You might be wondering about the title of this post. Most of the time, we tend to think of peace, not joy, as being the solution to anxiety. But today, I want to look at that a bit differently. I want us to realize that if we focus on joy, our anxieties and worries will be drowned out. But first, let’s examine anxiety.
What makes you anxious?
I’m sure you have at least one thing in your life that makes you anxious at this moment. Maybe it’s that decision about where to go to college. Maybe it’s a hard conversation you need to have. Or maybe it’s something rather small that still scares you.
You might not even be aware that you’re anxious about it. But you likely have something in mind that makes your heart race, your hands sweat, or your mind feel completely overwhelmed.
We all have these things in our lives, and they come and go depending on our situations. But one thing is for sure- they take a LOT of time and thought and leave us feeling on edge. They strip us of joy and peace. They make us question the beauty of the gift of life and the goodness of God.
So how can we rid ourselves of the moments when it feels as though everything is spiraling out of our control?
Control Belongs to God
1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” There is so much that this verse reminds us of. First, God is mighty; we are not. We cannot let our pride allow us to fall into more anxiety. We will never have the power to overcome our fears on our own.
Secondly, even though we cannot remove anxiety from our lives, God can. He is so infinitely powerful that everyone one of us can lay all our anxieties down at His feet, and He will never falter. He can hold everything that has ever scared you or stressed you out without falling into the same pain as you would.
Finally, God cares for us. He does not want to see us suffer. He wants the best for us because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. If we are only willing to let Him help us, He will hold us through the pain.
The Remedy
Obviously, we have already addressed a huge step in the remedy of anxiety: casting our cares on God. But I want to look at how this can play out.
The very first thing we need to look at is Philippians 4:4, which says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.”
Now, you might be wondering how this ties to anxiety. We’ll answer that question in a minute. For now, I want us to look at Philippians 4:6-7, “[D]o not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
It’s interesting what Paul tells us is the remedy to anxiety. Prayer and thanksgiving to God allows Him into our lives to calm our hearts and minds and guard them with His peace. We cannot obtain this peace on our own; we will never understand it well enough for that. Rather, it comes from praying continually to our loving, caring God (which we are commanded to do elsewhere in the Bible).
It’s great to understand that prayer can lead to peace. But how do we pray continually? And how do we keep our minds stayed on God rather than constantly going back to our anxiety?
The next verse, Philippians 4:8, provides even more insight, “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”.
This list of virtues, these things that are excellent and praiseworthy, are the things we should think about to stay in peace rather than worry. This verse provides us with the qualities that describe God and the things that come from Him. If we are constantly trying to dwell on and ponder these things, we will be reminded and motivated to pray continually.
And that gets us back to the first verse I mentioned in this section, Philippians 4:4. How do we rejoice always? We follow the encouragements in verses 6-8 (and 5, though we didn’t cover that one here). If we think about the excellent things that come from God, and if we let that motivate us to pray continually, we will have peace that leads joy. And this joy will keep our hearts from anxiety.
So we see that Paul lays out reasoning and a how-to for his command to always rejoice. Prayer brings us peace, which leads us to joy, and rejoicing keeps us from anxiety. As we go into this new year, I hope this reminder can be an encouragement to you, not to worry about anything in life, but to trust God with all that concerns your heart.
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