Submitted by David Miller
Have you ever had one of those days where you just can’t
shake your anxiety? No matter what you do, you can’t get your mind off of what
is bothering you. You try to pray, but
the only words that come out are short, anxiety-soaked cries for help. Right
after those short prayers you go right back to worrying. I’ve been there. Truth be told, I have had my
share of anxiety-ridden prayer sessions. Those prayer sessions remind me of a
very important truth: Prayer is not worrying on your knees.
If our anxiety level remains the same after we pray,
something is wrong. Prayer involves trust. Prayer involves “casting all your
anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7), not holding on to what
worries us with an iron grip. Sometimes
it seems like, although you want to pick up your burdens and cast them upon the
Lord, your hands have such a tight grip on your burdens that you cannot let go.
It’s like someone super-glued worry to your hands, and it stuck so well that a
crowbar couldn’t pry it off. When you
are fighting against worry, here are some insights that will help.
Don’t give up in prayer.
It is tempting to shoot off a quick three-second prayer to
the Lord and think, “That should do the trick,” instead of laboring in prayer until you
enter God’s rest. Pray in faith that God hears you, and keep praying for Him to
help you not worry. He can take you from despair to joy. Don’t give up!
Take your eyes off of yourself.
When we take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on God
and others, we can escape the worry-trap in prayer because we are no longer our
only prayer concern. There’s a big world filled with many problems. Put your
hope in God and not in a perfect situation for yourself. An inward focus is
enough to drive anyone crazy!
Trust in the promises of God.
Instead of clinging to what worries you, put a firm grasp
around the powerful promises of God in Scripture, particularly those promises
that deal with your specific situation. Your mind doesn’t have room for
dwelling on both the bad and the good – so fix your eyes on God’s mighty
promises, and remember how He’s never failed you in the past.
Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that
could happen?”
Sometimes anxiety is downright irrational. This question
often reminds us that our situation isn’t so bad after all. Sometimes the
answer to this question is something truly bad, but more often than not, it
shows us how we blow small things out of proportion and are worrying for no
reason. Once we get a better picture of reality, we can do the next step.
Give thanks.
This is one of the biblical prescriptions for anxiety, along
with prayer and supplication (Philippians 4:6-7). When we give thanks,
we remember the good things God has given us, and gratitude floods our hearts.
This will zap any discontent in our situation by focusing on the positive
things that God has done for us and will continue to do for us.
As we set our gaze on the living Christ, we will gradually
find anxiety’s tight grip on us loosen and the peace of God that passes all
understanding giving our souls rest we long for.
