“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Psalm 94:19).

Almighty God, I made it my excuse today that I couldn’t help it – fear and anxiety just take hold and there is nothing I can do. To some extent, this is true: there are aspects of our experience which are out of our hands, like the sins committed against us, or a chemical imbalance, or a challenging personality trait which tends towards the negative. I’m fighting against my environment and myself to not be afraid or anxious. But I still have to take responsibility for the reading material I choose, the people I hang out with, and the efforts I make to seek joy instead of fear.

If we can get trapped in anxious cycles of thinking, why not focus on positive truths and let ourselves cycle there for a while? What if we stay away from toxic people? What if we select verses about your love for us, your victory, and sit in those for a little while every day? Maybe we will still be anxious and fearful, but there will be a note of triumph there too. Something to build on. Moving forward, trusting you to put wisdom in front of us and choosing to trust, to let reason win out over deceptive feelings.

Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). But you know it’s not that easy for us. Sometimes, your words seem to be only “mantras that are devoid of power,” says Ed Welch. Yet, defeating fear a little at a time, day by day, is possible when we spend some time thinking about and connecting Scripture to Jesus, who was truly persecuted and who chose a faithful joy instead of fear and misery. Lord, please guide our focus to our short-lived triumphs over anxiety and away from our own fear. Fills us with joy that looks forward to eternal joy in your presence, when we don’t have to fight for it anymore.

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