The Antidote for Worrying - Family Counseling Ministries

Family Counseling Ministries -

Do you use praise as a weapon to fight the temptation to be anxious? God promises us that when we present our problems to Him with a thankful heart, He will give us peace to guard our hearts and minds from needless fear and worry. This supernatural peace defies human understanding. In this 4th article of a 4-part series on anxiety, Dr. Dunlap reminds us that praise is an antidote for worry. We cannot praise God and continue to worry at the same time.

God promises us that when we present our problems to Him with a thankful heart, He will give us peace to guard our hearts and minds from needless fear and worry. This peace transcends our human understanding. It is an abiding peace that the world cannot understand.

We should learn to recognize the sins of anxiety and fear as soon as they occur.

If we develop a plan for consistent and comprehensive personal prayer, we will have an effective weapon with which to fight the temptation to be anxious and fearful. We must learn to commit difficult situations to God in prayer as soon as they occur. We should also be alert to recognize the symptoms of anxiety and fear when they begin so that we can deal with them immediately. We find a glorious promise in Isaiah 26:3,

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.

God has promised to give us grace one day at a time.

It is helpful to make a commitment to live joyfully one day at a time. God has promised us sufficient grace only for today. Yesterday can never be recovered and tomorrow is out of reach. We can be certain that today God expects us to live obediently, abundantly and victoriously in His strength.

Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33,34,

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

It is foolish to dredge up misery by regretting the irretrievable past or by fretting about the unknown.

We cannot praise God and worry and fret all at the same time.

As we “put off” worry, we “put on” praise. Praise is a marvelous remedy for the sin of worrying. It is good idea to listen to music that focuses our hearts and minds on the glory and provision of God. Each time we are tempted to worry, we should sing praise choruses and hymns aloud to God. It may be helpful to begin a Journal of Gratefulness in which we write down every blessing of God that comes to our minds. As we ask the Lord to remind us of His specific acts of goodness and mercy toward us, our hearts will likely overflow with thanksgiving.

Another practical suggestion is to think through the areas of our lives that tend to be the most worrisome. Then we can use biblical principles to strategize practical solutions to those problem areas. When we find ourselves falling into the old patterns of fretting and being fearful, we implement our plan to combat the temptation.

We will find victory if we are willing to humble ourselves and become accountable to other Christians.

Finally, we reinforce our wills by a bond of accountability. We ought to make a commitment to contact a particular Christian friend to request prayer each time that we are tempted to worry.

The thought of having to tell him will powerfully motivate us to resist the temptation to worry when it arises. Additionally, his prayers for us will spiritually reinforce us in our quest to achieve victory over anxiety. We need not go into details each time that we ask for prayer. However, we should ask him to check with us later to find out whether or not his protective prayers were effective.

When we are accountable to someone, the temptation to worry is a double opportunity for growth.

The writer of James 5:16 instructs us, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” When a Christian faithfully obeys this command through a bond of accountability, both he and his accountability partner have an opportunity to grow spiritually every time he is tempted to be anxious or fearful.

Dr. Don Dunlap, a pioneer in the placement of Pastoral Counselors in the offices of Christian physicians, has conducted over twenty thousand appointments during his ministerial career. His counseling practice includes adults, children and families in crisis. Dr. Dunlap is committed to facilitating a network of telephone counselors. His goal is to provide help for the many people unable to meet face to face with a competent Bible-based counselor. For a complete library of Dr. Dunlap’s articles, indexed by topic, go to Family Counseling Ministries. You may also make an appointment for personal telephone counseling by clicking on Family Counseling Ministries. Family Counseling Ministries is a Christianity.com ministry Partner.