Anxious? A Booklet of Bible Verses for When You Feel Anxious

By John Zehring

A booklet of two dozen bible verses and explanations for when you feel anxious. The verses form a spiritual first-aid kit for times of anxiety or worry. Store them in your consciousness for when you need them most. Feeling anxious causes discomfort of the spirit and affects the mind and the body in unknown and unexpected ways.

Hearing anyone, even Jesus, tell you to not worry or to not be anxious does not stop you from worrying or being anxious. However, being reminded of God’s comfort, peace or care helps to sooth an aching soul and to strengthen your spirit for whatever you may face.

The power resides in the verses themselves which need little explanation. This work provides a quick and easy resource for you to use as an aid to calm, comfort, heal and bring you peace – not just an emotional peace, but the peace that comes by the gift from God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Zehring
• Release date: Aug 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370139644

John Zehring

John Zehring has served United Church of Christ congregations as Senior Pastor in Massachusetts (Andover), Rhode Island (Kingston), and Maine (Augusta) and as an Interim Pastor in Massachusetts (Arlington, Harvard). Prior to parish ministry, he served in higher education, primarily in development and institutional advancement. He worked as a dean of students, director of career planning and placement, adjunct professor of public speaking and as a vice president at a seminary and at a college. He is the author of more than sixty books and is a regular writer for The Christian Citizen, an American Baptist social justice publication. He has taught Public Speaking, Creative Writing, Educational Psychology and Church Administration. John was the founding editor of the publication Seminary Development News, a publication for seminary presidents, vice presidents and trustees (published by the Association of Theological Schools, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment). He graduated from Eastern University and holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, Rider University, and the Earlham School of Religion. He is listed in Marquis' WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and is a recipient of their Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. John and his wife Donna live in two places, in central Massachusetts and by the sea in Maine.

Book preview

Anxious?

A Booklet of Bible Verses for

When You Feel Anxious

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

John Zehring

Copyright 2016 John Zehring

INTRODUCTION

When I needed surgery, I was anxious. I know enough about my body, mind and spirit to know that anxiety is a natural response to an upcoming event which possesses a bit of the unknown. As I considered my anxiety, I started to list verses which I would hold onto as my spiritual first aid kit. I guessed rightly that when I would lie on the operating table my mind would be racing and not able to hold on to any single thought. Therefore, I wanted the verses in my spiritual first aid kit to be well-rehearsed and stored in my conscious so that I could draw from them when they were needed most.

In one of the most beloved teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assured his followers Do not worry about your life… (Matthew 6:25). In the Revised Standard Version, it is translated Do not be anxious about your life… Perhaps behavioral scientists would delineate differences between worry and being anxious. Worry tends to be about something specific whereas anxiety tends to be more generalized. Worried? Anxious? Most of us know the feeling and whichever word is used, the feeling causes discomfort of the spirit. Worry and anxiety affect the mind and the body in unknown and unexpected ways.

Hearing anyone, even Jesus, tell you to not worry or to not be anxious does not stop you from worrying or being anxious. However, being reminded of God’s comfort, peace or care helps to sooth an aching soul and to strengthen your spirit for whatever you may face.

I thought about making this a longer book with more commentary about each verse. I realized however that the power resides in the verses themselves which need little explanation. I also wanted to provide a quick and easy resource for you to use as an aid to calm, comfort, heal and bring you peace – not just an emotional peace, but the peace that comes by the gift from God.

A FEW NOTES ABOUT THIS BOOK

All scriptures in this work come from the New Revised Standard unless otherwise noted.

I have attempted to use inclusive language wherever possible in the words I have written, although I have not altered the author’s reference to God as he. I recognize that the Divine has no gender and for many it may be just as appropriate and accurate to acknowledge God as Mother or Father. Whichever pronoun is used, consider God as a loving parent.

Some of this work is adapted from other books or eBooks I have written. My website can be found by searching online for John Zehring books.

John Zehring

COVER PHOTO by Donna Taber Zehring

One

Do not worry… can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? …but strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness (from Matthew 6)

Matthew 6:25-34

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry abot tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

A behavioral scientist studied what people worried about and found that 40% of what an average person worries about will never happen. 30% of what they worry about concerns things in the past that cannot be changed. 12% of the worry was about criticism by others, mostly untrue, and 10% was about health, which gets worse with worry. Only 8% of the worries were about real problems that need to be faced. Do the math: 92% of worry is wasted.

Mark Twain wrote I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. Most troubles never happen and most worry is wasted. Worry dissipates energy, muddies focus and zaps vitality. So we are comforted to hear Jesus say Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

And yet, we continue to worry. Can’t help it. We become anxious. Do not be anxious is the translation by the Revised Standard Version. How can anyone who tells us not to worry or not to be