young woman in a mall feeling anxious

Be Anxious for Nothing: Biblical Guidance for Handling Anxiety

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Brandon Pence

Philippians 4:4-7: “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!  5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.  6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Anxiety is something we all deal with.  It can be crippling, it can make you feel like you’re trapped, it can make you feel like you are stuck.  But God doesn’t want you to feel that way and Paul in Philippians 4 is giving us a roadmap of how to handle anxiety.  We have to understand that our anxiety is part of something we cannot see. Ephesians 6:12 (NLT): “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”  We have to understand that we have a real enemy that has a real hatred for us as children of God and he will do whatever he can do to keep us from accomplishing God’s purposes and from you becoming who God intended for you to be.  We think our anxiety stems from not liking loud noises or not liking to be in big crowds or a fear of public speaking, but it’s a spiritual battle where Satan is doing whatever he can to keep you from becoming who God wants you to be.

How to Overcome Anxiety

In verse 6 Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing.”  You might be thinking, “Well, that sounds easy! Just don’t be anxious.”  But he doesn’t stop there.  He goes on to say, “But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”  In every circumstance, in every situation, we need to have that attitude of prayer.  I’m not saying you need to drop to your knees in the middle of Wal-Mart and start yelling at the top of your lungs an open prayer.  What I’m saying is when you start feeling anxious and you start feeling overwhelmed, that’s when you take a breath, you stop, and you quietly start praying and asking the Lord to help you get through whatever is making you anxious.  Another thing that helps is pulling out your Bible and reading scripture as you’re praying.  I think a lot of times we look at reading our Bible and praying as things we have to do versus a weapon that we have for spiritual warfare.  Hebrews says the word of God is a double-edged sword powerful enough to divide soul and spirit.  A double-edged sword makes me think of powerful movie villains like Darth Maul and Thanos and how destructive they were.  God gave you a mighty weapon and we don’t use it.  And I think the reason we hesitate to use it because we don’t really believe that God will meet us there when we pray and read scripture.

Here’s how you should come to the Lord in prayer and handle anxiety:

  1. Verse 4: Rejoice in the Lord always.  Celebrate what Jesus did for you on that cross and always remember that God loved you so much He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins and to take your place.  
  2. Verse 5: Know the Lord is accessible.  The Bible teaches that God will never leave you, nor forsake you.  The Bible also teaches that Jesus is our advocate before God the Father and petitions for us day and night.  Also, understand that God is accessible for you because of what Jesus did, not because of what we have done.  You’re righteous only because of Jesus’ work on the cross.  But understand Psalm 66:18 (NLT): “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,  the Lord would not have listened.”  What sin do you need to confess to prevent there being a barrier between you and God?  For me, as a 23 year-old way back when, it was lying.  I won’t lie now.  The Lord showed me how it destroyed relationships and how it prevented me from being the person He wanted me to be.  Confess it, repent, and don’t do it anymore.
  3. Verse 6: Bring everything – every single thing – to God in prayer with humility.  James 4:6: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  It’s echoed again in 1 Peter 5:5 in the context of talking about humbling ourselves to each other.  God will resist your pride.  Romans 12:3 gives us a warning to not think of ourselves so highly.  Don’t be so prideful you think you’re above needing God’s help.
  4. Verse 6: Be thankful for what God has done already.  Notice it says “with thanksgiving” make your requests to God.  When you sit down to pray, start thanking God for everything.  Thank Him that you have a family, thank Him that you have a house, thank Him that you have a job, thank Him for everything you can think of.  Colossians 3:1-2 tells us where our focus should be: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”  Keep your focus upwardly where Jesus is, not what’s going on around you.  It’s the same lesson we should learn from Peter walking on the water towards Jesus.  Remember, Jesus is walking on the water and Peter asks Him if he can come to Him and Jesus commands him to come.  Peter starts walking on the water and then what happens?  Storms start coming, Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus and he begins to sink.  We’re the exact same way.  We think our anxiety is gone and we got this thing taken care of and then something happens and those old anxious feelings start creeping in. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus and stop focusing on the storms around us.
  5. Verse 7:  You’ve given it over to Jesus, you brought this all to Him in prayer, and what’s the end result?  The peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, guards our hearts and minds. When you turn it over to the Lord, His peace that comes from the Holy Spirit guards your heart and your mind and that anxiety starts to fade away.  We have to give these worries and these anxieties to Him.  

Conclusion

Does any of this mean that Satan won’t try to stir this up in you at some point?  Absolutely not. Satan is always trying to de-rail you, but when you know what your weapons are and how to use them, you don’t have to be afraid. Keep turning yourself to Jesus and give Him your worries and anxieties. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Give it to Jesus and let Him carry what we can’t carry.