God's cure for anxiety

Anxiety is worry, concern, unease, apprehension, disquiet, fretfulness, angst, and/or fear. All of us experience this and Paul speaks directly to how to deal with worry in the book of Philippians.

When we have anxiety it seems to take over our thoughts and we lose perspective. Worry steals our peace. It also causes us to lose connection with the Lord as we turn inward thinking over and over about what is bothering us and not going to God for His comfort.

The Lord has an answer for this in the Scripture below from Philippians 4:4-9, we will look at it and how the Lord gives us an alternative to worry.

“The Lord is near.” You are not alone. You do not have to hold up under your anxious circumstances by yourself because The Master of all is with you. The first thing to do when you worry is come to His presence.

“Be anxious for nothing. When we read this phrase in the Greek we see that it is a command not a suggestion. The Lord who is with us commands us not to worry, not to be anxious about anything in our lives. “Nothing” means not one thing is to make you anxious. Okay, how in the world am I not to worry, not to be concerned about life?

“But. God is telling us that there is something else we can do besides worry. Instead of having anxiety we are to talk with Him about our concerns. This is how. “By Prayer and Supplication. Prayer most of us understand as talking with God, but “supplication” is a word that few of us use today. It means to make an appeal, a plea, a petition or request. So now, we are commanded to not worry but to talk with the Lord who is near and ask Him for what we want – “let your requests be made known to God.

So, instead of worrying we are going to go to the Lord who is with us in prayer and make our appeal for a change in our situations. And we are to do this “with thanksgiving. How can we be thankful when we are concerned about something in our lives and even though we have now brought our prayer and request to God have not received an answer? Well, let’s look at thankfulness in Scripture and how it is used in this partial list from Naves’s Topical Dictionary:

• Jesus set an example of • The angels in heaven engage in • It is commanded • Should be offered To God • To Christ• Through Christ • In the name of Christ • On behalf of God's servants • In private worship • In public worship • In everything • Upon the completion of great undertakings • Before receiving food • Always • As the remembrance of God's holiness • For the goodness and mercy of God • For the gift of Christ • For Christ's power and reign • For the reception and effectual working of the word of God in others • For deliverance from indwelling sin, through Christ • For victory over death and the grave • For wisdom and might • For the triumph of the gospel • For the conversion of others • For faith exhibited by others • For love exhibited by others • For the grace bestowed on others • For the zeal exhibited by others • For the nearness of God's presence • For appointment to spiritual service • For willingness to offer our property for God's service • For the supply of our bodily needs • For all people • For all things.

We see that there are many ways and many reasons for being thankful for God and to God in our lives. Sometimes we think that thankfulness comes after we receive what we want but in Scripture we see that we are one in a long history of those loved by God and for that alone our lives should be filled with thanksgiving. So, when we come to God now with our prayers and petitions we do so with thankful hearts that we are even able to speak with Him. We are thankful that He hears our prayers, is involved in our lives, loves us greatly. Thankfulness is a constant state for those who know God.

Let go of anxiety - receive peace

The peace of God comes when we go to Him. We remember that He is Lord Almighty. We acknowledge that He is Sovereign, good, righteous, powerful, loving, kind, and wise beyond measure. We could spend a whole day talking about how great He is and how wonderful. Knowing that He is near to us, is listening to our requests, that He loves us deeply and unconditionally and that He is all-powerful AND all-wise to know what to do about our worries bring us the peace of God Himself.

Does God ever have anxiety? When you know all things, what is, what was and what is to come, when you are fully capable of intervening and directing history to fulfill your desired outcome, when you have an eternal plan not only for the world but for everyone that loves you and when you know that there is no one that is your equal to stop what you have decided to do, would there be any reason to worry? Would not peace be your continual state of being?

The “peace of God” would have to be greater than anything we could understand. To be at complete and constant peace is something that we as humans do not have, but here, in this passage, God is saying that He will give His peace to us when we come to Him, asking for what we need, thankful for who He is and trusting in what He can do.

That “peace of God” protects our hearts and our thoughts because of and in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of Christ lives within us who believe and Scripture tells us that we have the mind of Christ. When we are present with Christ, with God, our hearts calm and our minds no longer worry.

Read our passage again.

DON’T worry, the Lord is with you. Talk with Him, let Him know what is on your mind, be thankful for who He is. Rest in Him and allow His peace to come into your heart and guard your thoughts.

Trade your anxious thoughts for new ones

Finally means “from now on” or “in the future.” Now that you have talked with the Lord and are in His peace, from now on control your mind. Instead of anxiety filled thoughts let your mind think in this way. Discipline your mind to think of what is true, what has dignity, things that are right according to the Lord, things that are pleasing, what is of good standing. Think on what is excellent and worthy of praise. Consider these things in your mind rather than allowing anxiety in your mind. We cannot think two things simultaneously. When we think of what is true about God we are not thinking about the scary things that could happen.

What have you learned and seen and received since you became a Christ follower? Start practicing them!

God's Cure for Anxiety