Copyright (c) 2010 Peter Rubel

"Do not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Are you a Christian who experiences panic attacks or obsessive compulsive behaviors or long term general anxiety? Have you experienced a trauma that changed your life emotionally, or has a series of stresses contributed to your feeling on edge? A lot? Are you avoiding certain places or people or events that make you feel anxious? Are you afraid of going out in public?

Life may be generally disagreeable and difficult. But as a Christian, you know the final hope because Jesus rose from the dead, and meanwhile that God will be with you to keep you faithful and growing.

We cannot go into all that Jesus and the gospel means to healing and living well. And nothing in all of that necessarily implies you should avoid practical steps to reduce and overcome anxiety. For example, perhaps you should change your job or type of work. Perhaps you should get counseling, pray more fervently and faithfully, and find out what works for you depending on your biology, personality, and circumstances.

Consider for example the verse of Scripture cited at the top of this article. The author Paul wrote it to a financially poor church suffering repression from outside and divisive argument from within. Of course your stresses may be greater or lesser. That does not matter to the principles Philippians 4:6-7 has for you.

Also note that the verse suggests you will need to remind yourself of it and follow it again and again. Life on earth may not be easy or peaceful. Even the author admitted he wrestled with worry not many paragraphs previously. Paul worried about the spiritual well-being of the church.

And you are also going to win at this game. If God thought you were hopeless, why would He have put the exhortation there at all? Why would He have promised the peace which passes understanding? Didn't God mean for you to be encouraged by the promise that your heart and mind would be guarded "in Christ Jesus" if only you follow the directions?

And what does the verse tell us to do? Well, first, calm down. Do not worry. We may not be able at any given time to avoid panic, but we do bear some responsibility to exercise our minds not to fear.

And there is more. Briefly put, ask God for help and thank Him for blessings.

But someone may object. For example, Christians suffering from anxiety disorders may doubt God is good or that He is good "to me" or that He even can work in everything. To one degree or another, probably most of us deal with such doubts, and perhaps more so for those suffering anxiety disorders.

Or do we fear that we are not good enough for God to be good to us? Our doubt strikes at the heart of the gospel and who God is. And with slight exception, here is not the place to go into that. I recommend reading Paul's letter to the church in Rome and John's first epistle. Also note that Philippians 4:6-7 assumes God is good to the Christian and that overcoming anxiety is possible for the Christian by God's help.

God's help may include concrete, personal, and practical means. This, after all, is God's world. God may answer prayers in providing a a calming tea, an empathetic human counselor, a method for controlling breathing, a Scripture text, and so on.

Being anxious is a spiritual problem, but it can also be a physical or practical or biological problem. Those with panic attacks and anxiety disorders have been greatly helped by recognizing and solving the physical or biological side. Start by finding something to thank God for and ask Him for specific help with your kind of anxiety disorder.