The Anxious Telephone Conversation

11/30/2022

A question was asked about a tendency toward anxious feelings (often probably chemical-related) and that getting easily spiked by a variety of things.

In praying about change in that area, am I asking Jesus to take the anxiety away? Or to teach me how to walk it out differently?

Well, you can ask to learn how to fly by flapping your arms, but that doesn’t mean that He’s going to answer that prayer. He could, but mostly the laws of physics and laws of nature, the earth-bound laws will continue to keep you from being able to flap your arms and fly. To ask to not have anxiety from hormones is almost like that. Pretty much we all do, and learning how to cope with not being able to fly and learning how to cope with anxiety that’s induced by hormones and chemicals at times, and lack of sleep and circumstances—that’s kind of the human condition. So you can ask Him to remove that—and you can ask Him to fly—but it’s about the same odds that He’s going to answer. Could happen, but mostly we just need to learn how to deal with the fact that it’s not what we want.

So just planting the seeds of faith and living by what’s true versus whatever I’m feeling?

Yeah, I mean, if you read the book of Revelation, you could induce a panic attack in anybody if you took the book of Revelation seriously. That’s an ugly picture with a lot of noise and chaos, a lot of darkness and wickedness and evil and pain. The book of Revelation could induce a panic attack in anyone who reads it honestly. OR you could say, “Yeah, but I know how it turns out, and I know God loves me.” Boom. Over with. No more anxiety.

Maybe just not letting it go in too many cycles before it goes THERE.

That’s right. That’s exactly right. We knew a person who came and spent time in our city years ago. Someone said something convicting out at a park that was a challenge to everyone in the room, or rather everyone in the field. And she wandered away from that large circle of people saying, “I know who I am in Christ. I know who I am in Christ. I know who I am in Christ.” She was trying to hypnotize herself into not being convicted about something in her life. Well, that’s a little dishonest. Don’t fear being convicted! That’s how the Holy Spirit does his work. He came to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. It’s a healthy thing. You don’t need a physician if you won’t admit that you’re sick. Being in denial about it doesn’t help you call on the name of the Lord, so pretending that there’s no such thing as a you that has things to grow and change—that’s a little dishonest. But that was her little charismatic trick.

So I’m not suggesting that—that the next time you feel anxiety, you just block it all out. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, there are real Answers. The book of Revelation is real, for example. Go back to the Old Testament, and you see God is judging Israel at times, and they’re all going off into exile, whether it’s Egypt or Babylon or wherever. And if you’re one of the crowd in that situation, you can’t live in denial and just chant to yourself, “I know who I am, I know who I am.” You’ve got to face the real world that’s in front of you, but you can at least acknowledge that God is in control, and He’s a good Father and He loves us. It’s not a mantra that you’re chanting, it’s just a recognition that if I’m in a little bit of pain right now or circumstances are a little bleak or confusing—so what? This is just boot camp, and I know He loves me. I’ll be by His side at some point, and in the meantime I’m going to try to help other people through this thing instead of thinking about myself.

So it’s pretty pragmatic really. It’s not hyper-spiritual. It’s pretty pragmatic and realistic and well-grounded in truth. Not chanting truth, but just digging your heels into the ground a little bit and standing on truth.

That’s what we all gotta do!

The biggest thing I can think of is to just go straight There, and not let myself do the other thing first.

Yeah, don’t get in the cycle. It doesn’t do any good. You know that already. It’s not where Jesus lives. You can’t imagine Him in some kind of anxious cycle. So if that’s not where He lives, then you don’t need to either.

And it literally wastes time, where I know I’m not consistently in the Scriptures because I’m wasting time thinking about stuff. So that would be like a two-point conversion to go the other way.

Yep. And you know, I kind of feel sorry—I was going to say “pity the person who,” but that’s a little strong—I feel sorry for a person who’s not capable of feeling any anxiety and then having to put it in it’s place. Because if you just feel good all the time, you’re never going to grow and change. We’re on a fallen planet. The prince of the power of the air is killing people all around us every minute of every day. If you’re not a little anxious, then you’re not looking at the world properly. And if some of us are wound a little tight, a little more anxious than others, so be it—but in general, that’s just part of living on this planet. Jesus wept. And some things should get our attention and should cause us some consternation and concern. But it’s just how you deal with it that matters. You can’t let it burrow down into your soul and affect your day. You just have to channel it, make the right decisions, and then respond to it. But to not ever feel it would be ridiculous. Of course you will.

And it is, like he said, one day at a time, a pragmatic thing. I wake up in the morning and I can feel kind of heavy, and not know quite why. I can think long enough and come up with something if I try, but I don’t. I’ll look to Jesus and say, “Thank you for letting me wake up. Thank you for the day that’s ahead of me.” Pray for some other people, go feed the dog, take the dog out, come back in, spend some time with Him. Read a little bit and try to apply it to whatever I’m feeling. And I don’t think about it too deeply if it’s not some certain feeling. And then I go about my day and take care of the children... spend some more time praying for some other people and different situations that come up... in and out of just looking to Him throughout the day and doing what’s practical for you too—not expecting for everything to be nice and rosy and just feeling great all the time. That’s not really what life’s all about, feeling great all the time. That’s not our goal. Our goal is to be closer to Him. And I think that if you’re just feeling great all the time, like he said, you’re kind of at a loss, not going deeper in Jesus. So kinda use it to help you be a deeper person, not try and get rid of it.

Be Anxious for Nothing. Really? How?!

•  Be Still and Know He Is God