June 11, 2025
The Antidote to Anxiety
Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
This one is hard for me. I’ll be the first one to raise my hand and say that I have struggled with anxiety for most of my life. I have always chalked my struggle with anxiety up to a lack of faith and trust in God. If I only trusted God more…
But it’s a subject that’s a lot more complicated than that. There are brain chemistry issues and hereditary issues to factor in. Truthfully, I come from a long line of worriers. There are times when medicine can help. There are times when a good Christian counselor can help you work through some things and give you tools to change your patterns of thinking.
But there is a spiritual component to it as well, and while I’m not qualified to give medical advice or even licensed to counsel, God’s Word does give us some biblical guidance that can help anyone struggling with anxiety.
First, it’s important to note that anxiety in and of itself is not a sin. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was so grieved as he faced the prospect of going to the cross and bearing the weight of our sins that he sweat drops of blood. If that’s not anxiety I don’t know what is. And yet we know Jesus was without sin.
But anxiety can rob you of things. Chiefly, it can rob you of joy. It can rob you of the ability to enjoy the present because we are so anxious about the future. It can rob you of the ability to enjoy time with family and friends, because your mind is whirring so hard going over and over every possible outcome of a potential problem looming in your life.
So we know that anxiety is not a a sin, but rather it’s a symptom. It’s just like when the Check Engine light comes on in your car (by the way, sometimes I think the great calling on my life is to have cars where the Check Engine light is always on).
When the Check Engine light comes on, it’s a symptom that there’s something wrong under the hood. Maybe it’s a simple fix. Maybe it’s something big. But it’s a sign that you need to take the car in to get it checked out.
When we start feeling anxiety, it’s like the neon Check Engine light telling us it’s time to take action.
According to this passage in Philippians, it’s time to do a couple of things:
First and foremost, it’s time to pray. As someone has said, if it’s important enough to worry over, it’s important enough to pray over.
Neuroscientists Andrew Newberg and Caroline Leaf have done groundbreaking research that indicates that just 12 minutes of prayer a day over an 8-week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan. That’s remarkable!
Prayer changes things:
It touches the heart of God.
It changes my outlook on my problem.
It changes me.
It changes circumstances.
It even changes our brain chemistry!
So when you feel that wave of anxiety - and for me it’s definitely a wave - then it’s an immediate reminder that it’s time to pray. At the moment when anxiety hits, that’s when we need to cast our cares at the feet of Jesus.
Secondly, in this passage, it says for us to have thanksgiving or thankful hearts. I choose to call it praise.
When we are feeling anxious, we can fight those emotions with praise and thanksgiving. Begin to thank the Lord - one by one - for the many ways He has blessed you and the many ways He has answered your prayers in the past.
Over and over in the Old Testament, when the Jewish people were going through a great crisis, they would gather in a big assembly and one of the leaders would begin to recite out loud all the ways that God had miraculously moved in their circumstances through the years.
I highly recommend this exercise when you face challenging times. Begin to say out loud all the ways the Lord has provided in the past. Personally, I would add another component and turn on my favorite worship playlist and just begin to worship the Lord in the midst of my concerns. Nothing can melt away worry faster than worship. It’s very difficult to worship and worry at the same time. You get to choose which one is your go to - will it be worry or worship.
So when you feel that anxiety overwhelming you, remember that it’s a signal to do two things: 1) it’s time to pray; 2) it’s time to praise.