Skip to content The Formula for Responding to Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Sep 29 · 28 min ...more
The Formula for Responding to Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
September 29, 2026 · 28 min
When doubts and setbacks come, let adversity grow your faith. Rise, take action, and steward your calling for the expansion of God's kingdom.
Series Russell Gray's Morning Muse September 29, 2026 · 28 min · Russell Gray's Morning Muse
When doubts and setbacks come, let adversity grow your faith. Rise, take action, and steward your calling for the expansion of God's kingdom. ...more Show the full description Show less When doubts and setbacks come, let adversity grow your faith. Rise, take action, and steward your calling for the expansion of God's kingdom.
Series Russell Gray's Morning Muse Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
36.3K followers
The Christian Capitalist Show inspires and equips individuals to express their God-given purpose through enterprise and stewardship powered by faith, fellowship, and balance.
36.3K followers
Overcoming Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt 0:03 Welcome to the Morning News. I'm Russell Gray, and I think you're gonna like this 1 today. I woke up this morning, and if you've ever done any kind of a start up or entrepreneurial venture, you have probably0:14 felt all of the anxieties and uncertainties that you have. We call it FUD, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Right? There's not structure yet. You haven't proven your model, your thesis. Customers haven't0:26 accepted it. You're not generating revenue, haven't built a team. The team hasn't bought in. I mean, there's so many things that aren't happening. And I know entrepreneurs aren't the only ones that have this type of0:38 anxiety. Anybody that's ever lost a job, if you're a new parent and you're having children for the very 1st time, you wonder if you're up to the task, and it's a long haul. Right? It's 20 plus years depending on how many0:50 children you have, and your whole life has changed and it revolves around these young people. Giving birth to a business is very similar. And so in the course of my life, I've gone through many, many cycles1:02 where I've tried to go next level and taken on more responsibility. I've entered into an arena where I'm not proven, where my ideas aren't proven, where I am1:14 perhaps not yet accepted or haven't earned my place. Anytime you get into a bigger room, you wonder, do I belong here? How do I fit in? You've probably heard things about imposter syndrome and all1:25 this different stuff. Right? And so, of course, as a Christian, your identity should be in Christ, and so your external circumstances matter less. I wish I could tell you they don't matter at all, but they do. But1:37 they matter less. You've got some place to fall back on. If things don't go right, you still know that god loves you. You're still a child of god. If everybody rejects you, you know that Jesus1:49 accepted you. If value is in the eye of the beholder, if price is established by what a willing purchaser is willing to pay for any2:01 offering whatsoever, then when you know that the lord of glory sacrificed him himself to redeem you when you brought nothing to the table, then that tells you that you2:13 have innate value. And if you focus on that, at least for me, I have found that that really helps me get through some of the very difficult times. Of course, a lot of this is philosophical. A lot of2:25 it is generic. A lot of it applies to everybody and you wonder, well, what makes me special? Am I special at all? Then all of these doubts come into your mind. We know the devil is2:36 a liar. He likes to lie. In fact, the more you desire to serve god and seek him and be at the center of his will and execute on his mission that he gives you according to his purpose. And2:48 what I call purpose again is love god, love your neighbor, make disciples, and especially that last part. If he can get you to love god and love your neighbor but not make disciples, to a large degree, the3:00 devil's neutered you. And I think for me in my own life, I've gone through many, many seasons where I've not really been very effective in expanding the kingdom of god. I've been in my own little lane.3:12 I've been working on myself. I've been working on my issues. I've been working on my problems. I've been stewarding or shepherding whatever responsibilities and people that I have in my life. And there's nothing wrong3:23 with that, but you can get in a habit of doing that and forget that 3rd piece, which is super important. Go into all the nations, preach the gospel, make disciples. And so just understanding the way the3:35 devil rolls, at least in my experience, he will deceive you, lie about who you are, lie to you about whether or not did god really say that? It's the same thing you said to Eve. You know, did god3:46 really say that? I don't know if god really said that. I don't know if god really meant that. So he god calls you, and you think, okay. I'm gonna answer this call. I'm excited about answering this call. And then all of a3:56 sudden, you get into it, and you're like, yeah. I'm not so sure god called me, or you run into adversity. I talk about a lot in what I used to call the purpose formula. Now I call it the prosperity formula. But this idea4:07 that when you run into resistance, when you run into problems, it's either god redirecting you and closing a door or it is a test of your resolve. It is, do you4:19 really want this? It's a chance to strengthen yourself by pushing through some obstacles and how do you discern. And for me, it's do I care enough to keep pushing? Will I get up and4:31 keep fighting? How bad do I want it? And God knows the answer, but I think he needs you to see the answer. At least he won't need to you know, for me, I I need to see the answer. I need to know. I I care enough to push4:42 through the hard times. And part of that is action. Obviously, you have to take action. Gotta get up. I gotta move. I gotta take on the problems. I can't hide from them. They're not gonna go away on their own. Nobody's4:54 gonna save me. I have to deal with these things. Right? When you're the CEO, when you're the founder, the buck stops on your desk. Like, I think it was Harry Truman that used to say that, president Truman. Buck stops5:05 here at old plaque on his desk. He's the chief executive, the ultimate decision maker, the ultimate person of responsibility for everything that happens underneath him. And of course, when you're a 1 man or woman band,5:17 well then, of course, yeah, everything relies on you. But even as you grow your organization and for whatever reason, people aren't performing, numbers aren't being hit, things aren't happening, customers aren't happy.5:29 At the end of the day, speed of the leader, it's on you. And that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes. It's easy to castigate other people, to blame other people, to assuage5:41 your own feelings of inadequacy. And so depending on where you're at, the point is is that how you think about things, 1st of all, in who you are, number 1. Number 2,5:53 what you're doing and who you're doing it for, that's kind of number 2. But then this 3rd piece about rejoicing in the Lord always and being powered by joy.From Dark Emotions to Being Powered by Joy 6:04 People who've known me over the years have seen me do certain things, and I have been told by others they considered to be a highly focused, highly disciplined person. Candidly, I don't feel that way. I6:16 feel like I'm constantly struggling to control myself, to focus my attention, to do the things I'm supposed to do. And I would say in some areas, I'm pretty disciplined, and in other areas, maybe not so6:28 much. But I was always powered by what I call dark emotions. I could get angry. I could hate something that I was trying to change.6:40 And whether I would have an attitude towards food or being out of shape or an attitude towards competition. And I got to a place in my life where I6:52 said, you know, even though it's powerful, even though it's effective, I don't know that I want to spend a lot of my time in this dark space. And so I started praying7:04 few years ago that the lord would power me by joy and that I would become a happier person, a more cheerful person, that I would be more, I think, positive and pleasant to be7:15 around. And I can't say that I've achieved that completely, but at least it was something that I set my mind to. And so when I said I wanted to be powered by joy, I just asked the lord just to do it.7:27 Just do it. Just change me. Just transform me. And what I've learned is that really there's some responsibility. And so what I've noticed, over the last probably few months7:39 is as the business is getting closer to giving birth or being birthed. In other words, I've been in prelaunch for a long time, working out a lot of details in the business7:51 model, in the plan, in the technology, especially, and product development and going through all of the different components are all gonna fit together. And then looking at what's going on in the8:03 world and asking myself where do I fit in and how do I establish a unique selling proposition and, you know, a competitive edge. And meanwhile, you have to allow collaborative relationships8:15 to develop, and that takes time. And so it is as much art as science. I wish I could just say, hey. Here's the blueprint. Here's what you do step by step, day by day,8:26 and boom, you'll launch a business. I think a lot of people want to sell that because a lot of people want to buy that. But my experience in the real world is it's a little bit more art,8:38 and that's the creative part. And when you're a creative, you put your heart and soul into something. And when it doesn't go quite right, you take it really personally. I mean, it hurts. It feels8:50 like when they reject your product, they're rejecting you. They're rejecting your mission. They're rejecting your vision. They're rejecting your values. And then all of a sudden, you start to ask9:02 yourself, wow. This feedback feels like a condemnation of who I am and what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, then you go the devil jumps into that. It's like, are you9:14 really doing what god wants you to do? Or are you suffering a delusion of grandeur? Or are you thinking more highly of yourself than you want? So I'm just telling you, you know, if you go through that stuff, don't feel9:26 like you're a weirdo. I think it's pretty normal. Or maybe I'm a weirdo when I'm sitting here sharing something with you that I should be embarrassed of. But, you know, it is what it is, and I do these muses to kinda be9:37 raw and real because I think that people who are out there striving to create a business, to build a business, to create a product, to deliver a service, to be excellent in what they do, they're9:48 practicing an art form and then that creative nature is this part of you that feels it because you care so much. And the devil just likes to get10:00 in there and really work you. So I find that lately, I've been waking up with a little bit of malaise and wondering why do I feel like I'm off track? Why do I feel10:12 like I'm overwhelmed? What's going on? Now I read a book by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy called The Gap and the Gain. And I highly recommend it to you because it talks about what goes on for10:24 many people who are ambitious, who are driving towards an objective, a goal, a vision they've got in their mind. And what they do is they look at where they are and where they need to go. That's10:36 called the gap. And they spend all their time focusing on closing that gap. Meaning, they're spending all their time thinking about what they need, what's missing, how they're falling short. They have this10:47 outrageous sense of urgency, which means every day you wake up and you feel like you're behind. And this feeling that if I take my shoulder off this boulder, it's gonna roll all the way down to the bottom of the hill,10:58 and I have to start all over again. Now that's not necessarily true, but that's how it feels. And those feelings start to become reality. And there are many, many people, including11:09 doctor Hardy and Dan Sullivan, who encourage you to change your mindset, to think about how you think about things and what's going on. And what these guys suggest11:21 is that you consider how far you've come. You give yourself credit for what you have accomplished. And I find that when I do that, I realize, okay. I've actually made some progress. I started out at a place, and11:33 then I did this, and I did that, and I met this person, and I solved this problem. And I can see that I'm actually making progress towards the goal. That's very encouraging. And I think when we look in scripture, we11:45 can see many times God is encouraging his people to go back and reflect on all of the things that he's done for them. Remember that I led you out of Egypt. Remember I provided for you with the11:57 manna. Remember I led you into the promised land, and I raised up leadership for you. And I I went before you, and I took out the enemy. And just the list goes on and on and on. And what happens is people either get12:08 there and they think, think, hey. Who's god? I did this, and then the pride goes before the fall, or they completely forget god and just are so busy enjoying the blessing, they forget the blessor.12:20 I've had both those things happen in my life. And so I'm more careful about that today, and I encourage you to be careful about that. Better to discipline yourself in that area than be disciplined by god in that area.12:31 And he gives us the formula to do that. He shows us how to do that in scripture. So this morning, I woke up, and I was just thinking about how I was feeling. And my prayer was, lord, please give me12:43 wisdom, courage, strength to do exactly as you want. And I wrote, I'm trying but feel nervous, anxious, overwhelmed each day. Please fill me12:55 with your peace. And as soon as the word peace came out of my pen and appeared on the paper and I looked at it double underlined, Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 through 8Praying for Peace Through Philippians 4 13:07 popped into my mind. Now, the reason it popped into my mind is because I read the Bible pretty much every day, and I've been doing that for a long, long time. I did take a little bit of a time out, and I've talked about13:18 that. But I have parked the word in my heart, and I have meditated on it. I don't just read it, but I study it. I think about it. I cross reference it. I look up the meaning of13:30 words, think about application in my life. And I know lots of people do that. I'm not saying I'm special because I do that. But if you're doing that, I want to encourage you to keep doing it. And if you're not doing it,13:40 then I want to encourage you to do it because the word of God is the sword of the spirit. The word of God is the thing that gives you the ability to cut through the lies and to cut to the truth and to13:52 be able to refute the lies of the enemy. If you think about Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he refuted the devil with scripture. Even though the devil was taking scripture out of context,14:04 Jesus was rebutting him with scripture, and I think that is an example for us to look at. So it's really important that you have the word and you know the word. So I'm saying, please fill me with your peace.14:16 And he's like, well, I told you how to do it. And so I went and read Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 through 8. It says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer14:28 and supplication, we'll talk about that in a minute, with thanksgiving. So prayer, supplication, thanksgiving. So I made a little acronym, p s t, not p s d, but not p t14:40 s d, post trauma syndrome, but a p s t, which is prayer, supplication, thanksgiving. So that's a formula. Prayer, supplication, thanksgiving. So do not be anxious about anything, but in everything14:52 by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Now does that mean that God doesn't know them? No. But I think we need to know that he knows15:04 them by delivering them And he is clearly instructing us to come to him, and he wants us to come to him. Sometimes I just feel like a little needy baby. I'm just coming to God every day with nothing to offer. I just want15:16 want want need need need need. Feed me feed me feed me. Care for me care for me care for me. Comfort me, comfort me, comfort me. And then I thought to myself, well, that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to come to15:25 the Lord like a little child as a grown man. It doesn't always feel comfortable, but that's what he's telling us to do. So like, okay. Well, you know, how bad do you want it? Are you willing to humble yourself in the15:35 side of the Lord so he can lift you up? Another scripture. Like, yeah, I am. I'm willing to be humble. I'm willing to come before the Lord knowing that I don't bring anything just to constantly be asking like that15:45 persistent widow. I don't have anything to negotiate with. I don't have anything to offer except myself. I'm yours. I'm everyday choosing you. You give me free will, and I'm using my free will to choose you,15:57 to choose your word, to spend time with you, to pray, and to look for answers. And so he says to me, well, don't be anxious for anything. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be16:08 made known to God. And then here it is in verse 7, and the peace of God, that peace that I was seeking, which surpasses all understanding. Like, it doesn't even make sense that you have peace in these16:19 circumstances. How can you be calm in these circumstances? You're hemorrhaging cash, or you got this big business problem, or your biggest account is about to leave, or your most important person just quit. Whatever it16:29 is, how can you have peace? Well, 1st of all, the pieces in who I am in Christ. 2nd, Romans 8 28 promises me that all things work together for good for them that love god and are called according to his16:41 purpose. I'm called according to his purpose, and I'm doing my best to fulfill the mission that he gave me based on the vision that he gave me, based on the plan that he gave me in my mountain time. And I keep reminding16:52 myself, okay, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So god is faithful if I'm faithful. I gotta be faithful. God is faithful even if I'm not faithful. But I think I unlock some of that faithfulness when I'm faithful.17:02 Right? There's there's kind of that response thing. So it says in the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts, your desires, your feelings, your emotions, and your17:14 mind, your thoughts, how you think about things, logic in Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse 8, and this is really important because if17:26 you've ever heard any type of a personal development message about having a positive attitude, I'm telling you it came right from the Bible. And the Bible says, finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,17:38 whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence, if there is anything17:49 worthy of praise, think about these things. In other words, don't fixate on what's wrong. Don't fixate on what's not working. Don't fixate on what is broken. Don't fixate on your18:01 weaknesses. Don't fixate on your needs. Don't fixate on your shortages. Not that Tony Robbins is in the same category as the bible, not even close. But he has a great18:13 quote. And I remind myself of this from time to time, and that is you don't lack resources, you lack resourcefulness. And if you think about your god owning18:25 the cattle on 1000 hills, having the ultimate power, the ultimate in resources, and he gives us instructions to come to him for joy that we might have it abundantly18:37 for wisdom, for faith. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally without reproach. And that we can't even brag about our faith because Paul says that's a gift of God.18:49 So my constant prayer is for abundant transformative powerful enduring faith and wisdom and understandingThe Power of Specific Supplication and Positive Focus 19:01 and courage and discipline and joy and peace and perseverance and favorable circumstances19:14 and guiding providence. And I pray for that And it is a little rote, but every time I write it, literally write it, even though it's repetitive, I mean, every word of19:25 it sincerely as if I'm writing it for the very 1st time. In my spirit is moved in that way. I don't know if that makes a difference, but it does to me. And so sometimes I think, well, I just continue to pray the same19:37 thing over and over again, and it's kind of generic. And so I said, you know, I know what prayer is, and I think I understand what thanksgiving is. But I wanna look up this word supplication.19:50 Like, what does this word supplication mean? And when I looked it up, the answer that I got was that it was specific. And so it made me realize20:02 that maybe I needed to start actually praying for some specific things. So what I found is that the word supplication translates the Greek word,20:14 I think it's pronounced deesis, and it means a specific earnest petition that arises from need asking God for particular20:26 help rather than offering prayer in general. And so I thought, wow. The Lord is actually asking me to ask him20:38 in detail for what I need. I need a software solution. I need the right person. I need to solve this particular marketing problem. I need a20:49 great headline. I need great technology. I need funding. I need to develop a new product, like details. Again, maybe you're there like, I pray like21:01 that all the time. Well, I'm here to tell you I haven't been. Not a lot. And what I'm realizing is that possibly, that's part of the reason I haven't had the level of joy that I've been seeking.21:13 I've wanted to be powered by joy, and God gave me the formula to have joy and peace right there in Philippians, but I wasn't looking at it. And I wasn't really understanding what21:25 it was saying, and I wasn't really doing what it was saying. And so that positive energy is super important. I've got a good friend, Tom Hopkins, just maybe the best sales trainer that ever21:37 lived. And he talks about setting your attitude early in the morning, listening to uplifting music. But he says the 1st thing you do when you open your eyes in the morning is you set the tone by saying to yourself, I'm21:48 alive. I'm awake, and I feel great. I wish I could tell you I woke up every morning saying that, but I wake up and I think, oh, okay. I gotta get up, and I like to get up. And I typically get up22:00 without an alarm. So I think I'm generally pretty excited about going to work and getting after my day every day. So I wake up, but you could make the argument I wake up because I'm full of anxiety, and I feel like, oh,22:10 I better get to work. I gotta push on that boulder because if I don't, it's gonna roll down the hill. So I don't wanna give myself credit where it's not due. I think I have a lot of growth to do in the area of just22:20 getting up every day and programming a positive a positive attitude. And Tommy tells me what to do. I'm alive, which I should be grateful for. I'm awake, conscious. I'm thinking. I'm aware of what's going on.22:32 I'm awake, and I feel great. I make a decision to set my attitude. And this is exactly what it's talking about in Philippians where Paul writes whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just,22:44 whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Focus your mind. Are the other things not present? Of course, they're22:54 present. The world is always gonna be full of things that are the antithesis of all those good things. So it's a choice. We have every day a choice. Good, evil. We can follow God. We can ignore God. We can23:06 acknowledge God. We can choose to praise him or we can choose to complain or deny him. But these are choices. Joshua said, as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the lord. It's a choice. It's a23:18 daily choice. It's a thought by thought moment by moment choice. And so what the Lord encouraged me this morning was that the peace and the joy that I seek is right here. In Philippians chapter 4, which tees up this23:29 whole section, Paul writes, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. And so he is actually admonishing23:42 each of us to choose to rejoice. It's a choice. It's not something that just happens because you want it to. It's not just something that some people have and23:53 you're not entitled to, but it's actually a choice. And so, I think what he's saying is choose joy and that joy comes in the Lord. So he says rejoice in the Lord always.24:05 Again, I will say rejoice. And then he goes on in verses 6, 7, and 8 to tell us exactly how to set our mindset to do that. So anxiety when we feel24:17 it is that trigger. She says do not be anxious about anything. Right? So the minute you feel anxiety that is pain that is triggering24:29 or should trigger a response. Just like, you know, if a fly lands on your arm and you feel it, it's not pain, but you feel it, you you swat it away. If a bug lands on your arm and bites you, you feel that pain, you swat24:41 it away. Step on attack and it hurts your foot, you withdraw. It's a signal that you need to take corrective action. That's why leprosy in the bible and anywhere so bad. Right? Because when you can't24:53 feel pain, then you don't know that you're damaging yourself. And so there's things that we do in life to assuage our anxiety. We watch TV. We scroll mindlessly. We drink too much.25:04 We do whatever we video game. We find things to do to distract us from dealing with the things that are actually causing our anxiety, and yet the Lord is giving us in scripture25:17 the formula. It says number 1, choose joy. Number 2, when you feel the pain of anxiety, pray and pray specifically and pray with thanksgiving,25:28 understanding who he is, that he has everything, who you are, he loves you, and that he will give good things to those who ask him. And even if you don't get exactly25:40 what you want or doesn't go exactly the way you think it should, all things in Romans 8 28 work together for good for them that love god and are called according to his purpose. And25:52 so if you're on purpose, if you're on mission, if you're choosing joy, if you're praying specifically with thanksgiving and then you are focusing your26:04 attention on what is praiseworthy and commendable and good and excellent what's working, I think that's the formula. And so it's not like I didn't know that, but I didn't know it26:16 as deeply. And the reason is because I didn't have the need. Everything was kinda going along. But, again, when you're doing the start up, when you've taken all of the structure and order and26:28 the security, if you will, of being established and you throw it all away and you start a new business, It's like, if you're out there and you're a young person, you're walking away from the what you consider to be the26:39 security of a job to start your own business, you're gonna go through this floating in outer space like Moses when he came from out of Egypt, and he's in the wilderness, he's gotta figure out how to organize the people26:50 and turn them into a nation and a culture and a productive self sustaining enterprise, and you have to do that as an entrepreneur. So there's many times in our lives that we go through this thisChoosing Joy and Rejoicing in the Lord 27:02 transition to come out of something we're familiar with. It's established where we can get a little bit lazy, a little bit slack, and then we get torn down to where now we're anxious,27:14 and we're worried and we're thinking about all this stuff, and the lord is giving us the formula here. So I'm sharing that with you because it encouraged me today. I hope it encourages you. Let me know what you think.27:23 Send me feedback. Feedback at russell gray dot com. Good, bad, or ugly? Be very interested in hearing from you. And and then until next time, may you be blessed to be a blessing.In this video 0:00 Overcoming Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt6:00 From Dark Emotions to Being Powered by Joy13:00 Praying for Peace Through Philippians 419:00 The Power of Specific Supplication and Positive Focus27:00 Choosing Joy and Rejoicing in the Lord
30:55
A Few Good Men, Romans 13, and Engaging in this Life Russell Gray Oct 27
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.