Many people deal with anxiety and are looking for answers. From a spiritual perspective, we are dealing with forces in the spiritual realm.

Ephesians 6:12 says “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” There are wicked spirits that work, manipulate and try to control the environment we live in. But with God, we have answers and strategies to help us overcome these spiritual forces.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “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.”

We are empowered by God to take anxious thoughts captive and bring them into obedience according to what Christ says about us. Instead of thinking about negative thoughts or things that go against what God’s word says, our anxiety will begin to diminish when we think about things that are good, pure, and right (Philippians 4:8).

In Matthew 6:31 & 34 Jesus taught, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Jesus gives us a clue in these scriptures: The things that we say are directly related to whether we worry or not, so our words are important. And Jesus also tells us not to worry about tomorrow but to only be concerned with today. If we spend our todays worrying about our tomorrows, we will never be free from anxiety.

Philippians 4:6 instructs us not to be anxious or to worry about anything; instead, we should pray and trust God. (“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”)

1 Peter 5:6-7 tells us to cast our worries & fears on God because He cares about us and what we’re going through. We can trust that God will do what’s best for us. (“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”)

We must stop worrying, and instead, pray and trust God to help us. Remember – Jesus would never ask us to do something that He wouldn’t enable us to do. Don’t buy into the excuse, “But I just can’t stop worrying!” Yes, you can! Jesus wouldn’t have told us to not worry if we couldn’t do it with His power.

It’s also important to examine your thought patterns. God wants us to think about things the way He thinks about them, and God doesn’t worry! In fact, He promises to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). We don’t need to worry; we can trust God to provide all our needs! But we may need to retrain our thinking patterns to trust God instead of worry about things all the time.

The culture of the world wants us to worry and be anxious about our future and our needs. But we don’t have to submit to that pattern of thinking; we need to renew our minds with the Word of God and resist the world’s way of thinking.

When we humble ourselves before God, we put ourselves in a position in which God can move into our situation and help us. Humility invites God to manage our lives, and in turn, His resources are available to help us. God loves us and wants to help us, but we must have a humble attitude because that opens the door for God to come in.

In the books of James and First Peter, we discover that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” A person resisting you is one thing, but God resisting you is not a good position to be in. If you don’t want God resisting you, be sure to have a humble attitude. This will open the door to His grace and power in your life.

Romans 12:2 says, “and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

If we want to get rid of anxiety and worry, we must transform our thinking by renewing our mind with the Word of God. We can’t think and believe according to the culture around us if we want to live a life free from anxiety. When the Word of God is sharp in our minds and we begin to think according to His Kingdom principles, the spiritual forces of darkness cannot rule us with anxious thoughts.

Jesus walked this earth with peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit, and that’s His will for us too. The Word of God is our weapon to fight anxiety, worry and fear; renew your mind by spending some time in His Word today and refuse to be victim to spiritual forces of darkness that want to torture you with worry and fear.