The Anatomy of Anxiety: Quotes of Note

Note: This week I’ve been blogging about my presentation at the CCEF National Conference on “The Anatomy of Anxiety: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety.”

• For Excerpt One Read: The Anatomy of Anxiety. 

• For Excerpt Two Read: Facing Anxiety Face-to-Face with Christ. 

• For Excerpt Three Read: Guard Your Relationship to God. 

• For Excerpt Four Read: It Takes a Congregation. 

• For the Complete Outline Visit: The Anatomy of Anxiety.

• For the Complete PowerPoint Presentation Visit: The Anatomy of Anxiety PowerPoint.

• For Tara Barthel’s Blog/Tweet Summary of the Session Read: Considerable Grace. 

Today I conclude this “mini-series” with some “Quotes of Note” from the session.

Quotes of Note

• Overcoming fear and anxiety is a relational discipleship process, not an exhortation event.

• Facing fear and anxiety is a comprehensive process involving the whole person in their whole life situation.

• If we’re to avoid the one-problem-one-verse-one-solution mentality and experience the relevance and power of God’s Word, then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety.

• My premise is simple: every dysfunctional, fallen emotion is a distortion of God’s original pre-fall design.

• With vigilance, God puts us in fast motion—the emotion urges us to act quickly in response to a life threat.

• Vigilance is proper, constructive concern for the well-being of others and for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Vigilance motivates us to implement “tend and befriend” behaviors.

• Vigilance motivates us to be God’s warrior. Anxiety, the flip side of vigilance, attempts to cripple and disarm God’s warrior, turning us into a worrier.

• In self, I am a worrier; in Christ, I am a warrior.

• Worry draws our eyes inward. Warriors look outward. Worry protects self. Warriors are willing to die to self to protect others.

• Anxiety is vigilance out of control. Anxiety is toxic scanning.

• Anxiety is vigilance minus faith in God. Anxiety is vigilance trying to maintain control in a self-protective and self-sufficient way.

• When anxiety strikes, where does it drive you? Do you respond by trusting God and protecting others? Or by trusting yourself and protecting yourself?

• When anxiety stalks, faith wrestles.

• Nothing is more courageous than doing the right thing even when we’re terrified. Nothing is more godly than facing our fears even when our fears are not eliminated.

• Martin Luther, who struggled with anxiety, noted that to deal effectively with life’s daily fears, we must first deal with life’s ultimate fear—separation from God.

• When anxiety strikes, we focus so much on the situation and our feelings that we lose focus on God, or we accept a skewed view of God.

• When we see God as our God of peace, then we can experience the peace of God that guards our hearts and minds.

• I can live an unguarded life because God is my Guard. I can protect others because God is my Protector. I can focus my energies on God and others because God is my Sentinel.

• Seeing God as our Guard helps guard our soul against the attack of anxiety.

• In anxiety, we choose a crippling focus on our circumstances. In worshipful prayer, we choose a healing focus on God’s character.

• When anxiety attacks, attack back with trusting, humble asking.

• Paul is not solution-focused. He’s SOUL-u-tion focused! To address anxiety we have to relate face-to-face with Christ and with the Body of Christ. True ministry is soul-to-soul ministry.

• Paul’s biblical counsel for victory in anxiety involves standing firm in community—with brothers and sisters in Christ, with dear spiritual friends.

• Victory in anxiety comes in community.

• Two questions are central as we fight against anxiety: Who is God? What is my identity in Christ?

• We’ll never experience wholeness in self. However, in Christ we are promised wholeness, integration, harmony, fullness. Paul calls it peace (Phil. 4:7)—a settled rest and confident assurance.

• God’s peace will put a sentinel around your heart and mind. He will garrison your beliefs and images so that in the midst of external stress and internal distress, you can experience core rest.

• The core heart sin with anxiety is failure to trust God. We decide to trust our puny resources rather than to entrust ourselves to Christ’s infinite resources.

• Feeling fearful; guard your relationship with God your Guard.

• Feeling fearful; connect deeply with others.

• Feeling fearful; know who you are in/to Christ.

• Feeling fearful; renew your mind in Christ.

• Feeling fearful; act courageously.

• Feeling fearful, soothe your soul in your Savior.

• Anxiety feeds on anxiety. Avoiding what I fear breeds greater fear. Nothing empowers fear more than fleeing a fearful event. We need to take vigilant action.

• When are you “healed” from anxiety? When you are tending and befriending others even if the anxious feelings remain. When you are protecting others, not yourself, because you cling to God as your Protector.

• Feel your feelings, but don’t surrender to them—surrender them to Christ.

• The Bible recognizes the complex interplay between the body and soul (Gen. 2:7).

• Remember the power of the Gospel. Cling to all of God’s Word—it is sufficient to guide us in our journey toward victory in anxiety and toward helping others to experience victory in anxiety.

Join the Conversation 

I’ll end today’s blog post the way I ended our session at CCEF.

• Related to anxiety issues, what will you do differently in your life and ministry because of our discussion of “The Anatomy of Anxiety”?

It Takes a Congregation

Note: This Saturday I will be presenting at the CCEF National Conference on “The Anatomy of Anxiety: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety.” This week I’m sharing some excerpts. For Excerpt One read: The Anatomy of Anxiety. For Excerpt Two read: Facing Anxiety Face-to-Face with Christ. For Excerpt Three read: Guard Your Relationship to God.

Commit to Mature Relationships with God’s People

The Apostle Paul’s solution to anxiety is not simply to exhort, “Stop being anxious!” He doesn’t practice the infamous Bob Newhart style of counseling: “Stop it! Just stop it!” Paul is not solution-focused. He’s SOUL-u-tion focused! To address anxiety we have to relate face-to-face with Christ.

We also have to relate face-to-face with the Body of Christ. True ministry is soul-to-soul ministry. We discover this biblical reality as we travel back in the larger context of Philippians. Paul saturates his brief letter with one-another connections: 1:4-5, 7-8, 27-28, 2:1-5, 19-24; 3:17; 4:1-3. Since mature love casts out fear, we need mature relationships with our brothers and sisters to fight anxiety.

Live the Truth in Love: Spiritual Friends

Paul floods the immediate context of Philippians 4:6 with a social/relational focus:

• Therefore my brothers (4:1)

• You whom I love and long for (4:1)

• Stand firm in the Lord, dear friends (4:1)

• I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to agree with each other (4:2)

• Loyal friends, help these women who have contended at my side (4:3)

• Along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers (4:3)

Paul’s biblical counsel for victory in anxiety involves standing firm in community—with brothers and sisters in Christ, with dear spiritual friends.

“Loyal friends” (or “yokefellows”) is used only this one time in the Bible. It means to be united by a relational bond as close as family. It pictures comrades, partners, loyal spiritual friends. A band of brothers. Sisters in the Spirit. “Fellow workers” is sun athleo: athletes together! Teammates.

It’s not, “Take two verses and call me in the morning.” It’s, “Travel with a few safe spiritual friends morning, noon, and night.” It’s, “Cultivate a band of brothers, a sorority of sisters, a team of spiritual athletes, a family of spiritual friends.” Victory in anxiety comes in community.

Speak the Truth in Love: Spiritual Conversations

What sort of spiritual relationships and conversations can spiritual brothers and sisters engage in to experience joint victory in anxiety? Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-10 points the way toward how we apply the gospel to intimidating situations, terrifying opposition, and overwhelming feelings.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:9-10).

Ministry is not only love or only truth. It’s both/and: speaking the truth in love we grow up in Christ (Eph. 4:15-15). From Paul’s letter to the Philippians and his other epistles, we can summarize a four-fold “GPS”—God’s Positioning Scripture—regarding how to speak gospel truth in love.

GPS # 1: Empathy—“It’s Terrifying to Experience Anxiety”

Before we invite our anxious friends to listen to God’s story of faith, we must listen well to their story of fear. We must sense what it is like to live in a perpetual state of stuck vigilance—the frightening world where every little thing startles me and every little concern consumes me.

In working with Mike, I first wanted to compassionately identify with him as he described his story of being stuck in a perpetual state of alarm. I wanted to feel what he felt (Romans 12:15). I wanted to “climb in the casket” with him. I glean that phrase from Paul’s description of his struggles in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9.

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond dour ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we felt the sentence of death…”

GPS # 2: Encouragement—“It’s Possible to Experience Peace Even When You Feel Worried”

Of course, we don’t want to stay in the casket! Paul didn’t. “…but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9b). We not only climb in the casket, we also celebrate the empty tomb!

Yes, we listen compassionately to our friend’s story of fear, but we also join them in listening courageously to God’s story of bold trust and brave sentry duty. We explore with them biblical realities like those we are learning as we probe Philippians.

GPS # 3: Exposure—“It’s Horrible to Self-Protect, but Amazing to Be Forgiven”

Yes, we need to empathize and encourage. However, since our fallen response to anxiety includes self-protection rather than trusting God’s protection and protecting others, we also need to expose sinful self-protection. And, we need to expose God’s forgiving grace and His accepting heart.

Before it went off the air, I used to love the TV show Monk. Detective Adrian Monk struggles with OCD and a multitude of phobias. He has a very sweet assistant, Natalie. As much as I loved the show and liked the character Monk, it drove me crazy the way he mistreated Natalie by only thinking of himself. Monk’s friends and therapist enabled him (in the bad sense of that word) by never or rarely confronting him with the self-centered side of his response to his fears. While the feeling or experience of anxiety may not be under our direct control, how we respond to it is something for which we are accountable.

GPS # 4—Empowerment—“It’s Supernatural to Trust and Defend”

Every once in a while Detective Adrian Monk did something brave, something courageous that protected Natalie or his other friends and co-workers. It seemed almost miraculous. And, really it is. It is not natural for any of us to care about others. It is supernatural.

How does someone who is terrified of life begin to trust God and defend others? How do they, how do we, learn to tap into Christ’s resurrection power (Phil. 3:10) to overpower fear with faith, hope, love, and peace? Through empowering conversations where we help others to apply gospel truth to their daily lives. I recall one empowering conversation with Mike that jump-started the change process in his life.

“Mike, I greatly respect the depth of your repentance over your self-protection. And I respect the way you’re tapping into Christ’s power. It’s exciting for me to see you use your ‘hyper-vigilance’ not in a self-centered way, but in an other-centered way. I know that it’s exhausting to always feel like you’re on sentinel duty. But even in your exhaustion you turned your well-tuned radar toward guarding the garden when you graciously but firmly care-fronted your pastor about the way he was relating to the Board….”

Applying the Gospel to Daily Life

• As you struggle against anxiety, who are your spiritual teammates? Do you have a band of spiritual brothers, a sorority of spiritual sisters who fight with you?

Guard Your Relationship with God Your Guard: Faith in Your Father

Note: This Saturday I will be presenting at the CCEF National Conference on “The Anatomy of Anxiety: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety.” This week I’m sharing some excerpts. For Excerpt One read: The Anatomy of Anxiety. For Excerpt Two read: Facing Anxiety Face-to-Face with Christ.

Faith in Your Father

Throughout his 1,628 words, Paul weaves gospel-centered principles of vigilance—the faith response to threat. Not surprisingly, he saturates his letter with encouragement to focus our hearts on faith in our Father: Philippians 1:2, 6, 7; 2:12-13, 15; 3:8-11, 15, 20-21; 4:4-7, 13, 19.

All of these passages speak to the reality that the believer has an eternally secure relationship with God by grace through faith in Christ. Martin Luther, who struggled with anxiety, noted that to deal effectively with life’s daily fears, we must first deal with life’s ultimate fear. Hebrews 2:15 explains that ultimate fear: apart from Christ we live every day in slavery to the fear of death—separation from God. My ultimate anxiety is my fear that I will never find peace with God, never be accepted by God.

Luther, Paul, the author of Hebrews, and the Apostle John all understand the core gospel-centered “answer” to ultimate fear and anxiety. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

When I was working with Mike we explored his relationship with Christ. He summarized the impact of our interactions.

“If we had only focused on my ‘earthly’ fears, we never would have hit the heart issue. When we started applying Romans 8 to my life, and the truth that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ and that nothing can separate a Christian from God, that launched me on a path toward defeating anxiety. With that BIG issue settled, every other fear—while not wiped away—fell into place, a place I could handle with Christ. I needed the calm assurance of my eternally secure relationship with the God of peace before I could even begin to experience the peace of God in my daily struggles.”

Renew Your Image of God

Paul further stresses our faith relationship to God in the immediate context of Philippians 4:6 by sandwiching around and slicing within the following images:

• The Lord is near (4:4)

• The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (4:6)

• The God of peace will be with you (4:9)

When anxiety strikes, we focus so much on the situation and our feelings that we lose focus on God, or we accept a skewed view of God. Paul helps us to counter that temptation by renewing our image of God. He is the God of peace Who loved us so much that He sent His Son to reconcile us back to Himself.

When we see God as our God of peace, then we can experience the peace of God that guards our hearts and minds. Robertson translates it beautifully: “Shall garrison. God’s peace as a sentinel mounts guard over our lives”

When Mike and I discussed this concept he almost jumped out of his chair.

“I don’t have to live an anxious, guarded life. I don’t have to guard myself or be self-protective. I don’t have to be self-focused—always stuck scanning my horizon fearfully. I can live an unguarded life because God is my Guard! I can protect others because God is my Protector! I can focus my energies on God and others because God is my Sentinel!”

Engage in Worshipful Prayer Focused on God’s Character 

The word Paul uses for anxiety in Philippians 4:6 pictures being habitually and perpetually stuck in the abyss of worry about everything, being continually distracted by many cares that draw the mind in countless divided directions. Paul’s a realist, so he tells us how to stop living like that: seeing God as our Guard helps guard our soul against the attack of anxiety.

As a realist, Paul doesn’t just say what not to do. He tells us what to do instead. Instead of giving into anxiety’s attack, fight back through prayer. Paul chooses a word for prayer which highlights worshipful prayer focusing on God’s character. In anxiety, we choose a crippling focus on our circumstances. In worshipful prayer, we choose a healing focus on God’s character.

This God-focus is reminiscent of Isaiah 26:3. “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” “Mind” is the Hebrew word for our imagination. It’s our ability to picture our world, to take snap-shot images that summarize our beliefs. Isaiah repeats “shalom” twice to communicate perfect peace, complete wholeness. We’ll experience shalom shalom when we focus our imagination faithfully on our faithful Father.

Open Your Palms to God

So far we’ve only look at one word—prayer—in the litany of counsel that Paul gives us about what to do instead of giving into anxiety. He also urges us to relate to God through petition, thanksgiving, and requests.

When worry strikes, we’re to approach God our fatherly Guide with petitions—asking God urgently, specifically, and vulnerably to handle what we’re worry about, to supply our daily bread. In this spirit we present our requests to God. Paul pictures us asking God humbly, submissively, and trustingly.

Remember the musical Oliver? The poor orphan boy, Oliver, breaks the rules of the orphanage by daring to ask, “Please, Sir, may I have some more?” With both palms open wide and arms extended, Oliver lifts his empty bowl of soup heavenward. When anxiety attacks, attack back with trusting, humble asking.

“Father, I’m overwhelmed. I see no way out. I feel like I’m starved of resources. My bowl of soup is empty, my gas dank is on E, my resources are depleted. Rather than trusting in me, I’m clinging to You. I’m feeble. You’re Almighty. I refuse to rely upon myself. I choose to rely upon You.”

Applying the Gospel to Daily Life

Ponder an anxiety-producing situation you are currently facing. What specific application could you make using these principles:

• Renew Your Image of God

• Engage in Worshipful Prayer Focused on God’s Character

• Open Your Palms to God

Facing Anxiety Face-to-Face with Christ

Note: This Saturday I will be presenting at the CCEF National Conference on “The Anatomy of Anxiety: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety.” This week I’m sharing some excerpts. For Excerpt One read: The Anatomy of Anxiety. 

Philippians As a Model

From cover to cover the Bible has much to say about moving from fear to faith. We’ll look at one book—Philippians—and focus on one chapter—chapter 4. We’re concentrating here not because it is the only or “best” place to look for wisdom regarding anxiety, but because it’s the “common place” with that oft-quoted verse about being anxious for nothing (Phil. 4:6). We want to put that verse in the context of Paul’s entire letter to the Philippians.

My hope is that by the time we’re done you will be thinking. “Incredible! One short epistle and one brief chapter in the Bible have that much relevant counsel about anxiety. I can’t wait to explore the rest of the Word to find truth for life so that I can experience victory in anxiety!”

In the original Greek, Paul’s letter has just 1,628 words. That’s about the size of two blog posts. Chapter four has just 356 words—less than two pages in an average book. Yet, we find the following comprehensive (robust) and compassionate (relational) insights for victory in anxiety.

• Guard Your Relationship with God Your Guard: Faith in Your Father

• Commit to Mature Relationships with God’s People: It Takes a Congregation

• Cling to Your Identity in Christ: Wholeness in Christ

• Put on the Mind of Christ: The Weapons of Your Warfare

• Practice What You Preach: Living and Loving with Courage

• Soothe Your Soul in Your Savior: Emotional Maturity 101

• Live Wisely in a Fallen World: Jars of Clay

Paul’s Purpose: Gospel-Centered Vigilance

In basic Bible study classes, we’ve all learn that when you see a “therefore” you ask, “What’s it there for?” Before Paul counsels us to be anxious for nothing (Phil. 4:6), he starts with a “therefore” which points us to the purpose of his letter to the Philippians.

There’s another foundational principle for studying and applying God’s Word. We must understand the original intent of the author in his original context. We can’t “cherry pick” a topic or theme and force it onto Paul’s writings if that theme was not a part of his original purpose. That would be like reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and seeking to apply it to the political issues of our day—it’s totally out of context. So, let’s follow that “therefore” to find Paul’s focus in his letter to his spiritual friends in Philippi.

Paul writes to real people with real problems out of his very real situation. As he writes, Paul is jailed for his faith and the Philippians understand that they could be next. Now that could create anxiety! Paul’s purpose in writing them is to encourage them to live worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1:27). He wants them to “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you” (Phil. 1:27b-28a).

A. T. Robertson explains that “stand firm” is a word used in the context of temptation to defection and panic. It describes someone who wants to give up, give in, and get out. If that’s not a description of anxiety, I don’t know what is.

Frightened” portrays the metaphor of a timid or scared horse—skittish. According to Robinson the best translation is “startled.” Frightened, timid, scared, skittish, and startled—that’s the anatomy of anxiety.

Paul’s Model: Stand Firm!

In this context of anxiety, Paul explains that the gospel enables us to “stand firm.” The Greek word means to take a stand, to be steadfast, to stand erect and at attention—to be a guard, a sentry, a sentinel. Paul exhorts us to stay on guard as we “contend together”—a word from the athletic arena that pictures striving together with discipline against unrelenting opposition.

The purpose of Philippians is to teach us how gospel-centered living empowers us to experience victory together in anxiety. Paul frames his entire letter against the backdrop of helping Christ-followers to remain vigilant when everything inside and out screams, “Retreat!”

Paul’s life purpose is to model the courage of a warrior for Christ when facing internal and external worries. “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death” (Phil. 1:20).

Applying the Gospel to Daily Life

Ponder a situation where you feel like retreating, but you sense God saying, “Stand firm!” How could a gospel-centered commitment to glorify Christ impact your response?

The Anatomy of Anxiety: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety

This Thursday through Saturday I will be at the CCEF National Conference. To learn more about the conference, visit: Psychiatric Disorders: A Compassionate Look at Complex Problems. I will be speaking on The Anatomy of Anxiety. Below is a brief excerpt from the my introductory remarks.

Victory Over or Victory In?

My initial sub-title for this presentation was: God’s Prescription for Victory Over Anxiety. Then I was struck by something Philip Yancey penned.

“Much of what I read on depression, on doubt, on suicide, on suffering, on homosexuality, seems written by people who begin with a Christian conclusion and who have never been through the anguished steps familiar to a person struggling with depression, doubt, suicide, suffering, or homosexuality. No resolution could be so matter-of-fact to a person who has actually survived such a journey.”

I hope in what follows to convey something of what it’s actually like to be struggling with and fighting against anxiety. What does it look like to experience victory in anxiety and to do so in a biblical, Christ-honoring, gospel-centered way?

The Remedy to Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning

Here’s the stereotype; I hope you haven’t faced it. You share with a friend, counselor, or pastor that you’re struggling with worry, fear, or anxiety. Their response? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6).

In that scenario, it’s not even “take two verses and call me in the morning.” It’s “take one verse and don’t call me.” We need a much more robust, relational approach to changing lives with Christ’s changeless truth. What would it look like in real life?

Paul, who wrote Philippians 4:6, also said, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8). God calls us to share Scripture and soul—truth and love. Facing and fighting anxiety is a relational discipleship process, not an exhortational event.

Victory in anxiety requires a comprehensive, compassionate biblical theology of anxiety. I know what you’re thinking. “I’m struggling with anxiety and you’re talking about theology!”

Bear with me. If we’re to avoid the one-problem-one-verse-one-solution mentality and experience the relevance and power of God’s Word, then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety.

We need to understand a Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation view of anxiety. That biblical anatomy lesson will provide us with the foundation we need to benefit from God’s prescription for victory in anxiety.

Join the Conversation

How do you apply theology to life?

In your life, do you typically experience victory over or victory in?

re-Focus: 2011 Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference 

Tuesday through Thursday, May 24-26, I will be speaking five times at the Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference. This year’s theme is re-Focus. 

I’d appreciate your prayers as I attempt to help pastors to re-Focus on: 

• Ministering to Grieving People: God’s Healing for Life’s Losses

• Equipping Their Church for One-Another Ministry: Leaving a Legacy of Loving Leaders

• Marriage Counseling: Building Oneness in a Christ-Centered Marriage

• Cultivating Christ-like Intercultural Ministries: A Theological Primer or “Why Bother?”

• Counseling Parishioners Struggling with Anxiety: The Anatomy of Anxiety

Later this week, check out the Free Resources section of the RPM website for free downloads of each of the five PowerPoint lessons. Look under Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference Documents (2011).

Join the Conversation

Which of the five topics would you want to re-Focus on?