Anxiety is one of the most common maladies in America today. Fortunately for the Christian the Bible has a drug-free cure for anxiety that works every time no matter what the circumstances you may find yourself in.
I think that A. W. Tozer was right on the money when he shared the following insight: “When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.”1
For example, have you ever viewed suffering as a friend and not a foe? While no one wants to go through periods of suffering, God will often use suffering and trials as His way to make us more Christlike. And isn’t this something as Christians we all should long to become – more like Christ! Since we know from (Romans 8:28) that God works all things together for good, and that includes suffering, we need to cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving to God in all things, even when this goes against our human nature.
In (Philippians 4:6-7) God gives us one of the most comprehensive secrets on how not to be anxious. These two amazing verses read: “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.”
In these two verses we see that God tells us to never be anxious. When anxious thoughts try to invade our minds, we need to take them to the Lord in prayer. (1 Peter 5:7) amplifies this thought when it tells us: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” God loves us and knows that we are not equipped to carry all the heavy emotional burdens that we so often are bogged down with. So, He tells us to cast them on Him and in return allow God’s amazing peace to flood our souls. God may not change the circumstances we find ourselves in but He will allow us to realize that He will carry us through whatever trials come our way. Notice that in addition to praying to God for a release from our anxiety He tells us to be thankful. Being thankful is so important because it shows God that we not only believe He will help us but it puts us in a positive frame of mind to meditate on our deliverance from anxiety.
One other precious anxiety deliverance verse is (Isaiah 61:3), which tells us to put on: “…The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…”
Praise is one of the greatest ways to lift one up from a heavy spirit. When you are feeling down and anxious start praising God for all of your blessings and I guarantee you that your state of mind will begin to change from down and out to peace and joy in the Lord. You see when we praise the Lord we take the focus off ourselves and place it on God’s goodness. Thus, praise has a very therapeutic element that is medicine free!
When we put God first through prayer, thanksgiving, and praise watch how He meets not only our needs but provides us with the peace and joy that makes life so worthwhile. And oh yes, worry and anxiety cannot co-exist when we are living and experiencing the presence of the Lord!
1 A.W. Tozer – When I understand that everything happening to me…
Anxiety Is Loud, But Christ Is Lord: Tozer’s Blade Against the Spiral…………………..m.r.neveu
When Mr. Blattman decides to send a message about the Christian walk, you can bet A.W. Tozer is eventually quoted. Aiden Wilson Tozer, 1897 to 1963, self-educated pastor and writer in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, one of the most influential evangelical voices of the 20th century. Well known nowadays for calling Christians to a deeper knowledge of God, holiness, and what people now call the “deeper life,” instead of church-as-entertainment nonsense. You probably have a text or three on your shelf from Tozer. I have “The Essential Tozer Collection.”
Tozer’s conversion story is classic Tozer: heard a street preacher say to call on God, went home, climbed into an attic, and did exactly that. Despite little formal schooling, he read the pants off anything Christian and became a spiritually serious preacher and author.
So, anxiety…is not just a feeling. I often meet it on the street as a false prophet, preaching chaos, forecasting ruin, and demanding my worship before breakfast. And I like to enjoy breakfast, geez.
Unlike me, Curt’s devotional gets to the point fast. Tozer gives the barn door hinge. If God is using anxiety to make us more like Christ, then anxiety loses its throne.
Don’t read denial. It is essential discipleship. The Christian answer to anxiety is not pretending life is easy. It is learning how to live under a sovereign God when life is not.
Let’s do the audit.
1) Anxiety weakens when suffering gets a purpose.
Tozer’s line is tough in the best way. When I understand that everything happening to me is making me more Christlike, a great deal of anxiety gets resolved.
Why? Because anxiety feeds on meaninglessness. It loves the sentence, “This is pointless.” It thrives on fear that pain is random, loss is final, and suffering means God stepped out for latte (ok, cold brew, geez.)
But Romans 8:28 burns that script down.
The Christian does not call evil good. We are not asked to smile at tragedy like idiots. We are told something harder and better. God is not absent inside our trial. He is active. He is not merely watching our flailing at events. He is governing outcomes and shaping saints.
That changes the whole field. Suffering still hurts, but it is no longer meaningless. Once suffering becomes a furnace instead of a verdict, anxiety loses one of its sharpest teeth.
2) Philippians 4 is not suggestion. It is protocol.
“Be anxious for nothing” is not framed as inspirational wall art. It is a command, followed by a pattern.
Prayer. Supplication. Thanksgiving. Request.
That sequence matters, Ethyl. Prayer brings the burden to God. Supplication names the burden honestly. Thanksgiving refuses panic the right to narrate reality. Requests put the matter in the hands of the only One strong enough to carry it.
Then Peter adds the same blade from another angle. Cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you.
That is not poetic fluff. That is load transfer, like the promise (to carry our water.)
Most anxiety is a control addiction with nice makeup. We keep replaying outcomes, rehearsing disasters, and trying to manage the future with mental noise. Scripture interrupts that cycle and says, in effect, “You are carrying what you were never built to carry.”
So hand it over. Not once. Repeatedly. Daily. Sometimes every ten minutes.
The peace of God does not always arrive by changing the circumstances first. It often arrives by changing who is carrying the weight.
3) Praise is not decoration. It is spiritual counterattack.
Curt is right-on to trot in Isaiah 61:3. “The garment of praise” is not churchy language for “try to feel positive.” It is war language for a heavy soul.
Praise redirects attention.
Anxiety turns the soul inward until everything is magnified except God. Praise reverses the lens. It does not erase the problem. It restores proportion. The trouble is real. God is greater. That is the difference.
Praise is how the Christian refuses to let fear become liturgy.
No, don’t read fake cheerfulness here. It means honest exaltation. You praise God for who He is, what He has done, what He has promised, and what He will still do when your nerves are screaming. That is not emotional theater. That is obedience.
Here is my added straight razor we need in this conversation. Some anxiety has a bodily component. Discerning Christian counsel should not mock that. Prayer, thanksgiving, and praise are not enemies of medical care. They are the governing posture of faith while you pursue every lawful help God provides. The issue is not whether you need support. The issue is who you trust as Lord while receiving it.
…for the Children: When you feel worried, tell Jesus about it, thank Him for helping you, and sing a little praise. It’s like turning on a light in a dark room.
My final word.
Curt’s devotional lands where it should. Anxiety is real. It is not ultimate. Tozer gives us the frame, Paul gives us the practice, Peter gives us the transfer, and Isaiah gives us the garment. Meaning for suffering. Prayer for burden. Thanksgiving for perspective. Praise for the heavy spirit.
Anxiety may still knock. It just does not get to run the house.
Anxiety shouts, “What if everything falls apart?” Faith answers, “Then I will still fall into the hands of God.”
10-4.