GrowthStarts

Q&A: Is anxiety a sin or just a distraction?

Anxiety is “distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.” Anxiety or worry is a result of fear wrongly managed. (Fear rightly managed results in courage.) Fear itself is not a sin. It’s how we react to fear that may result in sin. As I heard Ike Reighard say earlier today speaking at the Acworth Business Association, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” (I believe Dorothy Bernard originally said that, by the by.)

The key to managing fears and anxieties is bringing them to the Lord in prayer. Paul said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6 NIV).

How long does in take in prayer to hand over anxiety? As long as it takes. You may find some time after praying that you are getting anxious again. Then pray again. And keep praying. Use Scripture in your prayers that have to do with God’s peace and how He takes care of us. Pray and keep praying.

Sometimes in your quiet times of prayer as you pray for others, you might feel distracted by something. Maybe it’s an upcoming meeting or some unresolved conflict or a need in your life. Whatever it is, you just can’t seem to shake it and it keeps distracting your prayers. Although it may seem like a distraction, turn your anxiety into the focus of your prayers. Drop your current prayer agenda and focus your prayers on what’s bugging you.

Sometimes our anxiety is not resolved by prayer alone. Sometimes we are anxious because we know we should do something but we avoid it or put it off. We procrastinate. This type of anxiety can’t be resolved by prayer. It can only be resolved by action. We need to do the thing that God wants us to do. Then we’ll get relief from our worries.

Don’t let fear turn into worry and anxiety. Instead, take it to God in prayer. Then take courage in the face of your fears and do what God is calling you to do!

Q&A: What do I do if temptations are making me dull to prayer?

About a month ago we did a GrowthStarts Seminar on prayer for the Stephen Ministers at our church as part of their ongoing training. As always, we ask on oiur feedback form for them to write down any questions we haven't answered for them. I want to take some posts over the coming days to try and answer those questions. So without further ado...

QUESTION: What do I do if temptations are making me dull to prayer?

This question opens up an age-old can of worms. In theory, I want to pray. I want my prayer life to grow. But in practice I find that I am always letting other things in my life crowd out prayer. I want prayer to be a priority in my life but I find that it’s easier to do everything else but pray.

Does this sound like anything else in your life? Just substitute prayer with exercise or Bible reading or studying or any other worthwhile priority.

What all these things have in common is that they are important things that we know we should do and we know would benefit us greatly, but we don’t do it because there are too many other temptations keeping us from it.

The key to making prayer happen in our lives is also the key to any other worthwhile priority. What we find is that we never will pray until we come up with a concrete plan to pray and then become ruthless in carrying out that plan.

First, pray about your prayer life (!) and ask God to give you wisdom and clarity about how to make prayer a bigger part of your life.

Then come up with a plan. It needs to be simple, practical, and doable. Start small. Set achievable goals, like pray every morning for five minutes.

Also be specific, like pray every morning after breakfast for five minutes, praying for the following things: (1) my day, (2) my family, and (3) my church.

Make a plan to evaluate at least once a month to assess how you are meeting your goals and what you need to change and adjust. Set new goals as necessary.

Be ruthless in sticking to your plan. As Bill Hybels says, “Don’t let the decision be negotiable.” There will always be a seemingly legitimate excuse for bailing out each day. Be ruthless in sticking to the plan and it will become a habit.

Finally, be accountable to someone for your goals. Maybe it’s your spouse or a friend or someone in your small group. But give someone the power to ask you how you’re doing in meeting your goals. Even better if that person joins with you on your goals, similar to a workout partner.

Follow these ideas, and don’t let the temptations of your day keep you from your devotion to pray.