Free from Anxiety

Early in my Christian life, I had several periods of deep
and sometimes prolonged anxiety. In each case, someone else pointed me to God
and His faithfulness and how to trust Him. In every case, my anxiety ended, and
God answered my need.

God cares for us. The more we think about God the way God
thinks about Himself, the happier our lives will be. As long as we think of Him
according to our accusative thoughts which are not true, we will adjust our
lives based upon those lies. We think that God has characteristics that He does
not have. We think He is unkind, intolerant, impatient, waiting for us to step
out of line so He can swat us. That is not true. He is the opposite: He is
kind, faithful, and caring.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they
do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying
add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the
flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not
even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how
God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown
into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not
worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father
knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of
its own” (Matt. 6:25–34).

There are several biblical
preventions for anxiety. They are joy, thanksgiving, and casting our anxiety on
the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). If you
are rejoicing, you cannot be anxious.

It is possible to rejoice always
because God gave us the fruit of the Spirit called joy. That happened when we
received Christ. Joy is not related to your environment or to events. That is
happiness, and it is circumstantial. Joy is related to a constant—the Lord and
His salvation. Because He is constant, your joy in Him can be constant, too.

We see this joy in several
Scriptures. The first passage describes a state that would be a strong
temptation to anxiety.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on
the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though
there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice
in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Hab. 3:17–18). 

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who
saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke
you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

“The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the
demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning
from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and
to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not
rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written
in heaven’” (Luke 10:17–20).

“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a
willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so
that sinners will turn back to you” (Psalm 51:12–13). 

What if you cannot rejoice?
There is only one biblical reason for losing your joy. It is the chastening of
the Lord. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on,
however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have
been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11). When you respond to discipline from God, it
yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, which is joy in the Lord.

Thanksgiving is a means of being
free from anxiety. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18). This verse tells us to
thank God in every circumstance. It is hard to be anxious while you are giving thanks.

“Do not be anxious
about anything, but in every situation, 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.” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Hope is a
promise of God. Anxiety is a lie of Satan. The solution for anxiety is to
rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). It is not possible to be anxious when
we are rejoicing in Him.

Excerpted from How to Be Free from Anxiety. To purchase,
visit Amazon or ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.