According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect approximately 19 million North American adults. Anxiety is a form of fear. Healthy fear serves a purpose—it signals that we are somehow threatened, and it gets us ready for action. But irrational fear of something or someone other than God brings anxiety to the center of our mind and experience and, from a biblical perspective, is the origin of anxiety disorders.

Anxiety is usually a distorted and unrealistic assessment of a threat. We have overestimated the danger and underestimated our ability to handle it. If we then focus on the threat, or on our symptoms of anxiety, the anxiety increases. We tend to think of anxiety as an emotion, but the feelings of anxiety flow out of our thoughts. We turn something over and over in our mind. And, as we obsess on it and imagine all the things that could happen, we begin to feel anxious. This anxiety serves no useful purpose. In our fear, we are led to an unbelieving impotence to grow and change through our trials.

The Bible tells us how to deal with anxiety. In Phil 4:6 we are instructed, “Do not be anxious about anything.” And then he says, “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.” Here we have three steps of obedience on the pathway to inner peace.

First, don’t allow yourself to think anxious thoughts. Stop worrying. Focus on the solution instead of the threat.

Second, release your anxious thoughts to God in prayer. He is saying, don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. In this way we exchange fear for faith.

Third, be thankful. An attitude of gratitude enables us to trust in God’s providence and love in the midst of difficult circumstances.

If we do these things he promises, (vs. 7), we will experience the peace of God. It is not a rational peace—we cannot understand it. It is a peace we can experience in the midst of the most foreboding experiences of life. But the promise is real. In acceptance there is peace. God will protect our minds and emotions from the harmful effects of anxiety, and we will experience his peace.