How To Combat Spiritual Fatality Syndrome (Part 1)

A while back I taught a lesson to the college group at Placerita Baptist Church on Spiritual Fatality Syndrome. Spiritual Fatality Syndrome, or SFS as I like to call it, grips most Christians and renders them ineffective in the Christian race (Heb. 12:1). SFS can be diagnosed fairly simply. When you see a believer that is so encumbered by things like anxiousness, fear of man, spiritual inadequecy or the feeling that their sin is so bad that they could never be forgiven, they have Spiritual Fatality Syndrome.

Why is it called Spiritual Fatality Syndrome? The reason is simple. When you have believers that are rendered of no use to the kingdom because of their encumbrances they experience a slow spiritual death. This hits all age brackets and sees no boundaries.

When I spoke to the college group I gave them 5 ways to battle this, the first was "Be Anxious for Nothing". We took a look at the following verses as a way to build up our immunity against Anxiousness and Fear of Men.

Ps. 127:2 “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” So often we lose sleep when we are anxious for things to happen in our lives. We are anxious that things may go bad or that we may not be able to handle what life throws our way. The Psalmist says here have faith in God. If you rest in Him then you will have good sleep. Anxiousness and fear of man stem from a lack of faith. Believe that He gives you rest and He will give you rest.

Isa. 35:4 “Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." When trials seem so hard that you can not get out from under them remember that God, when relied upon will come to your rescue. When we believe that God is powerful enough to save us out of all situations we will be blessed.

1 Cor. 7:32-34 “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. (33) But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, (34) and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.” Paul addresses some of the anxieties we could have and goes on in 1 Corinthians to show us that we need not be anxious for these things. If we are in prayer and in the scripture and our heart is truly fixed on the Author of Life, then we will be in the Lords will and we will be doing what He desires us to do. The key here is having the right focus. We must focus on God and not the things that encompass us.

Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” So what is the best way to fight anxiousness? Through prayer and supplication. Come into perfect obedience to God, by submitting to His authority and He will comfort us. When we pray we ought to asking him to strengthen us from our anxious hearts and to comfort us our time of fear. We should also pray that the Lord would give us the faith we need to run our race effectively.

Now these are just a few verses. There are more that address anxiousness like Jer. 17:8, Matt. 6:25-34, Luke 10:41 and Luke 12:22-26. Ultimately we need to have faith and that pointed out beautifully in Matt. 6:25-34. Always remember the lilies, the birds and the grass of the field. As pointed out in Matt. 6, if God takes care of those things why would He not take care of you believer? This reminder keeps me from being anxious and I hope it does the same for you.