Stop The Anxiety Cycle

The Anxiety Cycle

• Anxiety
• Avoidance/Obsession
• Short-Term Relief
• Long-term Anxiety Growth
• Over and Over….

 

This happens whether you are a Christian or Not

• But we should think of anxiety differently than the rest of the world

 

The Bible Has a lot to say about Anxiety and how we should face it

 

Some people struggle more than others

• We have patience and sympathy for those who do struggle
• Make sure you see a professional if your anxiety goes to far

 

Let’s start by looking at anxiety as an ACTION

• It’s something we do
• But the answer isn’t “JUST STOP WORRYING ALL THE TIME”

 

To STOP the action of anxiety, we must START another action

3 Counter actions to stop the Cycle of Anxiety

 

Counteraction #1

1: Throwing When You Want To Hold

 

 

Some of us are “ANXIETY HOARDERS”

• We stockpile things to worry about

 

This is an effort to CONTROL

• They are YOUR anxieties
• They are YOUR worries

 

What does Scripture say

1 Peter 5

6 Humble yourselves….

 

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

 

Casting means throwing

• For how much we hate our anxieties, we love to hold on to them…
• We love to HOARD them

 

You can’t throw if you…

• Want to keep it
• Want to hold onto it
• Want to fix it
• Want to manipulate it
• Want to control it

 

Where did Peter get that idea…

• It’s been around for a LONG time
• From David…

 

Psalms 55:22

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

• Who are the righteous?
• Those who live under God’s right rule

 

The lie we believe is that controlling our anxieties equals freedom. However, true freedom lies in entrusting them to God.

 

Practical Application:

When having a worried/anxious thought, we CHOOSE to take it to GOD because it belongs on His shoulders and not in our mind

• Healthy, Active Prayer life
• Cast your care immediately to Him

 

Counteraction #2

2: Thanking When You Want To Worry

 

For years, I did not value the practice of thankfulness

• Did it out of obligations (was supposed to)
• Not I do it because I see its true value

 

“During active appreciation, the threatening messages from your amygdala [fear center of the brain] and the anxious instincts of your brainstem are cut off, suddenly and surely, from access to your brain’s neocortex, where they can fester, replicate themselves, and turn your stream of thoughts into a cold river of dread. It is a fact of neurology that the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. The two states may alternate but are mutually exclusive.” ~ Dan Baker, What Happy People Know

 

The Bible has said this long before modern phycology

Philippians 4:6

6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

 

Thankfulness is the secret ingredient in prayer

• It shifts your…
  • Outlook
  • Your faith
  • Your determination
  • View of God

 

Gratitude is the practice that can change your life like no other

• Why do you think atheists and others keep gratitude journals?
• Because God made us to be grateful, not worrisome

 

Being thankful is a LEARNED SKILL

• You get better the more you do it

 

Learn to be thankful for MORE THAN just the OBVIOUS things

• The seasons
• The lessons
• The people
• The small miracles

 

Practical Application:

Turn to thankfulness and watch anxiety disappear

• Keep a list of things you are really thankful for and return to them when worry creeps in
• Practice Thankfulness everyday

3: Taking When You Are Being Taken By

 

Worry/anxiety holds us captive

• To a past event
• In a future possibility

 

It’s a prison that we lock ourselves into

• We are trapped but hold the key
• The key is our own mind and what we allow in there

 

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.

 

Arguments:

Anxiety/worry/fear are “ARGUMENTS” raised up against the knowledge of God

• Only HE knows the Future
• Only HE can bring out what he desires

 

Proud Things:

Trying to take ownership of what we can NEVER OWN

• Only God has ownership over us, not our fears, sin, or ourselves

 

Take Every Thought Captive:

We are not PASSIVE, but ACTIVE in forming our minds around the things of God

• We make our minds SUBMIT to GOD’S TRUTH
• Not Anxieties VERSION of the truth
• Don’t play around with Anxiety
• Take it out!

 

What you are worried about is HOPELESS unless you have some help

• And We DO!
• The Holy Spirit

 

We ask for the strength/discernment of the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts

 

We believe that it is possible to take control of our thoughts, not our thoughts controlling us

• We never believe the lie that we are captive to our thoughts

 

Underneath everything is a belief in the goodness of God

• This changes the cycle of worry and anxiety

 

Practical Application:

Fight with Prayer and Scripture

• Memorize scripture that can bring you hope and clarity

 

Psalm 121

The Lord Our Protector

1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

5 The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.

6 The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.

7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life.

8 The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

 

 

Stop the Cycle of Anxiety in your life

 

Instead, be full of:

• Faith
• Hope
• Wonder
• Excitement

 

Anxiety robs us of all those things