I’m an Anxious Person — How Do I ‘Rest in Christ’?

Ask Pastor John
Episode: 1312

[kash]

For anyone dealing with anxiety I am a living testament that it does get better. For me medicine didn't do it. Only Jesus and exercise. From panic attacks to being afraid to drive I've been there... Now I'm free and the one the Lord frees is free indeed. Remember my brothers and sisters in Christ, faith without works is dead. You have to be courageous, you have to declare and decree God's living word over your life everyday. He says to take captive every thought. You must! Also, the Lord didn't give us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and a sound mind. Think of how Jesus felt day after day, or David, or Job. People have always faced anxiety and traumatic times. You must trust in the Lord, He alone is the answer. Forget meditation, visualization, and all the new age crap lets get back to the basics. Crying on our knees in pain, destroying strongholds, repenting, and letting God be God!

[Christina_]

Can someone please pray for me. I was in the ER tonight with no health insurance, I am praying that medicaid will cover it. Also I am praying for health issues to be cured. And also I am praying for a full time career. I am trying not to be anxious but just be at peace and trust God. Thank You.

[deleted]

Anxiety ends when you truly begin to Trust in God.

[Rol]

Plz pray for my anxiety and I’m a big over thinker always been. Also pray that our God will heal my thyroid and heart. Also that my faith is increased during these hard times.Thank you all God bless.

[bellastone-leeb]

I’ve learned after 18 years in the Lord that if we do not rest and find His peace then we can make wrong decisions based off of anxiousness and this can lead us into traumatic situations and therefore our neural pathways can get rewired and we loose ability to discern good and bad situations leading us into more problems. We MUST rest dear family. We MUST have peace no matter what.

[MegaBliss]

The yoke of Jesus = the teaching of Jesus, the promises of Jesus

[Joh-jfkc]

Personal experience on how I lastingly overcame my anxiety:

It's a cycle of thought --> emotion (what you feel) --> thought --> emotion (what you feel) ....
First you need to differentiate between these two. Because dealing with one is different from dealing with the other.

Since it's a circle, you must break one of these, but you can deal with both. Dealing with the thought(s) is more important.
The circle (your anxiety) does not disappear instantly. But it becomes weaker every time you manage to break one element of it.

1. Regarding the emotions you might search for breathing techniques or methods to cause physical pain to lessen the feeling. And remember the emotion (= physical, what you actually feel when anxiety manifests itself) is not the same as the thought which triggered the emotion. You cannot fight the emotion itself or run away mentally without making things worse. But what you can do is to face the emotions which means to become aware of your bodily symptoms and accept them voluntarily. Your emotions cannot (!) force you to fight them mentally (= with your thoughts). That’s how the chain between emotion and thought can be cut by refusing to fight the emotion after having had the thought.

2. Regarding the thoughts themselves:
Your thoughts can become an inner circle if you start catastrophising. Catastrophising must be interrupted right at the start and must not be thought through till some presumed result is found which falsely promises inner peace. How do you do it? You must not try to not think about it because that does not work. Instead, you think about something else something that distracts you very easily (for instance, in my case that’s the latest football news).

And now back to 1..

And remember, the anxiety circle doesn’t disappear instantly, but it becomes weaker every time focus on 1. or 2..
Your anxiety will steadily decrease by time, might take you days, weeks or months. But it works if you stick to it.

You are in control. Your fear cannot force you to fight it.


“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
(1. John 4:18, highly recommend the entire 4th chapter)

[JD-dzlx]

Amen. I'm a new attorney and it feels like every day is filled with anxiety. Lord, please give me rest.

[ninjakid]

Please pray for God to restore my marriage and my family and our home....anxiety has really had me the past few days....God bless you all

[danojj]

As I was listening to this, God opened up to me saying, rest your flesh but do not rest your spirit.
Most people feel they need to be actively using their energy to please GOD. Let's learn how to please the flesh and spirit. Go to sleep but do not sleep without praying to GOD.
Therefore rest your FLESH but not the SPIRIT. GOD bless you all

[warrenm]

Sorry im using my husband's acct. Pls pray for me, im having daily panic attacks and anxiety, im struggling, pls pray that i can rest in Christ and be sustained with His peace if He doesnt heal me, hope He would still heal me.

[angloaust]

The peace of god which passes all
Understanding shall keep your hearts and minds thru
Christ jesus

[schwent]

'...Be anxious for nothing: but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding SHALL keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' (Phil 4:6, 7)

[TH-rldm]

I needed to hear this. I have very bad anxiety. I am finding my biggest struggle to not have fear. God has shown an angel to me and I just now had the courage to make a video about it to share my testimony to others who may need it. Please pray for me that I will find it easy and light to rest in Him.

[newbee]

Been hunting for jobs but no luck. As a result anxiety increased, crazy messed up thoughts - affecting my relationship with my wife, my parents and my peace. So I prayed on it, I came to a realization that I am the type of guy who needs voluntarily carry a cross, purpose - so constantly engaging in meaningful tasks helps diminish my anxiety. Also fasting helps - as you put your body through misery, your mind doesn't have time to give you anxiety.

[hxvhuhn]

Please pray for me I’m struggling with so much anxiety and depression. I have three job options and struggling to pick. Also the one I’m leaning to pays low compared to cost of living and I have no friends there and it’s the last town I lived with my family before my dad committed suicide.

[TheCreepypro]

may you Lord be our refuge and strength

[suehorley]

Explained so beautifully like with out any effort we can lay our restlessness down and we are promised rest in the arms of Jesus, wow, thank you Jesus so. gentle, kind and sure rest for our souls♥ I love this, thank you♡ The best teaching ever♡

[Michelle-pxsm]

Absolutely love pastor Johns teaching. He explains with such simplicity. I could listen to him all day! God bless you John

[skeelatheskink]

Pray for me, I am facing my biggest challenge yet. Pregnancy. And I definitely deal with a quite a bit of anxiety with this.