Do not be anxious for anything. Phil 4:6

I know a dear woman who worries excessively about everything. She is anxious not only about her own life in excruciating detail but then she also takes on everyone  else’s problems. Her anxieties cripple her and keep her in constant distress so that  she’s  never at peace with herself or with any one else. While her clinical anxiety is  treated with  both medications and counseling,  she is not healed. Sadly, her mind is not sound. Spiritually, she’s in bondage.

Paul teaches the opposite about anxiety. We’re to be anxious for nothing. We don’t have to fret over life’s bumps and bruises because we can ask God for help. Jesus said that our heavenly Father knows all our needs even before we ask. The Bible teaches that once we are reborn, we receive the Spirit of freedom, power,  and a sound mind. We no longer need to be knotted up with worry and fear which is the real cause  of all anxiety.

The word anxiety comes from the German word Angst. Sigmund Freud first used the word in  psychoanalysis. In that context it is  neurotic ,   emotional malaise. Nowadays people wear their angst  like a special badge which attests to their hyper  sensitivity.  Modern angst  does like to show off  inner anxieties in   public. Think Woody Allen, the poster child for post- modern/ Hollywood Angst. The word in German literally means fear,  but  it is fear which  arises from   mortal  terror  about life or safety. It is not the Biblical fear of the Lord,  Furcht. The Latin origin of angst  identifies it with  anguish. One dictionary defines anguish as “emotional turmoil; a feeling of acute but vague anxiety   often accompanied by depression,  especially philosophical anxiety.” And is it not anguish which takes control when we’re overly anxious? Anxiety is dominated by anguish which is dominated by Angst/fear.

It doesn’t take long to see there is  a “who” behind all the “what” of our anxieties. Satan’s intent is to deceive, kill and destroy God’s children. His weapons are fear, confusion, lies and doubt. Out of that come anxieties flying around  like a hatch of black  flies. Such thoughts lead to  doubt, apprehension, despair – and then more fear. It is a vicious cycle.

God’s answer in Philippians is clear. Don’t be anxious about a single thing. The emphasis is that in all things, every single problem which comes along,

in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6-7

The love of God in Christ Jesus will remove all angst, all fear, all anxiety from our minds and hearts if we pray, supplicate and thank God first. Speaking as the Good Shepherd, Jesus nullifies with love what the enemy tries to do through fear and anxiety.  Jesus says He has come

that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Isn’t it time  to throw away the worn out worry beads of anxieties? Lay them down and go to the Father in prayer instead.   Therein lies the gift of Jesus, Prince of Peace,  in whose presence is  “peace which surpasses  all our understanding.”