Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NET)
Anxiety produces different reactions in people, but one thing that is in common is that we are not to be anxious about anything. For me, when I get into anxiety about something or someone, my stomach gets messed up, I feel like I got a lot of butterflies in my stomach, I can't eat...I just get messed up physically. At the same time my mind can think of nothing but what I have anxiety about. This happened to me this past summer. Someone said something about me and it wasn't very nice, and instead of praying and asking God what to do, I chose to dwell on what they said, which got me into anxiety. I also created different scenarios in my mind about potential outcomes. I did everything I wasn't suppose to do according to Philippians 4:6-7. When I eventually went to God in prayer about it, He very politely said "I'll take care of it." With that, the anxiety left and my stomach got back to normal. If I had chosen to pray in the very beginning, I wouldn't have had to go through all that nonsense. Jesus gave me 5 instructions for when I get into a situation that produces anxiety...
1) trust in God that He is taking care of the situation either by dealing with me or the other person
2) trust in God that He is removing obstacles that are in my way and that He is protecting me
3) trust in God that He will tell me what to do
4) when I have done all that I am to do...STAND in peace, be strong and courageous
5) and when I am done standing in peace, then STAND in more peace
We were not created to operate in anxiety, but in peace. Choose to pray and trust Him the next time you get into a situation that normally causes anxiety in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment