I’ve had it all wrong.
Many well-meaning motivational speakers, best-selling authors, teachers, and preachers have had it wrong.
Let me explain.
I live with the threat of clinical depression crushing me at any moment. I pray, meditate on Scripture, experience community, take medication, see a therapist, eat clean, exercise, and do my best to get plenty of sleep, but nothing is a guarantee.
In the meantime, anxiety is the war.
I’m not alone.
Anxiety seems to be the top issue most people face today.
I don’t speak as a scientist here but as a pastor. I have conversations, get asked questions, receive emails, have requests for prayer, and get invites to speak on that very topic. There are more articles online about the subject than you can shake the proverbial stick at.
Many people feel defeated by the thought that they should have victory over anxiety, but don’t, and can’t. They question God because they pray hard without any glimmer of deliverance. And then feel guilty about it all. So they resign themselves to live in those awful realities.
I’ve been there.
Let me set you free.
You may never have victory over anxiety.
But you can have victory WITH anxiety.
Don’t take my word for it.
“So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
I spoke at an event recently with the theme “Move Forward in Victory.” I loved that theme. Right before I got up to speak, the thought hit me: “Sometimes the victory is just in the moving forward!”
That’s what Paul is saying. He pleaded with God to take his “anything but this!” thorn away.
Ever been there?
Then he rests in knowing God will not give him victory over his thorn but will give him victory to live with it, move forward in it, minister to others with it being sort of his superpower if you will.
I love how we don’t know what his thorn is too. It could have been his eye problem, false prophets who attacked him, or something psychological. Either way, the Lord left it open so we could apply it to our own personal “thorn.”
Notice how Paul understood the thorn would remain to keep him humble and dependent upon God’s grace. I’ve thought about that a lot for my own life.
It’s as if God reminds me: “Jarrod, do you realize what a punk you’d be if I gave you victory over your thorn? Do you know that you might walk away from me without it? Do you realize how you might give into more temptations, depend upon your own strength, mislead and harm others in arrogance if I gave you victory over your thorn? No son, I love you too much to give you victory over it, but I’ll miraculously give you victory to live with it, to be stronger for it, and to be a greater vessel to others for my glory and their joy.”
Perhaps God has similar words for you.
So hear ye, hear ye.
Despite all the wrong messages you have heard about “victory over…”, including that same message from yours truly perhaps, embrace this promise: You don’t have to have victory over your thorn. You have something even greater, a superpower—victory WITH your thorn through the personal grace of God.
Thank you for that word of encouragement. Every time you share your struggle with clinical depression, I am comforted to know that in spite of it, God gives you Grace upon Grace. You’re so right when you say…just getting out of bed is a major victory! I feel so bad for my husband sometimes, because I know he loves me & it breaks his heart to see me struggle! However, I know that the Lord has used my thorn, to work compassion & deeper devotion into his life. Life isn’t perfect…but God is awesome in every way!!❤ thanks for being so transparent & open about your struggle…You’ll never know what an effect you’ve had on my life.
Praise God, Denise. Thank you for your encouragement. If it helps, you can download for yourself, and your husband, my free ebook 10 Ways To Support A Loved One with Mental Illness. Much love and grace to you!
This one cuts straight to the heart. Grace is the one thing that we can never get enough of since it comes from above. Keeping us grounded in our weakness with grace is like renewing a lease on life every morning even though we don’t deserve it. Would love for the church to learn all we can concerning grace!!
Right message at the right time, Pastor Jarrod. Thank you.
Thank you Pastor Jarrod. I needed this today as I struggle with anxiety over losing my job. “WITH” is a powerful word. God bless you.
Dear Pastor,
Thank you for your heart in sharing this very difficult struggle and for your desire to help others through similar struggles. I read your post today and a short time later received a text from an out-of-state Jewish friend in New Hampshire. Her only child, her daughter, was just released again from the hospital only a couple days ago and is leaving on a plane tonight to move from New York to Colorado. My friend asked me for prayer and shared, “I’m a bit anxious.” That is putting it mildly; I know my friend well and she usually doesn’t write about her anxieties in such mellow terms! She was exhausted, God bless her!
You began in part by writing, “I live with the threat of clinical depression….In the meantime, anxiety is the war.” You went on to say that some “…question God because they pray hard without any glimmer of deliverance….So they resign themselves to live in those awful realities.” As I’ve prayed with and for many people over the years, I get the very same impression in many cases….they resign themselves to live in those awful realities. May I please take this opportunity to give my humble thoughts to those who have NOT received a decisive Word from the Lord such as the thorn in the flesh. God bless you and anyone else who has received that message as Paul did while you carry on with reverent acceptance and march on as a soldier of God. I would hope to encourage those who are still praying and believing that with God ALL things are possible. [Any quoted Scriptures are from the NIV}
I am judging no one. Who among us probably DOESN’T have anxiety?! There are wars and rumors of war, sickness, terrorism, natural disasters, stray spouses and stray children, deaths of loved ones, financial distress and so much more. There will not be ONE of us who gets a free pass in this life. It’s a fallen world and we will all have our troubles and sorrows. I cannot say if I recall reading a lot on the subject except for what I’ve read in the Scriptures over the years. When I feel anxious, I need to remind myself of Psalm 112:6-8: “Surely he will never be shaken;….He will have no fear of bad news, his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear….”
I think of the woman with the ‘issue of blood’. For TWELVE very long years, she endured bleeding, was under the care of many doctors, spent all her money on medical care – AND grew WORSE! I imagine her knees may have been bleeding too by the time she reached for the Lord’s garment as she reached out and was healed instantly through faith. What if she had given up only a day sooner not knowing her deliverance was right around the corner – just a day away? Because we try our best to do all that is right in His eyes and pray diligently and we have not been healed YET, it does not necessarily mean the healing will not come. God’s timing is perfect and perhaps it is just not yet HIS time and OUR time. When I have to wait a long time for something, I usually find there are so many other things the Lord wants to show and teach me FIRST. I agree we “….can have victory over anxiety” while living with it – perhaps it could be just while we are still in WAITING.
It is said that behind many of our negative emotions, the underlying cause is many times FEAR. After Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood telling her to go in peace, news came that Jairus’ daughter had died. The first thing Jesus told them was, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36) Besides the things I listed previously, we all have our own stories and experiences and we can probably all remember at least ONE frightening event from our childhood that sticks with us our entire lives. In 1John 4:18, John writes, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”…. The way I have memorized it from other translations, it is that fear has to do with TORMENT. 1 Samuel 16:14 says, “Now the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.” Sometimes people lose their way, but for all His children who abide in Him and do their best to be OBEDIENT and to walk in holiness – sinful as we are – I doubt a loving, Heavenly Father would send a tormenting spirit to HIS children anymore than we as loving parents would set out to purposely torment our OWN children (although sometimes we may be tempted)! David learned through Saul! He prayed in Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me from Your Presence or take your Holy Spirit from me”!
We are admonished to SEEK peace and PURSUE it that we would see good days. (1 Peter 3:10-11) Wouldn’t it be great if we all would pursue PEACE as FERVENTLY AND DESPERATELY as a young man pursues the woman he loves?
I feel one of the most beautiful Scriptures is John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you…..Do not LET your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” He has GIVEN us His peace, and it sounds as if it is a CHOICE to not LET our hearts be troubled. How can anxiety stand amidst this PROMISE of peace given to us directly from the Prince of Peace?
Back to King Saul, 1 Samuel 16:23 says, “Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” I then think of James 4:7 which tells us to SUBMIT to God and RESIST the devil and he WILL flee from you.
Continued FASTING and praying, adhering to Philippians 4 filling our hearts and minds with GOOD reports, listening to worship music and worshiping aloud in word and song ourselves, proclaiming GOD’S WORD ALOUD, remembering and following TRUE fasting as taught in Isaiah 58, walking humbly before God and man, living uprightly in our own homes, spreading grace and forgiveness, thankfulness, generosity and acts of kindness – these are just a few acts of worship we can do while waiting for our breakthrough. And NEVER, NEVER lose hope! NOW faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things NOT seen. (Hebrews 11:1) ….”But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? BUT IF WE HOPE FOR WHAT WE DO NOT YET HAVE, WE WAIT FOR IT PATIENTLY.”!!!!! (Roman
8:24-25)
The bottom line for me is this. Philippians 4:6 admonishes us to NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING…… It does not sound like a request, but a command. And the Lord understands our weakness and is patient with us. But if we are told to be anxious for NOTHING, how can we then settle to live with the threat of anxiety and depression all our lives? Will the Lord ever go against His Own Word?
I wanted to get a quick apology to Pastor and everyone as I give this post more thought. I do realize that nothing can get past the Lord without His permission and we also know Paul was, of course, a very righteous man. I certainly did not mean it to sound otherwise. [Paragraph 5]
I have been viewing the incident of the tormenting spirits with Saul and the incident with Paul as two entirely different situations and I guess they were in a way, although I realize the Lord had total control over both. It truly hurts our hearts to see people going through such torment.
I would love to hear more teaching on these passages sometime as I’m sure I could use it, or perhaps I am just overthinking it and it’s not that complicated. But if I said anything not Biblically accurate, I apologize to everyone.