“The truth is, all of us are heart patients.”

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.8). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Yes, we are.

Ed says, “I’m not talking about the vital organ in your chest but the heart that is the seat of yourself, your intellect, your morals, and your spirituality. And because of sin, we are heart patients, vulnerable to sicknesses like fear. You may not know it, you may not feel it, but at this very moment you could have a severe case of the fear virus attacking your heart. You could be in danger right now of missing out on God’s best for your life because fear is choking out your future. We all need to come to terms with the fact that we are heart patients and we have a fear virus that is taking life out of us. But there is a peace and joy God has for you—regardless of the circumstances in the world…”

He goes on, “Fear is often rooted in the inescapable fact that we are not as in control of our world as we think. Rarely does the entire world come to this conclusion at the same time. Yet in the first months of the new decade, our world was introduced to the COVID-19 virus. For generations to come, we will point to this virus as a reminder of how quickly we can lose control of our daily routines and lose confidence in what brings us security.

“When the fear virus takes hold of our hearts, it starts seeping into every area of our lives, our relationships, our society, our dreams and thoughts. Fear comes at us in unexpected ways and is always jolting, like when I got the call about my heart, or when COVID-19 swept through continents and crossed oceans, causing universal fear.

“Amidst the pandemic, everyone, to some degree, ceased living the life they knew and had to face the real fear of uncertainty. The media was on loop with information—some truth and some speculation—spiking fear into the population. Uncertainty breeds fear, and fear is a contagious virus. This pandemic revealed a deeper problem, a deeper issue: most of us have a natural bent toward fear, and we let that fear seep into our thoughts and every area of our lives until it controls us.

“The perpetuation of fear comes through various carriers. Our contact with social media, the news, and opinion boards have our fears on full display, and we are playing them on repeat. One of the things we learned during the pandemic is that we needed a trustworthy source of information. News broadcasts and social media posts were not all reliable. Emotions would rise and fall over information that may or may not be true. The fear virus contaminates and spreads to every area of our life if we are not careful. In order to fight the fear virus in our lives, we need context and we need truth. Whether it is our finances, job security, health, or the future, we must have the truth so that we give proper context to our fears.

Ed later says, “If negative fear is ‘False Evidence Appearing Real,’ what’s positive fear? A healthy fear of God means ‘Facing Everything with Assurance and Reverence.’ As we fight this fear virus, we can face every day and everything that comes across our path with reverence for God and assurance that He holds all things together. We are heart patients, and He is the healer. We have the fear virus, BUT the fear of Him is the vaccine; through His perfect love, we will have victory over our fear!

And that is what we need, isn’t it?

Yes, yes!

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...

“Hurry and love are incompatible.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 23). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Wow, pretty strong thought isn’t it? John says, “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love. If you don’t believe me, next time you’re trying to get your type B wife and three young, easily distracted children out of the house and you’re running late (a subject on which I have a wealth of experience), just pay attention to how you relate to them. Does it look and feel like love? Or is it far more in the vein of agitation, anger, a biting comment, a rough glare? Hurry and love are oil and water: they simply do not mix.” He goes on, “Hence, in the apostle P...

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

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