Fear, Anxiety, and Panic (Part 13) - Overcoming Anxiety (Part C)

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Fear, Anxiety, and Panic (Part 13) - Overcoming Anxiety (Part C) 5. Pray to God and ask Him to take away your anxiety (carefulness) (Php 4:6). A. Supplication n. – The action, or an act, of supplicating; humble or earnest petition or entreaty. B. Supplicate v. – 1. intr. To beg, pray, or entreat humbly; to present a humble petition. C. When you pray and ask for help, always remember to give thanks (Php 4:6). i. We should give thanks to God in every situation (1Th 5:18). ii. Never neglect to praise God, even when suffering with anxiety (Psa 42:5, 11; Psa 43:5). D. Pray in faith, believing that God will honor His promise to give you grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15-16 c/w Jam 1:6 & Mat 21:22). i. God will help you when you humbly ask Him for it in faith (Psa 28:6-7). ii. When you do this, God will give you peace (Php 4:7). iii. Faith in God’s protection and deliverance will quell anxiety (Dan 3:16-18). E. A good prayer when suffering with anxiety is Psa 25:16-18. F. If any man is afflicted with suffering in mind or body, let him pray (Jam 5:13). G. When king Jehoshaphat feared, he prayed to God and asked Him for help (2Ch 20:3-4). i. He went to church and prayed to God for help (2Ch 20:5-11). ii. He humbly admitted that they were powerless to deliver themselves and that they didn’t know what to do, but that he was trusting in God for help (2Ch 20:12). iii. In an act of faith, he faced his fear, not ran from it (2Ch 20:17). iv. He worshipped God (2Ch 20:18, 22). v. God honored his humble faith, delivered him from his fears, and gave him rest and quietness (2Ch 20:30). H. When David was greatly distressed, he encouraged himself in the LORD his God (1Sa 30:6). i. Contrariwise, when king Ahaz was in distress, he trespassed more against God (2Ch 28:22). ii. The last thing you want to do is to sin against God when you are in distress. a. Never resort to alcohol or drugs to help you escape your pain. b. Never seek out a sinful relationship to try to make yourself feel better. iii. Never believe Satan’s lies that God is not listening to your prayers, He won’t help you, or He doesn’t care. iv. Encourage yourself in the LORD your God, read His word for comfort, pray to Him for deliverance, and trust His promises that He will help you. I. When praying to God, remind Him of His promise to deliver those who call upon Him (Rom 10:13). i. Jacob reminded God of His promises to him when he prayed for deliverance from his fears (Gen 32:9, 11-12). ii. Reminding God of His promises is an act of faith which God accepts. J. Keep praying until God answers you and gives you relief from your anxiety. i. Keep pleading with God for help until He helps you (Luk 18:1-8). a. God will avenge us when we cry day and night unto Him. b. He may bear long with us, but He will eventually give us the relief we are seeking. ii. Pray to God for help with importunity (Luk 11:5-10). iii. Importunity n. – Troublesome pertinacity in solicitation. 6. Call upon God and cry out to Him to save you from your distresses (Psa 107:6, 13, 19, 28). A. In David’s distress he called upon God (Psa 25:16-17), and He heard him (2Sa 22:7). B. God will hear us (Psa 120:1) and answer us (Psa 118:5) when we cry to Him in our distress like He did the Psalmist. C. God redeemed David’s soul out of all distress (1Ki 1:29). D. David pleaded with God to hear him when he called to Him in distress (Psa 4:1). i. Psa 4 gives the elements necessary to have God hear us when we call to him to save us from our distress. a. Be godly, for God will hear the godly when they call to Him for help (Psa 4:3). b. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still (talk to yourself to calm yourself down) (Psa 4:4). c. Worship God in church and trust Him to deliver you (Psa 4:5). d. Don’t believe your doubtful thoughts, but rather just keep beseeching God for help and mercy (Psa 4:6). ii. When we do these things in faith, God will put gladness in our hearts (Psa 4:7). iii. We will feel a sense of peace and security which will allow us to sleep peacefully (Psa 4:8). E. David cried unto God to deliver him from being troubled (Psa 30:6-10). i. God heard him and turned his grief into joy (Psa 30:11-12). ii. God will do the same for us. F. The psalmist Asaph was suffering with severe anxiety in Psa 77. i. He was so troubled that he could no speak, his sore ran in the night, his soul refused to comforted, and he wondered if God had forsaken him and if he would ever feel better (Psa 77:1-9). ii. He found relief from his anxiety when he did the following. a. He accepted that he was being afflicted with anxiety (Psa 77:10a). b. Instead of focusing on his suffering, he turned his attention on God’s sovereign rule from heaven (Psa 77:10b). (i) When we are anxious or depressed, we should likewise remember that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God. (ii) Jesus is reigning from heaven and is doing so for the benefit of His church. (iii) He is the blessed and only potentate, and therefore He has the power to help us through our troubles. c. He remembered and thought on God’s works (Psa 77:11-12). d. He began to praise and worship God (Psa 77:13). e. He praised God for doing wonders (miracles) and delivering His people by His great strength (Psa 77:14-20). iii. We will find relief from our anxiety if we follow Asaph’s example.