Anxiety, Stress, and Worry

Anxiety, Stress, and Worry What Is Anxiety? What Causes Anxiety? Danger of Anxiety Overcoming Anxiety

What Is Anxiety? • Distress about future, either near or distant, uncertainties… • Mental agitation • May be mild or severe • May keep us up at night, consume our thoughts, cause stress • A state of uneasiness and apprehension

What Causes Anxiety? • Real or imagined threats to our well being. • We feel vulnerable and inadequately protected against these threats • May be caused by social rejection, physical injury or disease, financial trouble, death of a loved one, and a wide range of other threats.

What Causes Anxiety? • Anxiety has three main elements, which may be either real or imagined: • Insecurity: “Something bad is going to happen to me.” • Helplessness: “There is nothing I can do to help myself.” • Isolation: “There is no one to help me.”

What Causes Anxiety? • May be a direct attack from Satan. • Paralyzes Christians—keeps them from being effective. • “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” {1 Peter 5:6-8}

Dangers of Anxiety • Opposes God’s commands • “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” {Matthew 6:25} • Undervalues our own worth • “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” {Matthew 6:26}

Dangers of Anxiety • Is an exercise in futility • “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” {Matthew 6:27} • Makes us like the heathen • “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” {Matthew 6:32}

Dangers of Anxiety • Demonstrates lack of faith • “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” {Matthew 6:30} • Impairs one’s health • “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” {Proverbs 17:22}

Dangers of Anxiety • Robs us of joy, peace, and happiness • “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.” {1 Thessalonians 5:16,17} • Keeps us from our duties • “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” {Ephesians 5:15,16}

Dangers of Anxiety {Matthew 6:25-34} • Opposes God's commands • Under values our own worth • Is an exercise in futility • Makes us like the heathen • Demonstrates a lack of faith • Impairs one’s health • Robs us of joy, peace, and happiness • Keeps us from our Christian duties

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • While the Christian may feel insecure, the reality is that he is very secure. • “My son, let them not depart from your eyes-Keep sound wisdom and discretion; So they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.” {Proverbs 3:21-24}

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • While the Christian mayfeel insecure,the reality is that he is very secure. • “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” {Hebrews 4:16}

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • While the Christian mayfeel helpless,the reality is that he has great help. • “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” {Romans 8:31} • “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” {Psalm 27:5}

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • While the Christian mayfeel isolated,the reality is that God is always at his side. • “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” {Psalm 23:4} • “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” {Matthew 28:20}

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • While the Christian mayfeel isolated, the reality is that God is always at his side. • “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” {Hebrews 13:5,6}

Overcoming Anxiety • Trust in God • The remedy for anxiety iscomplete trustin God’s ability to deal with anything that threatens us. • “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” {John 14:1} • “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” {Philippians 4:13}

Overcoming Anxiety • Pray in faith • God has promisedpeace of mind to those who are willing to commit their anxieties to Him. • “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” {Philippians 4:6,7}

Overcoming Anxiety • Pray in faith • God has promisedpeace of mindto those who are willing to commit their anxieties to Him. • “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” {1 Peter 4:19}

Overcoming Anxiety • Read and meditate on God’s word. • The most important thing you can do to overcome anxiety is study the Scriptures andpray and meditateon God’s promises to His faithful people. • “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” {Romans 15:4}

Overcoming Anxiety • Be realistic • Peace of mind does not depend on solving all problems, righting all wrongs, removing all imperfections. • We must learn to let go of some problems and allow the Lord to be in charge of them. • “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” {1 Peter 5:7}

Overcoming Anxiety • Be realistic • Some things will not change. Some problems have no solutions. We must just live through some situations. • “When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.” {Ecclesiastes 8:16,17}

Overcoming Anxiety • Set our minds to overcome worry. • Abe Lincoln: “I have been as happy as I have made up my mind to be.” • “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.” {Philippians 4:8}

Overcoming Anxiety • Set our minds to overcome worry. • Little girl: “Today I pushed my thoughts around; the other day I let my thoughts push me around.” • “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” {2 Corinthians 10:5}

Overcoming Anxiety • Learn to live one day at a time. • Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its worries and sorrow; it only empties today of its strengths. • Many, if not most, of our fears turn out to be unfounded. • “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” {Matthew 6:34}

Overcoming Anxiety • Stay busy • Even under adverse circumstances, we accomplish more good if we do what we caninstead of thinking about whatwecannotdo. • Anxiety and idlenessoften go hand in hand. Despairis a form of laziness. • Blessedis the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime, and too tired to worry at night.

Overcoming Anxiety • Learn contentment • We can rejoice in the Lord always if we will continually count our blessings. • Anxiety often comes from having too much, rather than too little. • Our wealth depends not so much on what we have, as on what we have learned to do without. • “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.” {Ecclesiastes 5:12}

Concluding Thoughts • Christians receive the means to deal with anxiety. • Peace that comes through prayer • Philippians 4:6,7 • Reassuring confidence from trusting in God • Psalm 23:1-6

Overcoming Anxiety When you feel anxious... Learn to live one day at a time Stay busy Learn to be content Trust in God Pray in faith Read the Bible Be realistic Set your mind on overcoming worry

Hearthe Gospel (Romans 10:17) Believethat Jesus is God’s Son (John 8:24) Repentof your sins (Acts 17:30) Confessyour belief that Jesus is God’s Son (Romans 10:9-10) Be baptizedfor forgiveness of sins(Acts 2:38) Live faithfullyuntil you die (Revelation 2:10) Have You Obeyed the Gospel?

Anxiety, Stress, and Worry