Living in the Word – Prayer Devotional for Anxiety
As Christian mental health therapist I sit with people who struggle with anxiety on a daily basis. I also personally struggle with anxiety more than I would like!
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
Wow! That’s a lot of worriers.
Anxiety can cause a person to avoid taking a risk or going out on a limb. And that can stop a person from experiencing personal and spiritual growth. At times, anxiety can feel like it has a stronghold on your heart.
It can feel impossible to release the anxiety and the worry and to allow God to lead.
Thankfully, with support, anxiety disorders are also the most treatable mental health disorder. So often our anxieties come from past wounds, false messages, and irrational fears. And support comes in all forms. Today’s support comes to us in the form of God’s word!
Take the time to read the below bible scriptures and truly focus on what they are saying to you. Some passages may touch you differently than others. Writing down the verses in your own hand is helpful for some individuals. Possibly looking up the verses in your own bible may be beneficial. I use a NIV bible translation. Or reading them over and over to commit to memory. Whatever method works best for you to experience God’s words and feel closer to Him.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Matthew 6:25-28
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Proverbs 12:25
An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Ecclesiastes 11:10
So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast of the troubles of your body, for your and vigor are meaningless.
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
God Bless,
Melissa Gendreau