How to Handle Anxiety
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Most people deal with Anxiety:
Research has shown that from among teenagers between the ages of 13-18, 1/3 teenagers will experience any type of anxiety disorder.
This means that for every 3 of ya’ll in this room, at least one of you deals with anxiety in some form.
You may be shocked to find this out, but it is a reality.
Why do 1/3 teenagers deal with anxiety?
Clinical Psychologists have found that the reason why most of you deal with anxiety is because your lives are changing dramatically in such a short amount of time:
When you were 8 years old, you worried about only a few things, playing, eating, sleeping, and that was pretty much it.
Now as a teenager you are at the age where many things that were not on your mind when you were eight, are now on your mind.
To name a few things you all now have on your mind:
Fitting in at school
Getting good grades
Making the sports team
Wondering what other people may be saying about you
Wondering what you are going to do after school
Some of you may now at your age start noticing that some of the things you deal with at home is dangerous, or not right, this to has brought some anxiety to you, because you may not know what the outcome of these things may be.
Some of you may also now at your age start noticing that things that happened to you at a younger age were not right, your family history may have you anxious because you don’t know what to do about it or how to be healed from it.
The point in all this is:
A lot of you may deal with anxiety
And their are right ways to deal with this issue and there are wrongs ways.
Believe it or not, the Bible has much to say about this topic, and that is what we will be talking about tonight.
What the Bible has to Say about Anxiety
What the Bible has to Say about Anxiety
6 do not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.
Lets break this down in sections so we can understand what God is trying to tell us:
This section starts off by saying:
Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
6 do not be anxious about anything
From the start we see that anxiety is:
Anxiety is something we should not have.
If this were not the case then the Bible wouldn’t have told us not to “not be anxious”
Anxiety is something that we have the power to get rid of:
If this were not the case then the Bible would not have told us not to have it. You can’t “not have something” that you can’t get rid of. That is a contradiction.
This section should give us relief because it proves that God agrees with us that the anxiety we may carry is bad, but also that it is something we can overcome.
The next thing the Bible says is:
Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
6 but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Here we also learn a few things:
One of the antidotes to being healed from anxiety is through prayer
If this were not the case then the Bible wouldn’t have inserted the “but” before this section after telling us not to have anxiety.
There is a difference betwen prayer and supplication both should be done with a thankful heart:
Prayer is defined as being “communication with God” This could just mean casual conversation, just telling him things.
For example this could look like this: say in your mind you are on the school bus on your way home from school. You start feeling anxious about walking through the door when you get home, this is because usually when you come home your parent or guardian is immediately mad at you. This is the perfect time to communicate with God about how you are feeling. God wants us to communicate with Him.
The Bible tells us elsewhere in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “17 pray without ceasing,” This means that God wants us to be in constant communication with Him.
Supplication is defined as being when we “ask God for things”
In the situation above, after we have communicated with God and told Him about how were are feeling, now the Bible says we should ask God to help us.
Did you know that Jesus dealt with anxiety. Luke 22:40-46 mentions how before Jesus was crucified He was on the Mount of Olives, and He was very anxious about the death He was about to endure. Jesus knew that He was going to go through the worst death imaginable. In Luke it says that He was so anxious that His sweat became like drops of blood. Now with modern medicine we have learned that this is a real condition known as Hematidrosis. It occurs when someone is under so much mental anxiety that the capillary blood vessels in their body rupture and leaks out into their sweat glands. That is exactly what Jesus had. Most of us have never been through that much anxiety before.
So what did Jesus do about it? Well Luke records that Jesus began to pray. The same thing He is telling us to do when we feel anxious. But it goes on to say that after He knelt down and prayed:
43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
After Jesus made the supplication to His Father, God sent an angel to strengthen Him. And that is exactly what He will do for us too.
Being thankful during these times holds alot of power.
We should not only pray and tell God what we need, but we should do it while being thankful.
The Bible isn’t saying this for God’s benefit, it is not because God wants us to be grateful before He answers our prayers, but it is for our benefit. When we reflect on how good God has been to us, we get our minds off what we are going through in the present time.
This is why later in the chapter Paul tells us to: Phil 4:8
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
When we think about these kinds of things and what God has done for us, and how good He is, it kind of gives us a mental reset and brings the peace of God into our minds.
We also learned that is matters who we talk to about the anxiety we face.
There are good people to talk to about our issues and there are bad people to talk to. God wants us to first come directly to Him.
This is because He is really the only one who can heal us of the anxiety we face.
To explain what I mean let us look at this example: If I was a drug addict and I was trying to overcome my drug addiction, would it be a good idea to talk to a drug dealer?
If I was sick with pneumonia and I wanted to get better, should I go talk to someone with pneumonia?
In both of these examples the answer is no, simply because neither of these people can help me, and in some situations as it was with the first example, some people we talk to can make the problem worse.
18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Anxiety is nothing more than a temptation. Not a temptation to sin. A lot of the time when we think of temptation we think of sin, but not all temptation is directed at sin. Some temptations (as is the case for anxiety) try to get us distracted from enjoying the free gift of healing and freedom that Christ has paid for.
The truth is that Christ has paid for anxiety and worry on the cross, and we no more have to put up with it than we do with sin. And since Christ conquered His anxiety on the Mount of Olives, He can help us conquer the anxiety we face as well.
Moving onto the next section, the Bible says:
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
From this section we learn a few more great things:
The peace of God which is far greater than anything we can understand with our minds is more powerful than anxiety.
If this were not the case then God would not give us His peace in replacement of anxiety. Obviously His peace is greater.
It is a promise as much as it is a fact that Jesus as a result of us praying and giving Him our anxieties with thanksgiving WILL guard our hearts and our minds from such things.
Basically put, if we will follow God’s plan of action to fight anxiety, it is a guarantee that we will be healed from it. If this were not the case then God would not have said so. God cannot lie, because He is morally perfect.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We have learned so far that:
We all suffer from anxiety, and teenagers between the ages of 13-18 are more prone to suffer from it.
1/3 teenagers deal with anxiety
God cares deeply about our anxiety and intends to heal us from it. And He has shown us throughout His Word in Phil 4:6-7 how we should handle our anxiety and give it to Him. In this section of Scripture we learned that:
Anxiety is something we should not have, and through Christ we DO have the power to overcome it. It is not something we are left to fight on our own.
God wants us to be in continual conversation with Him about our anxiety, but not only that He wants us to ask Him for help in fighting it, but finally He wants us to have to rejoice and be thankful for Him, because when we think upon Him instead of our anxiety, our minds get reset and filled with His peace.
God wants us to come directly to Him about our anxiety, because ultimately He is the only one who has the power to heal us. Not to say shouldn’t talk with others about it, but we must only talk to those who care about us deeply and we can trust to help us through it.
We also learned that the peace of God is stronger than any anxiety we may face, and when we trust God with our anxiety, He promises us that He will fill us with His peace.
In closing I want to say this one last thing:
Brianna and I have both dealt with anxiety and we know what it feels like to face some of the things that you all face. There are some things that you all may be going through that we have not faced, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t help you get through it.
If there is anything you all may be going through that you want to talk about with someone who you can trust, you can trust us, and we are hear to listen and pray for all of you for every situation ya’ll may go through.
Additional Verses:
Proverbs 12:25 “25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”
1 Peter 5:6–7 “6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
Matthew 6:33–34 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
John 14:27 “27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Joshua 1:9 “9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Psalm 94:19 “19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”
Isaiah 41:10 “10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”