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How to Pray for Loved Ones Battling Anxiety

Updated Jun 05, 2024

"Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he's done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4, 6, and 7

If all of us could do this, we wouldn't have anxiety problems, but here's the dilemma. No matter how much sense this makes, there are folks who can't just stop working. They can't just turn it over to God, and we want to help those folks. Sometimes, it's medication, literally, that can transform everything.

There's a chemical disorder or biological disorder that which a medication changes the connection, and a person is free from that disorder. That means that it wasn't something that was a spiritual issue, and a lot of people want to make everything a spiritual issue. No, God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but he did put us in a fallen world where our bodies can be defective.

Our minds can be defective, and it can be totally unrelated to a spiritual issue. Now, if you know somebody who is struggling, and it's just obvious that they can't concentrate. They can't do the normal things.

They're exceedingly tired and exceedingly worrying about everything, and it's impacting your relationship with them and their relationship with others. How do we pray for them? Well, let me pray a prayer that you might pray for them. 

Lord, help me to help this wonderful person I love who struggles with fear and anxiety.
Lord, help me point out and help them to see any fear of other people, fear of man, as it says in the scriptures, that they might be able to let go of. Lord, help me to see that maybe they can't let go of anything right now. God, lead me to the resources that could benefit them the most.
Help me to inspire them with your word and your presence. Help me to comfort them and not add to their anxiety and fear. Lord, I pray that if it's in your will, you will heal them instantly. If not, Lord, transform me so that I can transform them with your help.
Lord, I can't heal. I can't cure. You can.
If it is in your will, let me be an instrument of that healing and transformation. God, I release them into your hands. Help me be such a calming source of peace that they would seek me out in their worst times of anxiety and fear.
God, help me be you to them. Use me, Lord.
I pray all these things in your name.
Amen. 

1 Peter 5, 7 says, 

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

It's important that we do that so that we can help others who struggle with an anxiety problem that may be more complicated than we ever dreamed.

No matter what, you are there for them. Amen. God bless you.

And if you need some help, 1-800-NEW-LIFE. 

Photo Credit: SWN Design via Canva Pro/Photo used with permission.


Stephen ArterburnStephen Arterburn from Ranger, Texas is the Founder and Chairman of New Life Ministries, Women of Faith conferences, and host of the syndicated Christian counseling radio program, New Life Live! New Life Live! won National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Radio Program of the Year in 2023. Stephen Arterburn’s first book, Hooked On Life, was published in 1984. He has become a New York Times Bestselling and Award-Winning author with more than 15 million books in print, receiving four ECPA Gold Medallion “Book of the Year” awards for quality and impact. The Every Man’s Battle series won two of those awards and has sold over 4 million copies. Steve has degrees from Baylor University and The University of North Texas as well as two honorary doctorate degrees, including one from The California Graduate School of Theology. Steve resides with his family in Carmel, Indiana.

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