From Anxiety to Intimacy

Today, as we enter day two of our study, From Anxiety to Intimacy, we are faced with the ongoing question: how do we move from people caught up by our anxiety and become individuals walking in peace and intimacy with God?

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6

First, we need to create an environment where those anxieties can rise up and leave us by using prayer and supplication. Prayer means creating a space to interact with God, and supplication means making a request.

Give yourself permission to find space for prayer and allow your requests to bubble up. Then, offer them to God in supplication.

Anxiety can be a powerful motivator of activity; it just doesn't lead you in the most productive of directions.

How do we move from being caught up in anxiety to people who are walking in intimacy and peace with God?

Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

Paul is saying to release your anxiety to God in prayer. The verb Paul uses for "let" is one that implies that the anxiety wants to get out, so let it.

Prayer, here in this passage, refers to the general space we open to interact with God. People don't think that they have time for this, but as they say in sharpshooter school, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." They mean that hurrying costs you your accuracy. So many people are busy, but they are not efficient. If we can slow down, we can be smooth, even fast. We will become comfortable being with God, and as it becomes a habit, we will cultivate that vulnerable space even quicker.

Supplication is to make a request. We have the opportunity to sit with the Creator of the universe and ask Him things.

Many believers try to jump straight into reading the Bible first thing in the morning, but they have all these stresses and anxieties in the front of their minds. They try to power through and read the Scripture, but they are so preoccupied with everything going on that they don't comprehend or retain anything they read. Then, they get frustrated and feel like it was all a waste of time. They spend the rest of the day pinging around as a giant ball of anxiety. Ben teaches that it may be time to try something different.

First thing in the morning, ask yourself how you feel and write it out. Before getting into the Word, check yourself. Writing out your anxiety externalizes it and lets it be made known as a request to God. Lingering in the intimacy of Him brings you out of a state of anxiety.