BATTLING ANXIETY

Do you often deal with anxiety? Are you consumed with worry?

You can learn to manage these emotions by understanding what the Bible says about them. Today we talk about how you can deal a knock out punch to these emotions which can affect our daily lives.

I was chatting over dinner with some new friends last night and shared about how pretty well every day I get anxious about something in my world. One of them asked how does the Scripture ‘Be anxious for nothing’ fit with that then.

This is a very real issue I think we all face, that we imagine because the Scripture says ‘Be anxious for nothing’, we will never be anxious. However, that is why the Scripture is there. Because we do get anxious. There would no point in writing this verse if we never experienced anxiety. The Lord is not going to say “fear not’ to someone who isn't fearful. All of us face fears, guilt, anxieties, insecurities and that is exactly why we must remember the Word of God and activate it by speaking it, praying it, believing it and meditating on it.

The Word contains the power to fulfill itself. It’s like a seed. When we plant it in the good soil of our heart it grows into the plant of the seed. Plant the seed of ‘Be anxious for nothing’ and deal a killer punch to that anxiety. Gradually we get better and better at managing this gnawing emotion, but we will always need to combat the new anxieties that assail us.

Jesus told us in the parable of the sower and the seed that there are conditions where the Word doesn’t take effect and one condition where it does. When we meditate in the Word ‘day and night,’ it becomes counteractive to something like anxiety. Being ‘in Christ’ is an active lifestyle where we appropriate the Word on a daily basis. We are told to ‘put on Christ’ and ‘put on the new man’.  We sometimes expect it all to happen without any effort on our behalf. We need to fight to take what is ours in Christ.

When we have cares, we need to cast them on the Lord, but this doesn’t just happen because we say ‘I cast my burden on the Lord’. It may take five, ten, twenty minutes in prayer before the cares lift from us. It’s a spiritual transaction. When we praise, worship and talk with God the Holy Spirit activates the Word and soon we will become free from the anxieties that have burdened us.

Paul indicated that the greatest of the burdens in his life was not all the persecutions he constantly suffered, but his care for the churches. He would awake every day concerned, even anxious about the churches in far off places. He had heard from virtually all of the churches he was overseeing that they had serious problems. He was trying to solve these with letters written from a prison cell. There was no instant messaging. He had to wait months before he would hear how they were doing. Every day he would remind himself to not be anxious but to trust the Lord to bring great solutions to the churches he was responsible for.

Speak and believe the Word today, placing yourself firmly in Christ, in victory, in joy, in peace - in the peace that seems irrational given your circumstances. Jesus is with us. Fear not, neither be dismayed! Amen!

For resources on how to overcome anxiety visit us at this page here .

See you in church!