The Antidote to Anxiety

Text: Philippians 4:4-9

Context:

• The forming of the church at Phillipi is captured in Acts 16:11-17. Phillipi is described here as a “leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony” v. 12, a place of privileged status.
• The church there was formed through prayer v.13 and the faith of a woman named Lydia who invited them to her house.
• Paul is writing this letter from prison most likely from Rome.
• There was some type of conflict between two women in the church and Paul urges them to live in harmony with the help of their fellow brothers and sisters (Phillipians 4:2)

When faced with difficulties, whether internally or externally, our natural human response might be to worry, to become crippled by anxiety. Anxiety makes us obsessive, frantic, as we begin to see the world through the lens of the worse case scenario. Such a perspective, serves to strengthen that anxiety and push us deeper into patterns of avoidance or obsessions. Paul’s admonition to the church at Phillipi is helpful for us today as we face anxiety producing difficulties in our lives. Instead of giving into anxiety and it’s barrage of unhealthy thoughts, we can be guided by Paul’s instructions to the church at Phillipi:

1. Rejoice in the Lord always
2. Be gentle to others
3. Do not be anxious but pray
4. Think on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise.
5. Practice what you have learned and received, heard and seen

1) Rejoice in the Lord

In the midst of inner and outer conflict the church is commanded to be joyful always. Godly happiness is joy, which connotes celebration, not for what happens, but for what is on the inside. It is being able to celebrate regardless of what is happening on the outside. Joy comes by rejoicing. Joy brings stability and consistency.

Psalms 34:1-2 “I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord, let the humble hear and be glad.

This Psalm captures David’s experience of rejoicing in the Lord at all times. Written after he pretended to be insane to escape Saul and the wrath of an enemy king, whom David feared (1 Samuel 21:1-12). David knew that this could have been the end of him, yet he did not attribute his survival to his quick thinking but to God. He was able to be joyful and rejoice in the midst of a stressful situation; he was on the run from Saul, hungry and without weapons and in enemy territory and he rejoiced.

Ask yourself: Am I a joyful person, or do my feelings of happiness or unhappiness lead me based on what is happening around me?

2) Let your gentle spirit be known to all people

As we rejoice and are joyful, people around us can’t help but notice. A joyful person spreads joy, they do not spread their unhappiness to others, and they are a joy to be around. Demonstrating by their lives that God is near. This is not to be confused with pretense or denial, but with wisdom you should seek help for the situation, but be mindful of what you communicate to others about what you believe.

Psalms 34:3 “Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together”

David’s joy overflowed to others, he invited others to join with him in praising God, in rejoicing. As you go through life’s difficulties, you are often not alone. You may have family with you, friends around you, people who may be looking up to you as a example of one who follows Christ. If you aren’t careful, you can easily drag these people into a pity party with you, and they can develop feelings of resentment, sadness, and anger as a result of what you feed them. But like David, we should encourage those around us to rejoice, stir them up to joy by our attitude amid our trial.

Ask yourself: Am I a joy to be around even when I’m having a hard time? Do people feel comfortable in my presence or do I suck the joy out of a room with my unhappiness and grumpiness?

3) Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Whenever we find our joy under attack by the pressures of what is happening around us, we are urged to pray about everything with a heart of gratitude. “The more you pray, the less you worry” (Tony Evans). Pray specifically, letting God know exactly what you are worrying about. God wants you to cast your cares upon Him. Prayer is relational, it is the process of unburdening oneself by placing the thing that is weighing on us in the hands of God, demonstrating that we trust him to help us, that we believe he is better equipped to carry it. This act of faith, leads to peace. The kind of peace that is incomprehensible. Almost unnatural in the sense that it cannot be explained. Persons looking in may not be able to understand why you still have joy and are a joy to be around.

This peace guards the mind and the heart. Anxiety therefore isn’t able to take root in our lives, it isn’t able to cripple us and hinder us from our tasks.

Prayer = peace, peace = protected mind

Psalms 34:4 I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 6 This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

In this Psalm David reiterates that God hears and answers prayer. God is able to respond to our prayers in difficulties by delivering us from our fears. Interestingly, anxiety can be so crippling that it hinders our ability to think on our feet, to solve problems or to see solutions. Even though David feared the king, he was able to come up with a solution.

David was prayerful through his circumstances, even though the situation didn’t change right away. He was still being pursued, yet he was prayerful and God answered him by delivering him from his fears.

Ask yourself: Am I prayerful in this difficult time or have I given up because the difficulty persists? In what ways have I experienced the peace of God even in my circumstances?

4) Whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise, think on these things.

After you pray, and the peace of God comes and settles you down, you now have to be deliberate about maintaining that peace. Our peace is guarded by our thought life. That joyful, prayerful, gentle demeanor is maintained by a healthy Christlike thought life. A mind that is focused on the source of ones stress, on opposition or on the worse case scenario, is a distracted, anxious mind. Such a mind tends to bear unfruitful or dangerous solutions, and leads to the loss of the peace prayer gave.

Where do these true, honorable, right, pure, lovely etc thoughts come from? The word of God.

Ask yourself: What is my thought life like? Do I tend to focus on the negative, to dwell on what is contrary to God’s word? Are my thoughts, vindictive, retributive and resentful?

5) As for the things you have learned and received and heard, practice these things.

Practice indicates consistent engagement in a behaviour. Paul urges his audience to practice what they have been taught and what they have seen him do. In order to practice well, one must be plugged in to sound teaching and not just hear it but receive that sound teaching, internalize it. Also, one must be surrounded by persons one can follow. We have to be watching the right people. This speaks to mentorship, community, and fellowship. Paul tells the church to help the two ladies who were in conflict at the time, this can be done through teaching, encouragement and a demonstration of good relationships and even conflict resolution among the brethren. If you want to live an inner and outer harmonious life, surround yourself with people who are living an inner and outer harmonious life.

Psalms 34:11, 13-14 “Come O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord… Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

In the midst of David’s difficulty, he taught others how to fear God, in other words, he demonstrated the lifestyle of one who is righteous. He became the one to look up to because he took refuge in God, because he allowed God to do the work on his mindset in trials and trusted him throughout.

Ask yourself: What does my circle look like? Who am I looking up to? Does that person demonstrate a kingdom mindset and behaviour, does that person live the harmonious life I aspire to? Are there persons who might be looking up to me, am I demonstrating a kingdom mindset to them?

6) … and the God of peace will be with you.

Practicing what we are taught, comes with the presence. The God of peace will be with you. This takes the fight for our peace to another level. Not only will we have incomprehensible peace, but we can have the very presence of the God of peace.

“The God of peace, is the God who makes peace between himself and sinners. Thus peace is linked with God’s work of Salvation… peace possesses the root meaning of “wholeness’. It is to be sure, the inner wholeness of the full filled person, but it is also a relational word including (upward) ‘peace with God’ and (outward) peaceful integration within the society of God’s people” John Stott

Psalms 34:18-20 The lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”

Living a righteous life and fearing God does not mean there won’t be difficulties. But it does mean that we can trust that we have God’s attention. David experienced God’s presence even on the run, hiding in caves and pretending to be insane to survive. Though his external circumstances were difficult, he had peace knowing that God’s presence was with him. And by doing that, we see in 1 Samuel 22 that others flocked to him and took refuge with him. When the God of peace is present, people want to be in His presence. If you are abiding in his presence, don’t be surprised to find that people are drawn to you, that people want to be around you.

Ask yourself: In what ways do I feel the presence of God in my life? If you aren’t feeling God’s presence right now, are you willing to seek him through joy, prayer, mindset and practice?

Application Statement:

Prayer = Peace, Peace = a protected mind, Practice = Presence.

If I am to win the battle against anxiety and maintain inner and outer harmony, I must be joyful and prayerful, think on the right things and practice what I am taught as I surround myself with the right people to follow.

The mind of Christ isn’t one riddled with anxiety, it is a mind that is at peace. This peace will enable me to do the work God has set before me. Instead of giving into feelings of not being good enough, not being ready enough, fear of being judged or fear of failing I will pray about everything.

Be a blessing,

Kelly PW

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