Choose Peace over Anxiety

I was driving to Big Bear, California when it started to snow. Keep in mind that I’m a warm-hot weather person who never drives in snow, let alone snow covered roads. I was perfectly fine until the snow started to come down harder. Then one by one I’d see cars stop by the side of the road to put on their chains. Then it hit me…anxiety. My heart began to race. The tension inside my chest started to rise. I didn’t like the feeling.
I had a choice. Choose life by getting rid of the anxiety or death by letting the tension build. I chose life. I focused on the truth. Truth: I had a perfectly good set of chains in my car, though I didn’t want to have to stop and put them on. Truth: a CHP officer, who was only 3 cars ahead of me, was still going. Truth: the car in front of me was still kicking up water from its tires. Truth: cars coming down the hill weren’t wearing chains.
Instead of focusing on the snow, the cars putting chains on, and my lack of experience, I focused on the truths. Using the FREEdom process replaced my anxiety produced physical symptoms with God’s peace and a lower heart rate. The Bible says if we focus on the Lord, the Truth, we’ll experience peace of mind or life. The Bible is true. I experienced it as I arrived safely at our nice warm and cozy cabin.
Set “Free” Nowww

Life and Death Together

Death and life can exist together. What in the world? Let me explain. A few days ago I was to give a presentation before a group of fellow pastors. I arrived early to spend some time praying and going over my presentation one last time. When I arrived at the meeting hall, however, nothing was ready. The monitor and projector wires were disconnected from the computer. The computer screen was blue. The computer that ran the sound was not working. And once I plugged in the projector cables into the computer the projectors couldn’t find the signal.
Starting to feel a little stressed? Maybe your blood is beginning to boil? Jesus is life and with Him are peace and joy. If you’re not experiencing them you’re embracing death while at the same time you have the Author of Life living inside you. This is how death and life exist together.
You can choose to handle the above situation your way, which is another way of saying you’re sinning, which produces death (Rom. 3:23). When you choose death, you’re choosing to put distance between yourself and God, which means your peace decreases and your anxiety levels increase. Instead of tasting joy, bitterness washes over your taste buds.
I chose to process the situation through my biblical filter and plugged into Life, Who brought peace to the situation. There were a number of truths I focused on to keep the taste of joy in my mouth and peace in my mind. I experienced Life in the midst of a life robbing situation. So can you! Oh by the way. The Spirit really spoke through the presentation too.
“S”et “Free” Nowww

Quick Down Quick Up

I played football during my high school days. I loved playing on Friday nights, but hated the daily practices. I especially disliked one drill, “burpees.” In doing a burpee, you’d fall the ground face down and then push yourself back up onto your feet as fast as possible.
The purpose of this drill was to prepare you to play on Friday nights. You could find yourself on the ground during the course of a game. At that point, you had a choice. You could either stay on the ground and let the game pass you by or get up and back into the action. If you wanted to stay playing on Friday night and enjoy all that goes with it, you really had only one option.
It’s the same with being a healthy believer in Jesus. You will get knocked down by life’s situations. At that point, you can either stay down and keep taking your drug of choice or get up and walk with Jesus, where real life is found. My friend calls this, “Quick down. Quick up.” This is made possible by Jesus through His grace and mercy. We don’t take advantage of this grace and mercy, but we’re certainly going to rely upon them as we continue to retrain our brains.
Set Free “N”owww

Stop It!


This piece would be really funny if not for the subject’s seriousness. Like the woman in the video, do you like where your thinking takes you? Makes you feel? Then stop it. The applicable biblical worldview principle is to Freeze frame it. We all know that change is not as easy as stopping it. We need the rest of the Freedom process as well – the REE.
Yet the Freedom process starts by stopping the movies from playing in our head over and over and over again as this woman was doing…since her childhood! By doing so, she experienced fear, bondage and anxiety attacks.
Freedom starts by stopping those joy robbing thoughts from playing in your head and then running them through the Freedom process. As you do, your peace, freedom and joy will be a wonderful movie to watch.
Set “Free” Nowww

Perspective on Problems

I want you to meet Miguel and Maria Restrepo and their dog Blackie. For the past twenty years they’ve made their home in…the sewer!
Their home is an underground 10’x7′ space. They’ve built concrete walls to separate themselves from rest of the sewer system. Miguel says, “We live in an apartment. For me it is an apartment.” Their “apartment” has a kitchen, closet, radio, TV, fan, and a tile floor.
He never complains when asked about his living condition and consistently rejects offers from social workers to move into a shelter. Why? Miguel says, “I live better than the president. He has lots of problems and I don’t have any.”
Kind of puts Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25,33, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. But seek His first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you,” into perspective, doesn’t it? Your problems are never too big for your God to handle. Why not head to Him today rather than your drug of choice?
“S”et Free Nowww