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Usually human beings fear or worry about the possibility of failure in one endeavor or the other. Also the fear of failure creates in the minds of some believers, doubts leading to worry and anxiety.\u00a0 Believers often forget that God has the master plan for everything He created and has made adequate provisions for them.\u00a0 Lack of faith, fear or worry makes us lose focus on God\u2019s providence for our lives.\u00a0 God wants us to be patient and acknowledge Him, so that he can bring to fulfillment His plans for our lives.\u00a0 This study focuses on how we can solve the problem of anxiety and worry.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Readers Digest Great Illustrated Dictionary defines anxiety as a state of uneasiness and distress about future uncertainties; apprehension; worry or eagerness.<\/span><\/p>\n Simply put, anxiety is the state of feeling nervous or worried that something bad may likely happen.\u00a0 Anxiety is a troubled feeling in the mind, caused by fear and uncertainty about the future, real or imagined.\u00a0 Anxiety takes root from the mind.\u00a0 Worries and fears take over when we are not able to achieve what we want or not have our needs met.\u00a0 Such is the situation in the society today.\u00a0 We have forgotten that \u2018except the Lord build the house, he that builds, builds in vain\u201d.<\/p>\n We are admonished in Matthew 6:25-34, not to \u201cworry about your life, \u201cfor God has made everything available to all His children.\u201d\u00a0 As God provided manna in the wilderness to the children of Israel, so is God still providing for His people and will continue to provide for us all.\u00a0 Worry weakens our faith in God, because the devil\u2019s mission is to steal, kill and destroy, John 10:10.\u00a0 There is a spirit behind anxiety which should be resisted by every believer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea according to the prophecy, the wise men received a sign and decided to find him and worship Him.\u00a0 The news came to King Herod and immediately he became troubled.\u00a0 The fear of another King coming overwhelmed him completely.\u00a0 In order to overcome his fear he made a decision which led to the mass killing of innocent children, Matthew 2: 16-18.\u00a0 He thought his decision, born out of fear and worry, could address his fear.\u00a0 God had a greater plan to save the child Jesus, who was born king to save the world.\u00a0 Ultimately Herod died and his mission to kill the young child Jesus failed.<\/p>\n The Philistines started gathering against the children of Israel for battle, this created fear in the heart of Saul the king.\u00a0 Saul was instructed to wait for the prophet Samuel to arrive to tell him how to fight the Philistines, 1 Samuel 10:8; but out of anxiety and fear of being defeated, Saul could not wait for the arrival of Samuel, he called for the burnt offering and made the sacrifice himself.\u00a0 Soon after, the prophet arrived, 1 Samuel 13-8-14.\u00a0 Only a priest was allowed to offer such sacrifice.\u00a0 His action led him to trust too much on His military might and too little in God.\u00a0\u00a0 Also he thought that acting on the basis of his fear could substitute for true reliance on God.\u00a0 At the end, all this cost him his kingdom forever, verse 14.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Right from creation God gave man dominion over all things He created, Genesis 1:28-31, but man lost all of this right.\u00a0 As we worry and fear over those things we cannot acquire we cause ourselves mental illness and physical ailments such as high blood pressure, depression, frustration, chronic fatigue and other illness.\u00a0 Anxiety opens the door for the enemy to attack with sickness and these sicknesses could lead to untimely death.<\/p>\n Fear or worry hinders our ability to trust God.\u00a0 Most times this leads to impatience.\u00a0 In such situations we tend to find shortcuts to helping ourselves out.\u00a0 Instead of trying to help ourselves, we should patiently wait upon God, trusting in the fulfillment of His promises.<\/p>\n Fear and worry are negative attitudes from the devil, which affect our emotions.\u00a0 Joy disappears and depression takes over.\u00a0 We begin to see everyone as an enemy, and become suspicious of them. Instead of love in relationships, tension, hatred, distrust and suspicion set in.<\/p>\n Fear of failure or being defeated and wanting to achieve a goal or desire by all means can lead to compromise.\u00a0 Some Christian students get themselves in examination misconduct and malpractice out of anxiety.\u00a0 Some believers join secret societies out of anxiety to get promotion in an office or fulfill political aspirations.\u00a0 Some also get themselves involved in immorality to pass exams, earn promotions, etc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Discuss how the following can be the root causes of anxiety:<\/p>\n Fear \u2013 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 8:15<\/p>\n Sin, Covetousness \u2013 2 Kings 5:20<\/p>\n Impatience, Haste, Doubt, Ignorance, etc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prayer and dependence on God are the essential cure for anxiety.\u00a0 God is the only one who can solve all problems.\u00a0 When we call our God in prayers, our needs are met, 2 Chronicles 20:1-4<\/p>\n We should learn to praise God during our anxious moments.\u00a0 Praises magnify God above our situations; as we praise Him our burdens are lifted, 2 Chronicles 20:21-26<\/p>\n As we share our burdens with others in fellowship, encouragement, succor will come our way and faith will increase.<\/p>\n The Apostle Paul admonished the brethren in Philippi, \u201cbe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.\u201d \u201cThe peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus\u201d, Philippians 4:6-7.\u00a0\u00a0 Thanksgiving makes for wholeness.\u00a0 To overcome anxiety you must also deliberately stop looking at situations, rather begin to offer thanksgiving to God and he will exceed your expectation.<\/p>\n \u201c. . . if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free\u201d, John 8:31-32.\u00a0 If anxiety must be overcome, you must study the word of God.\u00a0 The word of God must always be employed through confession and appropriating it by faith in order to have permanent victory over anxiety.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is a thing of joy to see that at the end of the day to day activities one is successful.\u00a0 He goes to sleep with nothing to worry about and wakes up the next day refreshed.\u00a0 The reverse is the case when one ends the day with fear, worry \u2013 anxiety.\u00a0 However no matter the circumstances, believers are not expected to worry or be anxious about anything.\u00a0 We should trust God in all situations.\u00a0 \u201cHis divine power has given to us all that pertaineth to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue\u201d, 2 Peter 1:3.\u00a0 All that we worry about has been provided for by God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Philippians 4:6 \u2013 \u201cBe anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Overcoming Anxiety Central thought: When we cast our cares and burdens on the Lord, anxiety is subdued. Text: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:4-8 Usually human beings fear or worry about the possibility of failure in one endeavor or the other. Also the fear of failure creates in the minds of some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. What do you understand by anxiety?<\/span><\/h5>\n
2. Read Matthew 2:2-12 and 1 Samuel 13:8-14.\u00a0 Discuss how the following individual exhibited anxiety.<\/span><\/h5>\n
A. Herod:<\/h6>\n
B. Saul:<\/h6>\n
3. Discuss the following effects of anxiety.<\/h5>\n
\u00a0A. Danger to health:<\/h6>\n
B. Inability to trust in God:<\/span><\/h6>\n
C. Breeds suspicion in relationships:<\/h6>\n
D. Compromise:<\/h6>\n
4. Discuss some of the root causes of anxiety?<\/h5>\n
5. Discuss in practical terms how the following can help us to overcome anxiety.<\/h5>\n
A. Prayer:<\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0B. Praises:<\/h5>\n
C. Fellowship:<\/h6>\n
D. Thanksgiving:<\/span><\/h6>\n
E. The Word:<\/span><\/h6>\n
Daily Living Application:<\/h3>\n
Memory verse<\/h3>\n