Anxiety

We are all hit by anxiety at times. It’s that deep silent panic that we try to suppress with ‘positive thinking’ or address by looking for solutions. Other times, we simply divert our attention to other things so we don’t have to face our anxieties.

(See Chinese versions: 體中文 > 一個向神坦白自己焦慮的禱告 | 简体中文 > 一个向神坦白自己焦虑的祷)

A prayer to confess our anxieties to God

How can we overcome anxiety? Thankfully, we can go to God and tell Him exactly how we feel through prayer.

“Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for everything You have provided us, that You are our sufficiency.

2 Cor 3:5 ESV Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

Please help me remember all the times that You have provided for me, even when I was not looking. Thank you that Your plans for me are so amazing that I cannot even begin to imagine what they could be!

1 Cor 2:9 ESV But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Please help me tone down the noise from my anxious heart when it drowns out Your still quiet voice. Help me to listen to You and You alone, not anyone else, even those who love me and want the best for me.

Only You hold my future in Your great gracious hands. Let me be like King David, who relied on Your steadfast love and Your comfort first, in the midst of great trials.

Psalm 94:18-19 ESV When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Please help me recognise whenever I am tempted to be anxious about all the things that I cannot control and all the plans that I can never make perfect. Help me escape this nagging temptation to be anxious.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Matthew 6:34 ESV “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Help pull me out when I am drowning in a sea of insecurity, unbelief and doubt, like how Jesus pulled Peter out of the water when he panicked at the waves around and started sinking. I too cry out “Jesus, Jesus, please help me!”.

Teach me to trust You wholeheartedly, so I will not sway off the path You have prepared for me. Fill me with Your all-surpassing joy and peace.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Romans 15:13 ESV May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

I hunger for the hope that only comes with knowing You intimately. May I keep growing closer and closer to You, so I can hear Your heartbeat and be soothed with the knowledge that You love me eternally and unconditionally, that Your heart is good and with You, there is no fear.

2 Timothy 1:5 ESV for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

In Jesus name, I pray, amen!”