A Word from Bob: I invite you to join me on a gospel-centered journey toward victory in anxiety. Today you’re reading Part 1 of a multi-part blog mini-series on The Gospel Where You Live: God’s Prescription for Victory In Anxiety. I’m taking these thoughts from my booklet, Anxiety: Anatomy and Cure.

“Hello, My Name Is Bob…”

When I first started presenting on the topic of anxiety, my subtitle was “God’s Prescription for Victory Over Anxiety.” Then I was struck by something Philip Yancey penned.

“Much of what I read on depression, on doubt, on suicide, on suffering, on homosexuality, seems written by people who begin with a Christian conclusion and who have never been through the anguished steps familiar to a person struggling with depression, doubt, suicide, suffering, or homosexuality. No resolution could be so matter-of-fact to a person who has actually survived such a journey” (Soul Survivor, 269-270).

I hope in this blog series to convey something of what it’s actually like to be struggling with and fighting against anxiety. What does it look like to experience victory in anxiety and to do so in a biblical, Christ-honoring, gospel-centered way?

I have a confession. My name is Bob, and I struggle with and against worry, fear, and anxiety.

Given my level of “productivity,” that confession might surprise a lot of people. For others, that confession might seem to disqualify me from being a biblical counselor and the author of this booklet. “If you don’t have victory over these struggles, then what right do you have to counsel others?”

I view it differently. The fact that I experience struggles with, the fact that I battle against worry, fear, and anxiety, and that I seek to do so in dependence upon the Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God may be exactly what qualifies me. Each day I seek God’s daily bread to empower me to have victory in the battle as I fight, in God’s power, against the effects of the fall in my life.

Gospel-Centered Help: The Remedy to Take Two Verses and Call Me in the Morning 

Here’s the stereotype; I hope you haven’t faced it. You share with a friend, counselor, or pastor that you’re struggling with worry, fear, or anxiety. Their response? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

In that scenario, it’s not even “take two verses and call me in the morning.” It’s “take one verse and don’t call me.” We need a much more robust, relational approach to changing lives with Christ’s changeless truth. What would it look like in real life?

Paul, who wrote Philippians 4:6, also said, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8). God calls us to share Scripture and soul—truth and love. Facing and fighting anxiety is a relational discipleship process, not an exhortational event.

Victory in anxiety requires a comprehensive, compassionate biblical theology of anxiety. I know what you’re thinking:

“I’m struggling with anxiety and you’re talking about theology!”

Bear with me. If we’re to avoid the one-problem-one-verse-one-solution mentality and experience the relevance and power of God’s Word, then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need to understand a Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation view of anxiety. That biblical anatomy lesson will provide us with the foundation we need to benefit from God’s prescription for victory in anxiety.

In the Beginning: Creation—Mood Order 

Anxiety, fear, panic, phobias, stress—even the words create…anxiety! Where does this “set” of distressing feelings come from?

My premise is simple:

Every dysfunctional, fallen emotion is a distortion of God’s original pre-fall design.

God intended for us to experience a mood that is the “flip side” of anxiety. If we are to understand the “disorder” of anxiety, we first must understand the “order” that sin has disordered. What normal, healthy, God-given process has become perturbed in anxiety? 

Vigilance—Called to Sentry Duty

God placed Adam in the garden to “work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15b). The KJV says “to dress it and to keep it.” The Hebrew word behind “take care of” and “keep” means to guard, protect, keep safe, watch over, keep vigil. God called Adam to be on sentry duty. To fulfill this calling He created Adam (and us) with the mood or emotion of vigilance.

The root “vig” (vigil, vigilant, vigor) relates to a sentry. God built into our brains a sentry, a sentinel. With vigilance, God puts us in fast motion—the emotion urges us to act quickly in response to a life threat. Vigilance is proper, constructive concern for the well-being of others and for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Vigilance motivates us to implement “tend and befriend” behaviors.

Warriors or Worriers

This perspective was very helpful to Mike, a counselee I was mentoring. After looking at the Genesis 2 passage and interacting about vigil, Mike responded:

“That changes everything. Whenever I face a threat and respond with fear, I’m then attacked and overwhelmed by shame. I feel so weak, so puny when the feelings of fear arise. But now I can reshape how I respond to those initial feelings of fear. I can say, ‘Okay, this feeling is the God-sent, God-given warning sign to kick me into high gear, to spring to action on behalf of others in God’s power!’ It won’t eliminate my anxiety, but it sure knocks out the shame.”

Mike got it. Vigilance motivates us to be God’s warrior. Anxiety, the flip side of vigilance, attempts to cripple and disarm God’s warrior, turning us into a worrier.

Applying the Gospel to Your Daily Life

What difference could it make in your life if you saw anxiety as the flip side of vigilance— constructive concern for the well-being of others and for the advancement of the gospel?