This world can be an anxious place to walk. While some grow up with anxiety as an ever-present, unwelcome companion, others find it infiltrating their days as they grow older. Once our soul and body familiarize themselves with an anxious response, it’s difficult to shake that reaction. Anxiety and panic can be a paralyzing cycle.

Anxiety was never something God intended us to live with. Yet living in this broken world with anxiety inducing circumstances all around us, He did not leave us unequipped or unprotected. What if we began taking Jesus at His Word when He said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” What could that actually look like, and how might it disarm our fears and anxieties, freeing us to live out our days in His joy and peace?

Since the Garden of Eden, God has been walking with His children through anxious days. The same God that was with David in war, Noah in the boat, Jonah in the fish, Mary in the news of her coming child, and Jesus on the cross, is the same God who stands by our side, ready to wage war with our anxieties. Never is He idle, never is He absent. Knowing what we would endure in this world, He has given us the greatest defense against our fears and paralyzing anxieties – His Word.

With His Word – His collection of promises to us – He disarms anxiety, removing fears and replacing them with greater faith. May we call on those promises today. Here are five Scriptures and five songs for finding peace from anxiety.

 

Number 1:

“You will not be afraid of the terror by night,

Or of the arrow that flies by day;

Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon …

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,

To guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:5-6, 11

Listen to: “I Will Never Leave You” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume I”

 

Number 2:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

 Listen to: “Peace Be Still” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume III”

 

Number 3:

“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19

 Listen to: “Underneath My Wings” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume II”

 

Number 4:

“You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4

 Listen to: “Be Still And Know” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume I”

 

Number 5:

“‘Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” Isaiah 41:10

 Listen to: “I Am Here” form “Hidden In My Heart, Volume II”