Devil Trap: Anxiety worry and Fear

Well good morning newlife church, and yes 2024 is almost on its head. Man this year seems to have flown away and we already in December and doing Carol service tonight. I know many of you like me are wondering where has this year gone, it felt January yesterday. I also believe that we can look back this year and really had to overcome alot. You know I am so thankful for this series, because I think sometimes yes even in church life that the devil is at work. We sometimes want to believe that when we enter the gathering the ekklesia we think the devil stays outside, that when we are saved, and baptised and growing the enemy will stop attacking in our lives.

But this series has shown us, that the devil likes to entrap us. We have seen so many different snears that the devil uses, and if we not careful we can fall into that trap again. So I want to look at another trap today, and boy I stepped into this trap like a mouse who saw cheese and went for it, and got trapped. But also that through God,s Word. His living Word you can get out of this trap. So I want to show you the trap so that you can see it when it comes, I want you to be like a mouse a churh mouse that when you see the cheese the devil has planned for you that you will see the trap before you see the cheese and steer away from it.

I want to ask, how many of you has ever driven in thick fog? You cannot see ahead, you cannot see the road signs, you cannot see other vechiles, as I describe this what is the feeling you currently portraying. Panic, fear and anxiety am I right. You see the trap that the devil uses is like the fog on the road, it clouds up your spiritual vision, that even though there is road signs, and we can see on GPS where to drive we cannot see.

This is one of the devils trap the trap of Fear worry and anxiety. I do think that these corrolate. Well at least it did in my life. You see I saw anxiety looking back as fear and worry correlates into anxiety. Anxiety is described in the bile as Uneasy feeling of uncertainty, agitation, dread, or fear. The most common words in Scripture translated as “anxious” or “anxiety” are the Hebrew dĕʾāgâ (ten times in either the verbal or noun form) and the Greek merimma (twelve times in either the verbal or noun form). Anxiety is portrayed in the Scripture as being inconsistent with trust in God. David prays: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thought” (Ps. 139:23). Jesus’ command, “do not worry,” which occurs six times in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:25–33), and it is coupled with admonitions to trust in the heavenly Father.

So from the onset. God never wanted us to fall in this trap. He knew how we will be tested, and he gave us the solution. But I want to start off by giving a few ways we fall into this trap. Ones that I fell into, and yes there might be more, but I do think these are the main ones. The first one is this.

1. Doubting in God Sovereignty. You see the devil tactics are simple. He tries to shift our focus away from God, he tries to let us focus more on the storm, than the one who can silence the storm. The storm gets worse and the waves bigger, when we look at our circiumstanes than onto God. It is exactly what Peter did.

Matthew 14:24-31 But the boat [by this time] was already a long distance from land, tossed and battered by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night (3:00-6:00 a.m.) Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. [Mark 6:48; John 6:19] When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately He spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I! Do not be afraid!” [Ex 3:14] Peter replied to Him, “Lord, if it is [really] You, command me to come to You on the water.” He said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw [the effects of] the wind, he was frightened, and he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus extended His hand and caught him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” '

Like Peter, we often begin with faith but are quickly overwhelmed when life’s storms—uncertainty, financial struggles, health crises, or relational challenges—feel bigger than God. This shift in focus leads us to question whether God is truly in control, trapping us in fear and anxiety. When we focus on the problem, we lose sight of God’s ability to sustain us through it. The devil uses these to make us doubt God’s sovereignty, whispering lies like, “God doesn’t care,” or “This situation is too big for Him.”

Once doubt creeps in, we start to sink into fear, thinking we have to fix things ourselves. The moment we believe our circumstances are stronger than God’s power, we fall into the trap of doubting His sovereignty.

While crying out to God is necessary, it often comes after we’ve allowed fear and doubt to dominate our thoughts. Doubting God’s sovereignty often leads us to live reactively in panic rather than proactively in trust.

Peter saw Jesus on walking, something no human could of done, but when he looked away from Jesus, what happened fear came in and he forgot that Jesus walked on water. Jesus walking on water shows His power over nature—He is sovereign even over what seems humanly impossible. When we doubt God’s sovereignty, we limit Him to what we think He can do.

The 2nd trap is Believing lies over truth. Fear and anxiety normally creeps in when we starting believing the lies. You are not good enough, You know I tell the devil back. Well yes I am not good enough, I am human, but I have God that is more than enough, and that he died for me to be in his Rightenouss,(ok wait, do not want to give all the answers). The devil tries isolate, You are alone, you. A hypocrite. They do not really love you, and instead of the going to the word we become victims, and we hide away from God, and we feel sorry for ourselves. The devil klapped me solid on this, I made everyting a pity party. I was the Ross of the series friends, the eeh ooh in winnie the pooh, and can I be blunt. The devil gives you the power of being a victim. Cause when you need attention? What we do we do we play the victim card.

We get Isolated, Elijah one of the most prominent Prophet in the old testament, knew this, after this huge victory, he went into hiding and isolation. Elijah had just experienced a dramatic victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-40). He demonstrated God’s power through a miraculous fire consuming the altar and had the false prophets executed. However, Queen Jezebel responded with a death threat, swearing to kill him (1 Kings 19:2). Overwhelmed by fear, exhaustion, and despair, Elijah fled southward into the wilderness. We read it in 1 Kings 19:2-4 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and even more, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.” 3And Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for his life, and he came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. 4But he himself traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

Intense Fear and Flight he fled for about 150km away from her, Emotional Isolation: with no one with him, Physical and Emotional Exhaustion and Overwhelming Despair. Then he went and sit under a juniper tree and those do not give a lot of shade, the devil uses the same trap today.

No one loves me, I am a failure, I am done. I see it so many times. People stop serving cause we do not play into the victim mentality, people quit cirles cause we do not entertain victim mentality, and do not get me wrong we have empathy, but we not going to allow the devil to give you a power of victimhood, when Jesus died on a cross to take you from victim to Victor. I mean we see it in the Garden of Eden. The devil tempts adam and eve, and when they figured out what has happened, the hid away.

John 8:44 'You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.

John 8:44 occurs within a heated discourse between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus had been speaking about spiritual freedom, claiming that only through the truth that He brings can one be set free (John 8:32). The devil can only lie, but it does not mean you have to follow the lie, and live the lie.

The 3rd thing that makes us fall into the trap is focusing on the circumstances instead of God. Man I have respect for Moses, cause we see how Moses really had some fun times with the Israelites. But have compassion for them. Let me put into context this circiumstances. : 2-3 millionpeople (a widely accepted estimate based on Exodus 12:37, which mentions 600,000 men, plus women and children), a wide path through the sea would be necessary to allow efficient crossing. If the Israelites crossed in a formation 1 kilometer wide, allowing thousands to move side by side, they would need at least 8-12 hours of continuous movement to cross a sea estimated to be 10-20 kilometers wide at the crossing point.

Height of the Water Walls:For waters to part and form walls (Exodus 14:22), the "heaped-up" water could have been dozens of meters high. For example, a crossing at a depth of 30-50 meters would mean that walls of water comparable to multi-story buildings surrounded the people—an awe-inspiring and terrifying sight.

And it was dry, it was try land. You do know we serve the same God, and I know what you thinking, but Louis how does God move now, can I remind you of point 1, Not trusting in God sovereignty.

No seriously how do we get out of this trap?

Well you need to first Acknowledge and name the fear or worry. Have you ever tried cleaning a room in the dark. You cannot actually do a good job of cleaning until you put on the light. Acknowledging your fear is flipping the swich, It allows you to see the mess and process decluttering .

Sometimes we have so much pride, and we put our head into the sand and hope it will just go away. But for healing, you need to call it out. Putting your head in the sand, but denying or supressing the anxiety or fear, gives it more power, the bible actually encourages us to cast our cares unto God., but we cannot cast something that we do not even have identified.

Elijah told God, he cannot do this anymore, he was open and acknowledge that he cannot handle this situation any more. To the point that he wanted to die. But God did sustained him, helped him and he came through it. He sustained him and was even stronger after the sustenance.

The 2nd thing on how you can get out of the trap is. Replacing the lies with God’s truth. Anxiety fear and worry often stems from the lies we believe I am not good enough, I am not strong enough, I am not smart enough. We believe the words that a situation is “hopeless”. The devil does this so well, he trives on twisting the the truth, but in John 8:32 we see that John 8:32

'And you will know the truth [regarding salvation], and the truth will set you free [from the penalty of sin].” '

You see Jesus quoted scripture the 3 times he was tempted in the desert. He kept on quoting from the old testament, which they only had at that time. So when the devil came he quoted God Word. Interesting the devil did not only tempt Jesus once and flee no he came back. He will not give up but the season will change.

Are we doing it. Are we spending time in God Word. Have you ever actually when you know what the fears and worry are, have you looked for scripture and heve you spoken it over your life over and over and over. Again. You see the world is really shouting lies out loud, but the Holy Spirit is like noise cancelling earphones, they can shout the lies but you can only hear the music. This is the same for us. SPEAK ABOUT HOW COOL NOISE CANCELLING EARPHONES ARE. Here is some key verses, and I want to challenge you go do a study on them, and where it originates from, the context etc.

Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.”

2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”

Philippians 4:19: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

Identify the lies, call them out, and look to the Word and quote it and remember it. And then the next thing you do is Focus on God and not the problem. Anxiety magnifies problems, but worship magnifies God.

The bible teaches The Bible teaches us to fix our eyes on the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), '[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].

Start your day with worship or a gratitude journal. Write down three things you’re thankful for and reflect on how God has worked in your life before. Gratitude redirects your focus from what you lack to what you have in Christ. King Josefat saw this uge problem this huge and vast army, and he prayed and in verse 20 he led his people to woship and gratitude. He knew God can help them, but instead of this vast army he worshipped. Instead of this huge anxious thought focus on God, instead of fear focus on God, instead of worry focus on God. Commit to pray and to give thanks regularly. But you also need to actually get back into community, there is a reason we gather, so that we can grow, but not only gather but grow in friendships, that is why he wants us to gather together.

We need to be connected to God and others. Anxiety thrives in isolation. The devil loves to make us feel like we’re the only ones struggling, but the Bible reminds us that we’re part of a community. Fellowship and prayer provide encouragement and strength.

Paul and Silas in prison (Acts 16:25-26): Despite being chained, they prayed and sang hymns together. Their connection to God and each other not only brought them freedom but also inspired others. I mean in prison being chained. It just reminds me that when I am in prison there is people ready go with me and even in a prison season we can inspire other people. Whatever the devil meant for bad, God used for good, but please for goodness sake, do not become this victim when people offer you help you say it is ok, you have enough problems and things on your plate, actually miracles can happen in people being in prison together.

But do you see what we need to do when we in community we need to take action. Fear paralyzes, but faith propels. Anxiety often makes us feel stuck, but taking small steps of faith demonstrates trust in God’s ability to guide and provide. David didn’t let fear stop him. Instead, he stepped forward, trusting that the same God who delivered him from the lion and the bear would deliver him from Goliath. Philippians 2:13

'For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. '

Do not staya victim and hope things will change, take action in all the devil traps we are called to take action. We are called to be victors, we are called to take our thoughts captive and make it obedient to Christ. Mental Discipline: The verse is profoundly relevant for managing intrusive or harmful thoughts. It provides a framework for practicing spiritual mindfulness, urging believers to replace negativity, doubt, or sinful tendencies with Christ-centered thinking.

So to wrap up. I want you to remember the following. Fear, anxiety and worry is not from God, it stems from the devil and demonic forces, he created it. But God has given us victory and steps in His word for us to combat this.

In closing Conclusion

Fear, worry, and anxiety are real traps, but God has given us the tools to escape:

1. Acknowledge your fears.

2. Replace lies with truth.

3. Focus on God through worship and gratitude.

4. Stay connected to God and others.

5. Take action in faith.