3 Prayers for the Anxious Heart

​Like most children, I grew up with some naive ideas as to what it means to be a grownup. I thought adults had absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and had total autonomy in life. As I inched my way through the elementary, middle, and high school years, I began to understand how mistaken and silly such ideas were. However, there was one naive belief that stayed with me until my early twenties, with the bubble bursting shortly after I graduated college.

For most of my life, I had believed that grownups had all the answers. The adults in my life were all capable, responsible, and encouraging sources of wisdom. With them as my examples, I falsely concluded that such competency and insight must come along with reaching adulthood. Unsurprisingly, I struggled when reality proved this is not the case. 

As a young adult, I wrestled with a lot of anxiety, fear, and disappointment in myself. I erroneously thought I was supposed to have it all together and know all the answers, but I knew most assuredly that I did not. I felt like a fraud and failure. It finally took my older sister sitting me down and freeing me from my misguided thinking with five simple words. Nobody has all the answers.
 
I will never have all the answers. The longer I journey through adulthood, the more I realize how we are all still learning, still growing, and will never fully arrive at perfection on this side of heaven. ​

And yet, there are still times I wrestle with the same anxiety and fear I felt as a young adult. Even as I write this, my husband and I are suddenly facing circumstances that are requiring us to move unexpectedly and without an obvious answer in sight. Honestly, I’ve had more than a few moments of worry and fretting over the unknown. There will always be situations and trials in life that expose our humanity, limitations, and weaknesses. Thankfully, as believers, we have access to the Source of all wisdom and strength. I may not have all the answers but I know the One who does. 
 
So, how do we quiet our hearts in the face of worry and uncertainty? How do we calm our anxious hearts as we wait on God to guide and direct us? God has graciously given us the perfect tool — prayer. 
 
Prayer doesn’t always appeal to us as the best means to solve the problems, trials, and difficulties we face. What we often want is an immediate response or action to address a problem, but prayer requires us to wait in dependence on the Lord. ​

We want to feel we are being active and productive in the circumstances we face, but prayer requires us to relinquish control, which feels passive and powerless. I know I am very guilty of thinking this way, which is why I often spend a lot of time stewing in worry before I finally bring my cares to the Lord.
 
In truth, anxiety will never be able to fix a problem or accomplish anything helpful. Additionally, we dishonor and disobey God’s clear admonition to avoid anxiety and instead to depend on the Lord through prayer.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6
 
“Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 55:22
 
 “When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:19

The truth is that worry is a sin. It forgets God while simultaneously trying to usurp His job. When we worry, we engage in a constant inner struggle to figure out how we can make all the pieces fit together when they never will, at least not without Divine intervention. However, when we abandon anxiety for prayer, we transfer that internal struggle and hand it upward to the Lord, entrusting our futures to His perfect work and will. 
 
In the last week, the Lord has shown me three very powerful and effective prayers to direct my heart and mind on Him instead of fruitless worry. These prayers have not only helped me to worry less but they have also deepened my faith and trust that I serve a God who cares for me and will always provide what I need when I need it. ​

A ​Prayer for Humility

A first step in abandoning worry is to humbly admit our limitations and acknowledge our complete dependence on the Lord. We cannot change people or circumstances. We cannot create answers where there seem to be none. We must confess our inadequacy and poverty and instead, claim our rightful place as those who must depend on God at all times. We will be far less inclined to persist in worry if we are regularly preaching to our hearts our need for dependence in prayer.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2
 
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

A Prayer for Worship

It is almost impossible to worry when I am worshipping God. Why? Because my focus is on God and who He is rather than the circumstance I am facing. I was once challenged by a godly mentor to worship and praise the Lord in my prayers before ever asking Him for anything. She counseled me to pray through His attributes and His names and to dwell in prayer on the meanings and significance of each. Not only did this extend my prayer time but by the time I had finished praising the Lord for who He is and what He has done, I hardly felt the need to make my requests known. Rehearsing the greatness of God in prayer not only gives honor to Him but does much to encourage and reassure my heart, to the point that I'm able to end my prayers with full confidence that God will supply all I need.​

“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:1-2
 
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song, I give thanks to Him.” Psalm 28:7 
 
“O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful, and sure.”  Isaiah 25:1
 
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” Psalm 42:11 ​

A Prayer for Gratitude

How often do we pray for God’s intervention and working, but when He answers our requests, we don’t respond with a prayer of thanksgiving? I’m very guilty of this. I’ll be happy or relieved when things work out how I wanted. I might even tell my friends the good news. But all too often I don’t stop in prayer and acknowledge God in gratitude. Put another way, are your prayers of petition equal to your prayers of thanksgiving? My own heart has been very convicted about this disparity. Additionally, I have to admit that I also fail to thank God regardless of the outcome. Whatever God does in my life, whether it appears as good or bad to my human eyes, it is best. Even in the pain of an unwanted or difficult answer, I can and should thank God — thank Him for being in control, thank Him for doing what is best even if it hurts, thank Him for never leaving me and upholding me through it all. I think about the book of Job and the example his life gives us. As far as we know, Job was never told about what happened behind the scenes between God and Satan. And yet he was able not only to trust the Lord but to humbly admit his failings and proclaim God’s power with gratitude.

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21b

“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”    Job 42:1-2 ​

Dear friend, are you wrestling with worry, anxiety, and fretting? Prayer is your only way forward. It may feel passive but it is powerful! Your heart will find the rest you seek as you humbly depend on Him. Find peace in adoring and worshiping Him and all that He is. Thank Him as He supplies your needs and carries you through whatever difficulty you are facing. We serve an amazing God, and no aspect of our life is beyond His strength or His care. Quit talking to yourself, and start talking to the One who does all things well (Mark 7:37). Our anxious hearts will experience His peace as we rest and trust in Him in prayer. 

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 ​

Which of these prayers will you be praying today?

You may also be interested in A Small Book for the Anxious Heart and When My Child's Heart is Anxious.