How To Annihilate Anxiety

How To Annihilate Anxiety

Dr. J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pastorlife.com

Introduction

1 Peter 5:7: "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."

In 1 Peter 4:7, Peter tells his readers that the end of the world is near. Certainly we are nearer the end today than the people were alive when Peter penned those words. Even Peter called them “the last days,” because the Church Age is the final dispensational period in divine history on earth prior to the return of Jesus. As we near the end, Peter reminds us that we are to reveal an attitude of peace and tranquility, an absence from anxiety, and a life that reveals our peace because Jesus is in our lives. So in 1 Peter 5:7 he reminds us that we are to cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for us.

Do you feel like life is kicking you in the face, and sometimes you are getting kicked in other parts of your anatomy? Well, you are not alone. None of us live in this world without trouble, and that can create anxiety. I love the story about Charlie Brown, who had just lost another game. As they left the field he lamented his sad fate. Lucy said, "Charlie, cheer up! It is the hard knocks and lost games that make a person great.” Charlie Brown replied, "I must be the greatest person in the world." Sometimes we all feel like Charlie Brown. If hard knocks make us great, a lot of us great people.

The verse we are considering today speaks to us about overcoming the cares of this life. F.B. Meyer said that every word of 1 Peter 5:7 is golden. He was correct, for truly this is one of the most beautiful and comforting verses in the New Testament. However, for those who are going through anxieties on a large scale, it can be a little disconcerting, since it does not tell you how to cast your care upon the Lord. But, if you understand the background to this verse you will find that it says a lot more than first meets the eye.

First, understand that this verse is written to believers. You must first cast your sins upon the Lord before you can cast your cares upon Him. Once we are saved, this passage applies to us, but not before. After all, the greatest burden the unsaved person has, whether he or she knows it or not, is that of being lost – being separated from God. To be lost is to live each day a heartbeat from death and eternal separation from God. That is an unnecessary state in which to live, since Jesus died to carry your sins away. So, the sinner can cast his sins upon the Lord by believing that Jesus is Lord, that He lived a perfect life, that He died on the cross for you, and that He rose from the, and thata He is the Savior of all who trust Him. In fact, the Lord is waiting today to take your sins from you and to make your soul as white as snow. In Isaiah 1:18 God said, "Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool."

Once we are saved, we are to understand that the believer is to take 1 Peter 5:7 as seriously as any other divine command. Every directive of God is important, so let’s look at this verse and ask what we can do to fully obey this commandment and enjoy the fruit of that obedience.

First, note…

I. The Reason for Condemning Anxiety

Though this verse does not speak specifically about condemning anxiety, it is apparent the Lord does not want His children to be anxious. Other places in the Bible are much more specific regarding this subject. ( See Matthew 6; Philippians 4:4-13).

A. Worry is Sinful

The word "care" comes from an ancient word which means to be divided or distracted. Anxiety and worry takes our mind off God and places our thoughts on the situations we are facing, or it turns our attention to ourselves instead of placing our faith in Christ. Thus it is sinful for the Christian to fret and worry in three specific ways.

1. It is Rebellion

Anything which transgresses a command from God is a sin. This passage contains an order for the believer not to continue carrying the weight of the cares of this life with an attitude of worry and anxiety. The word "care" in 1 Peter 5:7 refers to something in your life which distracts you, and thus it pulls you in different directions. Thus, it speaks of confusion, anxiety, and lost hope pertaining to things in this life. In the end it refers to not keeping our focus on God or not trusting Him to lead us and help us with whatever problems or situations we might be facing. Simply put, a Christian carrying a load of worry is not trusting God and is in a state of rebellion. Why is it rebellion? It is rebellion because in this state we are not taking our situation to the Lord with full faith and personal commitment.

2. It is Rejection

Not only are we in rebellion when we live in anxiety, doubt and fear, but we are acting in a way that rejects God's offer to help us. We can be like a child whose parent is trying to help with some difficult issue and the child turns with a scowl and says, "I will do this myself." Every parent here in this service today has had your child act in that manner. This is a real problem when time is of the essence. For example, let's say that you are in a hurry to get your child to school. You reach down to tie your child's shoes, since you don't have time to allow the child to wrestle with trying to do it himself. That's when your child reaches over and pushes your hand away and says, "I can do it myself." Your child doesn't understand the time constraint you are under. He or she is in rebellion but has no idea the time constraint that you are dealing with. You know more as a parent than your child knows and you simply need the child to turn the issue over to you in that moment. Just think of how we do that with the Lord. He needs us to cast our care upon Him, but we struggle with it ourselves. In doing so we are rejection His love, His will, and His power in our lives.

Jesus has shown us the way to accomplish the task of casting our care upon our heavenly Father. Jesus faced one crisis after another but He always took each trial the His Father. Think about some of the ways Jesus suffered and how he found victory over them.

• Socially, He came to His own and they received Him not.
• Domestically, His own family did not understand Him.
• Financially, He had no place to lay His head.
• Psychologically, Satan tempted Him to throw Himself off the pinnacle near the Temple.
• Physically, He thirsted, He was tired, and He was crucified.
• Emotionally, He wept and was angry due to the sins at the Temple.
• Spiritually, He took our sins at Calvary and in that moment He was judged for us.

Note that our Savior trusted His Father in every situation. In the Garden He prayed, "Not my will but thine be done." He cast His care upon the Father.

In fact, dear Christian, you will never face anything greater than Jesus has already been through. The songwriter penned,

"Jesus knows all about our troubles..." Indeed, He does!

3. It is Reservation

Also, when we fail to cast our care upon Jesus, we are acting in reservation rather than full faith. When you worry and are anxious, you are actually questioning whether God can be trusted. We are, in essence, reserving the right to take back control of our lives rather than fully entrusting them to His will, power, and grace.

A story is told that during an earthquake the inhabitants of a small village were very much alarmed. They were surprised to see the calmness of an elderly woman throughout the entire ordeal. When things had settled down, one of the villagers asked her, "Weren't you afraid during that earthquake?" She replied, "No, I wasn't. You see, I just rejoiced to know that I have a God who is big enough and powerful enough to shake the whole world."

Friends, our God is big enough and powerful enough to meet all our needs and to give us peace, victory, and confidence when the world is shaking.

We are sometimes like Ralph, who was dealing with some distress and turmoil in his life. He was head over heels in trouble, but doing little to help himself. A friend advised, "Ralph, you've got two hands, why don't you do something?" Ralph replied, "I am doing something with my two hands - I'm wringing both of them."

Christians can never honor God when wringing their hands in worry rather than folding them in trusting prayer. We are to trust our Lord without reservation and by casting our cares upon Him.

So, we see that worry is sinful, but note also that …

B. Worry is Stressful

Life is stressful, we all know that, but failing to meet stress God's way only increases the hardships we face in life. There is good stress and bad stress, and we cannot fully appreciate the value of stress unless we have faith in God's love for us and His promises to us. Otherwise, stress becomes a negative in our worship, our health, our relationships, and our witness to those who need salvation.

1. Sinful Stress makes you weak and harms your body

Let me give you an example. The owner of a small business had a legal matter which was driving him to distraction and the issue was coming before the court for adjudication. The results might mean the loss of his business and all he owned. The man was so stressed that he could not sleep. In fact, he couldn’t eat properly and began to lose weight. Then a man came across his path who was an attorney. The attorney told the business owner to rest easy. He told him he had handled many such cases and assured the business owner that he would take care of the case before the judge. The business man went back to his normal life and felt fully restored in health and wellbeing. Why? Someone had taken the burden for him. Don’t you see, that is what Jesus does for us. If only we can trust Him, we will have victory. To do otherwise is to suffer harm in every area of our lives, and that is not God's will for us.

2. Sinful Stress takes away your witness

Spurgeon was a great preacher in England during the late 1800s. By age 25 he spoke to thousands of people each week at a church in London. He taught young men who surrendered to preach and he told them to smile when they talked about heaven. He said, "When you must speak of hell, well, your natural face will do!" Our natural look is often not too pleasant, especially if we are worried about things and not trusting God. A Christian without great faith in God, when facing hardships, is a poor and ineffective witness.

William Barclay wrote that life is not out to "break us" but to "make us." Our Lord desires to use our troubles to build our faith, encourage our troubled hearts, and to turn us into victors rather than victims in this world. He knows what you and I face each day. He doesn't desire to break one of His children to pieces, but He does often use hardships to build our spiritual muscles.

W.A. Criswell pointed out how big men can be upset over such little things. He notes Jonah and the worm. You remember how Jonah prayed in the belly of the great fish and was spit up on dry ground. Jonah preached and a great revival broke out so that the entire city was saved, right up to the king himself. Jonah, however, went up on the hill and watched the city. He wanted God to judge the people - to destory them. A bush grew up to cover Jonah's head as he sat in the hot sun, but then a worm came along and ate of the vine and the bush died. Jonah pitched a fit over a worm that ruined his shade while not caring at all about the souls of the people in the city. We often make much of our little troubles because we take our eyes off the ministry God is giving us to help those who are facing difficulties many times worse than our own.

Jesus spoke of how the cares of this world can take our eyes off the blessings and provisions of God. Jesus used the word "cares" while talking about the seed being choked out by the cares of the world (see Matthew 13). Often we are drawn away from God and His Word by the cares of this world. He used the same language when he spoke to Martha in Luke 10.

Suffice it to say that there are many cares in this life, but we must not allow them to harm our minds, bodies, families, worship, or our witness. Victory over these cares is learning and particing the spiritual art of casting our cares on Him.

Worry is not just sinful and stressful, note that…

C. Worry is Shameful

It is a shame for the Christian to worry and fret over every care or trial in life. We are poor representives of our Lord when we wring our hands because of the challenges that face us. No Christian should ever bring shame upon the Christian faith by allowing the cares of this world to distract from the glory and greatness of our Savior.

1. So Unprofitable

Whatever you are worrying about is keeping you from more important duties. Worry is a de-energizer! It doesn't make you stronger, rather it makes you much weaker.

There is the story of a woman going to India as missionary. Just before she was to go her mother became ill so she stayed by her bedside for three years till she died. Then she had to go see her sick sister out west, so she went to see her sister and remained there during her sister's dying days. Then there were her sister's four children left to care for, and she decided that she just could not leave those children. She stayed to help raise them. Yet, in all this she was so troubled with anxiety that she had not be able to fulfill her vow to be a missionary. She fretted about it and worried about it. But then three of her sister’s four children, whom she herself help to raise to adulthood, became international missionaries. All those years the woman fretted and worried that she had not been able to keep her vow to go to the foreign mission field for the Lord. She felt that God had placed to many reponsibilities in her way. Later she learned that God had a greater plan, for the Lord was going to use this woman to bless her sister's children so that three of them would not just make a short trip to a foreign mission area but would rather commit their lives to go overseas to live out missionary lives for Christ. God is at work, even when you can't see it.

2. So Unnecessary

Does God care for you?

• He created you
• He loved you enough to send His Son for your sins
• He wooed you to Himself
• He redeemed you
• He changed your nature
• He wrote your name down in heaven, making you part of His family
• He is preparing a home for you
• He has put His Spirit in You
• He has promised never to leave you
• He keeps you saved and secure from falling from grace
• He directs you steps as you follow Him
• He has given you his perfect, truthful word
• He has given your friends to pray for you
• He is coming for you one day soon

Does God care for you? How could you question it!

Now that we have seen the reason that anxiety is condemned, let us see…

II. The Recipe for Conquering Anxiety

So, I know I'm not to worry and fret, but how can I find the path to overcome this issue in my life? Let me share some sure ways to help every Christian find peace in the midst of difficulties and hardships.

A. Pray

(see Psalm 55:22) This does not need elaboration – speaking with God helps us depend upon Him and it shows faith in Him, which God requires of us (Hebrews 11:6).

B. Praise

In Philippians 4:4 we see that Paul was praising the Lord while in prison in Rome and was calling upon the Philippian Christians to do the same. The Lord reveals Himself in praise. Whining weakens us but praise empowers us.

C. Persist

In 1 Peter 5:7 we note that the word “casting” is a participle, which means that it requires continuation to obey. We are to be ever and always be casting our cares upon Him. This requires persistent faith and a persistent casting of our stress and trouble upon the Lord. He can't just pray one day about something troubling you and think it will go away. Take it to the Lord faithfully, and He will give you peace faithfully.

He can handle it – you can’t!

Let me hasten to complete this message. So, note lastly…

III. The Right Time to Conqueror Anxiety

When worries are small, that is the time to deal with them. Worry can be like a disease that will keep growing unless you excise it - cut it out - remove it. A tumor will increase and destroy a person if it is not removed in a timely manner. Likewise, we are to cast our care upon Him the moment we note the weight of it upon our minds and hearts.

Do not delay.

Do not defer.

Do not deny.

Just do what He says we are to do – bring it to Him and leave it there.

Conclusion

Bring your burden to the Lord! I know you have troubles – all of us have them. But, do you have a relationship with the Heavenly Father through His Son, Jesus Christ.

“Said the Robin to the Sparrow:

‘I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and worry so.’

Said the Sparrow to the Robin:

‘Friend, I think that it must be

That they have no heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me.’" Elizabeth Cheney

If you are not saved, come to Christ this very moment and you will know the Father – God – and you can trust everything to Him.

If you are a Christian, do not delay. Come just now and submit your stress and struggles into His hands. “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you!”