Embracing Anxiety: A Journey to Peace in God

 

Summary

In today's reflection, we explore the profound journey of living without anxiety by learning to live with it. This might sound paradoxical, but the key lies in understanding and managing our relationship with anxiety rather than trying to eliminate it entirely. Anxiety often seeks to dominate our thoughts, convincing us that constant worry is a protective mechanism. However, this only leads to a cycle of preoccupation and distress. Instead, we are invited to approach anxiety with a different mindset, as outlined by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

The process of managing anxiety can be encapsulated in the acronym "OWN": Observe, Welcome, and Name. First, we observe our thoughts without judgment, simply becoming aware of the mental dialogue that constantly runs through our minds. This awareness is the first step in transforming our minds and not allowing anxiety to take the throne. Next, we welcome anxiety, acknowledging its presence without resistance. By doing so, we avoid overburdening our minds with the impossible task of controlling every thought and emotion. Finally, we name our fears and anxieties, which creates a healthy distance from them and prevents them from ruling over us.

This approach is not about denying or suppressing anxiety but about recognizing it and bringing it before God. By doing so, we allow the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, to guard our hearts and minds. We are reminded that we live in God's great Kingdom, where we can bring our small kingdoms into His vast, peaceful reign. This is the path to living beyond anxiety, by embracing it as part of our human experience and entrusting it to God.

Key Takeaways:

- Observe Your Thoughts: Begin by observing the thoughts that run through your mind without judgment. This awareness is crucial for transforming your mind and not allowing anxiety to dominate. By simply observing, you create a space for God to work in your mind. [06:02]

- Welcome Anxiety: Instead of resisting anxiety, welcome it. Acknowledge its presence without trying to control it through sheer willpower. This acceptance prevents your mind from being overburdened with impossible tasks and allows you to entrust your worries to God. [07:19]

- Name Your Fears: Naming your fears and anxieties creates a healthy distance from them. This practice helps you remember that you are not defined by your feelings, and it prevents those feelings from taking the throne in your life. [09:03]

- Entrust Your Anxieties to God: Bring your anxieties before God in prayer and supplication. By doing so, you allow the peace of God to guard your heart and mind, freeing you from the cycle of worry and preoccupation. [10:23]

- Live in God's Kingdom: Remember that you live in God's great Kingdom, where you can bring your small kingdom into His peaceful reign. This perspective helps you grow towards a life beyond anxiety by learning to live with it in God's presence. [10:55]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:50] - Introduction and Context
- [01:03] - Living One Day at a Time
- [01:21] - Learning to Live Without Anxiety
- [01:36] - Anxiety's Strategy
- [02:11] - The Cycle of Worry
- [03:06] - A New Approach to Anxiety
- [03:36] - Paul's Advice to the Philippians
- [04:23] - The Acronym "OWN"
- [04:56] - Observing Your Thoughts
- [06:18] - Welcoming Anxiety
- [08:32] - Naming Your Fears
- [10:23] - Entrusting Anxieties to God
- [10:55] - Living in God's Kingdom
- [11:49] - Conclusion and Resources

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
- Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus."

Observation Questions:
1. What does the Apostle Paul advise the Philippians to do instead of being anxious? How does this advice relate to the sermon’s message about managing anxiety? [03:36]
2. In the sermon, what is the significance of the acronym "OWN" and how does it relate to dealing with anxiety? [04:23]
3. How does the speaker describe the strategy of anxiety and its impact on our thoughts and emotions? [02:11]
4. What role does prayer play in managing anxiety according to the sermon and the passage from Philippians? [03:51]

Interpretation Questions:
1. How might observing our thoughts without judgment, as suggested in the sermon, help us in our spiritual journey? [06:02]
2. The sermon suggests welcoming anxiety rather than resisting it. What might be the spiritual implications of this approach? [06:59]
3. How does naming our fears create a healthy distance from them, and why is this important in the context of faith? [09:03]
4. What does it mean to live in God's Kingdom and bring our small kingdoms into His peaceful reign, as mentioned in the sermon? [10:55]

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a recent situation where anxiety dominated your thoughts. How could the "OWN" approach have changed your response? [04:23]
2. Consider a specific anxiety you are currently facing. How can you bring this before God in prayer and supplication this week? [03:51]
3. Identify a recurring anxious thought. What steps can you take to observe, welcome, and name it, as suggested in the sermon? [06:02]
4. How can you practice living in God's Kingdom in your daily life, especially when faced with anxiety? What practical steps can you take to remind yourself of this perspective? [10:55]
5. Think of a time when you tried to control your anxiety through sheer willpower. What was the outcome, and how might welcoming anxiety have led to a different result? [06:59]
6. How can you create a habit of naming your fears to prevent them from ruling over you? What specific fears do you need to name this week? [09:03]
7. In what ways can you cultivate a mindset of thanksgiving, even amidst anxiety, to experience the peace of God as described in Philippians 4:6-7? [03:51]

Devotional

Day 1: Observing Your Thoughts with Awareness
Observing your thoughts without judgment is the first step in transforming your mind and not allowing anxiety to dominate. By simply observing, you create a space for God to work in your mind. This practice involves becoming aware of the mental dialogue that constantly runs through your mind. It is not about suppressing or ignoring these thoughts but acknowledging them as they are. This awareness helps you to understand the patterns of your thoughts and how they influence your emotions and actions. By observing your thoughts, you can begin to see them as separate from your identity, allowing you to respond to them with wisdom and grace. [06:02]

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." (Colossians 3:2, ESV)

Reflection: What recurring thoughts do you notice today, and how can you invite God into those moments of awareness?


Day 2: Welcoming Anxiety as a Part of Life
Welcoming anxiety involves acknowledging its presence without trying to control it through sheer willpower. This acceptance prevents your mind from being overburdened with impossible tasks and allows you to entrust your worries to God. By welcoming anxiety, you are not giving it power over you but rather recognizing it as a part of the human experience. This approach helps you to stop fighting against anxiety and instead, learn to live with it in a way that is healthy and constructive. It is about finding peace in the midst of anxiety by trusting in God's presence and guidance. [07:19]

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." (Psalm 55:22, ESV)

Reflection: How can you practice welcoming anxiety today, and what would it look like to entrust those feelings to God?


Day 3: Naming Your Fears to Gain Perspective
Naming your fears and anxieties creates a healthy distance from them. This practice helps you remember that you are not defined by your feelings, and it prevents those feelings from taking the throne in your life. By naming your fears, you can begin to see them more clearly and understand their root causes. This clarity allows you to address them with intention and purpose, rather than being controlled by them. Naming your fears is a powerful step in taking back control of your life and living in alignment with your values and beliefs. [09:03]

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." (Psalm 56:3, ESV)

Reflection: What specific fears can you name today, and how does naming them change your perspective on them?


Day 4: Entrusting Your Anxieties to God
Bringing your anxieties before God in prayer and supplication allows the peace of God to guard your heart and mind, freeing you from the cycle of worry and preoccupation. This act of entrusting your anxieties to God is a powerful way to release the burden of worry and find peace in His presence. It is about recognizing that you are not alone in your struggles and that God is with you, ready to provide comfort and guidance. By entrusting your anxieties to God, you can experience a sense of relief and freedom, knowing that He is in control and that you can rely on His strength and wisdom. [10:23]

"Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34, ESV)

Reflection: What anxieties can you bring to God in prayer today, and how can you trust Him to handle them?


Day 5: Living in God's Kingdom with Peace
Remembering that you live in God's great Kingdom, where you can bring your small kingdom into His peaceful reign, helps you grow towards a life beyond anxiety by learning to live with it in God's presence. This perspective shifts your focus from the temporary concerns of this world to the eternal peace and security found in God's Kingdom. It is about aligning your life with God's purposes and finding joy and fulfillment in His presence. By living in God's Kingdom, you can experience a sense of peace and contentment, knowing that you are part of something greater than yourself and that God is with you every step of the way. [10:55]

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17, ESV)

Reflection: How can you bring your daily concerns into God's Kingdom today, and what would living in His peace look like for you?

Quotes


Anxiety has a strategy for you. Anxiety will tell you the way that you deal with all that is you worry about it, you brood about it, you think about it constantly, you allow it to preoccupy you, and if this problem goes away, another problem will pop up. It's like playing, and that somehow if you just keep them in your mind all the time, if you live with this obsessive sense of preoccupation, like a magic bubble of worry that will somehow protect you, that will somehow keep things at bay. [00:02:11]

Be anxious for nothing, but then he doesn't stop there. He doesn't say try really hard not to be anxious, but in everything in prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, thank you God that you're real and you care, let your requests, whatever it is that you want, whatever it is that's going on inside of you, be known to God. Bring them before God, and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. [00:03:36]

Observe. We begin now not by trying to control our mind through willpower but just actually observing what's going on in our mind, and most people never actually do this. Somebody told me not long ago about a book called The Untethered Soul, and the first chapter is called The Voice Inside Your Head. The author starts with a typical train of thought in our minds: shoot, I can't remember her name, what is her name, darn, here she comes, Sally Sue, she just told me yesterday, what's the matter with me, this is going to be embarrassing. [00:04:56]

If you're smart, you will step back and learn to recognize this voice and come to understand it, and that's the first step is simply beginning to observe what goes on in your mind because so often we're so close up to it, we are so preoccupied with it that we never have the distance to simply become aware of it, and God invites us to be aware of our mind. It's a first step in the transformation of our minds, of owning and not enthroning. [00:05:47]

The W stands for welcome. All right, come on in anxiety, come on in worry, I already know you're there, and the irony is, the paradox is, if I try to stop worrying through willpower and resistance and pushing it away, I give my mind an impossible job. I try to make my mind do what a finite human mind cannot do, and so we torture our own minds. [00:06:18]

Instead of overburdening our mind with what our mind cannot do and pushing away and resisting thoughts and feelings, I simply acknowledge to myself and before God I'm just human. Welcome fear, welcome anxiety, you are not me, and this leads to the end. The end is to name it, whatever that fear is, whatever that negative emotion is, whatever that negative thought is. [00:08:32]

An amazing thing happens when we name it. It gives me a little distance from that feeling. It reminds me I am not what I'm feeling right now, so my feeling does not get to be on the throne. It's quite fascinating. There's a researcher at UCLA that did a study not long ago where they had subjects come in contact with a big fat hairy tarantula that was in a glass jar. [00:09:03]

What happened was simply naming the fear created a kind of distance that keeps the fear from being on the throne, and God has made our minds that way, and he invites us when anxieties come and attack us, instead of trying to deal with them on our own or make our minds take care of them by ourselves, to bring them to him. [00:10:23]

The Bible says we live in a great Kingdom, and it's the kingdom of God, the range of God's effective will, and I get to bring my Little Kingdom into his great big wonderful Kingdom. That's the only way to live in the Kingdom of Peace under the prince of peace, and so I learn how to grow towards a life beyond anxiety precisely by living, learning to live with anxiety. [00:10:55]

When it comes today, just observe it. What's that little maniac inside your head saying, and then welcome it. It's okay, be very gentle. Fear, anxiety, it's okay, and then naming it together with God. I own it, but I don't enthrone it. I enthrone him. [00:11:49]

The process of managing anxiety can be encapsulated in the acronym "OWN": Observe, Welcome, and Name. First, we observe our thoughts without judgment, simply becoming aware of the mental dialogue that constantly runs through our minds. This awareness is the first step in transforming our minds and not allowing anxiety to take the throne. [00:04:23]

By simply observing, you create a space for God to work in your mind. Welcome anxiety, acknowledging its presence without resistance. By doing so, we avoid overburdening our minds with the impossible task of controlling every thought and emotion. Finally, we name our fears and anxieties, which creates a healthy distance from them and prevents them from ruling over us. [00:06:02]

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Transcript
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