What do you do when you get worried? What do you do when you get bad news—or anticipate sad news? We who know the Lord Jesus know the answer to those questions: we turn to Him. Sometimes we turn to Him quickly and other times not so fast. For the last few years I have been working on turning to Him more quickly by practicing the Immanuel Process. (You can get more information about this from some of my older blogs or at joystartshere.com.)
Recently when I was fretting about some possible sad news, I turned to Jesus. His response went deeply into my heart. You know when He tells us something, it’s more effective than when another person tells us. That spark of the Holy Spirit’s voice in our ‘’knowing” is far more significant than words on a page or a friend’s admonition.
Turning to Jesus
Practicing the Immanuel Process is one way that has helped me hear Jesus more clearly. I practice the simple physical exercises that calm my body when I feel upset. When I ask Jesus, “Where are You in the room (or car, etc.) right now?” I sense His presence and “see” that He is with me. Then when I ask Him, “What do You want me to know about this situation?” I hear that still, small voice in my thoughts. His presence and His voice change everything.
So what happened when I went to Immanuel in my fretting a few weeks ago when I was feeling the fear of losing someone I love very much? As I turned to Jesus, telling Him how I was feeling, I heard Him say in my heart, “I am with you either way.”
Peace that passes all understanding
I can’t describe in words how His peace blew away my fear. How can one describe the peace that passes all understanding? How can one talk about how a simple phrase can be so real and life-changing? How is it possible to explain how a truth that all of us know in our heads—Immanuel is always with us—suddenly takes away dread and fear? Since that day when I heard Jesus say, “I’m with you either way,” I have applied His words to several other situations where I could dread an unknown outcome. The same peace washes over me.
Fear is not of God, but we often find the feelings arising anyway. Our stomachs knot up, our necks hurt, or our thoughts race. Truth seems to go out the window. I encourage you to practice His presence through the Immanuel Process and learn the intimacy of His voice and experience His presence with you. Take those worries and fears about outcomes to Him and learn, “I am with you either way.”
“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You, O Lord.” Psalm 56:3
See kclehman.com for information on the Immanuel Approach, and my book Joy-Filled Relationships.
[…] We are always blessed because blessed is not about circumstances. Blessed means that we always have God’s love and presence. We mostly judge being blessed by whether circumstances are good or bad. On top of that, we have a distorted view of pain. We take our view of pain from that tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil instead of the tree of Life. Our free-will choice is not between something being good or bad, but about whether we choose to focus on God or on our circumstances. God does not promise us that everything will be wonderful when we surrender control, but He does promise that He will always love us and always be with us. He is with us either way […]