Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 146
TRANSCRIPT
The Bible says to be anxious for nothing, yet how many of us would admit that at times we struggle with anxiety? For some, anxiety is so overwhelming that they cannot function. For others, anxiety is that thing that causes them to lose sleep from time to time. In this podcast, I am going to talk about anxiety and give you some tips that I hope will be helpful on how to deal with it when it hits your life.
I’m Lee Whitman from Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. Anxiety is something that is a normal part of life. That is why God had Paul address it in Philippians 4:6, which is today’s verse. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.”
Let’s begin by talking about anxiety. Just to be transparent, AI is helping me by doing research for me on the symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety is a word that covers a broad range of conditions from mild to severe. Anxiety is a normal human emotion involving feelings of fear, worry, and unease, often triggered by stress of perceived threats. A normal feeling of anxiety often comes over a situation that threatens you, which is out of your control. For example, if you get a bill in the mail and you don’t have the money to pay it. That is a stressful situation that causes a normal sense of anxiety. My sense of anxiety is triggered anytime I receive a letter from the IRS. I have never had a problem with the IRS, but just receiving a letter from them causes me anxiety that they might be coming to arrest me and throw me in a gulag somewhere in outer Slavovia. Wow, where did that come from? You may have other triggers that cause anxiety to get triggered.
Some people struggle with severe anxiety, which the medical community calls an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders involve persistent and overwhelming anxiety that significantly impacts daily life. We have known people who cannot even leave their house due to anxiety. Often, this more severe anxiety can cause physical symptoms such as a rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, or even hives. Anxiety can interfere with work, social interactions, school, and relationships.
Anxiety can be triggered by many things. We did ministry with a guy who was terribly afraid of the color blue. He would avoid anything blue if at all possible. When in public settings, and he had to go into a blue room, he would break out in a sweat and have a hard time breathing, and many times had to leave. During our ministry time with him, he asked Jesus why he was so terrified of the color blue. Jesus gently took him back to the room where his father would sexually abuse him regularly. You can probably guess, but the room was blue. He had no conscious memory of this room until Jesus gently reminded him. Jesus then brought healing to his wounded and broken heart, and now the color blue does not have the same effect. He will probably never buy a blue car, but the anxiety over the color blue is gone.
Anxiety has a direct impact on our thought life. Anxious thoughts and worry can be difficult to control, making it hard to focus or think clearly. Many times, we can control the anxious thoughts during the daytime when we are fully awake, but at night, when our minds should be resting, these anxious thoughts attack and are hard to fight off.
To put anxiety into perspective, here are some statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health.
- Approximately 19% of adults in the United States experience anxiety disorder (the more severe type of anxiety). That is roughly 40 million people.
- Globally, it is estimated that 4.4% or around 301 million people are affected worldwide. Anxiety affects 19% of those in the US, but only 4% of the rest of the world. Interesting!
- Women are more likely to experience anxiety than men. 23% of women vs.14% of men.
- Social anxiety affects about 7% of adults.
- Anxiety disorders increase with age, with the highest rates among adults aged 18-23.
- Anxiety is more common in people with lower incomes and less education.
Anxiety is a real thing. This, however, is one of the reasons I really love RTF. We do believe that some people need medication at times to help with severe anxiety because the anxiety has altered the chemicals in their body. We also believe that counseling and therapy can be helpful for someone trying to walk out of this struggle. At RTF, we are not against these clinical solutions to anxiety. But until you have your foundation restored, you are trying to build on a faulty foundation with counseling and therapy. I find it very interesting that a higher percentage of people who struggle with anxiety live in the United States compared to the rest of the world. I believe the reason for that is that there are spiritual forces at work here in the United States that are not affecting other parts of the world. Oh, they have their own demons affecting them, but they are different from the ones here in the US. There was a day when I would have written off anyone who said what I just said as a lunatic. I was taught that not everything is due to demons. Then how do you explain the huge disparity of people from the US who struggle with anxiety compared to the people from the rest of the world? I believe that God established the United States to be a beacon of the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world. How better for God’s enemy to hinder that purpose than to cause people in the US to be anxious and not trust God. We are in a spiritual battle, so I believe the foundation for most issues we deal with are spiritual.
So, how can RTF help someone who is struggling with anxiety? I am glad you asked. Since the roots of anxiety are spiritual, you must apply a spiritual solution to a spiritual problem. We all inherit many things from our ancestors. I have talked before about having two heart attacks. My father had high cholesterol and heart problems, and my grandfather had high cholesterol and heart problems. I inherited high cholesterol and heart problems. That is a physical inheritance. We also inherit spiritual problems from our ancestors, as well. Exodus 20:5 says, “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,” Our ancestors’ iniquity is passed on to the next generations. Most of the people who struggle with anxiety have ancestors who passed that iniquity on to them. What the iniquity of anxiety does is it puts pressure on the following generations to walk in anxiety. This generational iniquity must be cut off in order for the pressure to stop. Most people do not know how much pressure this generational iniquity puts on them until it is removed.
What are some of the ways the iniquity of anxiety puts pressure on a person? Here are just a few of the ways it may manifest in a person’s life:
- They might walk in false responsibility. They feel like they have to take care of others. It feels like their job or their duty.
- Fatigue is a symptom of anxiety. Feeling tired all the time from fighting the battle with anxiety.
- Nervousness is another way anxiety manifests. Not being able to relax. Worried that you have not done something you were supposed to do. Or the sense that you are waiting for the next bad thing to happen.
- Panic Attacks are a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or cause. The physical reactions can lead a person to believe that they are having a heart attack or are going to die.
- Not being able to stop worrying is a sign of the iniquity of anxiety.
- Other symptoms like restlessness, stress, and weariness come from the iniquity of anxiety.
Anxiety is very closely aligned with fear. Fear is what empowers anxiety. It is difficult to tell what is fear and what is anxiety, so these two open doors must be dealt with together. One strengthens the other, causing a stronghold of fear and anxiety.
This iniquity must be cut off spiritually. You can’t counsel away these spiritual roots. Only by applying the blood of Jesus and the Cross of Christ to these inherited iniquities will they be completely removed from your life.
This struggle with anxiety does not have just one root. It is held in place by several things. The second thing that holds anxiety in place and must be dealt with are the thoughts generated by the anxiety. Jim came to us for ministry because he was having a desperate struggle with anxiety. He could not sleep through the night many nights because of fearful thoughts. He was also having panic attacks during the day and on one occasion went to the hospital because he believed he was having a heart attack. As we talked, we asked Jim what the anxiety was saying to him. He thought for a minute and said, “I feel like I am going to fail everyone in my life.” He then looked at us and said, “I have never put those feelings into words like that before. I never knew what my fear was, I only knew it would overwhelm and paralyze me.” Jim had been reacting to the emotion of fear and anxiety, but he did not know why. We led Jim to renounce the lie he was believing and to ask God for His truth. I don’t remember what God said to Jim, I only remember that Jim is a new man. The panic attacks have stopped, and he now has the tools to be able to fight off the negative thoughts.
Your anxiety is saying something to you as well. It is one of the tethers that holds anxiety in place. The tether must be removed to receive freedom from anxiety. The same is true of fear. The fear is saying something to you. Knowing what it says will help you be able to break its power over you.
Another problem that tethers anxiety to your life are wounds of the heart. Kevin woke up one night from a sound sleep as an 8-year-old boy to his house, being almost totally engulfed in fire. Kevin was able to wake his parents up, and neither he nor anyone else in his family was hurt, but he has been plagued by fear and anxiety at night ever since. He had been taught some techniques to hold the fear and anxiety at bay so he could sleep most nights, but this fear never went away. The fear and anxiety would raise its ugly head at unexpected times. It could be triggered by a smell, a sound, or even by the wind hitting the outside of his house. He had been to several counselors to help him with this irrational fear and anxiety, but the best they could do was teach him how to cope when the fear and anxiety were triggered. Fortunately, someone suggested that Kevin receive RTF ministry. During the ministry, God took Kevin back to the night when his house caught on fire. As Kevin began to relive the horror of that night, Jesus showed him it was Jesus who woke him up that night so he could get the family out of the house. For years, Kevin had believed that he was lucky that he woke up, and the fear was that he would not be so lucky the next time. Now he knows that he can trust Jesus even when he is asleep. That one encounter with Jesus has set Kevin free from the fear and anxiety. Jesus wants to do the same for you. He wants to meet you in the middle of your fear and anxiety and bring healing to your wounded heart. And Jesus is really good at knowing what needs to be healed and then bringing His unique and intimate healing to your heart.
Many listening today struggle with fear and anxiety. You do not need to live with fear and anxiety. You can be set free. Please go to our website restoringthefoundations.org and click on the Get Ministry tab at the top of the page to find an RTF minister in your area. They will not judge you for your struggle with fear and anxiety, but rather they will help you receive the healing and freedom you deserve, the freedom and healing that Jesus died to give you.
PRAYER
Father God, you said not to be anxious for anything. Thank you that we don’t have to live with fear and anxiety, but that we can be set free by the power of the cross. Father, if there is anyone listening today who is struggling with fear and anxiety, give them the courage to reach out to an RTF minister and get help.
Mark your calendars for the RTF Catalyst Conference here in Mt. Juliet Tennessee, October 16-17. We will be celebrating RTF’s 35th Anniversary with some wonderful speakers. You will hear Apostle Michelle Jackson, Duncan and Kate Smith, Chester and Betsy Kylstra, and you might even hear from Cindi and I. And of course there will be amazing worship led by Ryan Hall. On Friday night, there will be a very special 35th Anniversary Celebration Dinner you are invited to register to attend. It will be a great time to celebrate how God has used RTF ministry to bring healing and freedom to His children for 35 years.
