Finding the Release

These verses have a command and a promise. The command is, "do not be anxious about anything." Don't worry about things of this world. Jesus gives us the whole of this command in Matthew 6:25-34, and follows it with why we shouldn't worry about them. The command is followed with a how to as well, "but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." This is how we overcome anxiety, worry, concern, and fear of the unknown.

2 Kings 18-19 tell of the account of Assyria's campaign against Jerusalem and King Hezekiah's response. There was fear, worry, and anxiety amongst everyone because the commander of the Assyrian army made bold threats and had a battle record to back them up, including overtaking the northern kingdom of Israel. Take a look at Hezekiah's prayer in 2 Kings 19:14-19. This is the model that Philippians 4:6 is talking about.

Now that we have the command covered, let's look at the promise, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." What a promise! If we obey the command, then we will receive peace. This is not a peace in the world around us, but an inner peace that can only come from the Lord. This is a promise I have claimed for myself. Many times, when something is weighing on me I cannot sleep at night, and I am a person who requires a lot of sleep. When I can't sleep, I get up and go to my prayer journal and start pouring out to God. Usually very soon the weight of my worry and concerns are lifted and I am at peace, knowing that I just handed everything over to the One who is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing). What a relief! There is no way I could do life without the Lord.

The same thing applies to our horses. I was thinking about this the other day with the release. The release we give the horse is the same as the peace that the Lord gives to us. The weight of the world is on the horse, even just the basic instinct to just survive. In training we do a lot of moving the horse's feet, for when you have control of the feet, you have control of the mind. When horses are worried, anxious, and fearful they move. That is the natural instinct they have to stay alive, just run away. Rather than keep them from doing what comes natural to them, we direct the movement of the feet. As soon as that horse's focus turns to us, we release. When they go back to moving the feet, we go back to directing the movement of the feet and release when they turn to us again.

The horse soon learn that they get to rest and get a release when they focus their attention on us. That is the exact same principle that today's #CornerstoneVerseOfTheDay is talking about. Turn your focus to the Lord and He will give you peace.

I was just working on this with my young mare yesterday. She is a very busy minded horse and likes to run first and think later. I got her into the arena and let her lose and she immediately began running around, checking everything out and completely ignoring my presence. I began using the "Chubbin'" technique on her, where I have a flag on the end of a training stick and just hit the ground with it. It makes noise and most horses don't know how to respond so they just run, as she did. I don't chase them, I don't drive them (unless they tune it out), I just annoy them with the noise and movement. I don't look at them directly, but I keep an eye on them with my peripheral vision so I know when to give them the release. I give the release as soon as the focus turns to me and will keep the flag quiet as long as they are focused on me. As soon as they look away from me, I get the flag moving again and don't stop until they focus on me again.

We have had great success with the "Chubbin'" technique in our #CornerstoneHorsemanship program to teach a horse to focus on us, that we are their source for release and peace, and that running is not the answer, but looking to us is. Their running is very much like our worry, anxiety, and fear. God wants the same response from us that we want from our horse. He will allow us to "run" with our anxiety as long as we don't focus on Him. Because He is Lord of all, He directs our steps and the influence of the world around us, but as long as we keep running like the horse, we will never receive the peace we crave. So turn to Him. Put your focus on Him. Give your worries, fears, and anxiety to Him, and He will give you your release. He will pour into you the peace that surpasses all understanding. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.