Anxiety exists when the Problems around you overwhelm the Peace within you.
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious for anything . . . ” Context is helpful in understanding what Paul is trying to say. Philippians 4:4-7. God is at the center to the answer for anxiety. The key to unlocking the prison of anxiety is praise.
Peace exists when the Praise inside you overwhelms the Problems around you.
What is Praise? Praise is when we recognize God for who He is. Our natural tendency is to live self-obsessed, self-absorbed and self-reliant. Praise is us engaging the Presence of God over the Problems in our lives. Praise invites us into a greater understanding of who God is.
Psalm 121:1-2: Praise invites us into a RECOGNITION of God to look up from our problems to God our Help. When your problems start to get big and they start to overwhelm the peace inside of you, the first thing God invites us to do is recognize Him.
Psalm 121:3-6: RECOGNITION of God translates into RELIANCE on God. Praise was always meant to invade every practical part of our lives. Anxiety starts to grow when I think it is all on me. Anxiety grows when we make decisions apart from God because the consequences are all on you.
Psalm 121:7-8: RELIANCE on God leads to RESTING in God. The deepest manifestation of Praise is resting in God. You don’t crave rest until you are tired, exhausted. Matthew 11:28-30. Rest is the natural overflow of a heart of Praise.
God invites us to deploy Praise inside of the most practical areas of our lives. When anxiety starts to grow . . . look up and Recognize God for who He is . . and as you begin to understand God as the Source of your help, you get to Rely on Him in the most practical areas of your life . . . and if you will Rely on God, you get to Rest in all that He is.
Praise was meant to be our life’s pursuit of all God is over the practical places of our life. God never said we’d be problem free, but He does invite us to be anxiety free.