I want to talk to you for a little while about the issue of anxiety: its root cause and the solution. Let’s get into it.
The first thing that someone who knows me might say is, ‘Who are you to talk about this? You’re not an anxious person!’ You’re right, I am not. But there’s a reason for that. I have spent years learning how to avoid becoming an anxious person. And before anyone gets defensive and starts with the whole, ‘He just thinks he’s better than me!’ crap, let me nip that in the bud now. I do not think that at all: I am simply trying to help equip the body of Christ with every available weapon possible so that we can both fight and win the various battles that we are required to engage in.
First, let’s consider the source of anxiety. Obviously, God is not the source, because anxiety brings confusion and fear. Since God is not the author of confusion, and He says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that He hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, we can automatically rule God out as the source. With that being the case, there’s only one other choice, and that is the devil. So, let’s consider why he would want to put anxiety on people and what advantage he gains from this tactic.
The first and obvious reason why is because of the torment that anxiety causes to God’s creatures that He is so madly in love with. But, above and beyond that, the devil is a strategist who never wastes any opportunity to foil the plans of God (well, he tries) and punish His creation. (On a side note, the devil trying to challenge God is similar to the village idiot thinking that he’s playing checkers with a nobody, when in reality, he’s playing chess against the world champion!) Let me list three ways that the devil benefits from putting anxiety on believers. (I will number them as I go!) (All three of these can be classified as ‘distractions’ of different types.)
1) Anxiety serves to distract us from worship. When we are anxious, we don’t worship.
2) Anxiety also takes attention away from learning. When we are in the midst of an anxiety attack, we naturally cannot learn from God, because we’re so focused on the problem.
3) One of the most prevalent purposes of anxiety is the distraction from our purpose before God. When we are anxious, we don’t focus on the fulfillment of our purpose in Jesus Christ.
Can you see how anxiety is actually a spiritual attack from the devil, rather than simply a ‘condition’ or ‘illness’? When you realize this, it marks the beginning of the end of the devil’s control over your life in this area.
Now that we have established exactly who the source is and why this particular strategy is used so effectively, it’s time to talk about the solution to this problem. There are five steps that you can take to disarm the devil and take the control of your life back. (Again, I will number them as I go.)
1) Discipline, specifically self-discipline over your mind. (Notice that each one of these steps are totally useless on their own. All of them require the intervention of the Holy Spirit, along with the rest of the steps.) You absolutely CANNOT allow yourself to retain thoughts that foster the conditions for anxiety to take root. And, again, YOU can’t accomplish what is necessary without the Holy Spirit’s intervention.
2) Discernment. You have to be able to determine which thoughts foster anxiety and then avoid them.
3) Humility. You may be asking, ‘Why humility?’ Because without humility, you are:
a) going to think that you can avoid the traps on your own, and
b) going to attempt to carry the burdens that you weren’t supposed to carry. Let’s look at that in scripture.
1 Peter 5:6-7 (KJV)
“[6] Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:
[7] casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”
The only way that we will ‘cast all our care upon Him’ is if we are humble enough to recognize our need to do so.
4) Work. Work is designed by God to be a good thing, but because of the fallen state that we live in, it’s often viewed as a ‘burden’, a ‘required evil’. That was not the original intention, however, and work can actually be used as a weapon, a type of ‘distraction’ from the ‘distraction’, if that makes sense. Basically, you are using the devil’s own strategy against him. A job, school, or even just a hobby can be effective. I would encourage you to take full advantage of this strategy.
5) Prayer. Prayer is another even more effective weapon that we can leverage against the anxiety that the devil tries to bring against us. And this is a universal weapon that we can employ anytime, anywhere.
I want to caution you against the natural human tendency of thinking, ‘This is great! NOW jack with me, devil!’. However, don’t swing to the opposite extreme and say, ‘This will NEVER work!’, either. It is going to take some time and training by the Holy Spirit in order for you to fully implement these steps into your life. And you WILL have failures at times. Just persevere, and you will get to the point that the devil avoids you, simply because you are too much for him to handle. However, don’t get cocky, because THAT will ensure defeat.
I hope that this article has been informative for you. Remember that I love you guys and I’m praying for you.