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AVOIDING ANXIETY THROUGH PRAYER
Chapter Theme
From Philippians 4:6–9 we learn that the foremost way to avoid anxiety is through prayer. Right thinking and action are the next logical steps.
Icebreakers
• When Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, he responded to his situation with thankful prayer. Speculate on how you would respond if you suddenly found yourself in Jonah’s predicament. What do you think you’d say to God?
• A friend confides to you that she is feeling at her wits’ end because of her troubles. She wonders out loud if it’s because she thinks too much about it all. Give a wise response to her based on what you’ve learned from Matthew 6 and Philippians 4.
Group Discovery Questions
1. What is the foremost way to avoid anxiety? Support your answer with Scripture.
2. How are we to pray?
3. Fill in the blanks: The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from our lives, but to ______ ______ in the midst of every situation.
4. When will the Lord give us His peace?
5. As we leave the sin of worry behind with our prayers, what is the next step in Christian maturity?
6. Fill in the blank: Faith is a __________ to revealed truth.
7. What is God’s chief agent for purifying our thinking? Recite verses that support your answer.
8. Summarize the main things God’s Word says we’re to think about. How does that apply to anxiety?
9. What is the point of godly thinking?
10. How do godly attitudes, thoughts, and actions work together?
11. Fill in the blanks: Pure behavior produces spiritual _____ and _____.
12. What is the best protection from worry?
Personal Application Questions
1. Being anxious for nothing means trusting God completely in every circumstance we encounter. He can help us handle our problems, even when we don’t understand them. When you face a new problem, are you more apt to pray about it or worry about it? Here are some of the most common problems Christians encounter. Match each one with the appropriate verse, and memorize those that speak to your needs:
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1. Financial difficulty |
a. Romans 8:29–39 |
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2. Injustice |
b. Matthew 28:20 |
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3. Doubting your salvation |
c. 1 John 1:9 |
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4. Feeling unforgiven by God |
d. Psalm 37:1–11 |
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5. Loneliness |
e. Philippians 4:19 |
2. Do you experience the joy of answered prayer? One of the best ways to guarantee that you will is to keep a record of your prayer requests. As time goes along and you see prayers answered, you’ll also clearly see God at work in your life. To make your own prayer log, write down your daily prayer requests and the date you make them. Then whenever a specific request is answered, put a check mark by it. Not only will this make you more aware of God’s answers to your prayers, but it will also serve as a constant reminder of what God has done for you in the past. That can be a great source of comfort when the future looks uncertain.
Focus on Prayer
The Puritan John Owen gave this analogy to show the importance of continually focusing on spiritual things:
The thoughts of spiritual things are with many, as guests that come into an inn, and not like children that dwell in the house. They enter occasionally, and then there is a great stir about them, to provide [suitable] entertainment for them. In a while they are disposed of, and so depart, being neither looked nor inquired after anymore. Things of another nature are attended to; new occasions bring in new guests, for a season.
[However, children that dwell in the house] are missed if they are out of the way, and have their daily provision constantly made for them. So it is with these occasional thoughts about spiritual things. By one means or other they enter into the mind, and there are entertained for a season. On a sudden they depart, and men hear of them no more. But those that are natural and genuine, arising from a living spring of grace in the heart, disposing the mind unto them, are as the children of the house; they are expected in their places, and at their seasons. If they are missing, they are inquired after. The heart calls itself to an account, whence it is that it hath been so long without them, and calls them over [for a desired conversation] with them.1
With that in mind, make this your prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:14).
Assignment
In his book Spiritual Intimacy Richard Mayhue wrote,
To hear something once for most of us is not enough. To briefly ponder something profound … does not allow enough time to grasp and fully understand its significance. This proves to be most true with God’s mind in Scripture. The idea of meditating sometimes lends itself to misunderstanding, so let me illustrate its meaning.…
For me, the most vivid picture comes from a coffee percolator. The water goes up a small tube and drains down through the coffee grounds. After enough cycles, the flavor of the coffee beans has been transferred to the water which we then call coffee. So it is that we need to cycle our thoughts through the “grounds” of God’s Word until we start to think like God.2
Renew your mind by regularly meditating on God’s Word. Doing so will bring into your mind what is spiritually healthy and lead you away from what is harmful, including anxiety. Try different Bibles and schedules designed to help you read through the entire Bible in a year’s time. A chronological schema is especially helpful for getting you into the flow of God’s Word as He revealed it in human history.
Notes