DAY 27: THE ANTIDOTE FOR ANXIETY

In Philippians chapter 4 God reveals the antidote for anxiety. His prescription in the midst of our pain, fear, and uncertainty is always prayer.

It is amazing to me that, when Paul gave us these words inspired by the Holy Spirit, he was not on a Mediterranean cruise on his way to hang out on the beach. No, he was in prison in Rome, and he was writing to Christians at Philippi, who would experience persecution and pressure in their lives.

While we may never experience the confines of an actual prison, there are prisons of other kinds—prisons of personal pain, suffering, and sickness. There is the bondage of bitterness. Some of you may feel you are in a dungeon of depression. Others are behind walls of loneliness and isolation, fettered by fear and feeling chained by their circumstances.

It’s true that the Apostle Paul was in prison, but he wasn’t there alone. In the previous verse he said, “The Lord is at hand”(4:5). Jesus promised that His presence would always be with us through His Spirit. This is the reason that we can rejoice in all things; not in our circumstances, but in Christ Himself.

Prayer is the cure for every worry. It should never be our last chance, but always our first choice. Don’t wait to pray for something until you’ve “worried it to death.” If you are awake at night, unable to sleep because you can’t get your worries off your mind, don’t toss and turn. Just turn to the Lord.

Worry is assuming responsibility that God never intended for us to have. Worry is saying, “God, I can’t trust You to provide for my needs.” But Jesus said, “Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink.” He said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:25–27). We don’t need to fret about our future because it’s all in God’s hands.

Worry never solved a problem. Worry never dried a tear. In fact, the word worry comes from an Old English word meaning “to choke or to strangle.” That’s a word picture of what worry does to us—it is emotional strangulation! Worry, fear, anxiety will suffocate and paralyze us, rendering us useless for God’s kingdom. Don’t let that happen in your life. Give your worries to God in prayer. The beginning of worry is the end of faith. But the beginning of true faith is the end of worry.