Father Moses
YouTube
Father Moses: Anxiety Comes from Wanting Our Outcome, Not God's
8:19
What the video says
The speaker describes his lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety, noting that depression fades when behavior changes through the Holy Spirit because it is rooted in sin, while anxiety persists as a constant temptation tied to life's uncertainties. He defines anxiety simply as "my outcome", the insistence on a particular result according to one's own will rather than God's. Drawing on the Gospel account of Peter walking on water and the teaching of the Church Fathers, he explains that anxiety arises from fear of not getting what we want or losing what we have, both of which stem from fixing our eyes on circumstances instead of Christ.
The remedy is to surrender our desired outcome and ask for God's outcome, trusting that He opens and closes doors for our transformation, as illustrated by the lives of the saints and the image of a log drifting on the ocean. The speaker recounts an elder's counsel during his difficult early priesthood, that such trials are good, and how those years revealed his lack of faith and deepened his reliance on Christ.
Key moments
- Depression fades with Holy Spirit cooperation because it is linked to sin; anxiety remains a constant temptation.
- Anxiety equals "my outcome", insisting on a particular result based on one's own will rather than God's.
- Peter walking on water illustrates anxiety: taking eyes off Christ to focus on circumstances causes sinking.
- Church Fathers identify two root dilemmas: fear of not getting what we want or losing what we have.
- Overcoming anxiety requires surrendering our outcome and asking for God's outcome.
- God opens and closes doors for our protection and transformation; His will is mysterious and not aligned with our desires.
- Saints' difficult circumstances lead to transformation and greater grace through alignment with God's will.
- Elder's counsel during early priesthood: difficult years are good; they revealed lack of faith and deepened reliance on Christ.
Father Moses describes his lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety. He distinguishes between them: depression fades when behavior changes through the Holy Spirit because it is rooted in sin, while anxiety persists as a constant temptation tied to life's uncertainties. He defines anxiety simply as "my outcome," the insistence on a particular result according to one's own will rather than God's. Drawing on the Gospel account of Peter walking on water and the teaching of the Church Fathers, he explains that anxiety arises from two root fears: not getting what we want and losing what we already have.
Both fears stem from fixing our eyes on circumstances instead of Christ. The moment we look at the wind instead of Christ, we start to sink.
The remedy is to surrender our desired outcome and ask for God's outcome, trusting that He opens and closes doors for our transformation. He illustrates this with the lives of the saints and the image of a log drifting on the ocean. God's will is mysterious and not aligned with our desires.
Father Moses recounts an elder's counsel during his difficult early priesthood: such trials are good. Those years revealed his lack of faith and deepened his reliance on Christ. The elder told him that the hardest years of his priesthood would become the most fruitful because they stripped away self-reliance.
Main points
- Depression fades with Holy Spirit cooperation because it is linked to sin; anxiety remains a constant temptation.
- Anxiety equals "my outcome", insisting on a particular result based on one's own will rather than God's.
- Peter walking on water illustrates anxiety: taking eyes off Christ to focus on circumstances causes sinking.
- Church Fathers identify two root fears: not getting what we want and losing what we have.
- An elder told Father Moses during his early priesthood that difficult years are good; they revealed his lack of faith and deepened reliance on Christ.