Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled – And Don’t Fear

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

How many times have you heard the words “Do not let your hearts be troubled“?

And how many times have we really listened to them, taken them to heart and put them into practice?

Do we even know what not letting your hearts be troubled mean?

If you look it up, you will see that ‘troubled‘ means worried, anxious, bothered, or unsettled.

Yup – Jesus literally commanded us not to worry, be anxious, or unsettled. And if he said it – I believe he gives us the ability to do just what he said.

There Is Trouble Everywhere

How many of us are going through something right now that is causing any one of these responses to overtake the state of our mind, heart, and soul?

I know for me, I have plenty of things going on around me that could definitely trouble my heart and soul. There are family struggles, heartbreaks, not to mention all of the conflicts we are facing in the world around us today.

Having adult children and wonder every day how they can or will decide to righteously face the world in all of its uncertainty and cloudiness of the Truth.

Five children home that cannot control their desire to bug their siblings, neglect their responsibilities, or raise their voice at me. I also have grandchildren who are just now beginning their lives in a world that seems not to care about them.

Working daily in my vocation and committing to step out and do what God is calling me to – without knowing the ‘how’ in what he’s asked of me.

There is so much uncertainty and not knowing what will happen next…

I look around at all of this in our world & I could very quickly become a woman with a troubled and anxious heart.

We all have plenty of opportunity to allow our hearts to be troubled, and rightly so.

Just remembering 2020 and all that we live through can be enough to burden our hearts and cause them to become deeply troubled.

The truth is that all of the things that seem so out of control do really warrant some degree of worry and anxiety…

But, if Jesus told us not to let our hearts be troubled or full of anxiety there must be a way to live this way – every day. As Christians, we should believe that it is indeed possible to live without carrying worry, anxiety, or distraught with us as we go through our days simply because Jesus told us so.

Incidentally, these words were a command, not a suggestion…

But how can this really happen?

Being anxiety or trouble-free in our hearts has to begin with us and our ability to stop talking about it to anyone who will listen. Yes, you can confide in a trusted friend that can offer sound advice and prayer. But, once that is done, we need to just leave it in God’s hands.

I remember I heard many times Joyce Meyer say “when you have a problem, go to the Throne. Not the phone“. How true that is. Once we consult God and ask him for his guidance and help, we should work with the Holy Spirit to be free of that worry.

Sometimes God relieves our worry simply by having us read a timely passage in Scripture. Other times he presents the word he has for us through a trusted person. Even sometimes we may hear a sermon or talk that cuts right to the worry that needs his Grace.

Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled – Stop Talking

Once we have offered our troubled heart to God, it is our responsibility to leave it there and not pick it up again with words, thoughts, and talking – thinking and talking about it over and over. And then reclaiming that ‘worry’ as our own to be protected.

We are to give it to God and not pick it up again.

Consistently talking about the things that are causing our hearts to be troubled after we have presented them to God, will just lead to even more anxiety and fear. And fear leaves no way to move forward. We become boxed in the troubled heart of ours we can’t let go of.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue;^j

those who choose one shall eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21

We are our own worst enemy when it comes to keeping our minds and words constantly mulling over and engaged with all the trouble we encounter all around us.

Throughout Scripture, we are told that our words and thoughts are full of power, and we definitely need to pay attention to this – speaking only truth and life into our days.

Listen to uplifting podcasts, talks, sermons, and talk with faith-filled friends. Spend time in God’s word and take every worry to him in prayer. Oh, and turn off the news!

Cast Your Cares

Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Once you do that, the easing of your troubled heart begins. He steps into that anxious heart and calms everything down. More than you can ever imagine.

I promise you won’t surprise or shock God. He’s just patiently waiting for you to share every worry, struggle, and anxiety with him.

By going to God in prayer and giving to God all of our cares and worries we can begin to live with a heart that is not carrying trouble or being crushed under anxiety and fear.

One thing is for sure, we absolutely cannot do it by ourselves. We need the help of the Holy Spirit.

And, if we are baptized, we have the Spirit of the Living God living on the inside of us. We have, through him, the capacity to live each day free from carrying our worries and living with untroubled hearts crippled in fear…