The promise of peace is for everyone, not a select few who are blessed or strong. God wants us all to live in freedom, but we have to grab a hold of the peace. He lays it all out for us, but it’s up to us to put it into action.

Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. It can change our perspective of the trials in front of us because it literally changes our brain’s chemistry.

If we want to defeat the paralyzing fears, or we want freedom from the havoc that anxiety has brought into our lives—addiction, health issues, relationship strife—then we need to be in prayer. In everything.

Stop taking on responsibility that isn’t yours. Anxiety fails to acknowledge that God is sovereign over your life. You are not sovereign over your life. You cannot control the future. Only God can.

How much peace would enter our souls if we just released our white-knuckle grip on what should happen tomorrow, next week, or next year and trust that God is in control?

So much of our anxiety comes from our unwillingness to be reasonable or gentle. We get stuck on things that HAVE to be “this” way to be good, and our blood pressure rises when our spouse insists on having it their way. What if you just let your expectations go and trusted that God is in charge?

We were never meant to live with the stress we allow in our lives—we weren’t created to physically endure the stress. God tells us over and over to not worry or to not be anxious in Scripture because He knows the damage it will cause.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.Galatians 5:22-23 ESV The final fruit of the Spirit in this list is self-control. Self-control is stopping. It is literally standing in the way of our enemies having a hold on us. There... Continue Reading →

In order to allow the Holy Spirit to fill our souls with gentleness, we not only need to stop fighting God's plan and submit our will for His will, we need to confess our desire to take control of our spouses, of our marriages, of our agendas.

Faith is believing the Word of God and acting on it no matter how we feel. We must choose to obey God even when we don’t feel like obeying. If we allow our emotions to dictate our response, we remain on the roller-coaster of life. We have to learn to obey His commands despite how we feel.