“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
I assumed I would always deal with anxiety. I would find myself anxious over absolutely nothing. I got anxious about problems that didn’t exist. Problems that weren’t even problems. Problems that I created. I worried a lot about finances.
I prayed. Oh, Lord, did I pray. But I still had problems with anxiety. Was I not praying hard enough?!
I read the verse above that summed up pretty nicely how I dealt with my anxiety once and for all, about a year ago.
Funny thing about the word abide. It’s not so much something you do, as something you are. I came to a place, through reading God’s Word, meditating on Scripture, and reading fantastic Christian books and studies, where I truly, and I repeat truly believed where the Bible states I am in Him, and He is in me.
See, the thing about anxiety is that you can’t control it! How can you fix something you can’t control? You can’t! But Jesus could. I could do all things through Him. He was in me, and I was in Him. Therefore, if Jesus could see anxiety for the lie it was, and if He could make it go away completely, then doesn’t it just stand to reason that I could too? Because it wasn’t just me; it was Him.
Do anxious thoughts try to come my way? Not as much as they once did, but they still try to sneak in. The cool part is that God’s truth shines a light on my anxious thoughts, and it exposes them as the lie they are. I speak Scripture to my anxiety, and if it tries to come on me, I fight it off with God’s Word. This may sound like it couldn’t possibly work. It may sound like mumbo-jumbo. Maybe you’re saying, “you haven’t dealt with real anxiety, not anxiety like mine.”
Well, I don’t know what your anxiety is like, but I know, now, is that it feels good to be free. It’s not anything I did, per se, but what Jesus did in me. When I realized and truly believed, rested on, and drew strength from the fact that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus lived in me, I was able to abide. I was able to continue in truth. The truth set me free.
Dear God, please help me to abide in You and Your Word today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
[Excerpted from How I Got Rid of My Anxiety After 40 Years of Torture]
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