What Does God Say About Anxiety?
Taking our anxious thoughts captive is key to reducing our anxiety. In my last post we talked about knowing who we are in Christ is the beginning of healing. I hope you were able to meditate on some of the Scriptures we talked about in order to begin to internalize who you are in Christ Jesus, a dearly loved child.
Today we are going to discuss what God says about anxiety. The Bible mentions anxiety more than 300 times. “Do not be afraid” is the most repeated command Jesus makes. He says it seventy times in the NIV Bible. I believe Jesus talks about anxiety so much because He knows how often we struggle with it.
It is important for us to understand when Jesus tells us, “Don’t be afraid.” It is not out of condemnation, it is out of love and compassion. In Matthew 14, we read about Jesus walking on the water towards the disciples and a huge storm erupts. The disciples were scared to death. But, Jesus was quick to comfort them. He said to the disciples, “Take courage it is me, don’t be afraid.” Jesus had compassion on these men. In Matthew 17 Jesus reached out and touched His disciples when they were afraid. He loves us and has compassion for us.
I am going to touch on two verses that mention anxiety. At the end of the blog, I will give you a few additional scriptures you can look up and meditate on.
John 14:27 says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Here we hear directly from Jesus. As you will see in Philippians 4:6, God talks about anxiety and peace in the same verse. He compassionately wants us to have peace, not anxiety. He is not condemning us, but rather desires good things for us.
Philippians 4:6-9 says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
These verses give us a great description of what we need to do in order to reduce our anxiety and take our thoughts captive. We must capture our anxious thoughts and replace them with prayer, thanksgiving, and the Word of God. In these verses. God tells us, through the apostle Paul, “Do not be anxious about anything” (verse 6). In light of who God is, and who we are as His children, there is nothing we need to be anxious about. “But in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God” (verse 6). He wants us to go before Him with everything on our minds, especially our anxiety. Paul goes on to say, “If we do this we will have the peace of God that goes beyond our comprehension and this peace will guard our hearts and minds” (verse 7). Oh, how we need our hearts and minds guarded by Jesus Christ Himself. Paul then addresses his brothers and sisters and tells us what we need to think about; godly, noble, praiseworthy things (verse 8). At the end of this passage, Paul states, “And the God of peace will be with us” (verse 9). God is always with us! We can learn to do this. We can learn to take our anxious thoughts captive, and think about godly things.
Some additional verses you can look up regarding anxiety are Proverbs 12:25, Matthew 17:7, and Isaiah 41:10.
I am encouraged to read the Scriptures and see that many great men and women of the Bible experienced fear. Abraham, who God considered a man of great faith experienced anxiety (see Genesis 12:10-20 and Genesis 20). Elijah was afraid of the woman Jezebel (I Kings 19). Esther was afraid to go before the king in order to save her people (Esther 4). Mary, the mother of Jesus was afraid when the angel appeared before her (Luke 1:29). All the disciples experienced fear, especially Peter (John 18:17,25,27). Even Jesus Himself experienced great anguish (Luke 22:44).
We are not alone. Faith filled men and women struggle with fear and anxiety. God understands and desires us to be healed. in my next post we will talk about what anxiety is and what the causes are. Take some time this week to continue to meditate on last week’s verses on who you are in Christ, as well as one or two of the verses we addressed today. Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will prepare us as we learn to take our thoughts captive and replace our anxious thoughts with alternative thoughts.
Blessings!