(Proverbs 12:25) Anxiety weighs down the heart.

Worry and anxiousness turn the heart into a heavy rock.

Our needless worry is often tormenting.

Our minds create abundant scenarios of all the things that could go wrong in our lives or in the lives of others.

We usually get caught up in the fear of possible outcomes that never actually happen.

I would guess that 90 percent of the things we worry about never happen.

Living in a fallen world, we will never stop worrying completely, but under the power of the Holy Spirit, we can control the degree of our anxiety.

In my experience, worry begins in our thoughts and then moves into our emotions and feelings.

Satan always attacks our minds first.

I call them “arrows of fear” that he shoots into our minds.

In light of this sequence, we must discipline our thoughts and not allow them to go wild and throw our emotions into a state of chaos.

We must take control of our thinking.

However, it is not just about self-control.

It is also about consistently focusing our minds on God, His character, and the beautiful ways of His kingdom.

This is why it is so important for us to read the Bible daily.

Not because reading the Bible is some sort of magical trick, but because when we read the Bible, we fill our minds with the positive ways and character of God.

We live with an attitude of thanfulness.

This does not mean that bad things will not happen in our lives, for we live in a fallen world, as I said.

Yet, we do not need to allow fear, worry, and anxiety to dominate our lives day in and day out.

Fear is like a wildfire that can do major damage to us and others.

I suggest that you sit down today and write on a piece of paper the primary things you worry about (there is usually a pattern around the same issues), and then pray and unload them one by one to God every day.

Are you spiritually paralyzed by fear?

Is your day filled with more anxiousness than thankfulness?

If you do not get control of your fears, then they will only get worse and increase.

Satan will do all he can to stir up wild and unrealistic imaginations to keep us bound up in fear.

Take a stand!

Stop living in your head full of worries!

Take control over your fears!

Give your anxious thoughts to God in prayer!