When we live in the light, all things are wonderful and beautiful. Things seem to come together and they make sense. Then worry creeps in. That nagging feeling you can't seem to keep from going back to. Thus your light becomes darkness.
When you dwell on things that you have no control over, you dwell in darkness. That's the place you stay when your faith in God wavers, and when you are in that place you do not even think about God. You think about the thing that is tormenting you. That is the place the adversary wants you to be.
Where would you like to dwell? In the Psalms it says "I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever." (Psalm 23) I believe if you shift over to that thinking, that is where you will stay. Every thought has to become captive. http://www.interviewwithgod.com/psalm23.htm
"take every thought captive and make them obedient to Jesus Christ". (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Obsession- A symptom characterized by an endless preoccupation with a certain urge or thought.
Obessive-Compulsive disorder- An anxiety disorder characterized by both repetitive thoughts (obsession) and ritualized, repetitive behavior (compulsion)
(if you have OCD, it is best to seek medical attention)
If this describes you, it's not your fault. You cannot help it. It's not a matter of you having inadequate faith. You hear sometimes that if you had faith, none of these problems would be having power over you. Or sometimes you hear if you would just pray and have faith, you can be healed of obsessing, of worrying. Yes, God can heal you. Yes, He can make it all go away in a twinkling of an eye. Sometimes He doesn't. Not because He wants you to suffer, but because there is something you might have to learn from your suffering. Keep this in mind, suffering does eventually end, and the Lord is the one who ended it. It might not be instantaneous, but it does happen. The faith you have, in spite of your worrying has in fact, produced fruit.
God has created you. You were fearfully and wonderfully made. Read Psalms 135.http://www.blueletterbible.org/Psa/Psa139.html God knows your heart. He knows your mind.
Distractions, worry, cause the focus to leave God and the attention placed on the problem. If you mind is off God, what better way to be separated from Him?
If you life is in constant turmoil, there must be a reason. To keep you away from God? To stop your blessings? To cause misery instead of joy?
Some suggestions to help in the midst of the worry:
Set good examples to those around you.
Get rid of bad habits in order to set good examples. Make a list of things that need to be changed. When you do this, you are not focusing on the worry, you are working to make things simpler and when things are simpler, less cause for worry.
Recognize the problem. Try not to obsess, thus causes another distraction. Hand the problem over to God. Pray on it daily, hourly if you have to. If the problem comes up in your mind and you feel yourself begin to obsess, say to God as many times as you need to, "Lord this is Your problem, I gave this over to You, You handle it, and I thank You for handling it."
Write down a prayer for your problem. Compose it yourself. Keep it with you and pull it out when you begin to worry. Pray it as often as you need to.
And lastly, don't let worry worry you. You might worry that by the act of worrying, you are not having enough faith. You are having faith, because as was discussed before, you are praying, and you are doing the best you can to get through the worry process of a problem, and while worrying you are praying. Because God knows you, and has made you, He knows your mind and He knows your heart. He loves you.
Eventually, your worries will become less and less. The next problem that comes along, you will know better how to handle it. You will know more and more that God does take care of things. Pretty soon, you will not be so obsessive. You will know that its taken care of. You let it go. You give it to God. It's just a learning process.
Be blessed, stay blessed. We are all in this together.
My Prayers Aren’t Working:
Part one
One of the primary criticisms we experience as Christians from believers and non believers alike is: “Why aren’t my prayers working?” In order to answer this very important question, we need to understand our relationship with our Creator, God and how to pray. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing with you on this vital subject.
One of the most common mistakes Christians make is the “be with me” form of prayer. Oh God, please be with me. Oh Father why aren’t you with me. Just be with me Jesus. I know I have prayed like this only to sit back and wonder? Am I even being heard? The short answer is yes, but prayer like any part of a relationship must be grown and nurtured. We do this by following the precepts set forth in God’s word, the Bible.
John 16:7 clearly states that Jesus promised us a Comforter. From the Greek word Parakletos – a comforter is an advocate. An advocate is someone who works on our behalf. If you have accepted Jesus as your personal savior – then you have an advocate who works 24/7 365 days a year on your behalf. You have the Holy Spirit who is always with you. So you don’t have to waste time asking: “God, are you there? Be with me God. Please come and be with me. You have accepted Jesus into your heart, you have the Holy Spirit with you at all times. Don’t waste your time asking for that which you already have – get to the heart of the conversation with your Heavenly Father.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Savior – then your prayers need to start with that decision. In order for your prayers to really work – you must make Jesus the center of your life. It gets better from that point forward. Let’s get started. There’s a prayer on our homepage you can pray if you haven’t already accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you’ve already started a personal relationship then rest in the peace that you have a powerful advocate listening – every time you pray.
Peace,
Tammy B
Suggested reading John 16