Paul’s letter to the Philippians offers great insight into confronting and persevering through our anxiety. Verse 4:13 calls us to trust in the strength of God for everything: “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.”

The context of this is important. Paul is writing to the Philippians warning them. In chapter 3, he warns of them that anything that gets between us and Christ is a threat to us: “whatever gain I had, I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.”

This is easy in the abstract to read and agree with, but trying to live it is hard. Union with God for eternity is a prize worth more than everything we could dream of having on earth. Of course, giving up worldly desires, worldly goods and pleasures and anything else that is not God is good trade to gain eternal life with God. Intellectually, this is easy to accept.

The difficulty with this is that it is delayed gratification. We give up the things we desire now for the infinite joys of heaven later. We’re weak. We don’t want to give up things now.

This is the start of anxiety. We have attachments, things we want or have that we do not want to give up. When those things are at risk, anxiety is the natural response.

In chapter 4, Paul helps give the answer to this. Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice.” We must rejoice in the gift of eternal life in order to let go of the anxiety over losing whatever we are attached to now. We cannot give up the things of this world if we do not rejoice in what we are gaining.

Anyone involved in addiction can describe this well. No one quits an addiction. We don’t have the strength. The only way we can give up an addiction is to find something we love more than the addiction and choose it over the addiction. When I quit drinking, it was because I loved my family more than my attachment to alcohol. I never would have had the strength and perseverance if I didn’t have a love that was greater than the attachment to alcohol.

Others that I have known with attachments and addictions have described the same thing. We are not strong enough to quit, but we are strong enough to choose a greater love over the addiction.

Paul is calling us to rejoice in God, and with that joy and love, we can give up anything that leads us away from God.

Paul continues: “Let all men know your forbearance.” We must live and demonstrate our patience and perseverance. The challenge before us is great. It requires perseverance and patience. We need to remember this is a marathon, not a sprint, and persevere each day.

Now, although it is a marathon, there are times when we must focus on the sprint. I ran a marathon a number of years ago. Training for it took months of training every day. Actually, the training was several years if I include the time it took me to get in shape just to start training for the marathon. Every day, I had to work to prepare, and one of the more difficult challenges was avoiding injury. I was constantly pushing to the edge to overuse injuries – shin splints, tendonitis, muscle soreness, and other injuries were constantly threatening my training.

The training was grueling and painful. Many times I wanted to quit. It was a voluntary goal, so I had to find motivation within myself. This is where the sprint comes in. There were times when the pain and fatigue were great enough I couldn’t motivate myself to run further than to the next telephone pole. I was ready to quit but would resolve to sprint less than 100 yards with no thought of what I would do when I got there. Then, when that goal was achieved, I would set a new goal and go a little further. There were times this constant setting of new goals would drag me along for another hour or more.

How could I persevere in another hour of running when I didn’t think I could run more than another 30 or 60 seconds? It’s amazing what we can do when we think we are close to the finish. I stayed with the finish right in front of me, and was able to keep going.

In life, there are times when our perseverance is simply getting through the next minute or two. Focus for just a minute, and then repeat. Let everyone who knows you know your perseverance. They might see you running a marathon in some aspect of life, while you are ready to collapse and give up, but are focused on sprinting for the next minute.

Paul continues: “The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul understands we have anxiety. I’m sure he had anxiety as well. He knows the struggle. In our anxiety, we need to have confidence that the Lord is at hand – He is with us. Our prayers and petitions are heard by God, and the peace of God will keep us focused on Christ.

This doesn’t mean that we can dispel every anxiety immediately with a single prayer. Prayer isn’t magic. We can’t cause something as deep rooted as anxiety to go away by reciting special words.

Does that mean Paul is wrong. No. On the contrary, Paul is sticking to the best, and possibly the only real cure for anxiety. (There are a number of medical treatments for anxiety, and some are very effective. Please read the addendum at the bottom for more on medical treatments of anxiety.)

If we have anxiety, we feel threatened in some way. There is an attachment we have that we are worried about losing. That attachment may be a relationship, or some desire for power, control, respect, honor, money, pleasure or anything else.

Our prayers for that anxiety to cease are actually prayers for that attachment to be removed. If I’m attached to being in control of everything in my life, and that control is threatened, how would God help me?

Consider a time when the economy is in recession and I’m at risk of losing my job. My attachment is to security and control, and my anxiety is over losing that security and control.

God’s answer to my prayer may be to allow me to lose my job, but to give me ways to provide for me and my family that are completely out of my control. God would teach me to trust Him over my attachment to control. Such as gift from God may be tough at first. We have to let go of the attachment and trust in Him.

If we remember the Lord is at hand and we remain focused on Christ, we can persevere through any trial or difficulty. Our attachment to God can never be taken from us. If we make that our greatest attachment (ideally our only attachment), then there is nothing that can threaten us and there can be no anxiety.

This brings us to the verse we started with, 4:13: “I can do all things in him that strengthens me.” Or the translation: “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.”

When we surrender to God all that we have, dedicate ourselves to Him and remember that the Lord is at hand, we are strengthened. There is nothing we cannot persevere through. Paul is saying that when our attachment is to the Lord, nothing can break that if we keep our focus on God.

When Paul says we can do all things, he is not suggesting some formula for becoming super wealthy or powerful or famous. He is talking about something much more important – our relationship with God. If we focus on the Lord and persevere through every trial, not by our strength but by the strength of God, nothing can stop us.

It will never be by our strength, but always by God’s strength. We may set out to run a marathon, but we are not strong enough for the race. We will need God to carry us over the finish line. Paul makes it clear that we have nothing to fear. If we keep our focus on the Lord, strive to persevere and pray for God’s assistance, He will carry us through to the finish.

So, remember that you have the strength of God, the creator of the universe, ready to carry you, but you are not a passive passenger. You need to fight and crawl with all your strength. A marathon is 26.2 miles. You might only have the strength for the 0.2 miles, and God will need to carry you the other 26, but this still means you must give everything you have.

The beauty and comfort in this is knowing that whatever strength you have, if you give all of it, it will be enough added to the strength of God. You can persevere through anything through the Lord who empowers you!

Read more Scripture on Anxiety

 

Addendum: Medical Treatments for Anxiety

I noted that Paul’s advice of giving up our attachments may be the only real cure for anxiety. I believe this strongly, but also have personal experience fighting anxiety on a number of fronts. Anxiety, like any mental health disorder can have several causes: Spiritual, Psychological or Biological.

If the cause is spiritual or psychological, it likely involves a threat to some attachment. This can be extremely complex and difficult to see. Getting spiritual or psychological help may be necessary to see where the source is. It is hard to give up an attachment if you can’t recognize the attachment.

The third cause, biological problems, requires a different approach. If there is a chemical imbalance that is resulting in anxiety, then it is likely that medication is required to treat the issue. There are medications that are extremely effective. This is something to discuss with a doctor.

I’ve found that there are people who think that mental disorders should be treated by medical personnel only or that they should be treated with spiritual counseling only. I don’t understand either of these approaches. Some problems may be a single area. For example, if I break my arm I’m much better off seeking a doctor than going to my parish priest. Alternatively, if I have some obstacle in my life that prevents me from growing closer to God, this is likely to cause a wide range of problems, including anxiety, and my parish priest is likely the best resource. In other cases, a psychologist might be the best resource. Often, it is a combination of the three that will help the most.

God likes to work through us. God could do everything Himself, but instead, He chooses to use us to help each other. This is a gift. We need God’s help to do everything, so when God relies on us to help another, He is humbly giving us the opportunity to do the good He wants to bring about. Now, for me to help someone else, that person needs to be in need of help and needs to allow me to help them. So, when you seek the help of a priest, a doctor, a psychologist or anyone, you are giving them the opportunity to allow God to work through them.