How to Deal with Anxiety without Medication
There are millions of us who are trying to learn how to deal with anxiety without medication. It's a real problem in our culture. Many of us, for one reason or another, are not able or not willing to take medications for anxiety. We are looking for ways to deal with anxiety that don't involve any kind of drug. Many of us have tried yoga, exercise, diet, and professional therapy to stop the vicious cycle of anxiety. Today, we are going to see if we can get to the root of the problem, and get rid of the struggle one day at a time.
Today we are going to look to the Bible, God's living word, and see what he has to say about fear, worry, and anxiety. God is love, and God's love can change everything.
Phillipians 4:4-6
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of a good repute, if there is anything excellent, if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. And the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things, and the God of peace, will be with you.
How to Deal With Anxiety
Paul who's writing these words and he writes, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be made known to all men, the Lord is near. Don't miss verse six, 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 or comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of a good repute, if there is anything excellent, if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. And the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things, and the God of peace, will be with you.
In verse six he says, be anxious for nothing. And if you're not real careful, if you're just flying through this particular passage in the bible, you'd think that Paul was just giving you a pep talk. That he's saying, don't worry, be happy. But he does more than that, because if you look deeper into this passage you see that he actually actually tells us how we can overcome worry.
And it's really pretty simple. If you get this next line that I am about to give you, you really have got the whole message. We are to obey God and we are to pray to God. Apologies that they rhyme, but they do, obey and pray. And so I want us to look at both of those things and see when we obey God and when we pray to God we can overcome our worry.
Worry
First of all, he says, obey God. Here's the reality, most of the things that we worry about, we worry about because we've stepped outside God's will for our life and we've created consequences or at least impending consequences. We know that they're coming and as a result, we worry about that and we could really resolve about 80% of the issues we worried about, if we will just take the power that God has given us to obey him and do that very thing.
Just obey him. It's that simple. I remember when I was moving around as a child, my dad worked for Mobile Oil Corporations, so we lived in many different places. We were in South Dakota, we were in Florida, we were in Louisiana. One particular time, when I was a young boy, we lived in Mississippi.
And I remember we lived in this little, best way to call it is a servant's quarters behind a larger house. And these people who lived in the larger house had rented this little house to my mom and my dad and us three boys. And in the little yard that was there next to that, there was no grass, there was just a strip of dirt but in the dirt there was this hole in the ground.
It was about five feet long and about three feet wide. I don't know why it was there, but there was just this whole in the ground. It was about three feet deep but it was the coolest place to play if you were a boy. That hole in the ground was the cock pit of a plane. It was a race car drivers and passengers side.
It was a fox hole in World War II. We had more fun in that hole in the ground. I remember one day it had rained. Boy, it really got fun then because there was about two inches of mud in the bottom of that thing. And we went out and we got some of my mother's pie tins and we made mud pies and we were drying them out in the sun around the edge of that hole and just over the fence, it wasn't dark, there was St.
Augustine grass and they were big beautiful magnolia trees and there was the big home where the people who rented us the little servant's quarter lived. And in that yard there was a little girl who used to come out and play everyday and she never spoke to us but we could see her playing on the other side of the picket fence.
She was a beautiful little girl, she grecian curls and lots of ribbons in her hair and she was always dressed up, she didn't play in plain clothes she had petticoats and thrilly things and everything. The kid was not normal, you know what I'm saying? That particular day she saw that we were making those mud pies and she got so curious that she came and she leaned over the fence and she said, what are you boys doing? And so I picked up one of the mud pies and I walked over to the fence and I said, 'we are making mud pies, would you like to have a bite?' and I smashed it into her face. Now this was before my call to ministry. But at that point, that little girl, covered completely in the mud turned, and began to run back towards that large house and it was at that moment that I began to worry.
Purpose in Life
Now, I share that story because it's a metaphor of your life and mine, is it not? And when we step outside of God's will for our life we create the difficulties that create the anxieties in our life. And so Paul's says to us obey God, just obey God.
Relationship with God
To obey God, you need to have a right relationship with him. You need to understand how much he loves you, how he has given his very life for you, how he wants to forgive your sins and give you a brand new start. He is a God of love, compassion, mercy, and grace. He can replace your anxieties with his perfect peace. Watch the video on the right hand side of this post that tells you how to find forgiveness of your sins, purpose, eternal life, and a right relationship with the very God who made you. You will find true love, perfect love, God's love.
Hashtags: #howtodealwithanxietywithoutmedication, #anxietymedication, #medicationforanxiety, #howtodealwithanxiety, #anxiety, #anxietydisorders, #anxietyattacksymptoms, #symptomsofanxiety
|
Take the next step and get to know others just like you who are looking for real answers. You will find amazing support and community, and answers to questions you may have not even thought to ask!
Get Connected
|
