Christ

It’s in the context of overcoming anxiety that Paul penned the famous words of encouragement, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Paul cultivated a “Can Do” spirit.

However, it is nothing like modern “self-help,” or “positive thinking,” or “possibility thinking.” That’s all founded on a self-sufficient basis. Paul’s “Can Do” spirit is based upon who he is in and through Christ, not upon who he is in himself—in his own effort, strength, or power.

What happens when the reality of my fear rams smack into the reality of Christ’s Word? My fear says, “I can’t do that!” Christ’s Word says, “You can do all things through Me.”

1. Face Your Fear by Faith to Face Down Your Fear by Grace

Some Christians would say, “Ignore your fears! Just obey Christ!” That’s not faith; that’s faking. Others might say, “Sure, admit your fear and then immediately defeat it.” That sounds so close to the truth, but it lacks reality (and compassion).

We have to avoid two extremes. Don’t fake it—don’t pretend your emotions don’t exist. Don’t flood—if you’ve been terrified for years, it’s normally unwise to tackle your greatest fear all in one shot, head on.

Instead, face fears by faith—wisely, and often incrementally, “stand and stay.” Having prepared wisely (see all the previous posts), by faith stay in the presence of what you fear.

So you start giving that speech, and your heart starts racing. Rather than focusing all your attention on your bodily reactions, courageously force yourself to continue. “Okay, I’m starting to get nervous. I wonder if they can tell. I’ll take a deep breath, trust that God is calling and equipping me, get back to my notes, and share my passion with passion!”

2. Turn Setbacks Into Comebacks

Most victories in life come with two steps forward and one step backwards. Perhaps you gave that speech and you bombed. You know it. Your friends are kind, but when you ask them for honest feedback, they share that you did seem to let your fear get the best of you some.

Victory over anxiety is not a neat, nice, linear process. God’s promise that we can do all things through Christ is not a guarantee that we’ll never face obstacles. Turn setbacks into comebacks. Realize that you can plateau and then climb higher. Be willing to take risks—to fight again, to try again.

3. Stir Up the Gift of God: Cultivate Courage

In the Body of Christ, we need to stir one another up (Hebrews 10:24-25). We also need to stir ourselves up (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

Of course, part of the key in serving Christ is knowing what God has called you to. When Paul says He can do all things through Christ—the “all things” were everything Paul was called and equipped to do. Faith does not mean committing ourselves to things we have no calling, training, experience, or expertise in. Ask others to help you to identify your strengths.

Once you’ve identified your strength and gained the equipping necessary, then when fear strikes, you’re ready. Remind yourself who you are in Christ. “I am an MVP in Christ. I have a spirit of power, love and wisdom. I don’t have a spirit of timidity. I am gifted at _______. I can do all things God calls me to do in and through Christ.”

Stirring up the gift of God includes cultivating courage. The French word for courage is Coeur which means “heart.” That’s where we gain phrases such as, “take heart, have heart, brave hearted, lion hearted, and strong of heart.”

Courage is the ability to move forward and toward what frightens me rather than moving away and avoiding it. It’s the opposite of being faint of heart.

This is vital because sometimes we mistakenly think, “If I feel fearful, that means I am fearful.” No. The truth is, “If I feel fearful and face down my fear, I am not faint of heart, but brave of heart.”

Keeping It Real

Where is God calling you to stir up the gift of God and face down your fear?

The Rest of the Story

We’ve looked at spiritual, relational, social, mental, and volitional (motivational and behavioral) healing for anxiety. Next we probe emotional healing for anxiety. We’ll learn together how to renew our emotions through the acrostic of: AWARE.

Join the Conversation

By God’s grace, what setback will you turn into a comeback?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 34: God’s Victory Action Plan

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Practice What You Preach

We could think of Paul’s counsel in Philippians 4:1-9 as God’s Victory Action Plan. It includes, as we’ve seen already in previous posts:

*People: “Therefore my brothers…” (Phil. 4:1-3). Overcoming anxiety takes a church. Feeling fearful; connect with others.

*Praise: “Rejoice in the Lord…” (Phil. 4:4-5). Overcoming anxiety takes enjoying God as your Guardian. Feeling fearful; commune with Christ.

*Prayer: “By prayer and petition…” (Phil. 4:6). Overcoming anxiety takes humble, submissive, specific, trusting prayer. Feeling fearful; cling to Christ.

*Perspective: “Guard hearts/minds…think on these things…” (Phil. 4:7-8). Overcoming anxiety takes renewing our minds. Feeling fearful; put off lies and put on truth.

So, victory over anxiety is relational/social—people. It is relational/spiritual—praising God and praying to God. It is rational—renewing our ideas and images.

Paul’s comprehensive victory action plan does not stop there. It’s also “volitional”—it involves our will. It involves choosing to act courageously. Paul continues:

*Practice: “Put into practice…” “The things you have heard me say; do” (Phil 4:9). Overcoming anxiety requires that we practice what we preach. Feeling fearful; act!

Nike: “Just Do It!”

Now, simply saying to a person immersed in fear, “Just face your fear!” is like our previous post of Bob Newhart saying, “Just stop it!” That said, there does come a time when we have to “Nike”—“Just do it!” In conjunction with the process of all the previous posts (we’re up to 34 already!), we do need to take action.

In fact, recall our original biblical model of anxiety as “stuck vigilance.” If anxiety is vigilance gone wild, if it is scanning and scanning and standing and standing, without taking a stand, then most certainly there comes a time when the “Nike” approach is called for. To apply the “Nike” approach, we’ll use another major modern phobia—giving a speech—as our sample application.

1. Replace Inaction with Reasonable Actions

To defeat anxiety we must replace inaction with action. We must replace scanning and fleeing with scanning and fighting—fighting back against our fears.

If you’re worried about public speaking, and if you get feedback that you’re not the world’s greatest public speaker, then do something about it. Take a speech class. Get a speech coach. Read some books, blogs, and articles on public speaking.

If you’re worried about a speech, and you’ve had a history of successful speakers, then take appropriate preparations: research well, craft a good outline, create compelling illustrations, practice your speech, get feedback. Put don’t prepare compulsively or in a perfectionistic manner (that simply feeds the fear).

2. Face Events Rather Than Avoiding Them

Nothing empowers fear more than fleeing a fearful event. It becomes habitual. You’ve prepared your speech. You’ve received feedback. Now it’s a day away and you’re tempted to call in sick, play hooky, or make an excuse why you can’t deliver your speech.

What do you do? Ask others to come along side to encourage you. Praise and pray. Remind yourself that you are speaking to an audience of One—God. Remind yourself that God wants you to keep your commitments. Remind yourself that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Implement good problem solving skills. Relax. Focus on your strengths.

If you’ve had ongoing battles with fears of public speaking and you’ve never done it, or haven’t done it in years, then part of facing events rather than avoiding them is slowly building up to giving speeches. Share a five-minute devotional with your family. Give a trial speech in front of friends. Then give a five-minute talk to your small group. Then share a fifteen-minute lesson in Sunday school….

Follow manageable steps. Then make a plan to follow through to complete exposure to what you fear. Build up and follow through.

Anyone reading this who loves public speaking might be thinking, “What babies! Giving a speech is a breeze and a blast!”

But you know what, we all have some “issue” we dread. Some of the most powerful public speakers I’ve ever known have been terrified ever to talk to their teenage daughter about emotional issues. So, let’s all be honest. None of us are totally fearless. None of us are free of all stress, worry, anxiety, fears, and phobias.

Keeping It Real

Honestly ponder some area of fear, worry, anxiety, or phobia that you have been avoiding. What is it? Confronting your husband? Changing careers? Sharing your failures with co-workers? Not being seen as perfect? Whatever it is, how could you apply today’s post to your life?

The Rest of the Story

We often think about renewing our minds. The Bible also teaches us how to renew our actions. In our next post we’ll learn how to renew our will so that we can apply the truth that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Join the Conversation

What examples come to mind of people who are real “tough guys” and “macho” in some areas, but somewhat secretly fearful in other areas of life and relationships?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 33: The Weapons of Our Warfare

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Renewing Your Mind: Images, Pictures, and Imagination

In our previous post, we applied five wisdom principles for renewing our ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. Today we follow four wisdom principles for renewing our images: face irrational images, choose realistic images, take the sting out of false images, and cast down deceitful images. We’ll use a common phobia to illustrate the process: going to the dentist.

1. Face Irrational Images

When fear begins to grow into a full-blown phobia, our tendency is to block out or even to try to blot out our thinking. However, our images just go underground, they don’t disappear or dissipate. So, though it may seem like the opposite of what we might want to do, the best thing to do is to specify the fearful images flooding your mind.

“If I take this to its furthest extreme, I have this irrational fear that I will gag when they put the instruments down my mouth. I picture my tooth ripping out and bleeding profusely, and maybe even bleeding to death.”

2. Choose Realistic Images

Of course, it won’t help much to keep picturing those extreme images. So you must bring reality to bear.

“I’m going to picture reality. My dentist is a trained, caring professional. She’s done this procedure 1000s of times. She gently scrapes my teeth, not yanks them. She uses modern tools, not archaic ones.”

3. Take the Sting Out of False Images

Asking “so what” and “what if” are additional ways to take the sting out of false images.

“Okay, so what if? What if I passed out when they were cleaning my teeth? Dental phobias are the first or second most common phobias. I’m not the only one who might get all worked up. They have smelling salt. Worst case, I could go to “Gentle Dental” and be basically in a light sleep the whole time. But I don’t need to. I can face this.”

4. Cast Down Deceitful Images

Anxiety is warfare. It is a decision to cling to God our Guardian (trust and obey) and then to guard others (tend and befriend). It is a decision not to self-protect and not to let others down. It’s a decision to see God as Sentinel Who empowers us to be on sentinel duty for Him and others.

Paul uses warfare imagery in 2 Corinthians 10:3-7. He teaches us not to wage war as the world does. Instead, he reminds us that we have divine power to demolish strongholds, arguments, and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. God equips us with the weapons to take captive every thought and image to make them obedient to Christ.

So, as you face your fear, get mad at your fear. Reject it. Cast it down. Call it what it is—sinful refusal to trust God. Recognize it as a deeply embedded choice to believe lies about reality.

The spirit of timidity that Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 1:5-7, is always accompanied by images of our self as a little boy, a little girl, a baby, childish, fearful, in the fetal position.

Picture yourself smacking down those two-faced, false, deceitful, lying, double-dealing, double-minded images. Pin them to the mat. Manhandle them. Replace them with boldness. See your self armed in Christ, putting on the full armor of God. Picture yourself marching into the dentist’s office “armed to the teeth” (pun intended).

Keeping It Real

Ponder a fear you face. Apply to that fear the four wisdom principles of renewing your images.

The Rest of the Story

Having looked at our relational and rational victory over anxiety, next we’ll explore our volitional victory over anxiety. How do we choose courageously when fear stalks and anxiety strikes?

Join the Conversation

Why do we so seldom talk about images and the imagination in Christian circles?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 32: Stop Looking at Life with Eyeballs Only!

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, 30, and 31.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Renewing Your Mind: Ideas and Images

God designed us to think in words and pictures, ideas, and images, beliefs and imagination. I develop the biblical evidence for this on pages 179-188 of Soul Physicians.

So biblical mind renewal involves renewing our ideas and images. In this blog post we explore the renewal of our ideas; in our next post we explore how to renew our images.

Renewing Your Ideas, Thoughts, and Beliefs

To renew the words, ideas, and beliefs flowing through our mind, we need to preview, overview, view, renew, and re-view (enlarge). To work our way through these five principles, imagine that you have been called into the office. It might be your bosses’ office, the principal’s office, or the Doctor’s office. Whichever it is, you immediately begin to think the worse. “Oh no! I know I’m in trouble. What did I do wrong? Am I going to be fired? Expelled? Is the news the worst?”

1. Preview: Catch Your Eyeballs Only Thinking

In 2 Corinthians 10:7, Paul warns us against “looking only on the surface of things.” I like to call this “eyeballs only thinking.” Rather than looking at life with spiritual eyes, faith eyes, and 20/20 spiritual vision, we look at life peering through fleshly lenses.

As you think the worst, ask, “Where is my good, and great Guardian God missing from my thinking?” (Matthew 6:25-34). How am I like Elisha’s servant who was looking at life with his eyes closed to spiritual reality?” (2 Kings 6:13-17).

2. Overview: Face Your Ultimate Fears

Now step back. Ask yourself, “What if the worst case occurred? What if my boss is going to fire me? What if the diagnosis from the doctor is terminal?”

Don’t minimize, but honestly reflect and face your greatest fear. “If I’m fired, does God still clothe the lilies of the field?” “If the diagnosis is cancer, can anything separate me from the love of God in Christ?”

3. View: Capture Your Thoughts

Of course, more than nine times out of ten, the boss simply wanted to update you, or wanted to commend you, or wanted to ask a question. So you’ll also want to assess why your mind starts imagining the worst.

“Why do I view my boss as mean, harsh, and uncaring? Is that what he/she is really like? If not, why do I act that way? What does that say about how I see life?”

4. Renew: Change Your Thoughts

Bring truth to bear. That does not always mean quoting a specific verse. It can also mean bringing reality to bear on the situation.

I might sound like this. “I’ve been called into the principal’s office before, nothing bad has happened. I haven’t done anything wrong. This is likely no big deal, or perhaps something the principal wants me to do for the school. I need to stop assuming something bad when there’s no evidence for that. I need to start believing that God has a good heart and He never lets anything happen that won’t ultimately glorify Himself and bless others.”

5. Re-View: Enlarge Your Thoughts

As Elisha prayed for his servant, so we need to pray for ourselves. “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, that I might see reality as it is—as You see it.” We need to ask, “How can I bring God my good and great Guardian, who stands vigil over me, into my thinking?”

Keeping It Real

Ponder some fear, worry, or phobia you face. Apply the five wisdom principles to that situation. It would be especially helpful if you wrote out your responses.

The Rest of the Story

In our next post we teach you how to apply four wisdom principles for renewing your images.

Join the Conversation

Do you agree or disagree that God designed us to think in both words and pictures?

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 31: Talk to Yourself Instead of Letting Yourself Talk to You

Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, 29, and 30.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Master Your Thought Life: Biblical Self-Confrontation

Today’s title may seem a tad odd. If so, blame it on Pastor Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. It was while reading his book on Spiritual Depression that I came across his concept, based upon Psalm 42:5, that David talked to himself instead of letting his self talk to him. “Why are you so disquieted, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.”

I often tell parishioners, counselees, and friends that “the brain has a mind of its own.” We’re constantly bombarded with ideas, thoughts, and messages—our internal dialogue. To experience Christ’s victory over anxiety, fear, and worry, we have to master our thought life. We have to change habitual thinking, speak the truth to ourselves, and align our thoughts with God’s thoughts.

Catch Your Thoughts: Listen to Your Self

To start with, we have to “catch our thoughts.” We must become aware of the habitual, unhealthy, unbiblical sentences, ideas, and images dancing in our heads. Before we can talk to our self, we must listen to our self!

If you’re experiencing worry, slow down your thinking. Ask yourself, “What is my bottom line fearful belief right now? What images of my self, my world, God, and others are scrolling through my brain?”

Challenge Your Self

Having captured the thoughts that previously captivated your mind, now challenge the lies that you’re believing. Ask questions such as:

*What is the evidence that this belief/idea/image is true?

*Is this belief/idea/image always true, or are there exceptions?

*Where was I recruited into this belief/idea/image?

*What does God’s Word say about this belief/idea/image?

Speak Truth to Your Self

Imagine that you’re about to give a presentation: teach a Sunday school class, speak to a small group at work, share your findings with your supervisors, give a speech in a high school, college, or graduate school class, etc. And imagine that it’s all you can think about. You can’t sleep. As the days get closer, the worry grows deeper. You’ve caught your thinking by listening to your self and by challenging yourself. Speak truth to your self now such as:

*God has empowered me before to conquer my fear of public speaking, He can do so again.

*Even if the worst case scenario occurred, God will never leave me nor forsake me.

*I am ultimately speaking before an audience of One—God—and He will never condemn me.

*I have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and wisdom.

*I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me so.

Keeping It Real

Think of something in your life that is creating worry, fear, anxiety, or stress. Walk through each of the steps in the post, applying them to your mental victory.

The Rest of the Story

Having talked to your self, next you can learn how to renew your mind by renewing your ides and images. Yes, God designed us to think both in words and pictures, and biblical mind renewal requires that we address both.

Join the Conversation

Do you agree or disagree with Pastor Martin Lloyd Jones that we must talk to our self instead of letting our self talk to us? Do you agree or disagree with me that “the brain has a mind of its own?”

The Anatomy of Anxiety

Part 30: When Anxiety Strikes, Strike Back!

Note: For previous posts in this blog mini-series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,  27, 28, and 29.

Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.

Three Strikes and Worry Is Out!

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-7, Paul exhorts us to take every thought captive. We do so by putting on a new, peace-filled, courageous mindset. Renewing our minds for victory over anxiety includes:

1. Strike One: Expose Erroneous Beliefs (2 Corinthians 10:3-7)

Begin by taking a “worry history.” Before you can put on new thinking you have to identify past unhealthy thinking. So ask, “When did the worry and fear begin? When are they the worst? The least? What have you tried?”

Continue by specifying the worry. When Paul says “be anxious for nothing,” the word means nervous solicitude, harassing care, being full of care, brooding, meditating over too much. So ask yourself, “What am I brooding over? What are the themes or patterns of my worry?” Describe and identify your fear to defeat your fear.

2. Strike Two: Demolish Sinful Thoughts with Scriptural Thoughts

Worriers carry their worries to extremes—they develop them toxically. Such as, “My daughter’s five minutes late and the roads are icy; I know she was killed in an accident.” Demolish lies by recognizing them as false, deceitful, misinformed, inaccurate, unhealthy, extreme, and untrustworthy.

Decatasrophize your worry by bringing truth to bear on your worry. “Would a stranger see it this way? Have I always seen it this way? Am I ever less concerned about this? How and when was I recruited into seeing it this way?”

Examine “what if” contingencies to expose the lies. “What if I failed in the business interview? Then what? What would the worst case scenario be? And if that happened, then what?”

Engage in scriptural explorations and spiritual conversations. Bring truth to bear on your fearful thinking. Review and apply to your fears and anxieties specific principles of scriptural exploration and spiritual conversations found in part 25, part 26, part 27, and part 28.

3. Strike Three: Take Control of Your Thought Life (Philippians 4:8)

Change your thinking. We can make up our minds before hand not to worry about self-protection because of our trust in God’s protection (Luke 21:14-15). Thoughts are a rehearsal for life. That’s why Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 to guard and control what we premeditate upon. It’s why he tells us what to think about in Philippians 4:8. “Think” means to take an inventory.” When anxiety strikes, strike back with a mental inventory of what you allow yourself to focus on.

Paul is very practical (as is all of God’s Word). He suggests specific categories of what to think on. In fact, Philippians 4:8 is a command with a tense suggesting that we develop healthy habits of thinking—godly mindsets. So when worry strikes, strike worry out by thinking on these things:

a. Whatever Is Nobel:

This is truth aligned with God-reality. Ask yourself, “How can I replace the lies of worry (which always eliminate or minimize God) with the truth of Who God is and who I am in Christ?”

b. Whatever Is Right:

“Right” means worthy, holy, august, serious, valuable, honorable, majestic and awe-inspiring. “How can I replace the lies of shrinking thinking with the truth of God’s larger story, infinite power, and grace-love?”

c. Whatever Is Just:

This is right, righteous. Ask, “How can I align my thoughts about life, self, others, God, my past, present, and future with what is righteous and true according to God-reality?”

d. Whatever is Pure:

“Pure” means modest, morally clean, chaste. “How can I keep my thoughts about this situation pure so that they demonstrate a chaste commitment to trust in Christ alone, and remain faithful only to Christ?”

e. Whatever Is Lovely:

This is beautiful, pleasing, winsome, amiable, agreeable, endearing. “What way of thinking about this situation would please Christ; would bring Christ joy?”

f. Whatever Is Admirable:

“Admirable” means well spoken of, attractive, of good report, of excellent reputation. Greek word scholars Abbott and Smith even summarize this as “good omen words!” In other words, “Based upon Who Christ is and upon His promises, what positive mindsets should and could I have about my future?”

g. Whatever Is Excellent:

This means with valor, chivalry, virtue, good qualities, mental excellence. “As anxiety attacks, how can I attack back as a sentinel with valor?”

h. Whatever Is Praiseworthy:

This pictures whatever makes you want to applaud, to give a standing ovation, to stand up and shout. “As I counter these lies, what mental focus would result in God giving my thinking a standing ovation?”

Keeping It Real

1. Which of the three “strikeout principles” best applies to your life? How could you apply it today?

2. Which of the eight mindsets from Philippians 4:8 can you apply today?

The Rest of the Story

How do you master your thought life biblically? That’s our next post—see you then.

Join the Conversation

With so much practical biblical truth to defeat anxiety, why do we insist on looking to secular solutions for help?