daily Broadcast

When You're Overwhelmed with Anxiety, Part 1

From the series Inner Peace

When life gets hard, really hard, we have two options. We can become consumed with worry – which is what most people do, OR we can trust God, who tells us not to worry or be anxious. Chip shares that even though that sounds nearly impossible, God has promised to help us do just that.

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Message Transcript

As we start today, I want you to do something maybe a little bit unusual. If you’ll pull out your pen, I would like you to write this question: Is it well with my soul? Is it well with my soul?

We sang that amazing song and then we took a little time and we’ve realized that everybody goes through storms in life. When you go through difficulty, problems, health issues, cancer. Times where you feel like I’ll never get married or times when you feel like why did I every get married? We all have struggles and pain in our lives.

And I have to tell you that of all the songs, all the hymns, I think that, It Is Well With My Soul, is actually my favorite of all time. I have been through some really, really hard and painful times with my family, with our health, ministry, my own self-doubts, just times when I felt desperately overwhelmed, insecure, and anxious.

And if you know the story behind that, It Is Well, it just brings new meaning to it. You can look it up on Wikipedia, but let me just give you the story behind, It Is Well. It was written in 1876, and in 1871, Horatio Spafford, he was a lawyer, he was pretty well-to-do, he put a lot of investments in Chicago.

And in 1871, there was this huge Chicago fire. It decimated the city. And he, literally, lost almost everything that he had. Well, then he was rebuilding his economic world and he was a godly, godly man. And then in 1873, they had their economic downturn.

And so he loses everything by fire, nearly; he gets back up on his feet, economic downturn; it’s all gone. And he was on his way to have a trip with his wife and four daughters, and they were going to go to England.

And so there was a zoning problem with the city and it was like, Oh, I’ve got to stay here, I’ve got to address all this, and then I’ll meet you there. I’ll take the next boat.

And weeks later, he received from his wife, Anna just two words: “Saved alone.”

The ship that his wife and four daughters were on, crashed into another ship at sea. And all four of his daughters were killed.

He wrapped some things up, got on the next ship to comfort his grieving wife, process. His fortune gone; economics gone; his family, his daughters gone.

And when he came to near the spot where it occurred, he penned these lyrics: When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea, billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

And the question I have for us is: How in the world could a human being lose his material possessions, lose his daughter, and come into that place and say, “It is well with my soul”?

And what I am going to suggest is that storms come in all of our lives. Circumstantial storms, relational storms, difficult storms, crisis storms, work storms. But Jesus said this when He was preparing His disciples, both then and now. This is what He said. This was the very last night, John chapter 16, verse 33.

He says, “These things I have spoken unto you,” speaking about that last night with them, “in order that you might have My peace. I give you My peace, not as the world gives, but I give you My peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart,” or literally the old King James, “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

And so here’s what I want you to know. We are talking about inner peace. We are talking about: How do you find it and how do you keep it?

And we talked about when you are overwhelmed with technology, what do you do? And we talked about when you are in the midst of relational conflict, what do you do? I want to talk about, what happens when you are overwhelmed with anxiety? When circumstances and fears just begin to just blow over your soul.

How in the world can ordinary people like you and me experience the peace that Jesus promised, and the peace that Horatio Spafford wrote about?

And what I want to tell you is, is that you have two options. You have two options; I have two options. When circumstances and difficulties and storms come into our lives, option A is: I can trust and God says there is a supernatural peace, produced by the Holy Spirit, of His presence in me that will filter all of that and allow me to understand God’s control and that will give me a supernatural, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual peace. It doesn’t mean I’m happy, it doesn’t mean I like it, but there is peace.

Option two is: We can worry. We can become anxious. We can try and control the situation. And we can just, literally, get overwhelmed and paralyzed.

And so in order to go down this road, because I know what some of you are thinking, Hey, look, I know God promises it, but how do you get it? Okay? How could you move from anxious, difficult, painful, loss, tragedy, separation, divorce, cancer? And when you’re in the midst of it, how in the world can you experience God’s peace?

Well, I am going to suggest that, one, we need to learn a little bit about anxiety. And then, are you ready? I am going to teach you, from God’s Word, exactly how you can respond in a way where He promises that you and I and ordinary people can experience His peace.

So, look on your notes if you will, and I want you to just do a little examination of what anxiety is. The definition of anxiety here, this is taken from a prof of mine who wrote a Christian book on anxiety, depression, and this is a bit of a technical definition.

But he says, “Anxiety is an emotion characterized by uneasiness, apprehension, dread, concern, tension, restlessness, and worry. The anxious individual often anticipates misfortune, danger, and doom.”

The Webster’s Dictionary basically is: “A fear of uncertainty, a fear of the future that causes emotional unrest.” Anxiety is almost always connected to some future event or something imminent that could happen.

The causes of anxiety are threefold. One, fear of the future: Fear of failure, fear of terrorist attack, fear of economic downturn, fear that your kids won’t turn out right, fear that your marriage is never going to get better, fear you’ll be single the rest of your life, fear that you’re never going to make it economically. Fear, fear, fear of “what if?”

Second is conflict in personal relationships. We dealt with this last week, but when there is a conflict in your marriage, conflict at work, conflict with one of your kids, conflict with your roommate – when there is conflict in here, a lot of it is the fear of, “It’s never going to get better.” And so that produces anxiety.

And the third is regrets over the past. There are some of you that you have done some things in your past, and you feel so bad about them that you rehearse them in your mind. And when difficult things happen, or when things go bad, your mind goes to, I think God is punishing me. Or, If anyone ever finds out about this…and there is this anxiety.

Or you view yourself as an unworthy person, not as a daughter of the Living God, not as a son – a second-class person. And so you feel insecure and anxious when you are in relationships.

And those tapes keep playing over and over and over and, at times, something happens or someone says something or circumstances happen, and pretty soon, that tape rolls in your head. Anxiety.

Well, what is the impact of anxiety? Lean back, if you will, I took a page – I majored in psychology in undergrad and then also in grad school. And so I have studied quite a bit about this. And this list is one of those where, if there is ever a need to overcome anxiety, listen to this list. This is what anxiety does.

In fact, the classical definition in Greek, literally, is a divided mind. In German, the word “anxiety” has a picture of being strangled. In other words, the circumstances are strangling you. Choking out life from you. That’s what anxiety does.

And it does it psychologically, it does it emotionally, it actually does it physically. So listen, here is the impact of anxiety in our lives.

Anxious individuals, lean back, okay? …may be hyper-alert, irritable, fidgety, over-dependent. They may talk too much, they may have difficulty falling asleep, their concentration may be impaired and their memory poor. They may be essentially immobilized by their anxiety.

Some other symptoms of anxiety are headaches, quivering voice, sighing, respirations, episodes of hyperventilation, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea – it gets worse – butterflies, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, fainting episodes, frequent urination, impotence, rigidity. Anxiety is the underlying cause, are you ready for this? …of many psychological problems which include neuroses, psychosis, physio-psychological disorders, and phobias. All to say: Anxiety is not a good thing. It will mess with your mind, it will mess with your heart, it messes with our emotions, it destroys our relationships.

And then here is what I want you, I want you to jot down one more thing. Jot down Mark chapter 4, just put it down, I’ll have you read it later. And Luke 8:14.

Because, yes, anxiety has huge mental, emotional, and physical implications that are difficult and painful and bad. And if you hear me trying to build a case that you have to address this and you don’t have to live this way, it’s exactly what I am doing.

But this last one, Jesus talks to His disciples about how spiritual growth occurs. And He says that He is the sower of life in the kingdom of God. And He calls the Word of God, “the seed.”

And He says the seed falls on four different paths that represent our heart condition. A hard path; one that is filled with rocks, it’s not conducive to growth; there is one that grows up that has thorns; and then there is one that is very productive. It’s a good and honest heart.

And He says, “The heart that is filled with thorns, those thorns are the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this world,” and here is our word, “anxiety,” the worries of our world.

Here’s the question: How do you overcome anxiety? 1 Peter gives us this command: “Cast all your cares,” or, “anxieties on Him,” and here is the reason, “for He cares for you.”

As we talk about this, could I remind you that God is good, that He is your Father, that He loves you, that He is control, that He does not want you with stomach acid rolling? He doesn’t want you up in the middle of the night. He doesn’t want you medicating yourself like we do when we get anxious and you go to the refrigerator. And for some of you, it’s a second or third or fourth glass of wine. And others a little prescription drugs when your back still doesn’t really hurt.

And for some of you, you go shopping, you go out to eat, you spend money. We medicate our anxiety. Billions of dollars every year in drugs to help us Americans with our anxiety.

And what I want you to do now, is I want you to open your notes, and I want to show you that God has a command and He has a promise. And you can learn, it will take come practice, but you can learn that you never have to worry again.

Yes, you heard me right. You never have to worry again. You can choose to do what this says, and His promise is the peace that passes any mental or emotional experience or understanding can be yours.

That instead of some great hero like Horatio Spafford, us normal people, in the midst of the pressure and the busyness and the pulls, we can be at peace within. And I will tell you, when you are, it changes everything.

With that in view, open your notes, and let’s dig in together. And as we dig in, you’ll notice that I have taken the passage and I have laid it out. It’s called, “A mechanical layout.”

And let’s read it. Follow along if you will. It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Now, notice what I have done, is I have laid it out and what I have done is I have gone into the original Greek text and I have put it in the exact same order as it is there, because what we have been doing around here, we are learning how to study the Bible.

And to study the Bible, you ask three important questions. Question number one is: What does it say? Observation. And one of the ways, when I study, that helps me observe what is going on, is to lay it out grammatically. Just like I used to in a college course, in an English Lit class.

After you make the observation, the second thing I always want to do is say, Okay, well, what does it mean? That’s what it says, but what does it actually mean? And then the third thing I want to ask is: What does it mean to me?

And so it says, notice it says, “Nothing,” literally, the word in the Greek text, it starts with, “Nothing be anxious about,” and above that, get out your pen, and I want you to write, “negative command,” above that. Okay? It’s a command.

“Nothing be anxious about,” or literally, “stop being anxious about anything!” Stop being anxious about terrorist attacks, stop being anxious about your finances, stop being anxious about the big decision that is coming, stop being anxious about how your kids are going to turn out, stop being anxious if you’re going to be single the rest of your life, stop being anxious if you’re never going to move up in your work, stop being anxious! Stop it! It’s a command.

Now, I will lighten up here in just a minute, but if God gives us a command and we know it’s for our good, and we disobey God’s command, what do we normally call that? Sin. And, by the way, that’s not some big guilt trip, because this is probably, of all the sins that Christians, we commit, on a regular basis, it’s worry. It’s to be anxious.

And God says, He commands you, “Stop worrying.” And for some of you, you’re thinking, Man, I would love to stop worrying and I just don’t know how. You’re going to learn how.

But here’s the deal. If you don’t take this seriously, if you don’t say in your heart of hearts, You know what? This is a command. If God commands something, then there is power and ability to do what He says.

Notice after that, then, there is a positive command. “But,” it’s the strongest word of contrast in the Greek New Testament. Stop Anxiety. “But in everything by prayer, by petition, with thanksgiving, the request of you, let be made known to God.”

I want you to write right above where it says, “But everything,” write: “Positive command.” So he’s going to say, “Don’t do that,” but he says, “Hey, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to pray about everything.”

Now, you’re going to notice there are four specific words listed under there about prayer. There are four words in all the New Testament that talk about prayer. All four of them are right here.

And just before, I can hear some of you going, Hey, look, hey, I pray about stuff. And I’m still anxious. This is a different kind of prayer. Right? This is a very different kind of prayer.

And then before I go on and explain that, look at the very end. Notice it says, “And the peace of God surpassing all understanding will guard the hearts of you and the thoughts,” or literally, “the minds of you in Christ Jesus.” And right above where it says, “And the peace of God,” I want you to write: “The promise.”

So you should have: Negative command, positive command, and the promise. The promise is: If you will stop worrying and start praying in a very specific way, the promise is the kind of peace that is beyond human understanding, God will give you.

And notice this little line. It says, “It will guard the hearts of you.” The heart is the seat of affection. The heart is what is down deep. Often, when you go to bed and there are unresolved things, your heart and your mind are trying to resolve those things.

And the reason we wake up at 1:11 and we look at the clock and it’s 2:07, then it’s 3:01 and then it’s 4:17.

The fact of the matter is, we are exhausted. And so he is saying, “The heart is at the seat of affection.” He says this peace isn’t just something that will allow your intellect to be at rest, this is a peace that allows your heart to be at rest.

And then notice it says, “This peace,” it’s almost given a personality. It says, “The peace of God,” it says, “will,” – what? “…guard.” Put a circle around the word “guard.” It’s a military term.

Many, many years ago, I had the chance to go to England and at the big palace and you get the guards and they’ve got the big hat like this. They are called, “sentries.” That’s this word.

And what a sentry does is it stands guard. It doesn’t defend, it doesn’t solve things. You stand guard and a sentry says, “Oh, the enemy is coming! There’s a problem.” And it gets help.

Listen carefully. The peace of God, every believer possesses, because the Spirit of God is a Spirit of love and joy and peace. And Jesus said He will give you His peace. You possess it.

It is a guard in your heart and your life and when you lose your peace, when you feel anxiety coming on, when you feel you are losing control, when you feel anxious and feel like you have to power up, when you feel like, Oh, I’ve got to take care of this – you are losing your peace. The Sentry, the Spirit of God is saying, Something is wrong. When you are losing your peace, something is wrong. Deal with it!

It’s like driving in your car, and as you’re driving in your car, one of those lights is flashing. It’s flashing. Well, the problem isn’t the light. It’s saying something under the hood. Stop and address it.