”For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Overcomer: It’s My Anxiety – Sisters of Fire
We have talked before about being overcomers, and today we are looking more closely at some of the daily struggles we face. As you are learning to let go of your burdens and give these things o God, you may find that other worries and feelings start to creep into your life. Anxiety is a very real and painful struggle and it seems to be everywhere around us too- in our music, on social media, it’s our answer when someone asks how we are doing, and more and it’s growing bigger and more common by the day. Anxiety has spread so rapidly in today’s generations, it’s being described as an epidemic of mental illness.
But what is anxiety? Is it just feeling nervous, overwhelmed, or having panic attacks? Do you feel a lot of stress, or have trouble thinking or focusing? Are you tired but worried? The dictionary describes anxiety as an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear, often marked by physical signs, tension, sweating, increased pulse, by doubt concerning the nature of the threat, self-doubt about one’s ability to cope with it, also mentally distressing concern or interest.
Anxiety: “apprehensive uneasiness or nervousness usually over an impending or anticipated misfortune; an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physical signs (such as tension, sweating, and increased pulse rate), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one’s capacity to cope with it; mentally distressing concern or interest”
-Merriam Webster
The simple explanation is that anxiety is a strong desire sometimes mixed with doubt, fear, and uneasiness. Anxiety is a dark pit of feelings- big feelings- that can be very overwhelming. You may feel trapped, as if you are stuck and in need of a way out but can’t find it, or cant reach it. Paranoia can creep into your thoughts, and as the worries start to build in your mind, the feeling of anxiety starts to grab control over your life. You may start to stress out, get easily frustrated, and no matter what you say or do, it just gets worse. You may shut down because you are so tired and overwhelmed, and then the exhaustion starts to take over, and you feel like you are suffocating. Your days might start running together from lack of sleep, brain fog, and maybe you’ve lost control of your thoughts as the worries and feelings are going and going like the Energizer bunny. You feel that the demons in your life are winning as you slowly sink deeper and deeper into the pit of darkness, and you can no longer run for your life as the trap of anxiety pulls you in. So now what?
People try to help. They tell you they are here to help, and they are praying for you. They offer advice and tell you to just give it to God, or pray. It’s so easy for them to say these things, and from what you see it’s easy for them to do these things. Maybe it’s true and they have an easier life and you think their struggles are nothing like yours. Even I have told you before to talk to God about it and let go of your worries, fear, pain. But the reality is that it is not always easy or simple. Your struggle is deep, and your worries are big.
Well, friend, the truth is that this fight cannot be on your own. When you are stuck in a pit, you need a lifeline and a rescuer. You need tools or access to a way out. Anxiety is going to tell you that you are stuck, and you will always be stuck, and you’ll be stuck together the rest of your life.
But God.
God is bigger than anxiety.
To fight this battle, you can’t win by yourself, and you need the strength and power of the Holy Spirit to pull you out. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” So, what do we do with this? How do we fight against this raging beast? Anxiety loves mind games, and the thoughts in your head are where everything starts.
The first step is to do what God’s word says, and we must take every thought captive. Do you know what that means? Do you know what it means to take every thought captive? When your mind starts thinking, or maybe in your case, it never stopped thinking, to take these thoughts captive you stop the thoughts. When a thought comes in, you question it. You take it to God immediately and you ask Him, “is this true?” For example, let’s say my mind has been racing all day with worries. Thoughts such as what if I didn’t do this? or did I just say the wrong thing? Did that person just look at me weird? Am I ugly? Did I brush my teeth today? Oh no, I forgot my papers at home. Do these girls like me? Are they talking about me behind my back? Am I really friends with them? Is the world ending? Do I need to start making my own bread? Are we going to have to pay for this? How are we going to pay for this? What if we all get sick? What if this sickness doesn’t go away? The thoughts just keep going around in your mind because there is nothing stopping them. To take every thought captive, say “STOP!” Just say the word stop. Then, most importantly, no matter what the thought is, ask God to take it. Say to Him something like this: “God, my mind has been racing, and I can’t get it to stop. Help me to take these thoughts captive, and to think only the truth. These worries and wondering what would happen are part of anxiety’s trap, and I want to be free. Bring me peace in this moment, and save me from falling into the dark pit that is waiting for me.
My friend, you can do this. It is hard, but this is the first step to freeing your mind. Once you start taking captive these invasive thoughts full of lies and deceit, you’ll start to see the lifeline of God reaching out to you in the suffering, and can sense hope in your life again. In the depths of it all, sometimes it is difficult to see the truth rom the lies. You may be struggling with how to really see the difference, like how do you really know what is true? When your thoughts are running rampant, how can you weed out the lies?
Philippians 4:8 (NIV) says, “Finally, my brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”
This verse tells us exactly how we should think. If you have something you aren’t sure about or you’re struggling with, ask yourself, is it true? Is it right or just? Is it pure? Are these clean thoughts? Is it lovely or pleasant? Is it admirable? Does it have a good reputation? Are there good standards? Is it excellent, worthy of our time? Can we talk about it or share about it? Does it encourage us, help us, or bring confidence in life to us or even others? Sometimes to take our thoughts captive, we might need to talk through it with someone. Guard you heart as you share these thoughts and questions, and don’t just share them with anyone and everyone. As you share your thoughts, be vigilant in sharing them with someone who will lift you up and encourage you. Share them with someone you trust who will also bring you to God’s word and help you sort out the truth from the lies, someone who will pray with you and for you.
Anxiety’s trap can sometimes deceive us as we talk about our worries. If you share these thoughts with someone who is not equipped with God’s word or His Holy Spirit power, you may find yourself unable to fully capture these thoughts and they can linger. I have had experiences where I have talked to somebody when I wasn’t in a good place in my mind, and if I shared it with the wrong person, I found myself rambling, or going into a negative place, and oftentimes that would feed the other person to join in the same rambling and feelings, inviting complaints and anger to join us, and then before we knew it we were both so stressed out and frustrated. We then walked away from the conversation feeling even worse than when we came into it, and nothing was healed. When we enter into this kind of experience, when God is not the center and we are not capturing the thoughts in their tracks and stopping them from any further harm, it is not healthy. God wants us to be free of captivity, and that includes thoughts that disrupt our peace!
Now you may have really good people in your life who are encouraging, and maybe if you share with them you can feel a little lighter because they are full of kind words and loving gestures. This can be helpful, but it still does not fully capture this struggle. You will still have a struggle, if you are not uniting in God’s Word and praying together. I’m not saying to not talk to these kinds of people in your life. You still need the support of love and kindness from those who care. Do not put these relationships as your center, and be strong in pursuing more of God in your life! Surround yourself with prayer warriors in a time of struggle as much as you can, because this battle is not physical- it is spiritual! Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people who are good out there. But being a good person does not make you one of God’s warriors, and defeating darkness can only truly be done by the power of God. Good people can encourage you and help you through hard times, but without the power of God, you will be limited in your fight.
You may win some battles here and there, but the war for your heart will still go on and will be battle after battle all the way to the end. If we go back a few verses in Philippians and look at Philippians 4:6-7, it says,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
God’s Word says right here, we should not be anxious, but instead, live our lives on prayer and praise. I know that’s easier said than done. It’s hard to praise when you’re going through a tough time. It’s also hard to ask when you don’t know what to ask for. When you have so much building up in your heart and in your mind, you don’t even know where to begin. It can be really overwhelming. It’s a big, big struggle. When it’s especially heard, you can try to find something to be thankful for. You can thank God and praise him for his goodness. Think about anything that he has brought you through already, or that you’ve seen him do in somebody else’s life. You can praise him for the victories that he’s won. You can look at the power of his love.
How has he shown his love to you or to the people around you? What testimonies have you heard and seen? We can then tell him our troubles. Tell him what’s on your heart. Tell him what’s on your mind. You can spill out every single thought that’s running through your head, you know? He’s not going to shut you down or tell you to stop and that’s enough. He’s not going to tell you He has heard enough, because He is there for you. Ask God to show you what to do. Ask Him to provide answers or a way out of whatever you’re facing. Your feelings of anxiety may be trying to take over your life, but God will take over your anxiety.
I see and hear a lot of stuff on social media about feelings in videos and songs saying things like “it’s my anxiety, it’s my anxiety” and it’s trending. It’s a catchy tune, it’s a common feeling. When we are facing internal struggles, we can easily find something to blame everywhere we turn around, and anxiety is often the common groun. But why is that? We are letting it come in, and we are allowing it to grow as we invite it to hang around us. We are opening our door and we are inviting it to sit with us.
But – if you give it to God and say, “here, take this anxiety, take this from me. I don’t want it, I don’t need it. It’s heavy, it hurts, I can’t sleep, I can’t function, I can’t talk, I can’t do anything that I’m meant to do because my anxiety is so bad.” You can let that anxiety go. Tell the feelings and the thoughts to get out of your life. Go to God’s Word, and can read! Start with Philippians 4:6-8 when you start to struggle. Take baby steps, and take just one minute to tell God what you’re thinking. Ask him to show you the truth, and to flood your mind with good thoughts. Hide God’s Word in your heart, by memorizing these truths. These scriptures of truth are treasures and are so valuable to us as we grow stronger in our spiritual life.
Memorize Philippians 4:8, and every time you have a questionable thought, say to yourself: Is this true? Is it just? Is it pure? And so on. As you become more confident in taking every thought captive, dig into God’s word and you will learn so much more of His truth and love. The more you dig in- the more you get into His word and allow His truth to flood your life and your thoughts- the more you’ll see that His power and His love conquers all things, even the pit of anxiety. When you’re sitting in that deep, dark pit, when you’re feeling like you can’t breathe, when you’re feeling like there’s no way out, and you feel alone, remember you are not alone!
All of those thoughts can be taken captive, and you can get them out of your head. You will start to see that that a lifeline rope is there, and you can pull yourself out. Life is hard enough without us allowing this stuff to just hang around us. We don’t need it, and that anxiety can lead to depression and fear, and a serious darkness will invade your life. You don’t want that darkness ruling your life, because it will take your life. It will take all the life that you have, all the potential inside of you, and those dark clouds will surround you from the inside out. You don’t need that darkness, and you won’t survive it without God in your life. He is our lifeline. A life with God is so full of light, there’s no room for any of that darkness.
A life with God is so full of light, there’s no room for any of that darkness. You don’t need that darkness, all you need is God.
Let’s pray:
“Dear God, thank You for being there, for being my rescuer, for being my comfort and my hope. Thank You for all of the good things that You do around me. Thank You for the love that You have. I admire how beautiful Your works are and how amazing Your love is. I am astonished at how You come through every time I need something. It may not be the way that I expect, but You do come through. Right now, I have all these thoughts in my head, these feelings that just overwhelm me. I have this darkness that likes to hang around and try and trap me. There are times that it’s so hard to just face the day. I don’t like how that makes me feel. I don’t like what it does to everyone around me when I do that. I don’t like how it’s taking my life. I ask right now that You take these thoughts, and take every single one of them captive. Help me to learn how to trust you with just my thoughts. Help me to give You my heart in everything I do, even the things I’m thinking. Show me how a life with You is more than just saying I’m a Christian. It’s more than just talking about Jesus and the hope in our lives. Being a Christian is learning how to take our thoughts captive, learning how to really clean my heart and focus my life on You and what You have in store for us. I believe Your love conquers everything, and I ask for Your Holy Spirit power to run through my life and break these chains- break all of this fear, and anxiety, and depression, and sadness, and confusion. Take all of it and just wipe it clean. Help me to hold on a little bit longer to what You have in store so I can see Your plan unfold. Thank You so much for loving me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
I hope this time encouraged you in your walk today. Please know that I continue to pray over your lives every day, that the message of God’s Word flooding your hearts will just overflow you from the inside out. I know that God is doing an amazing work in your life, and he’s working through the hard stuff with you, and it just takes time. Share what God is doing in your life with someone today, and tell of His goodness in every opportunity you can.
– Adrianne Michele, Sisters of Fire
Nocturnal Flame Ministries
Reference: Sisters of Fire: It’s My Anxiety, Apr 29, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sisters-of-fire/id1810628503?i=1000705453875
This material may be protected by copyright.
