When You're Overwhelmed with Anxiety, Part 2

The peace of God is a gift to you to let you know there is something that needs to be resolved. And you know what? Sometimes it’s hard to even know what it is. And I am going to show you how to discover what it is.

But for many people, you know what we do when we begin to lose our peace? You go to the refrigerator, and if you eat for a little while, you have this artificial peace for a while. And for some of you, it’s just like you have a pattern. And every night it’s a quick shot of that or a couple glasses of wine. And, Oh, I have to wind down.

For others of us, it’s, Okay, there’s all that stuff and I don’t have peace, but, boy, I’ll tell you what, Sports Center sure helps. Or, I’m going to watch this movie. Or for some of you it’s just like, You know something? Oh, man, I am so overwhelmed, I am going to go to the mall. Right? And there’s a lot worse.

For some of you, you log on to Internet sites. Or you find that things aren’t good at home. And you’re frustrated and you don’t have peace. And you begin to wander in your mind and wander in your relationships. And not good things happen.

And so that’s the command. Stop being anxious. Positive command: Start, literally, praying about everything. Well, how? By prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests, specific ones, be made known unto God and as you go through this process, here’s the promise: Peace. It’ll guard your heart and your mind.

Well, let’s dig in to find out: How does this actually work in our everyday lives? The commands are the “what.” You’ll notice on your notes, here, there are four key words under the “how.” And then at the bottom, we are going to look at the promise and the “why.”

And so, negatively, here’s what I want you to write down, because you haven’t done it yet. Negatively, just write, “Stop worrying about anything.” That’s a command.

Then underneath that, I want you to write, “Positively equals: Pray about everything.” Prayer is God’s antidote to anxiety. Okay? That’s the message. Prayer is God’s antidote to anxiety.

Now, I want to go back to what I started to share. Many of you are saying to yourself, I have prayed when I was anxious, and I pray and then I’m done and I’m anxious. So I pray some more and I’m anxious. And I am going to suggest that many of us aren’t praying what I would call, this is a biblical prayer. This is a biblical way to pray about anxiety.

I have done this as well. So sometimes we just whine and complain, Lord, I’m just really anxious about my husband, and he is so insensitive. And one of the kids is doing things wrong, and work is not going very well and my hip is really, really bothering me. And we just go on and on and on and we give God this list of all the things, well, Amen.

Well, we really haven’t prayed. What we have done is we have sort of whined in the presence of God. Now, by the way, that’s not all bad. Job did. David laments. It’s okay to get things out on the table.

But if that’s all you do, you will not receive peace. These four words are very, very instructive. There is a way to pray, a biblical way to pray, because people say, Oh, cast all your cares on God. How do you do that? I am going to teach you right now. Are you ready?

The first word is: Prayer. It’s the most common word in the New Testament and it has the idea of a general word for prayer and it’s the idea of worship and adoration. Literally, the word means, “to turn your thoughts and your feelings toward God.” So, you are feeling anxious, you are starting to lose your peace, here’s what you have to stop and do. You need to stop and remember who God is. So let me give you an example. And you do it with adoration; you do it with praise.

So often, I start with the character of God or I think about creation. And so I’m thinking, Okay, this is a big situation, and I’ll share one a little bit later. But there was one that I had with one of my sons. It was like a three and a half year journey, and I just was anxious all the time. And I wondered if it would ever get better.

And there was another time when we went through cancer in our family with my wife, and she is better now. There were other times when we have just had, at Living on the Edge or churches I have pastored, we had these huge financial things and I would wake up with my chest pounding, God, how do You do this? How can I trust You?

And He goes, Here’s what you do, Chip. I want you to get your focus off the problem, because you either have a really big God and small problems, or you look at all of life through your problem, and you have very big problems and a very small God.

And I cannot tell you how many times and sometimes it’s at 1:11 or 2:14 or 3:17, and I will go out into the family room so I don’t wake up Theresa, and sometimes I will just walk outside and I will look at all the stars, and I literally just lift my hands, Oh, God Almighty, You are awesome, You are powerful, You are all-knowing. You created all of this. Lord, I remember from some studies that if I could travel at the speed of light, it would take me one hundred thousand years just to cross our galaxy, the Milky Way. Lord, there are a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. And I read where there is, we think from those telescopes there are maybe one hundred or two hundred billion other galaxies. And You are all-knowing and You are all-powerful. And I am the object of Your attention, and I am Your son and You love me.

And I just want You to know that I am overwhelmed with this problem and I am pulling this problem back and I am offering it up to You and I am just saying I believe that the God who created all that there is, who died for me, who I am the center of Your affection, and who has unlimited power, and knows all things actual and possible, and promises to always be good to me, and do it in the best and highest and wisest way, here’s what I want you to know: I am going to look at this problem through this lens. And I am asking You to please help me now. Do you see the difference?

You see, you get a big God. Now, I want you to really think about what is the number one issue you’re wrestling with? A health issue? A relationship issue? I don’t know what it is. A job issue? Do you think, just hypothetically, is it possible that an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise, loving, just God, who created the entire universe, is it just possible that He has the power and the willingness to take care of that problem? And you could give it to Him, you could cast your care on Him and actually step back and trust Him to do something rather than it being on you?

See, that’s the first step. And that’s not a whiny prayer. That’s not, Poor me, poor me, poor me, how come? Why, God? That’s an adoration prayer.

The second most common word in the New Testament is “petition.” And this focuses on my need. It’s the idea of, “to ask.” It has the idea: My inability to handle the situation.

And so, after I begin to pray like that, then the second aspect, I am coming to God, and I am admitting, I can’t do this! Part of your anxiety – what? It’s control. At 2:30, 3, it was like, What about this? What about this? Well, behind the, What about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? is, What am I supposed to do?

And I am wired, I want to fix that, I want to fix that, I want to fix this, I want to fix that. I can’t! But in prayer, it’s, This is who God is, and the second step in prayer is, This is who I am. God, I can’t do this. I don’t know how to respond to my wife. I don’t know how to forgive one of my kids. My boss is just, my supervisor. Lord, reverently, Lord, he’s a jerk, or, she’s a jerk, and she is unreasonable. I don’t know what to do or how to do it in this situation. I don’t know how we are going to pay the bills. I have no idea…

And when you pray, then you are coming and you are saying to God, I need your help. I can’t do this. I’m not bargaining, I’m not manipulating, I’m not telling God, Well, I’ll do this if You do this. I’m not trying to cut a deal. God doesn’t cut deals.

This is a kind of prayer where you begin with worship and adoration and you remember who God really is – His majesty and His power and His wonder, and His intimate concern for you.

And then second, you come and you say, I have needs and I am going to ask. I am going to ask for Your help.

One of the ways that has been very, very helpful for me, because this is my little journal, it’s not fancy and I just use, often, something at the drug store, a little spiral notebook. But when I am in my 2:30, 3 A.Ms, and, often, I can pray and worship and turn it over to Him and I fall back to sleep. But I’m going to be honest with you, there are a lot of times it’s 2:30, 3, then it’s 3:01, then it’s 3:15, then it’s 3:48 and I’m going, Forget it. I’m going to be up soon anyway.

And I just, okay, when things are inside your mind, they grow. See, what happens is when things are inside of our head, especially at night in the dark, they grow and grow and grow and bigger and bigger and bigger.

What I can tell you is, get up and write it down. Two days ago. And it was like, so, there were things I couldn’t resolve, but, I mean, my need.

And I put a little box, Lord, show me exactly what and how to teach on inner peace this week, from Philippians chapter 4. I didn’t know! And the next one was powerfully direct. And there are a couple that I am praying for, that they are going to make a really big decision, and it’s going to have huge implications in their lives.

And so I prayed for them and, Show them what to do in their journey. Help me finish all the work. I ask You to use it greatly, but help me know what to do.

The next one is: Grant me discernment and wisdom as I assess and evaluate what needs to be done. There was a specific situation at Living on the Edge. I didn’t know what to do. Do you see what I’m doing?

I’m getting them out of my head, I have adored God, I am telling Him I can’t do it, and then I am just saying, You know what I’m going to do? I’m putting it right here. Now, by the way, this little envelope, you know what this is? As I pray and as I listen and as I give it to Him, often He will say, You need to make this phone call, you need to do this. This is my to-do list. This is my God list. This is my to-do list.

And I jot that down and then it’s, Okay, I can’t do this, but I am going to trust You. Now, the next word is very interesting. It says, “With thanksgiving.”

It is to be freely giving gratitude to God, to see Him in the midst, and to give thanks in the midst that He is sovereign, that He is good, that He is in control.

A.T. Robertson is the great, great, Greek scholar and he says this about this. He says, “In this passage, we are called to adore and praise God; to come admitting the desperation of our need and our prayers; and like salt and pepper, they are salt and peppered with thanksgiving.”

And so even as you are adoring God, you might go, Wow, but, Lord, You have made everything, God, thank you for the way You made my wife. God, thank You that You took care of my kids. God, thank you!

And in your adoration, you sort of slip into thanksgiving. And then, Here’s my need and here’s this need, and I don’t know about this, but, Lord, thank You that two years ago, this was like this, and You came through then. So it’s like salting and peppering your entire prayer with this thanksgiving and this, God, thank You for what You have done.

See, you can’t give thanks without recognizing, I may not have it all figured out, and I may not have my emotions where I want them to be, but to give thanks by faith, recognizes a sovereign, good, kind, all-powerful God who is just, and who intimately cares for me. And so, by faith, I thank You.

You know, it’s a fallen world and in the world, are you ready for this promise? Jesus said I would have trouble. He said I would have tribulation. He said there would be difficulty. I thank You. You never promised to eliminate that. You promised to be with me, You promised that You would give me Your peace right in the center, and in the midst of it.

The final word is a word for “request.” And here, it’s just to outline your specific concerns. It’s, literally, it’s like a grocery list.

Some of you who have been praying, Oh, God, give me a better marriage! Oh, God, work things out at work. Oh, God, would you help my son or my daughter or someday, some way, somehow to really walk with You? No. No, no, no, no.

This says you take to God specifically, what do you want Him to do? My little bullets here, they are very specific. When we have had financial needs, Lord, would You give us five hundred and twenty-one dollars to pay this? Lord, will You change my son’s attitude with regard to that? Father, would You show me exactly what to do to love my wife in a way that makes sense to her, because I don’t know?

Very, very, very specific. And He says, “Bring your grocery list.” And what I do is I write them down. You don’t have to write yours all down. But if it’s not working for you, try my way. And I write them down and then I put a little box – I have years, years, and years of journals that have little boxes. And in the little boxes, about ninety-eight percent of them have a check mark.

And next to the check mark, there is a date. And then after the date, there is usually a small scribbling of exactly how God answered.

And I am going to tell you, there are times where what I do to give thanks, and I feel overwhelmed, all I have to do is read the last two weeks or the last month or sometimes when I really struggling, I’ll go back and just pull a journal out from three or four years ago and think, Wow, it was way harder then. You came through. The God who is faithful in my yesterday is going to be faithful in my tomorrow.

Okay, at the very bottom, it says, “Promise,” the “why.” Are you ready? Peace and anxiety cannot, write the word, “coexist.” Here’s His promise: He will give you a supernatural peace that surpasses understanding.

The circumstances may not change, the people may not change, but you will. And your experience will.

Second, anxiety and biblical prayer cannot coexist. You can’t pray through like this honestly, from the heart, and still be anxious. Now, by the way, you might be surprised how often and how many times, every day, I have to do this.

God wants you and wants me, as His children, to be people of peace. I remember coming back from my first year of college. And I trusted God in June, went away to college, met a man who discipled me, helped me get in the Bible on a regular basis, I was still a really new Christian, didn’t know very much. But God was speaking to me, so I was learning to pray. And I would get up in the morning and read the Bible and just talk to God, personally.

And I remember coming home and about two days in, my dad goes, “You changed. You’re different.” I said, “Well, what do you mean?” “No, you’ve changed. What is going on?” I said, “Dad, what are you talking about?”

And I’ll never forget, he looked at me and he said, “You’ve got peace. Where did you get it? There’s something completely different about you.”

Do you realize that one of the most powerful testimonies that we will ever have on the face of the earth is not that we have our lives all together? It’s not how that everything goes great for us who are followers of Jesus.

It’s that in the midst of our cancer, in the midst of our injustice, in the midst of our struggles with our family, in the midst of our loneliness, in the midst of our depression, in the midst of circumstances that are so unfair or so difficult, that we walk through them with this supernatural peace. And the world shakes their head and says, “How could that be?” The summary is: Biblical prayer is God’s antidote to anxiety.

This week, here’s your assignment: Every time you feel anxious, and for some, that’s a lot, every time you feel anxious, remember the following word picture. When anxiety pounds at the door of your heart, let prayer answer it, as you run into your Father’s arms.

When anxiety pounds at the door of your heart, you start to lose the peace, let prayer, biblical prayer – adoration, petition, thanksgiving, request – and run to your Father’s arms.

Your heavenly Father says, “Will you run into My arms? Would you biblically pray, cast your care upon Me, and run into My arms? I will love you and I will protect you and I will provide for you.”