I want you to think back to a time when you were a little kid and you were scared of something. Maybe you watched a scary movie with your older siblings. Maybe you saw a sketchy-looking stranger in public. Personally, I was always terrified of mascots growing up. Those things are horrible. We would go to Chuck E. Cheese and I would be paralyzed with fear as soon as I saw that giant creepy mouse. You know what I’m talking about. Maybe you were afraid of the dark, or you were convinced monsters were hiding under your bed. My question is: what did you do? When you were scared, how did you respond?
I bet I can guess - I bet you hid. You are watching the movie and you hide your face so you don’t have to see it, or you run into a creepy mascot and hide behind your mom or dad so the evil mouse can’t see you. You bury yourself under the covers at night and lie perfectly still so the monsters might not know you are there. We hide and freeze hoping that the scary things wouldn't get to us.
According to studies done this year, 1 in 5 teenagers are struggling with anxiety in some form. After 2020 especially, anxiety rates have increased in your generation by an insane amount.
Honestly it makes sense. This time two years ago, our entire world changed. Everything that was normal for you was probably taken away or changed somehow. We have been through a lot, and we have to acknowledge that. All the change and unrest we have seen in the past couple of years has led to a lot of pain and fear. It is not surprising that anxiety has increased so much.
Some of you were struggling with anxiety way before March 2020. You feel the effects of comparison, you constantly look at the people around you and put so much pressure on yourself to measure up to be “good enough”. You are so terrified of not succeeding, and it’s exhausting. Maybe you went through something really hard, and your trauma has led you to what feels like a constant state of panic. Maybe you feel like you have always been this way. You always feel afraid and feel like you can’t stop your thoughts from spiraling into panic mode.
Whatever it is that you feel is causing your anxious thoughts, I want you to know that we don’t take this lightly at Remix. We know anxiety can be very real and feel very isolating, and we want you to know that we are here for you. We are here to help you. We want to walk with you through this and help you find ways to fight anxiety. More importantly than that, the God of the universe loves you and wants to walk with you through this.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
Now God doesn’t expect us to never be afraid, but we have to know that fear is not from Him. He gives us the tools we need so that when fear comes we can fight it. And He promises that when we use those tools and lean on Him, He will give us peace.
If we want to understand how to fight anxiety, first we have to figure out what we are fighting.
The best and simplest way I can describe it is when your thoughts and fears spiral out of control. Something happens to you that causes you to feel anxious or upset or worried. You start to think about that situation and everything that could go wrong. You start to think lots of “what if” thoughts. “What if I get rejected?” “What if I fail?” “What if my friends are lying to me?” “What if that person is out to get me?” “What if I never feel better?” “What if everyone laughs at me?” and before you know it, your thoughts have spun out of control, to a point where all you can see and imagine is your fears. You feel like you can’t get out of your head and get control of your thoughts.
The problem with that is your thoughts impact every aspect of your life. If your brain is so clouded with everything that can go wrong, it can be incredibly paralyzing. Just like when you were a kid and you wanted to hide behind a blanket to get away from the scary monsters, you start to hide. You begin to freeze up and shut down and hope that if you can just disappear long enough, your fears will go away.
I know when your thoughts spiral out of control it can feel safer and easier to hide. It’s easier to stay in your room and not tell anyone what you are going through and avoid the situations that might be causing you to feel so afraid. But if we want to be free from anxiety, we have to stop hiding and start fighting. The first thing we have to do to fight anxiety is take control of our thoughts.
A lot of you believe that your thoughts are in charge, that anxiety has control over you because you cannot stop the thoughts from spiraling in your mind. The Bible teaches us something entirely different.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul writes, “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.”
He says “take every thought captive” because Paul knows that we have power over our thoughts. Let's go back to that verse we read from Timothy a minute ago. It says God gives us power and self-discipline. Other translations of that verse say God gives us a sound mind. Meaning God has given each of us the ability to have control over our thoughts. You don’t have to be a victim of your own mind. When fearful thoughts come up, when the enemy is trying to attack you with lies and tell you that you can’t fight anxiety, you have the power with God’s help to stop those thoughts before they spiral out of control.
Here is how you do it, here is how you take your thoughts captive:
I am not saying this because I work at a church and am supposed to tell you to pray. I am serious about this. There is so much power in prayer.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Again, he doesn’t say don’t be anxious because God expects us to never be afraid. He is saying when you are anxious, don’t just sit there - do something about it. Pray.
When an anxious thought pops into your mind, instead of just letting that “what if” thought take over your mind and ruin your day, stop yourself at that moment and pray. Tell God about your fear, ask Him to help you. Ask God to remind you that He is in control and that you can trust Him completely. If you have to pray that prayer over and over again, every time that thought pops into your mind, do it. If we make prayer a habit, our lives won’t be so filled with all the “what if” scenarios, but we will be at peace knowing that the God of the universe loves us and is walking with us through everything we go through.
Next, when anxious thoughts come into your mind you need to-
2. Replace the thought.
What does that verse say? Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. That means when a negative thought comes into your head that might cause you to spiral, you have to replace that thought with something better. You have to replace that thought with the truth.
Here’s an example: Say you have a presentation in class tomorrow. You are preparing for your presentation and you start to think “What if I fail? What if everyone laughs at me because I stumble on my words? What if I become the laughing stock of the school?” Instead of allowing those thoughts to continue, you have to stop yourself and replace those thoughts with truth.
The reality is even if you absolutely blow that presentation, your teacher will probably let you redo it. Remind yourself that God doesn’t ask you to be perfect, he just asks you to do your best. So if you worked hard and did your best, nothing else matters. Even if everyone laughs at you, you can remind yourself that you are not living for the approval of others, but for the approval of the God of the Universe, and He loves you. Now instead of spiraling out of control, you have reminded yourself of truth and put your focus back on God.
The third thing you have to do if you want to fight anxiety long term is-
3. Get out of your head.
Some of you go to school and don’t talk to anyone, you go home and sit in your room by yourself and ignore your family, you go to church and you don’t talk to anyone. You have completely isolated yourself from other people, so of course, you are anxious. Because whenever an anxious thought comes into your mind, you don’t have anyone to talk to about it. You live in your head and when you do that, of course, it is going to feel like your thoughts are out of your control. We need people. If we want to fight anxiety and get control of our thoughts, we need to be able to lean on the people in our lives. We can’t live in our heads anymore.
The good news is Remix is a really good place to find people. There are leaders who show up every week because they care about you and want to be there for you. Get to know them, start talking to them about what is going on in your life. There are students all around you at Remix who know what you are going through and don’t want to be alone either. A lot of you also have good parents who want to know how they can help you with this.
On top of all that, we have small groups at Remix entirely for this reason. We want you to have an opportunity to build lifelong friendships that will be there when everything feels like it is falling apart. When you join a small group, if you put in the effort to be there and be consistent, you will gain a group of guys or girls who want to grow with you and an amazing small group leader who understands what you are dealing with and can help guide you through life. That way, when your thoughts start to spiral you will have someone to call, and they will remind you the truth that no matter what, God is in control.
If you are tired of feeling like anxiety is winning in your life, today is a great day to stop hiding and start fighting.
We are going to give you an opportunity to do that. In service, we have decision cards for you, or if you’re reading this online, you can text in to connect with us. If you want someone to be praying with you about your anxiety, text the word “remix” to 97000 and fill out the form, and a leader will reach out this week to talk with you so they know what to pray for. If you are tired of going through life alone and want to be connected into a small group, send the same text and fill out the small group option. If you have never taken the step to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made when He died on the cross for you, text that number and we want to help you take that step.
As Christians, we know that no matter what happens in this life, we can have hope because one day we will be in Heaven with Jesus where there is no more pain or tears. While we are on this Earth, we can find peace knowing He is in control and always with us.
You have the opportunity today to use the tools God has given you and take your life back from anxiety, the question is, will you start fighting?
©2024 Sagebrush Church
