Whether you are a concert pianist, sports enthusiast, or a young professional who needs to give presentations at work, this same pattern often presents itself. The enemy’s strategy is to get us to focus on something else other than God’s goodness and presence with us. This is one of the reasons Jeus instructed His disciples saying, “Abide in me, Remain in me”. Isaiah 26:3 states, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” In the ESV it reads “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” You might be thinking, “Paul, I am not a high performance person.” The reality is that many of us have got children who are doing sport or stage performances and we don’t know how to support them when they are anxious. This message will help you to see how you can apply your knowledge of God to everyday performance situations. This week we will focus on sport and music and next week we will spend time discussing stage fright, one of the most common manifestations of anxiety. Regardless of the type of anxiety you are experiencing, you can apply the word of God to it. For some of you its trait anxiety where you feel anxious in many aspects of your life, whilst for others it is state anxiety which is temporary and only in specific circumstances.
