Unfortunately, the path that takes us to the promise is always wrought with thickets and thorns. And if we trust Him enough to take Him at His word, we will find ourselves on a journey toward the fulfillment of that dream. Let’s remain in a vibrant relationship with Him, intentionally casting all our anxiety on Him and trusting Him for the outcome.God puts dreams in our hearts and writes a destiny over our lives. God promises that we will experience His peace as we live in Christ Jesus. With your “anxiety sack” safely out of reach, sleep might come more readily. Or, imagine putting your anxieties into a huge garbage sack and then mentally placing this sack outside the bedroom door. When anxious thoughts come upon you during the night, make a mental note to deal with them the next day. Don’t wait until you feel less anxious, but find something every day that makes you laugh. For example, He is the God of peace He is sovereign and in complete control He loves you and wants the best for you and His way is perfect so He never makes mistakes. Think about these verses frequently, allowing their truth to sink deep into your heart and mind.ģ. Write them on cards, enter them into your phone, file them on your computer, and place them anywhere you’re likely to see them. Familiarize yourself with Bible verses about worry and anxiety. If you’re like me, you’ll probably have to do this several times a day, but that’s okay.Ģ. Make a deliberate choice to act on the biblical instruction “to not be anxious” by asking God to help you follow through on this. If you are wondering what practical steps you might take in response to anxiety, perhaps you will find these suggestions helpful:ġ. God appreciates how important it is to have both our emotions and our thinking protected, so His peace guards all the entry points to our hearts and minds. When anxiety tries to gain access, there’s just no way in. It’s as if there are two doorkeepers on duty-one guarding entry to our hearts and the other guarding the way into our minds. This is what it’s like when God’s peace guards our hearts and minds. But, despite his persistent efforts, he’d usually find that the rear entrance was also protected by a doorkeeper. When he couldn’t get past the doorkeeper at the front of the building, he would go to a rear entrance to see if he could get into the party that way. This reminds me of my friend, Joe, who as a teenager, often tried to sneak into parties where he hadn’t been invited. When we get into the habit of presenting our requests to God with sincere and thankful hearts, we are promised supernatural peace that guards both our hearts and our minds (Phil. This helps us to focus on what these are and to be specific about them. Telling God what we need also means we have to verbalize our requests. It removes our self-sufficiency and turns our attention to the One who is most capable of meeting any needs we have. Here, Paul directs us to present our requests to God. I’ve often heard people ask why we should tell God our needs, given that He knows everything about us anyway. I think one possibility is that we show our dependence on Him when we admit our need to Him. Following through on biblical instructions is also a valuable course of action to take and an excellent place to start is Philippians 4:6-7. Appropriate exercise, a healthy diet, and relaxation techniques can all help in managing our anxiety levels and, in some cases, medication may be necessary. The problem for those of us who are susceptible to anxiety is that we’re often not sure how to do this but various options are open to us. This doesn’t mean we should be unconcerned about issues that affect us, but we need to put a brake on those relentless, apprehensive thoughts that dominate us and steal our peace. 5:7) and the apostle Paul urged his readers not to be anxious about anything (Phil. For example, the apostle Peter wrote about casting all our anxiety on God (1 Pet. Many people in our churches and communities regularly experience feelings of anxiety, yet this is not a new phenomenon. When I mentioned I was considering writing about anxiety, I could tell right away this had struck a chord with her as she quietly responded, “Oh, I need to read that.” One of my friends recently asked me what topics I had planned for upcoming “Managing Your Emotions” columns.
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