Breaking Free From Anxietyनमुना

Meditate on the Peace of the Lord

When you follow those first three steps, here’s what Paul says you can count on always happening: “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

A lot of peace treaties have been signed and then broken. The peace didn’t last. God’s peace does, but remember the peace of God is the peace that can come only from God. It’s not the kind of peace you might find through drugs, alcohol, sex, fame, or fortune; that peace never lasts anyway. This is a peace that can’t be bought, borrowed, or stolen. It’s found in a deity—the one true God.

Eighteen of the New Testament books begin with a greeting of peace. But the peace we learn about from the Bible isn’t from the authors of the books; it’s from the God who inspired them to write the books. It’s always grace first and then peace, because you can’t know peace from God until you experience the grace of God. The word peace occurs nearly 400 times in the Bible, God’s book of peace inspired by the God of peace. When you read the truth of God’s Word and come to know the God who inspired it, you’ll not only have peace but have a peace that transcends all understanding and will stand guard over your heart, soul, and mind 24 hours a day for as long as you live.

The steps are so simple yet so powerful. Imagine three boxes: one box is labeled anxiety, the second box is labeled prayer, and the third box is labeled thanksgiving. Now, in the anxiety box, put nothing. In the prayer box, put everything. In the thanksgiving box, put anything. Once you put things in the box where they belong, the peace and the assurance that God has everything under control will replace the anxiety you feel.

I want to remind you that final, real, lasting hope for overcoming your anxiety is the Lord. C.S. Lewis once explained, “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on...God cannot give us... a peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

So let’s review the four steps:

Celebrate the Person of the Lord

Appreciate the Presence of the Lord

Liberate the Power of the Lord

Meditate on the Peace of the Lord

The first letters of each step spell calm. The next time your anxiety is up, let the Lord C A L M you down so that, like Paul, you can escape the jail cell of anxiety.

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We hope you enjoyed this 5-day plan by Dr. James Merritt! You can keep exploring biblical ways to navigate challenging emotions by reading his new book, How to Deal with How You Feel, available here.