The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Is Your Heart Troubled?

Episode Date: August 30, 2019

A troubled heart can happen at any stage of life. From work-related anxiety to stressful relationships to unexpected changes, at some point we find ourselves feeding worry in our hearts instead of offering it up to Jesus. Jeff shares Scripture passages that tell us how to handle a troubled heart, bring our worries to the Lord, and find peace. Snippet from the Show “The peace we get from the world is not enough, but the peace we get from Jesus Christ is deep and sustaining.” SHOWNOTES John 14:27 - “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Matthew 6:25 - “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:34 - “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 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. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Let the peace of Christ Rule in your hearts! Colossians 3:15-17 - And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Take Every Thought Captive 2 Corinthians 10:3 - “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” 2 Peter 1:2 - May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 1 Peter 5:7 - “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” John 16:33 - “ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” RESOURCES Romans: The Gospel of Salvation (https://ascensionpress.com/collections/romans-the-gospel-of-salvation?utm_source=website&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=romans&utm_content=tjcs) Study Program Pilgrimages to Israel 2020 (http://www.jeffcavins.com/pilgrimage)

You're listening to the Jeff Kavin's show. Episode 130 is your heart troubled? Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show.

Hey, welcome to the show. I'm glad you could join me once again. and today I'm really looking forward to sharing with you some just straightforward suggestions and some straightforward advice right from scripture about dealing with times when your heart is troubled. And so often people will write me or I'll speak to people at a conference and they'll tell me about all the different ways that their heart is troubled. They are anxious, perhaps depressed. They're going through very difficult times. And there really is some good advice. And that good advice for you comes not from social media so much or from, you know,

pop formators on television, but Jesus Christ himself, the very scriptures are filled with all kinds of information that is so useful and so helpful to minister to your troubled heart. So I hope today on the podcast, you just kind of sit back. I'm going to give you the show notes, of course, with all the scriptures, but allow me to minister to you. in a way. Allow me to share with you some insights and some advice from Scripture on how to deal with a troubled heart, how to deal with troubled times. And perhaps you're doing very well right now, and yay. But if you know somebody who is troubled, you might want to pass this particular podcast on to them because I think that the advice that I'm going to be giving from Scripture, which is really

guidance from the Lord is incredibly valuable, incredibly valuable, and just might be the thing that brings people from despair into hope, from anxiety, into peace. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about peace. Hey, by the way, thank you so much for your email. We get so many good comments from you, and I do appreciate that, and I read them all. In fact, some of the show ideas come from people like you who say, I want to hear about this topic or I want to hear about that other topic or something that you might be going through. Before we get into the topic today, just a quick reminder that we do have a few places open on the pilgrimage to Israel in January of 2020. That's coming up. And also the epic, epic pilgrimage in June of 2020 with

Father Mike Schmitz, we're going to be going to be going to be the Holy Land, young adults, and there's going to be hundreds of them, and we're going to have concerts in Jerusalem, on the Sea of Galilee. It's going to be an amazing time. 2020 Vision for young people, finding out what's God calling you to? So if you know of a young person that might be interested in going to Israel

with Father Mike Schmitz and myself, along with some very talented singers like Ali Ali Aaliyah and Taylor Tripote, brother Isaiah, Yeah, we've got some young folks that are real leaders in the Catholic Church today, Dr. Andrew Swofford, and also his wife, Sarah Swofford. They're going to be joining us. It's going to be good. So you go to my website, jeffcavens.com under pilgrimages, and all the information is right there. Let's jump in, shall we? I want to start with a couple of scriptures to kind of set the tone here. We're talking about, is your heart troubled? And I know that 2,000 years, years ago, if you were to follow Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, there were really two geographical areas that were kind of contrasting in a way. One was the Sea of Galilee area. His headquarters was Copernum on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee, and a lot of his miracles and his

teaching took place up there in the north. And that must have been just incredible to follow him around Galilee and listen to his marvelous teaching, see the miracles, how he interacts with people. But then once he's up at Cesarea, Philippi, which is up in the north of Israel, he talks to the disciples about the keys to the kingdom, gives the keys to the kingdom to Peter, and then right after he establishes authority, he is announcing that he's going to Jerusalem, and he's going to be turned over to the leadership. He's going to be beaten and crucified. And so Jerusalem's another story, isn't it? It's quite a contrast from that pastoral setting up in Galilee. You're coming into the big city, all kinds of reasons to be anxious

and discouraged. But life is living in both areas, right? And we know how to live in both areas, the north and the south, because our relationship is with the Lord. But you know, there's a lot of reasons why people become troubled in their hearts. And maybe you fall into one of these categories in your life right now. There are seasons of life that can bring on anxiety, all the way from leaving home, you know, graduating. Some of you have left home for the first time and you're in college right now. You're in a dorm. And this is all new. Mom and dad aren't there. And it's not the regular meals and the regular routine. And that can bring on a little bit of anxiety in people's lives, both in the student's life, but also in the parents' life. And I just talked to a good

friend of mine who dropped his daughter off at a good school, and as I did with Carly years ago. And that was very difficult. I would say, yes, my heart was troubled at that point. It really was, and I needed to go to the Lord. So seasons of life can bring on anxiety all the way from leaving home to getting married, building your first home, getting your first job. Maybe midlife. Maybe you go through a midlife crisis and life isn't turning out the way you thought it would. Maybe you're going into retirement and that's bringing its own troubles right now and you need to recalibrate and give your life to the Lord. Maybe your kids are getting married and that's putting some things on you that you didn't expect because you thought once you grew up, the kids grew up

and left home that everything would be honky-dory, which honky-dory is Greek for just fine, but it didn't turn out exactly that way. Sometimes health issues bring on a troubled heart, you know, and you might have some kind of health issue, whether it's hereditary or brought on by something you ate or whatever. Finances can be a source of a troubled heart, so can relationships. Relationships really stir the heart, and maybe you're going through something there. I've also noticed another category, and that's politics. Politics. You turn on the news channels, and I'll tell you what, if you're not grounded in Jesus Christ and following him as an activated disciple, as I call it, you're open to the winds of change, and you're open to the suggestion of

great insecurity financially and socially and for your children's future. And I don't recommend actually watching a lot of that news. I really don't. And my wife and I have both said that it really doesn't contribute much to our lives at all. And so I would put the cabash, which is Greek for stopping, put the old cabash on some of that, and turn to Scripture. Speaking of Scripture, let's look at John 1427, and I realize you're probably in the car or you're sitting around the kitchen table. I'll give you these scripture, in the show notes, and if you don't have the show notes, give me an email, and in the subject line, put show notes and send it to the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com.

John 1427, peace, this is Jesus, peace I leave with you, peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. So we established right off the bat, the number one, the peace that we're really looking at, for these troubled hearts of ours, whatever we're going through, that piece, the source of that peace is Jesus Christ. That's the source. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. And then he contrasts his peace, his shalom in Hebrew, with the world. He said, it's not like the world. This isn't the peace that you're going to get from the world, right? Which is typically inadequate. it's not enough. It's not sustaining. It's not deep. But this peace that he's going to give us is

enough. It is sustaining. It is deep. But it only comes from him, the prince of peace. Matthew 625, Jesus said, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. And then he starts to give examples of this. And this is an actual method, a Hebraic method of teaching that the rabbis would use in the first century. He's going from the big to the small. He says, don't worry about these things. He said, look at the birds. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not of more value than they and which of you by being anxious

can add a single hour to his span of life wow pause there for a second i remember a time years ago when i was i was in my 20s mid 20s and uh i started to get nervous that i might die young because I had some members of my family who were going through health issues, and I thought, wow, what if this happens to me? So I was very anxious, you know, about what if I die young? And I know there's a lot of men, particularly, that I talk to, that are very anxious about this. But Jesus said, which of you, by being anxious can add a single hour to his life? You can't.

And why are you anxious about clothing? Boy, there's something, isn't it? consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet i tell you even solomon in all his glory was not a raid like one of these so he's saying that you know solomon who had access to all the money and all the textile mills and everything else he could not even clothe himself like the birds and the lilies of the field but thrown into the oven they're thrown into the oven right uh it says uh but if god if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow, is thrown into the oven,

he will he not much more clothe you, oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? And then he says, listen, you know, you're different as a member of the household of God, as a disciple, because he says, for the Gentiles, those are the people on the outside, for the Gentiles seek after all these things too. And your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. And then he gives a secret here. He says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So he goes through a number of things, doesn't he? And even goes further on. Look at the next verse. I just read to you Matthew 625 through 34, or 33, but 34 says,

therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself don't you know that's true if i would have asked you yesterday about today you would have said yeah i guess so sufficient for the day is its own trouble so it tells us a number of things Matthew 6 25 through 34 don't be anxious about your life about eating the food this is something that the lord knows you need and you're going to get it don't be anxious about your body things related to your body and this is This is a source of anxiety for people and their hearts are troubled. How many times have you run into just a beautiful young lady or just a real handsome young man, you know, and you get to talking to them and you come to find out they don't see themselves that way.

They see themselves as overweight and unattractive, and they're very troubled about their body. and Jesus says do not be anxious about your body and particularly those things related to it like clothes right and he says these things I'm going to take care of and I love the way he ends this teaching he says seek first the kingdom now the kingdom is where the king is ruling and reigning and oftentimes we fall into anxiety and our hearts are troubled because we have the rain. It's like a Carrie Underwood song, Jesus, take the wheel, right? Going down the road and things are just out of control and your heart is troubled. Jesus, cry out, Jesus, take the wheel. Give him the rain in your life. And that's seeking first the kingdom. And you might want to

go up to church and spend some time in the presence of the Lord. Stop what you're doing today and pray a rosary. Stop what you're doing today and open up the scripture and begin to talk to him. Perhaps if you're not meeting with the Lord on a regular basis, establish a new pattern in your life, a new habit like my wife and I with Lexio Davina in the morning and we pray together. Seek first the kingdom. That is so important, seek first the kingdom. I've got quite a few more things I'm going to share with you on the other side of the break, but I want to just let you know that there's a brand new study coming out. I'm part of it with Dr. Andrew Swofford on Romans, and you can check that out in the show notes. You can check it out at ascensionpress.com.

When we come back from the break, I have some really good scriptures and more, really good advice about having a troubled heart. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Every one of us is made in the image of God. We are unique, worthy of love, and called to greatness. In this world, though, we can be distracted from that truth and begin to doubt God's love is real. You see, we live in a world that tells us we are not smart, attractive, thin, or rich enough. It is easy to focus on the ways we fall short of worldly perfection and forget that we are already made perfect. We are already enough. I'm Danielle Bean, author of You Are Enough, what women of the Bible teach you about your mission and worth.

You Are Enough dives into the stories of women in the Bible so that you can fully see God's plan for your life. To order, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. Welcome back. We're talking about, is your heart troubled? Is your heart troubled? Is your heart troubled? there's some things you can do about that. We just mentioned seeking first the kingdom. Let me give you some other scriptures. And again, at the beginning of the show, I mentioned all these will be in the show notes

and don't worry about writing them down right now. Philippians 4-6, don't be anxious about anything. Well, there you go. That's all you needed to know, right? Don't be anxious about what? Anything. Anything. Don't be anxious about it.

And this is Paul writing to the Philippians, and he says, don't be anxious about anything. but in everything. Isn't that a great contrast? Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Isn't it true that so often we become anxious and trouble in our heart because we don't think anybody understands. Nobody knows my situation. Nobody is walking in my shoes, including God. And so, we take it upon ourselves and we take upon ourselves a responsibility for tomorrow and the day after and next week and next month and next year. And not only that for everybody in our family. And the

Lord says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. So I want to encourage you today that if you are troubled in your heart and anxious about something, let your request be made known to God. now that's that's not just a suggestion this is the prescription this is the medication this is this is the what to do this is what the doctor writes down on the piece of paper you go into your spiritual doctor and you say i'm so anxious and uh oh i'm really i'm really worried he says all right here's what i need you to do i need you to let your requests be made known to God. Well, how do I do that? Prayer. Prayer and Thanksgiving. When you pray, that's very powerful. God

hears you in the midst of your anxiety. A heart of Thanksgiving, just begin to thank him for all the things you have in your life. Start looking at the good things that God has given you, the blessings he has given you, because I'm telling you what, he has given you far more blessings than the hurdles you're facing or imagining in your life. He has given you so much. Focus in on those. Take a moment right now and just you can even pause me if you want to and just write down all the things that you are thankful for in your own life and your marriage, your relationships, at home, at work, everything. You'll be surprised at how it changes your whole perspective.

It goes on in verse 7. We're reading from Philippians 4, and the peace of God, if you'll do this, prayer and Thanksgiving, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now, there comes a time, my friend, where we've got to put our faith in this. We've got to get out of the boat, and we have to put our faith and our trust in the fact that this is truth. This is truth. This is the will of God. Jesus is the way, the truth, the truth in the life. And when Paul says, don't be anxious, but pray and give Thanksgiving, and the peace of God will guard your hearts, this is truth, but you've got to do it. You've got to do it.

Paul was a big, he was big on peace, wasn't he? To the Colossians, he wrote in chapter 3, verses 15 and 17, he said, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let it rule in your hearts. Don't let worry rule. Don't let anxiety. any rule, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And then Paul says it again, and be thankful. Be thankful. And then he goes on in verse 16, out of Colossians 3, verse 16, and this is something that you have to adopt in your life. If you want to deal with that anxiety in your life, and you want to deal with that anxious heart, that troubled heart, let, verse 16, let the word of Christ,

Christ dwell in you richly. Isn't that good? Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. What is that? That word is the scripture. It's the tradition that has been handed on to us in the church. You've got to pay attention to that and let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you. Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. That's kind of what I'm doing right now, huh? teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. So that is really a beautiful thing. And on top of that, I would just say, you know, give him the reins. As I mentioned

earlier, Jesus take the wheel. Another important point, though, in dealing with a troubled heart, is you can do these things, but if there's a hidden boogeyman, that is sin in your life, that can be a source of a troubled heart for sure in anxiety. Go to confession. If you are troubled right now, go to confession and make sure that you make a thorough confession. And if you haven't been to confession for a while and you say, Jeff, it's just been a long time, I can't even remember how to do it. So what? Go. Tell the priest. It's been a while. I don't know. Truth is, you can just Google how to do it, and it's easy enough.

And then go to confession. If you're not Catholic, I would still encourage you to go and talk to a priest locally and to tell him what you heard on the show and that you would like to talk to him about going deeper with the Lord. Not only should you go to confession, but on a maintenance basis, avoid the near occasion of sin in your life. If you're constantly fighting the near occasion of sin, you can interpret. up with a troubled heart and be anxious. And again, avoid media that brings fear and nothing but

negativity into your life. My word, there's just so much garbage out there that people feed themselves and then they wonder, why am I so anxious? Why am I so troubled? Now, you know, this isn't going to come just automatically necessarily. You must be active in taking in what is good. And that's why Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter four and verses eight and nine, he said, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. There's your prescription.

There it is again. write it tear that off hand it to you that's your prescription think about those things stop dwelling on other things he says what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you but this takes some effort doesn't it it takes some effort to to think about things that are honorable and true and just and pure and lovely and commendable and excellent. It takes some effort. And that's why Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10, and he said, for we walk in the flesh, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have

divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. another prescription. Take every thought captive to obey Christ. Are your thoughts running away with you? The what-ifs, the worry, the anxiety? Take those thoughts captive. Say thoughts, you are not running wild in my life. You will not have your way in my life. I will not walk contrary to the truth. I will not allow you to embed in the soil. of my heart. I will take this thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and I will do what Christ has said. I will live the way Christ has told me to live. I will trust in him completely, and I will

seek first the kingdom of God in my life rather than to dwell in this cesspool of thoughts. Take it captive. Peter says, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God. and of Jesus our Lord. I like that I'm going to end with just a couple scriptures here real quick. I love this, what Peter says in 1. Peter 5.7. I've always thought about it like fishing. You know how you throw a fishing, you put a bait on a hook and you cast it out there in the water. Well, he says cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. My friend, maybe life has been a little bit difficult for you. Maybe in your marriage or kids leaving home, whatever it might be.

I want you to know he cares for you. Jesus cares for you right now, and it's not an accident that you're listening to this show. It's not an accident. And so because it's not an accident and because he cares for you, cast your cares on him, cast your anxiety on him. Literally, go to church in a holy hour. You can do this at home too and call it.

on just literally if you're if you're alone scream out to the lord lord i cast this upon you i give it to you lord but then do me a favor all right don't reel it back in cut the line cast all your anxiety on the lord because he cares for you and finally john 1633 jesus said i have said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world you will have tribulation but take heart I have overcome the world. My friend, let me pray for you. I want you to know I love you, praying for you, and all these scriptures will be in the notes.

I hope this is encouragement to you today. Send me an email if it is. Let me know how you're doing and how this might have helped you in your life. It's The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. That's my email, The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the whole,

Holy Spirit, Lord, we rejoice in you and we seek first your kingdom, your rule and reign in our hearts. Help us, Lord, to clean out the sin in our lives and to totally cast our care upon you and trust you. Lord, may we be richly filled with your word and seek you in every situation. May we pray and offer up Thanksgiving for everything in our life. You are so good. I thank you, Lord, for my home and my family. And I thank you, Lord, that you have provided. me with food and clothing. I thank you, Lord, that you have always been faithful, and I need not worry or be anxious. My heart does not need to be troubled because I can cast these things upon you. Thank you, good shepherd. Thank you, great physician. Thank you, mighty counselor. Thank you,

Jesus, Lord of the universe. We love you. And we also ask for the intercession of our dear mother, are a great gift from the Lord. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Love you. Have a great week. Thank you.