men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Don't Choke Up: Buddy Meloy on Overcoming Anxiety and Swinging for God's Best
About this episode
Pastor Buddy Meloy of New Life Christian Fellowship in Lake City, Florida joins Philip Cameron for a timely, scripture-rooted conversation on one of the most urgent spiritual challenges facing believers today: anxiety. Drawing from Luke 21:26 and Philippians 4:6, Buddy unpacks why Jesus gave his followers zero permission to worry — and what happens spiritually when they do. At the heart of the message is a striking word study: both the English words "worry" and "anxiety" trace back to roots meaning "to choke" or "to strangle." Buddy explains, "When you begin to allow worrying and anxiety to get into your life, you are allowing the enemy to sink his teeth into you." He connects this to the baseball image of choking up on the bat — shortening your swing, abandoning big goals, and settling for survival instead of the abundant life Christ promises. Buddy also walks through Philippians 4's three-part antidote to anxiety — worship, petition, and thanksgiving — highlighting thanksgiving as "an expression of your knowledge of God." Every new level of knowing God, he teaches, should produce a new level of gratitude. Visit New Life Christian Fellowship online at lcflc.com.
Part of our Trust collection of conversations.
What's Discussed
Pastor Buddy Meloy of New Life Christian Fellowship in Lake City, Florida delivers a word-study-driven message on anxiety, rooted in Luke 21:26 and Philippians 4:6. He reveals that both 'worry' and 'anxiety' etymologically mean 'to choke or strangle,' illustrating how fear cuts off spiritual oxygen, clouds the mind, and causes believers to 'choke up on the bat' — abandoning God-sized goals for short, survival-mode thinking. Buddy connects unresolved anxiety to anger (citing Jesus's rebuke of Martha in Luke 10), and prescribes Philippians 4's three-part remedy: worship, petition, and thanksgiving. He closes by framing thanksgiving as a direct expression of one's knowledge of God — the deeper you know Him, the more gratitude flows.
- Rapid-Fire Events Shaking the World
- Luke 21:26 — Hearts Failing for Fear
- Worry and Anxiety Mean 'To Choke'
- Choking Up on the Bat — Shrinking Your Goals
- Anxiety Fuels Anger — The Martha Lesson
- Philippians 4 — Worship, Petition, and Thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving as Knowledge of God
Scripture in this episode
In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Welcome, my friend. My name is Philip Cameron, and this is Daily Faith, and we have got a tremendous program for you. One of my favorite people in the world, Buddy Meloy. He's a great man of God, a prophetical man. He's got chosen things and he teaches his congregation. He does these prophetic teachings.
Philip:I saw his coming up in the next year, and they're worth going to his — I'll share his website later on and you'll see, as he has laid out these things that God is showing him, we are right in this cycle of what God has already been revealing to him through the scripture. It's tremendous. He pastors a church in Lake City, Florida called New Life Christian Fellowship, and if ever you're in Florida, you need to drop by and see him every Sunday morning. I'll get him to tell us the times of the church. I go there at least once a year. I feel like I'm part of the congregation. It's a great church with a great purpose and vision, and I've been part of it since its beginning and I've been partners of the miracles of the church.
Philip:So he's gonna be with us. Listen, if you love your pastor, get in contact with him right now and come to watch the show. Daily Faith dot TV — really simple. Whatever he is, if he's in the car, just go to his device and type in Daily Faith dot TV, wherever you are in the world, and you can join us live as we are speaking right now and it'll be a blessing. Also, if you're watching us on Monday nights, we're on CTN down in Florida. It's across the nation on the CTN network and on DirecTV — that channel is 376. Dish TV is channel 262. And we're also seen on Glory Star, which is on channel 117 — there they are right there. And we're also seen on TCT, which is one of the great networks of this nation.
Philip:And Garth Koons, who is the founder of that ministry — it's his birthday today. And Garth and his lovely wife Tina, and Julie and Tom — all of that — they've just been family to us for, I guess, 40 years and more. And God celebrates his birthday and he's a precious and a great man of God and has been a tremendous supporter of this ministry. He has given hundreds — umpteen hundreds of thousands of dollars — to help us do what we're doing for the young folk in Ukraine and Moldova. So happy birthday to my friend Garth.
Philip:If you're watching, you can watch also on Destiny, and of course as I said TCT and CTN. Whatever you're watching, we are delighted to have you with us today. We are in a very unusual and strange time right now in this ministry. For 33 years — 33 years ago — I adopted a boy in Romania, and that began a tremendous adventure in my life. When I adopted Andrew, I made a promise to him that I'd come back and get him. When I found him in the orphanage, it took me a year to get him, and in that year God brought my heart for the need of these poor kids. And we rebuilt his orphanage. We moved to Moldova. We built several orphanages over the years.
Philip:And in this process of discovery, we discovered when a girl turned 16 in the orphanages, they were put on the streets and traffickers got them. So I'm going to show you a video in a few minutes, and every girl you see in the hands of a trafficker will be worth $300,000 a year — every girl, every face you see in the video I'm going to ask you to watch in a few minutes. If a trafficker gets her, she is worth $300,000 to that trafficker. And we have a village of homes called that privilege in Moldova, and six or seven years ago we leased a home — a large house — in Ukraine.
Philip:My wife and I were coming back from Moldova and the immigration officer said, where have you been? When I told them, he stopped and he says, you do Moldova? I said yes, we do mission work in Moldova. She said, this is crazy — I've just transferred up from the Caribbean and we intercepted a container with 38 girls from Moldova, shipped from Odessa, Ukraine. And I went out to the baggage claim and I was really quite incensed. I said, are we going to Ukraine? And we looked for months, looking for a big enough house to house as many kids. We finally found one that houses 24 girls.
Philip:And so something happened a few weeks ago that has absolutely turned us on our heads, and that is that the house that we've been leasing for years — that lease is up and the owner wants to sell. And we've taken all the girls out of the Ukraine house into Moldova for safety, and now we've nowhere to put them back to. And we are believing God — it's insane, I know — we are believing God to buy a house in Ukraine in the middle of a war. And I'm happy to tell you that we are halfway there already, because God is speaking to folk just like you to be a part of it.
Philip:I want to watch this video and let the Lord speak to your heart. I'll show you what you can do to help us. Can you imagine telling these girls as they leave Moldova, here's a bus ticket, there's nowhere for you to go? And we've softened our hearts by grace and love and kindness, and to put them back on the streets in the middle of a country in a war zone — where you know what happens to girls if they're caught by the wrong man. We need a safe place. We have a place. We've been leasing it for years. It's beautifully finished. It's fabulous to live in. We just need you to help us make it possible.
Watch this video. When God challenged us to open a home just a few years ago, we looked for many months to find a place big enough to make a difference in young girls' lives. We finally found the perfect place that can house 24 girls. We signed a long-term lease with the owner, and it has just ended.
At the moment we are able to house the Ukrainian girls in Moldova, but as the war drags on there is pressure to have those who escaped the Russian invasion return to Ukraine. Moldova simply cannot afford the cost of maintaining so many refugees. Many have returned to Ukraine. Many have left for Europe and the USA, and will never return. Our girls wait every day to return to their homeland. If their home is sold, there will be nowhere for them to go.
In the natural it seems impossible. We have already strained every sinew in our ministry this year to care for thousands of destitute lives. We are about to send at least two containers packed with warm clothes to help these lost souls survive the brutal winter. But what about the young lives we are already committed to protecting? Where would they go?
Can you imagine handing them a bus ticket to a death and telling them, you are on your own, we have nowhere for you to go, your home has been sold? How would they survive in a country stuck in the no man's land of war? We are going to believe God to buy this special place. We'll continue our work in Ukraine and trust him for protection as the days ahead unfold. We will be right there in the middle of tragic events, with a place of refuge for young girls to find rest in a home provided by loving hearts.
If God moves, the home we need is already waiting. We just need you. Will you pray? Will you give? I'm certain everyone who could wouldn't even hesitate to help this miracle take place. That is how this huge door of opportunity could open. We can minister to these dear souls for years to come and be a beacon of hope in a battlefield of despair.
When God challenged me to believe God for this, he told me it would take a thousand dollars to buy the home and a vehicle — in case the Russian army does get closer — to get them back to Moldova's safety, so they have an escape route. And God challenged me to do this. I thought, how can I do this? And the Lord really spoke to my heart. He says, would you risk $2,000 of your money for the opportunity to save 24 girls? And I said, of course I would. He says, well, find another hundred people to believe that thought, and if you can do that, you can have this house taken care of.
And as we stand right now, we are halfway there. I'm going to ask you to pray with whatever gift you can give. If you can join with me and give that $2,000 gift, it would be an amazing help for us. But whatever you can do, just write on your gift "house in Odessa" or "orphan home in Odessa, Ukraine." Make sure that you characterize the gift, because we're putting that in a totally separate account. Every penny you give — nothing will be taken out. Everything is going to make this happen.
So please, please pray about helping us. There's a wee boy you see in this thing all the time with his teddy bear. He is the brother of one of the girls that was in our home in Ukraine. And when we told them we were taking them to Moldova for safety, she ran away, and she came back the next day with her little brother and she says, if you're rescuing me, will you rescue my brother too? Another girl went and got her mother that I put her into the orphanage, and we took her as well. So this is a real labor of love and a challenge of mercy.
And I'm asking today, pray with me. I'm asking, help make this house possible. Whatever you can give, give it right now. So simple: The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, 37716. You can give on Daily Faith dot TV — that's the quickest way — and there's a giving button there. Make sure you mark the gift for Odessa. And you can call 1-833-Daily-Faith as well. Let's make this miracle happen by the end of November. Please pray about it in the name of Jesus.
Philip:I am delighted to have Buddy Meloy with me. He pastors a great church. He's a great man of God. We've been friends for many, many decades — we're getting old, Buddy. Welcome to Daily Faith, and you always bring with you a Rhema word from the Lord. So I'm glad to have you with us.
Buddy Meloy:It's great to be with you also, and thank you for inviting me to be on your program today. And my hope is that, you know, all the things that you're sharing about what's going on in Ukraine and your ministry — I'm just believing we participate in it, we partner with you in that, we just want part of the reward of that ourselves. We're sowing in because we have a heart for that, but we also believe God will honor that seed.
Philip:You know, you've been talking about — I know you've given personally towards this home and the church has as well. If every pastor watching were to say, listen, we can give $2,000 to help this happen — Rusty Nelson gave, my own pastor here Tony McAfee gave — so there's pastors that are helping this miracle take place. So thank you for that. I didn't want to say anything unless you would let folk know that you'd given. Tell us what the Lord has put in your heart with these crazy days we're living in.
Rapid-Fire Events Shaking the World
Buddy Meloy:Well, you know, there are so many things that are occurring. It's almost like rapid fire. I mean, there's so much we could talk about today. We've just come through an election, and I know on Sunday before the election I did a message called "Jesus, Politics, and Dealing with the Herodian Spirit." That was an interesting thing because Jesus battled in the arena of politics and so he dealt with that. But I also shared some things a couple of weeks ago, and you and I talked about it at the end of our last meeting together — about where people are right now because of the rapid fire of events that are occurring. Things like earthquakes, things like hurricanes here in Florida.
Buddy Meloy:We had Hurricane Ian and then we had Hurricane Nicole coming in, which was record-breaking in the fact of the timing of when it took place. So it was one of those things that was rapid fire. Inflation — we've got droughts. Literally, I read yesterday where people in California now are using bottled water because of the lack of water in California. That was one of the headlines that I read yesterday. Floods, fires, extreme weather all around the planet, energy problems, fuel problems, diesel — we talked about diesel before — the things that are going on with diesel and with all these supply chain issues and labor problems and wars and rumors of wars.
Luke 21:26 — Hearts Failing for Fear
Buddy Meloy:One of the things that I've been talking with people about — and I've heard other people say this — I had someone recently say, you know, people are troubled inside. And I shared something about three or four weeks ago about how anxiety was something that God did not allow in our lives. You know, in Luke chapter 21, verse 26, he said men's hearts will be failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers — there is the dunamis, the dynamite — not the authority aspect but the dunamis power of heaven shall be shaken. People will be discouraged, there'll be despair, there'll be disheartening that takes place. Some literally say that could be physical, but I also believe it could be emotionally, spiritually, and mentally — people just having an inability to put it together.
Buddy Meloy:And he says it's not because of what they see happening. It's because of the expectation. The Greek word there does not mean they're looking and having their heart fail. It means that they're anticipating the next thing before it ever happens. There's a fear coming on them of what they see. Worry — I believe even in Christians, Philip — that even knowing that as we're watching biblical prophecy come to pass, Jesus was warning them: don't let this affect you negatively. He tells you, don't be anxious about any of these things. You can see them take place. He said anytime the heavens are shaken, it produces instability on the earth. So things are going to get unstable in the earth as the powers of heaven are shaken.
Worry and Anxiety Mean 'To Choke'
Buddy Meloy:But he tells us — I did a little word study on the word worry and anxiety, and I was surprised about how the word worry comes from a word in the English. Actually, it's the English word, and the word anxiety both mean to choke. It means to choke, to constrict, to choke so that you cannot breathe properly. And you can look at that in a physical realm or a physical way. In fact, I was sharing that with somebody in our church. We had a lady that was just starting to come to our church, visiting five churches, said she'd check out our church. And she said while she was sitting there she had been going through some things and she had a tightness in her neck. I said, even the tightness in your neck is the enemy going after you in the area of worrying anxiety — to strangle you, to put a stranglehold on you.
Buddy Meloy:And that word choke — actually we can see the spiritual breath that God would have in our lives — he would choke the breath out of us in these times in which we live. So people have to maintain that. Jesus said you have no options, no options. I don't give you permission to have anxiety or any worry on any level in your life. He says, look, you're better than a bird. He said he took care of the birds. He said you have more favor than the flowers. He says I've clothed the flowers. Don't worry about clothes. Don't worry about food. Don't worry about any of those things. Because when you begin to choke — and one of the words there actually means to be like a pit bull and to grab a hold of and just shake with the teeth.
Choking Up on the Bat — Shrinking Your Goals
Buddy Meloy:When you begin to allow worrying anxiety to get into your life, Philip, you are allowing the enemy to sink his teeth into you, and he'll begin to use that place where he's able to get a bite into you — that area of worry and anxiety — and shake you around and put a grip on you so that he begins to rip you apart. And I'm just encouraging people, and I encourage our church. I said, when you see these things begin to take place, there are steps you can take. You know, one of the words means — in baseball, they choke up on a bat, and when they do that their anticipation is, I'm not going for the fence anymore, I'm going to hit short.
Buddy Meloy:So what people are doing is they're choking up on the bat, hitting short. They've shortened their goals. They've withdrawn their goals. They're no longer going for the fence, Philip. They're choking up. When you get into worrying anxiety, you choke up and you begin to hold back on what God has for your life. Jesus said, I'm not allowing you to have this. I'm not going to let you. He said, don't do this, because I believe Jesus knew — he knew that if you were going to choke up on the bat, the goals that God has for you will never occur.
Buddy Meloy:My encouragement — we're talking even to leaders right now, Philip. We are talking to leaders: don't choke up on the bat. I'm telling Christians, don't choke up on the bat. I'm telling you, swing for the fence. Don't allow the enemy — and I really believe this — this is why he said, don't worry, don't get anxious. You're going to choke the life out of your own self. You will also choke up on the bat and you won't go for everything that I have placed in your heart, because he says, look, he told us, don't pull back, occupy until I come. And I want to be found doing what Christ wants me to be doing. He says, when I come back, will I find you doing what you're supposed to be doing?
Buddy Meloy:So I wanted to bring a word of encouragement and say, look, don't back off what God is giving you. Don't get into the area of worry. And he tells us in Philippians, be anxious for nothing. There are no options here in the arena of worry. Be anxious for nothing. You know, part of the anger problem you see in the world today, Philip, is an anxiety issue. Remember Martha? When Martha was working, she got angry at Mary, and she said, Mary's not helping — tell her, Jesus, go tell her. And Jesus' response was, Martha, Martha, you are anxious — same word, same word in the Greek. You're anxious and worried about many things.
Anxiety Fuels Anger — The Martha Lesson
Buddy Meloy:It says "careful" in the King James, but it's the same word as anxious when Jesus said, be anxious — don't be anxious about clothing, food. Be anxious for nothing, is what Paul said. Same Greek word. So he said, you're anxious about many things, you're careful about many things. The problem was not Mary. The problem was about how many things she was anxious about outside of Mary. Well, that's the moment anxiety gets into our hearts — we begin to become angry with other people.
Philip:So what you're saying to me just now is so appropriate. When the Lord challenged me about this house, it took me two weeks to verbalize what I knew I had to verbalize. And I'm thinking, how will people ever think about buying a house in a war zone? It's insanity. And the Lord kept saying to me, I'm going to talk to folks — you do your part and I'll do my part. And I think it over — the anxiety, I mean real anxiety — because you're dealing with kids' lives here. You're not just — this isn't just a nice, oh, it'll be nice to do. You're talking life and death. And they're slamming Ukraine today with missiles, and I'm thinking, Lord Jesus, why? And I had anxiety, and I just came to the point and said, Lord, this is your church. You will build it. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. We're going to do it, and we're halfway there. And that's me not choking. That's me going for the long ball.
Buddy Meloy:You're exactly right. And that's why I really believe Jesus taught us that. He was saying, look, you need to trust me in this, because the moment you start to choke, you start to lose your ability to think clearly. I mean, obviously when you have a lack of oxygen, your brain doesn't function the way it's supposed to function. When you have a lack of spiritual oxygen flowing in your life — which worry does — you can't think straight. Your mind does not function. You can't hear from God the way you need to hear. You can't comprehend what it is God's trying to tell you to do. So you choke off the ability to be able to receive from God.
Buddy Meloy:And so he says, don't worry. The moment you start worrying, you pull back on your goals. You can't hear from me clearly. You can't think straight. Your vision is affected. And pretty soon, spiritually, you're going to black out. So he says, don't allow this to begin to take place in your life.
Philip:Yeah, we rob ourselves of vision, of purpose, by allowing the devil to choke us down. That analogy of the baseball thing — I don't know much about baseball, but I've seen a guy choking down the bat, and what he's doing is he's bunting. He's not trying for home runs. He's not trying for doubles or triples. He just wants to get himself out of the place he's in and into the next base.
Philippians 4 — Worship, Petition, and Thanksgiving
Buddy Meloy:Well, that's it. And that's what anxiety is. That word in the English language literally means to strangle or to choke. I was amazed when I studied that. I thought, wow, this is why Jesus was so emphatic about this. And that's why Paul said, be anxious for nothing, but everything through — through worship, through prayer. He talks about worship, petition, and thanksgiving. I give those three things that he says in Philippians chapter 4: worship, petition, thanksgiving.
Buddy Meloy:And I really believe thanksgiving is one of the most powerful parts of it. We talk about worship, we talk about petition — pray about everything. That's the worship part, that we petition him. And then thanksgiving, because thanksgiving is one of those areas — it's a turning point in our lives. It's an expression. Thanksgiving is an expression of your knowledge of God. Because he said, because when they knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful. There is a reference to your opinion — what's my opinion about God? I glorify God out of my opinion about him. Every new level of knowledge should bring a new level of opinion and a new level of thanksgiving. Either that, or you haven't got the new knowledge.
Thanksgiving as Knowledge of God
Philip:Wow. So the more we know God — every time you come on this program you bring me something that is so appropriate for me. It's like you're talking to me, and I know all the folks are getting the same thing. We've got a minute left before we close this, and we're getting used to this new format. I want you to pray that folk are going to understand the bigness of what God is doing and that he wants them to stop choking and start swinging for the fence again, and let anxiety be gone from their lives. We got a minute, Buddy. We can do it.
Buddy Meloy:Heavenly Father, we thank you. I know in your word you tell us that you can do much more than we can even ask or think, that our conception of you can never be too big. You are a great, big, powerful, almighty God, and you desire to do great things in our lives. Heavenly Father, I know in the year of what I see coming that there will be many cavities — hollow places — that will be existing. But you told us to trust you as our heavenly Father to supply all our needs according to your riches and glory by Christ Jesus. We believe for it. I come against the spirit of worrying anxiety in the name of Jesus, and I release the worship, the prayer, and the thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Philip:Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you again, Buddy. Listen, how do you get in contact with him? If you're ever in the Lake City area, you've got to go and see this church. That's the information on the screen: www.lcflc.com. And he and his wife Abby are just the best of folks. You'd be part of it. We love you, Buddy. Thank you for joining us today.
Philip:And if you're watching, please pray, please pray with us about helping us in this miracle in Ukraine — to buy a house in a war zone to rescue these kids from unbelievable hell. We love you. Thanks for watching Daily Faith today. God bless you. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova — from providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are from the horrors of trafficking. Through homes founded by the Camerons, and in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus.
God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness. Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in the Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and Ukraine.
If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 1-833-Daily-Faith. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Topics
anxietyworrymeloyphilippians 4luke 21thanksgivingovercoming fear