Dealing With Anxiety - Phil 4:6-7

Title: Dealing with anxiety
Date: February 1, 2009
Text: Phil 4:6-7, Mat 6:25-34, Psa 55:22

Introduction

- Anxiety is a big problem to many people
-The Maryland Medical Center states that over 23 million Americans are affected by anxiety each year
- It takes the forms of butterflysie anxiety, worry, all the way to straightout fear
- It robs us of accepting opportunities, it immobilizes us when we could master the situation, in stops us from achieving our potential
- It also is an emotion which goes along with drinking and using – many of us here this morning battle against anxiety
- This morning we will be examining some aspects of how the Bible guides us in overcoming this mental state
- Phil 4:6-7
- Mat 6:25-34

What causes anxiety?

- 1. Fear of things we can’t control
- The unknown
- The future
- The worries of life
- Luke 21:34 – “be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap”.
- 2. Trying to carry our burdens alone
- We weren’t created to carry our own burdens
- Corrie Ten Boom – “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength”
- It steals our focus on God in our worship and devotions and during our activities
- It robs us of the desire to serve and help others because it immobilizes us
- John 10:10 – “the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy”
- So anxiety is something the enemy uses to stop our progress as a Christian
- The word the Bible uses for anxious, both in Phil 4 and Mat 6, is: merimnao. It means to be anxious and troubled with cares.
- We were not made to carry the burden of anxiety
- Mat 11:28 – “come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
- Jesus promises he will take our burdens from us and give us rest from the pressures of life
- 1 Pet 5:7 – “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”
- Worry is futile, it is not of faith, it is sin
- A preacher once said – “Worry is sin because it denies the rulership of God; it says He does not know what He is doing; it denies the love of God; it says He does not care. And it denies the power of God; it says that He isn’t able to deliver me from whatever is causing me to worry.”
- 3. Not seeking God first in our lives
- So what is the secret of not having anxiety – it is that we seek God first in our lives
- Mat 6:33 – “but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”
- What things? Life, clothing, food, physical needs
- God never wanted us to be discouraged by the cares of this life – he wants us to know that He is able to care for us

What is the cure for anxiety?

- Phil 4:6 – “do not be anxious about anything”
- The way this is written in the Greek is as a command – stop being anxious
- 1. Make a choice to trust God
- Remember that God is in control
- He is sovereign – he exercises the ultimate permanent authority
- He is supreme – he is greatest in power, authority and rank
- Remember that God is capable
- Anxiety merely steals our faith
- It shows we are trusting in our own strength, not God
- We have to choose to trust in God’s protection and provision
- He is able to take care of our situation, but we have to make the choice
- 2. Make our needs known to God
- Phil 4:6 – “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”
- This is not just a quick short let’s get it out of the way type of prayer, but prayer from the heart
- Opening our life up before God
- Example of Hezekiah spreading a letter out and reading it before God
- This requires that we communicate with God
- It means we don’t run away from God when things get tough, but that we run to him for help
- It also requires that we confess our anxiety to him, that we tell him our needs, and that we thank him for progress in the situation
- 3. Make God’s peace your protection
- Phil 4:7 – “and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
- The opposite of anxiety is peace
- The peace God gives to us replaces the anxiety in our heart
- This peace will see us through any problem
- It says that this peace will guard our hearts and minds
- The Greek word for guard here refers to an armed guard of soldiers keeping watch over a city, not allowing anyone in or out
- We don’t need to be ok one day and fearful the next
- God will give us this peace, and it will be impenetrable
- Why? Because it is not dependent on the circumstances, but on the capability of a big God to take care of things
- 2 Cor 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”

Conclusion

- We may have a problem with anxiety
- The key to dealing with this is
- 1) Make a choice to trust God in this situation
- 2) We make our needs known to God – he loves to hear from us
- 3) Lastly, allow God’s peace to protect you
- This comes by looking at the eternal, rather than focusing on the immediate problem
- The way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything
- The absence of anxiety comes from the presence of God in every aspect of our life