Before we get started, I want to emphasize once again: I am speaking primarily about common anxieties we all face each day. Some of us experience what I call uncommon anxieties. Though these principles will still help, professional counseling and sometimes even medicine may be required for long-term healing in uncommon situations. That said, let’s dive right in.

Here’s the thing: anxiety is a big fat liar. It’s true. Anxiety lies to you constantly. Here are some classic examples of the lies anxiety speaks into your heart:
1) Life only sucks, so expect the worst at all times.
2) There is no way out.
3) Your situation will destroy you. You will never recover.
4) Sure, God loves you, but he isn’t intimately involved in your life. He has bigger concerns.

Those lies are whoppers. And they pack a punch. But I don’t think they hold a candle to anxiety’s biggest, baddest lie ever ***LIE ALERT***:

You are all alone.

Anxiety isolates you. It sucks you out of your community and firmly plants you on an island of overwhelming fear. Is it any wonder that when you’re in a bout of anxiety, the last thing you feel like doing is being with people? At least that’s my experience. I just want to run into an isolated room, far away from everyone, and FREAK. THE HECK. OUT.

Would it surprise you to discover that this happened to someone in Scripture? In fact, it happened to a prophet. His name? Elijah. His story? It’s in 1 Kings 18-19. Elijah had just won a massive spiritual victory on top of Mt. Carmel. God showed up huge and defeated 850 false prophets. Then, the evil queen Jezebel (who didn’t like it when God showed up) threatened Elijah’s life. And for Elijah, that was the last straw.

He was exhausted. He was afraid. So he ran into a cave. Ever had that experience?

I’ll leave the incredible details of the story for you to read, but I want to draw your attention to one important phrase. When Elijah is telling God why he ran, he says this:

“I am the only one left.” – 1 Kings 19:10 and 19:14, cause he says it TWICE.

Thing is, he’s wrong. He’s wrong to the tune of SEVEN THOUSAND people (19:18). So why does he say he’s alone? Because he has believed anxiety’s greatest lie.

Elijah felt alone. I’m willing to bet you know what that’s like, particularly when anxiety gets you on the island of fear. Anxiety tells you that no one else gets it. Anxiety says no one can really help. My anxiety-killing friends: let’s kill that anxiety.

To do this, we have to dust off our 1 Peter passage once more, but this time, we need to rewind it to include a few more verses at the top. Here we go:

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up in due time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:5b-7

There is a reason Peter begins his thought sequence with humility in community and then ends it by talking about anxiety: anxiety is a community killer. Thankfully, though, the reverse is also true: community is an anxiety killer.

How? Because one of the surest ways to take the teeth out of anxiety’s lying mouth is to join some of your friends on their islands of fear. This is what Peter is getting at when he says: “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” Humility toward one another. The number one way to heed this command is also one of the surest ways to kill your own anxiety: listen to other people talk about theirs. Humility is the stubborn refusal to make life about you.

That’s right. This may surprise you, but you can actually drown out the lying voice of anxiety by listening to other people about their own anxieties, sufferings, and struggles. Listening forces you out of yourself. It lifts your focus from your own situation to someone else’s. You’re reminded you are not alone. You’re reminded of God’s love and provision of community for you. And you’ll also find you have the chance to share your own anxieties with a burden-bearing community of fellow strugglers.

To kill anxiety continually, you must pray continually. As you pray continually, you must continually pray from a place of humility. And as you do this…pray with others. Pray for others. God will remind you that you’re not alone. Other people really do get it.

God is three-in-one. He loves you, he is with you, and he wants to you be freed from anxiety by utilizing the same community he experiences within himself every day.