Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This week we are seeking God’s wisdom regarding anxiety. Let’s begin with how to prevent anxiety.

Psalms 94:19 (AMP) testifies…
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comforts delight me.

Consider…
Oxford Languages defines anxiety as,
a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

It also provides the following psychiatric definition which is, a mental condition characterized by excessive apprehensiveness about real or perceived threats, typically leading to avoidance behaviors and often to physical symptoms such as increased heart rate and muscle tension.

Today’s scripture acknowledges “my anxious thoughts multiply within me”. This simple admission helps us understand that a core tenant of anxiety is obsession.

It’s natural and reasonable for us to be nervous about impending danger or discomfort. Let’s be honest, pain is real and not something we want to feel. Therefore, it’s understandable that anticipating pain or danger would cause uneasiness. However, it’s when that anticipation becomes an obsession that it morphs into anxiety.

So if anticipation is okay, what does it mean? Merriam-Webster provided the following definitions:

• to give advance thought, discussion, or treatment to
• to foresee and deal with in advance
• to look forward to as certain

As I read these, the Holy Spirit transformed my misguided thinking about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His impending crucifixion. I use to mistakenly cite Luke 22:41‭-‬44 (NLT) as an example of Jesus’ anxiety about His impending excruciating death that He knew He had to endure…
He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

However, I now see Jesus anticipated and confessed, rather than obsessed, about His nervousness of what He had to endure. Look closely at the sequence, in Luke’s account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:

• Jesus knelt and prayed. He didn’t sit and talk to His disciples. Nor did He stand and declare He was okay. No, He humbled Himself before His Heavenly Father and admitted, I don’t want to if I don’t have to endure what is going to happen. That’s a prayer we all can pray, especially when we completely submit and tell our Heavenly Father, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine”. The first preventative measure for anxiety is to confess our discomfort to our Heavenly Father.
• Next in the sequence, we see an angel strengthening Jesus. Don’t miss that significant detail. When, Jesus was at His weakest, God sent an angel to strengthen Him. That should be an encouragement to us. God will send angels to strengthen us when we’re at our weakest point. This, coupled with the first preventative measure, makes me think, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” – Hebrews 4:16 NLT. The second preventative measure to anxiety is find strength in God’s presence. He dispatches His angels to see about us in our time of need.
• The last anxiety preventative measure we can learn from Jesus is, keep praying. Now, this seems contradictory to trusting God and being strengthened by Him, but it’s actually exactly what the doctor ordered. I understand transplant patients have to take medication for the rest of their life to help the body not reject the foreign body part. Well, in the same way, we need to remain spiritually connected to prevent our mental obsession from blocking our spiritual confession of our uneasiness for what lies ahead. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT) says, “Never stop praying.”

So whatever you’re facing that is causing you uneasiness, remember to confess rather than obsess. And remember the way to prevent anxiety is to follow Jesus’ example:

• Kneel (humble yourself) and pray
• Be strengthened by God’s angels
• Never stop praying

We know this will work because, Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)
promises…
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Always continue to pray, to keep anxiety away!

Today’s song is…
The Altar
https://youtu.be/sA71rEptr_Q?si=AHkIC4oq44GB0MlE

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)