It is good for me

Last week while going through some old binders, I found an old email, not even originally send to me that was a great blessing to me. It was printed for me by my old d-group dad, Allan, from a pastor named Fred, Feb 22, 2007.

He starts by talking about tomorrow being the day that he will receive the results of a couple test (He had cancer). He writes


"There is a temptation here of course. It is to be anxious about tomorrow and the tomorrows that follow. The temptation puts me right in the middle of a great test of faith: will I be anxious or will I trust?

Jesus in the sermon on the mount speaks about this test of faith: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt 6:34. There is no ambiguity here and no wiggle room. Facing my uncertainty about tomorrow, Jesus tells me, "Don't worry". But Jesus, I protest, how can I stop my mind from its speculations and prognostications? And Jesus in the same text tells me that the antidote to anxiety is trust. "If God clothes the grass of the fields (with a beauty unrivaled), which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matt 6:30. And still earlier he says: "are you not much more valuable then they?" Matt 6:26.

But Jesus, I protest again, how can I become better at trusting in the face of all this uncertainty? "Ask and you will receive", he says in the same sermon. The way through anxiety and the path to greater faith is the path of prayer.

Am I worrying? Stop it. Set the mind on things above not on things below. Begin to pray a simple prayer of focus like Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy of me." Worry and Jesus can not stay in the same brain at the same time. And should I stop my prayer and the anxiety return? I pray again...and again...and again...This is a battle for my soul. Will I accept anxiety or fight through to faith? If it requires a thousand prayers in an hour, then it is my great privilege to pray those prayers. And should my soul need strengthening, then I will declare my desire before the demons and before the Triune God in the words of Psalm 55:23. "But, I will trust you". Five simple but transforning words. If Jesus tells me to stop worrying then it is possible to stop the anxiousness and to rest in his loving arms."


It is good for me to look into the mind of this brother and see his fight to trust. It is also good for me to realize his trusting did not make the cancer go away, it took his life within 4 months of sending this email. It is the Lord I praise for the example of his son Fred.