key ingredient to beating anxiety... four

I never truly understood how my own thoughts affected my life until I read what God’s Word said about a person’s thought life. Can you remember what His Word tells us; what we need to think about? If not keep reading because the next key ingredient to beating anxiety is Thinking like God!

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:4-8

You might be thinking, yes, I know these verses but what does it have to do with beating anxiety? Paul tells us not to be anxious about anything but to pray to God with joy and thanksgiving and the peace of God will guard our hearts AND minds in Christ Jesus. He says to think of anything that is excellent, lovely, commendable, honorable, or worthy of praise. We are not to have anxious thoughts and are to think of good things. By keeping our minds on God’s Word, He is able to keep us in perfect peace!

I used to have a lot of trouble with thoughts of anxiety and thoughts of the worst things imaginable happening, and sometimes I still do. Sometimes bad and anxious thoughts just come and it’s hard to think of good and praiseworthy things during those moments of anxiety. So what then? What do we do when those anxious thoughts seem to consume us and we end up playing out the worst case scenario in our minds?

Paul again says to take every thought captive to Christ.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5

When thoughts of anxiety do come, take them captive and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Say to Him, “Here are these thoughts again Lord. I cannot get rid of them on my own but You can. I take these thoughts captive and give them to You.”

By giving these thoughts to Christ He is able to help you and transform you. He is able to transform your thought life. I’m not really sure how He does it, but I know that He can and will make your thoughts pure but you must be reading God’s Word as well. Without His Word you can’t meditate on what God says is good, pure and praiseworthy. Don’t forget Key Ingredient 2 and 3!

Ephesians 4:23 says that we are to be made new in the attitude of our minds.

Colossians 3:1-2 says “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above and not on earthly things.

And of course Romans 12:2, which I have mentioned earlier, says that we are to renew our minds and not to conform to this world.

This world is full of anxiety; God’s Kingdom has no fear.

We are not of this world! We have God’s Spirit! We do not need to live according to this world because God wants us to live in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:6); He wants us to set on minds on Him (Colossians 3:1-2), and He wants to have our minds be made brand new so that anxiety is a thing of the past!

We all must meditate on God’s Word, take those anxious and troubling thoughts captive to Jesus, and focus our sight on things above. Surrender your minds to God and allow Him to transform you into the new creation Christ has made you to be.

This ingredient to beating anxiety is crucial. I never truly understood how my thoughts affected me until God opened my eyes to the ways in which my thoughts had kept me in bondage for way too long. I’m continually trying to surrender this part of my life to Him and I see that the more I do it the easier it becomes and the more God can transform my thoughts.

Don’t forget to keep adding in ALL of the ingredients. You must have all of them in order to get the full benefit. And of course prayer is needed throughout all of it. I like to think of prayer as the mixer. We couldn’t make a cake without a mixer right? It's the same with prayer. You wouldn’t eat just the eggs or flour part of the cake and expect it to be delicious, right? So it is with all of these ingredients. You can’t have one without the other. Also please remember that everyone is different. You may need more times of praise and prayer or you may need to renew your mind more in order to believe God. What works for me may look different for you. Keep this in mind as you continue on your journey to beating anxiety. (And remember this, doctors can guide you as well if your anxiety is too troubling for you to handle, but as long as you keep God’s Word in your midst then you can do all things! Never stop reading and walking with Him even if some people do need the guidance of a doctor.)

Renewing our thoughts takes time. It takes endurance, patience and a right attitude. You can do it with Him though! With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26 and Genesis 18:14) Let's continue to renew our minds so we can think like God!

I hope this ingredient was as helpful to you as it was for me. God can renew your mind! He can and He will! Just believe! (Ingredient 1)

Keep checking back for more key ingredients.

May God bless you all!
~Gretchen