Anxiety and Taking Every Thought Captive

Life in today’s world is very chaotic and busy. There is always something going on that affects everyone’s life. Whether it is through our job, family members, or everyday life we feel the effects of each situation. This has led to an increase in many people being diagnosed with anxiety and other related health concerns. The greatest way to combat this is to take every thought captive.

This thought process is based on 1 Corinthians 10:5 which states “We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (NASB) Let’s look at this in terms of overcoming anxiety and how we can apply it to our lives.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is defined in Webster’s 1828 dictionary as:

“1.concern or solicitude respecting some event, future, or uncertain, which disturbs the mind, and keeps it in a state of painful uneasiness. it expresses more than uneasiness or disturbance, and even more than trouble or solicitude. it usually springs from fear or serious apprehension of evil, and involves a suspense respecting an event, and often, a perplexity of mind, to know how to shape our conduct.

2. In medical language, uneasiness; unceasing restlessness in sickness.”

In other words, it stems from thoughts regarding events or situations that cause various reactions within the body. Heart palpitations, trouble breathing, dizziness, and even fatigue can result from anxiety.

What causes anxiety?

Many factors can lead to a person experiencing Anxiety. The most common are factors dealing with careers. The everyday stresses at work can weigh heavily on our thoughts. Making sure that we are completing our work tasks as we manage our workload is an everyday activity.

This activity can cause anxiety when we feel overwhelmed with tasks. We may begin to think that we cannot possibly get everything done. A few other factors are family and home life.

Having children in a busy world has created a sense of thinking that they need to be in every activity to be successful. This in itself can create apprehension from thinking that we aren’t raising our children the best way.

Struggling to pay bills is a sure way to experience anxiety. There are so many sub-factors within these factors that can play a part in experiencing anxiety. When we have a fear of any of these factors, we will more than likely experience some form of anxiety.

Conquering anxiety by learning to take every thought captive

One of the first things to recognize when it comes to anxiety is to determine what is triggering us to experience sudden apprehension or fear. What is going on in the situation that is provoking us to think in negative terms? When we identify this trigger begins to change the way we are thinking about it. When thoughts of fear begin to enter our mind that is when we begin to take every thought captive by changing what we are thinking.

Change the way you think

God did not design us to ponder on the negative aspects of this world. We were designed to think of the goodness of God and all things that are related to that goodness.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:8-9, NASB

By thinking about these things we can change the focus of our thoughts from fear to peace. We weren’t designed to live in fear. God created us to live in peace and without anxiety. He doesn’t want us to be caught up in the negative thoughts that the adversary tries to tell us. The thoughts that cause fear are those that the adversary uses to distract us from the goodness of God and His truth.

Renew your mind

When we become consumed with the chaos of the world we are no longer focused on God and His word. God is not confusion or chaos. He does not expect us to live that type of lifestyle. When we concentrate on His word, we will find that we regain peace.

Changing the way we think involves choosing to dwell on the negative or positive. It is up to us to identify those thoughts that cause us to be overcome with fear. This will help us renew our thoughts. The hold of anxiety becomes broken.

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

By focusing on the goodness of what God has given us we change the thoughts that we have. It is through this choice that we find we can stay away from emotions that contribute to anxiety. For example, if you are asked to do something that was not in your plan for the day you may become agitated.

At this point, anxiety is knocking at the door of your health. You may even begin to become testy with everyone around you. That is the perfect time to pause, breathe and refocus your thought.

Speak life

There is always a positive side to every situation. The key is pausing long enough to recognize the good side. Even when we are looking at a flat tire there is always a way to see the good. Maybe this delay is keeping you from an accident up the road. It comes down to deciding how you will choose to face the situations that cause anxiety.

This includes watching how we speak about the situations. Have you ever noticed that when you complain and grumble you begin to feel out of sorts? That is because the words you are using are affecting the emotion you are feeling. This in turn will creep into your thought process and you will find yourself becoming angry or sad. Proverbs 18 contains many verses regarding how our words affect our lives. One of the most common verses quoted is:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21, NASB

Words are one of the strongest tools we can use to take every thought captive to overcome anxiety. Seek to speak life and speak positive words to others and yourself.

Realize it’s not in your control

One of the hardest things for us to learn is that we cannot control everything. As parents, we can teach our children proper behaviors as they grow up, but when they become adults, we can no longer change how they make decisions. What other people do and the choices they make are not our responsibility. After all, even if we are in a leadership position at work, we still cannot control others. We can only control our reactions and our behaviors.

In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus tells us that trying to be in control is not how we take every thought captive. Being focused on the concerns of life only distracts us from the truth that God is the only one in control.

He has promised to provide for us and does not want us to spend useless time dwelling on things He is taking care of. Learning that we are not in control of everything is of the hardest mindsets to change. It is possible when we focus on the Word of God and His promises.

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Matthew 6:34, NASB

Stay in the right lane

We try to be the best at everything. We want to do it all and do it right. Trying to do something just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. Just because it looks easy doesn’t mean it’s something that is for you to do. God has designed each of us for a specific calling. He has given us the talents and skills we need to perform that calling. When we get out of our lane and try to do what someone else is doing, we find ourselves facing anxiety.

We become stressed because we aren’t able to do the task the same as others. That is when we have lost focus on what God wants for us. You may find yourself struggling to teach a class about women in the Bible.

The only reason you are teaching that class is that one of your close friends is teaching a class on the Beatitudes. You have taken the focus of your skills and stepped into another lane. To remove the anxiety you have to take every thought captive and acknowledge that you need to get back in your lane.

Paul tells us that we are to look to Jesus as we pursue the calling that God has placed on our lives. It is through this mindset that we can remove anxiety caused by not feeling like we are good enough. Comparing ourselves to others creates tension between us and them. It’s not long before we find that we have become anxious about not measuring up to God’s standards.

Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2, NASB

Remain focused on what God has called you to do, what you know you can do, and the promises of God. This will help alleviate any avenues for anxiety to find its way into your thought process. Take every thought captive by focusing on the good things, speaking life, and trusting the leading of Jesus.

If you find that you are having difficulty changing the thought processes that cause anxiety, please reach out to a Christian counselor who can help you replace worry with peace.