3 Ways to Fight Your Enemy

A Cup of Tea with Carol
Written By Carol McLeod

Worry. 

Fear.

Anxiety.

Three words that possess the deceptive capacity to steal your joy … diminish your peace … and demolish your trust.  Many, many Christians deal with this ferocious triumvirate on a daily basis.

If you are a victim of worry … a headache immediately becomes a brain tumor as worry magnifies the potential for harm.

If you are a kindred spirit of fear … watching the daily news is a lethal dose of poison.

If anxiety is your emotion of choice … a peaceful, restful night of sleep is a rare and foreign occurrence.

One of the worst mistakes that worriers make is when they choose to worry out loud.  When worry verbalizes the fear and anxiety that has nestled its way into our hearts and minds, we are giving it a power that it does not deserve.  The only thing that should be coming out of your mouth any day of any year is the Word of God!

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.” – II Timothy 1:7

If worry is your emotional disease, it’s time for you to be healed.

If fear is your constant companion, it’s time for you to make a new friend.

If anxiety makes you physically sick, it’s time for you to have open heart surgery.

If you have lived your entire life imprisoned in a world of worry, fear and anxiety, let me boldly say to you today that you are listening to the wrong voice!  It’s true, we are oftentimes unable to control our circumstances, but we are always able to control our emotional and spiritual response to those circumstances.

There will always be circumstances and events in life that we loathe and would never choose but these temporary conditions should never stir up a storm of agitation and panic.  Rather than worry, the response of a passionate believer should be worship!

Worry, fear and anxiety have absolutely no place in the heart or mind of a disciple of Jesus Christ.  If you are ready to shed yourself of these fleshly reactions to life, you need to go back to the basics of your faith.

These are the powerful basics of faith that will enable believers to fight off the fiery darts of the enemy:

  1. God is good all the time.  God knows of no other way to be than eternally, infinitely and perpetually good.  His goodness is the greatest power in the entire universe and He has aimed His goodness at your life.  God’s goodness is chasing you down during the most confusing and despicable days of life.  Do you believe it or not?    "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will never stop doing good for them.” – Jeremiah 32:40
  2. God is trustworthy.  You can put all your trust in Him because you know completely and believe emphatically that He is good and that He will always have the last word.  Choosing to rest in the Father’s arms and trust Him with your questions will usher in the greatest moments of your life on planet earth.  "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.” – Isaiah 26:3
  3. Worship is the anecdote to worry.  Worship will blast the voice of the enemy with the power of heaven’s fighting battalion.  If you will choose to worship rather than to embrace fear and anxiety, you will be among the leaders of the cause of Christ in this generation. "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; What can mere man do to me?” – Psalm 56: 3 & 4

  

The truth is this … we all have something to worry about, don’t we?!  We all have something that could cause us to crawl into the corner and stay in a fetal position the rest of our days.  But Jesus Himself has commanded disciples in every generation to shake off worry and to embrace His power.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor father into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?” – Matthew 6: 25 & 26

We all have a choice.  We can choose to worship or we can choose to worry.

We can choose to be guided by faith or be consumed by fear.

We can choose to embrace anxiety or to receive the power, love and sound mind that God has already given to each one of us.

Do not blame your tendency to worry on your circumstances, your parental heritage, the network news or the economy.  Allow me to reiterate with courage … If you are worrying, it is only because you are listening to the wrong voice!  You are listening to the father of all lies!  You are downloading your information from the enemy’s camp!  You have given more attention to the lies of the enemy than the truth only found in the Word of God!

Let’s all agree today to be done … to be absolutely finished … with worry and fear.  We will not worry alone and we will not worry together.  We will put all of our trust in our eternally good God Who is so worthy of our highest praise!

“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33

I’d love to pray for you today.  Rather than choosing to worry about what is going on in your life, would you share a prayer request so that we can join you in trusting that God is working His goodness into your life?  

Subscribe to Carol's Blog by Email

Carol McLeod
Carol says, “I am just a girl who is head over heels in love with Jesus ... passionately addicted to His Word ... and find all of the joy that I need in time spent in His presence." Carol is a Christmas-aholic, loves ACC basketball and the beach! Like all menopausal women, she is overly fond of chocolate and enjoys a good read. She doesn't like cleaning her house and is an expert in carry-out dinners. She hates to shop … loves to jog … and somehow finds time in her busy life to hang out with small children. She is the kind of woman that you could laugh with over lunch, cry with over disappointment and shout with over a victory! But … if you need her official bio … read on! Carol is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. She also hosts highly successful Just Joy! outreaches. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren! Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren!
Previous

8 Ways to Wring the Sunshine Out of This Summer
Next

And Then I Became a Mom...