¿What triggers you?
"I feel alone, immersed in my own mind, without finding an escape, with horrible thoughts that I cannot control alone, I find myself thinking that I am rubbish or that I cannot go on with anything, I want to give up, I don't know what to do, neither I have the answers in my head and much less in my hands, I feel an emptiness in my chest as if from fear, it is an uncomfortable sensation, and the deeper I breathe, the more I feel it, my heart speeds up and sometimes I even begin to tremble, my Breathing goes very fast, I feel like I'm going to get sick, I want to say something to someone about how I feel, but I can't find the words in my mouth to express myself, and I feel that even if I open my mouth, nobody will understand me, since neither myself know what is happening to me, I cannot identify it, and until I manage to cry, or do something to undo what I feel at the moment, I cannot get out of my mind that holds me captive "...
THESE AND MANY MORE ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF AN ANXIETY ATTACK, and here I am talking about myself, (and what I feel when it happens). The attacks vary depending on the person and why it is activated or triggered, they are always different, but they all have something in common, and that is that they CANNOT BE CONTROLLED (humanly speaking), just like the moment or the situation that triggers them, many Psychologists recommend breathing techniques, squeezing a muscle in your hand, etc., but none of these tricks gives a real solution to eradicate it, they only control it in the moment or create the illusion that you are in control of it, but in reality it's not like that.
In Psalms 139: 23, David wanted to show God his greatest fears, so that he could face them and overcome them, and thus show himself that God is greater than his fears. On repeated occasions that these attacks have happened to me, the last thing I have in my head is to pray or put my burdens on God, mainly when the attack is linked to a person and it detonates it, I simply cannot control my emotions, the first reaction that I take is to run away from the situation or not to continue talking to the person in particular or sometimes even screaming as if that would help me in some way.
But this should not be the case for a person who is in communion with God continuously, however on the occasions when these attacks have happened to me it is the least in communion with God I have been and has been for a long period of time, it has been at times when my rebellion is at its best, at times when I have believed myself self-sufficient and that I can do it alone, but it is nothing but a lie to myself.
In the word it says that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and that we must constantly feed it, I lasted a long time knowing this, but not practicing it, I lasted a long time reading about it, but without it having any effect on me, it was like Job when he said "By hearsay I had heard you, but now my eyes see you", Job for a long time believed he knew God, since Job knew all the laws, and he was a just man, he believed he had bought heaven, and he was, God had him held in very high esteem, however this did not allow Job to know God in reality, Job did not know what grace was, nor mercy, since he had done "nothing" to have to experience it, because he always had been "good", however, this deprived Job of really knowing God.
In what way does the spirit feed? Giving him adequate food, which is the word of God, worshiping God in thanksgiving, and above all and I think the most important thing; Praying.
If your prayer life is not good or not right, then you will be unprotected, and if you are not constantly searching and studying the word of God, then you will be unarmed, because in the word it says that we must arm ourselves with the armor of God and part of that Armor is the sword of the Spirit that is the word of God, it is what nourishes our spirit, and what gives strength to the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.
What do you think Jesus countered the attacks of Satan in the desert when he was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights? It was with the word and his Spirit was strengthened because he was fasting and praying.
Today I want to give you some advice and battle strategies, so that it doesn't happen to you like me, that I was unprotected for not knowing more about the word and not being prepared at the moment to war and fight for myself, because the fight of the mind is A very personal battle, and that only you can achieve with the help of God, even if you have the support of many people, but if you do not decide once and for all to get out of the hole, you will never succeed because nobody will do the work for you, just the Holy Spirit can get you out of your own mind.
“In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.” Ephesians 6:10-12 AMP
I will quote three of the 7 parts of the armor of God, and these are:
1) The belt of truth
2) The helmet of salvation
3) The sword of the spirit
The wide band(belt) of Truth:
“So, stand firm and hold your ground, HAVING TIGHTENED THE WIDE BAND OF TRUTH (personal integrity, moral courage) AROUND YOUR WAIST and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (an upright heart),” Ephesians 6:14 AMP
-Dressed with truth: Waist tight with truth. This refers to the width of the leather belt that the soldier wore to protect himself, or that worn by officers as a sign of his rank. -this was taken from the Biblical reference of DHH94PC.
Here we see that when he refers to dressed in truth he speaks about the belt and this specifically speaks about the rank of the soldier, or the authority that he represents in battle, this clearly speaks of identity, we must always know what we are in Christ, that we are children of God, joint heirs of grace, kings and priests of his kingdom.
Likewise, he speaks in the word that we should not have a higher esteem for us than we should have, but at the same time he says that we should not let anyone belittle us. It sounds like a lot, but the point is, it is important that we know who we are and our personal value, that we are not anything as the enemy wants us to believe, but rather that we are of such high value, that God paid a blood price for us giving his only son as payment for our sin.
The Helm of Salvation and The Sword of the Spirit:
“And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Ephesians 6:17 AMP
The helmet is the shield for the head, and what does it do spiritually? This protects our mind from the thoughts and lies that the enemy wants us to hear and believe, and helps us to focus on Christ, this is very important, since it hints at the salvation of Christ, and that it does not matter what lie the enemy wants to come to attack us, we must always remember that we are worthy of the goodness of our God, through the blood of Christ who saved us, reminds us that we are saved by his grace, and that there is nothing we can do to deserve that great salvation, that is, that no matter how good you want to be or appear, nothing will make you more or less deserve to be saved through Christ Jesus.
This truth took me a long time to understand and assimilate it, I always believed that I must fight for the love and approval of God, my mind was martyred to think that God could love me less for a thought or action of mine in this or that situation, without However, through grace, learn that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less, since God loves you, period, with deep love, a love so great, that he gave his only son for us (and I’m repeating this because this is powerful and I want you to understand it), that we may be saved through grace and his redeeming blood. (Grace: unmerited favor)
The enemy wants us to believe their lies, which is why it is so important to protect our minds.
Among the lies that the enemy wants us to believe is the lie of; "I am a failure, and I can't do anything right." but the truth of Christ is the following: "I can do everything in Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13.
There is also the lie of; "What kind of God would allow something like that to happen to me?" but the truth of God is; "all things work for good for those who love God" Romans 8:28.
Another lie is "I will always be like this, I will never change", But the truth of God is "Yes I can change since all things are made new in Christ Jesus, all old things have passed" 2 Corinthians 5:17.
It is easier to believe in lies since they become part of our lives, but this is not the best and much less what GOD wants. He gave us his word so that we know the truth and thus the truth sets us free.
DISCLAIMER: Portion taken from the bible app YouVersion.
And speaking of the word, we have already entered the last topic of these three parts of the armor, which is the sword of the Spirit. And I think you guessed what the sword is, it is the word of God, this is the one that feeds our spirit, the one that makes us stronger, the one that helps us fight the lies of our adversary the devil, but something very important that we must do before entering it, is to pray to the Lord for the Holy Spirit to discern us, since by our own wisdom we will not understand it, it is always through Jesus that we can achieve things and through His Holy Spirit who feeds us and guides us on the right path.
Finally, I want to remind you that we are not alone in this battle, the Lord is with us on time and out of time, Jesus is our defense attorney, our guide and we must always remember to put our lives in his hands.
And as a personal testimony, years ago from my last anxiety attack, and I cannot lie saying that I have not been tempted again with thoughts of doubts and with lies from the enemy, but there is something that is always on my mind and my heart, and it is that I am not alone, and that I do not fight my battles, but that Christ already fought for me and won.
