In part one of this little three-part series on killing anxiety, we said prayer is the ultimate anxiety killer and we focused on the frequency of that prayer. It needs to be at least as frequent as your anxiety. Don’t just test drive that thing. Buy it. Go all in.

And as a reminder: sometimes, we experience uncommon anxiety, where we must utilize the gift of counselors and perhaps even medicine. While these principles will still be helpful in cases like that, these are meant for the common anxieties we all experience each and every day.

Today, in part two, I want to talk about the specific content of the anxiety-killing prayer. THAT we pray is important. However, WHAT we pray matters just as much. But before we get there, we need a crash course on anxiety from the Apostle Peter. Ready? Everybody hold on to your butts.

“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Okay, so the number one rule for reading the bible is this: You cannot understand the text until you understand the context. In our case, the context for 1 Peter 5:7 is found in…1 Peter 5:6. Now, if you’re a Bible reader, you probably use the New International Version (NIV). It’s a great translation. I use it myself on the daily. However, in this verse, the NIV does something a bit weird: it presents verse 7 as a totally new sentence: “Cast all your anxiety…” In the original Greek, however, it’s not. Verse 7 is the second half of the sentence Peter starts in verse 6. The NASB translation gets it right, and so our section (with the context) reads more like this:

“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7 NASB

Did you catch the difference? It’s subtle but important. If we read the whole sentence together, Peter is telling us that “casting anxiety” is actually the RESULT of something. That something is right at the beginning of the verse: “Humble yourselves.” For Peter, there is a direct relationship between pride and anxiety.

We have two choices when it comes to how we’re going to do life: we can take things into our own hands (lifting ourselves up), or we can, as verse 6 says, put ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.” And I’ll give you two guesses as to what our default choice is as humans, but you’re only going to need one (psst: we take things into our own hands).

From the time God rockets us into existence, we grab at things. As kids, we grab toys. As adults, we grab things we think will give us happiness, joy, fulfillment, and security. For some, this is a relationship, a job, or a hefty bank account. For others, it’s health, independence, or a million followers on social media.

When we grab these things and demand they quench our spiritual thirst (joy, fulfillment, etc…) they become our gods. And when our false gods are threatened, we tighten our grip. What’s the result? Anxiety. Go ahead: try and be relaxed while clenching both fists.

When you’re anxious, it’s because you’re gripping something and demanding that it produce for you something only God can. So think about it: what are you anxious about? How have you taken it into your own hands? What are you hoping it produces for you that only God can give.

Peter knows we do this. So his Holy Spirit-inspired solution? Humble yourself. Get life out of your own hands and put yourself “under the mighty hand of God.” How do we do this? Back to anxiety-killing prayer…

I’m going to give you three things to pray each time you’re anxious. I am confident they will help because 1) they come straight from Scripture and 2) I’ve used them myself on many, many anxious occasions. Here we go.

1) “I am weak. You are strong.” (see 2 Corinthians 12:10)

This is the prayer of dependence.
A spirit of independence says, “I’ve got this / I’m good enough / I’m strong enough”. My friends, this turns God off quickly when it comes to hearing your prayer. So get dependent. In contrast, this spirit says: “I am not enough. I don’t have what it takes. This is too much for me. I need you. You’ve got this. You are able.” God rushes to the side of the believer who prays this kind of prayer consistently.

2) “Here’s my hope, but it is not a demand.” (see Matthew 26:39)

This is the prayer of contentment.
God loves you. He is absolutely crazy about you. This means he wants to hear your hopes. He wants to hear what you desire. Speaking it to him is important. But letting him be God is vital. So what you want is what you hope for, but never a demand. Because you know that if you have Jesus and nothing else, you have everything. 

3) “You get to decide how this goes.” (see Daniel 3:17-18)

This is the prayer of surrender.
When you take something out of your hands and place yourself back under the “mighty hand of God,” you relinquish your control of the result. The Bible has a word for a believer who trusts God in this way: peaceful.

These are not magic bullets. They’re a workout routine. Frequency AND content make the difference in anxiety-busting prayer. This isn’t easy. But it’s worth it.

You are not a terrible Christian because you experience anxiety. But to be truly freed from it, you have to own the pride at the root. Swing the axe of truth at the root, though…and you’re well on your way to killing the anxiety in your heart.