How to overcome panic disorder?

BibleAsk Team

Automatic Transcript Generated:

Speaker 1

I have a live question, though, and a very important one from Sean. We’re glad you joined us and thank you for asking this question. Wendy, would you like to read it? Sure.

Speaker 2

So Sean is coming here. I am struggling with with panic disorder. Can you give me advice to get through this?

Speaker 1

So, Sean, we obviously cannot give you health advice at all, but maybe we could give you some Bible verses because you probably could be dealing with spiritual warfare. And really anything of the mind is very much closer related to spiritual attack by Satan to just bring us into a state that God doesn’t want us to be. If you read the Bible, I think in my account one time, there’s about 400, 500 references to the word peace. I can look that up right now. Peace. Just even in the King James version, there are 429 references to that word. And if you see God again and again, it’s half peace. Be at peace, don’t be afraid. God never made us with the intent to have these feelings. So the question is, where do they come from? Why do we live in a state of fear? We have panic, we have all the feelings, we have the feeling of hopelessness. What’s their origin? And it comes from I think one of the best things I ever heard and I really come to really understand is we were made from the beginning to be loved and to love. And that was going to be the environment we would be in.

Speaker 1

And there wouldn’t be any death, there wouldn’t be any pain, there would be no scarcity, we would never experience loss. Now we’re in this world that is harsh, that is very much averse to us. We have the enemy always working against us. And if we were alone, yes, we would need to have panic, we need to be worried. But the thing is, we are not alone. God has never abandoned us. I love what Dangerous told Jacob, I am always with you. And it was pretty much those same words that Jesus said as he was about to send up, oh, I am with you, even to the end. And so he is with us. And Christ left so that the Holy Spirit would become intimately a part of us, so that God no longer was just billing in person, occupying one small space. But now God can abide in us and we can abide in him. And when we have that close connection with God and we realize God is with us, in us through every experience of our life, I hope that really changes the perspective. Now. And we’re talking about the God that is the Creator, the God who is all powerful, the Almighty, who yet wants you to call him Father.

Speaker 1

This is now key because remember, what is this God? Is this a God to be afraid of? If the Bible says fear God, but that fear is reverence that God is submission. Because as Jesus said, don’t fear basically the world fear me. It’s fear Him who can destroy the body and spirit in hell. So the only person that can do that is God. And if the only person that can really destroy you is God and yet he’s on your side, once they be with you, what else is there for us to be afraid of? And God says, and this is a critical verse and I hope this will help you because this is what gives me peace. This is one John Or 18, it reads there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment that is not made perfect in love or he that fears is not made perfect in love. What is John saying here? John saying that, yeah, if we’re just living safe here and part of it is just being afraid of God, being afraid of God’s punishment, that’s the main context here. But just think about it.

Speaker 1

If we are back to being in a state where we’re understanding God is loving us and we’re basking in that love, we’re receiving that love, nothing else really can be left. That there’s no space, there’s no room for fear. Just think about like the child who is surrounded by the arms of that child’s mother or father. Is that child now worried about anything else happening? Or is just completely now immersed in the love and feels the comfort from that. And that’s what we have to do is realize God covers us with his love and is there surrounding us with it. So one John 419, the very next verse that we just read says we love Him because he first loved us and we could just go on unpacking these things. But I hope these are concepts that will help you.

Speaker 2

I think one of the important things to add to this also is that panic, anxiety, these kinds of things, these are symptoms of our nervous system. And a lot of times when we study the Bible, when we read God’s Word, when we think about these concepts, we’re stuck in kind of like this head knowledge of it instead of like really taking it all the way into our nervous system. And it’s when we can bring that love all the way in and find that place of total peace with God and literally like re allow our nervous system to be rewired. That’s kind of what God wants to do for us is help us to rewire that our nervous system. Because trauma, all kinds of things that we can experience in life, the environment we live in, the things that we’re surrounded by can tax our nervous system. And especially from early life. Things that we experience in early life have a huge impact on our nervous system. If we are connected, if our parent has a nervous system that is on edge and anxious all the time we are likely to develop that it all.

Speaker 1

Gets back to we were made to love and be loved. And when we’re not growing up in that environment, we’re not surrounded by that love. That’s my belief. Why we’re going to experience so many of the problems and issues we do.

Speaker 2

Exactly.

Speaker 1

So we need to go back to letting God’s love really be that love that replaces what we don’t get elsewhere.

Speaker 2

Yeah. And really coming to know his character, that character of love and conforming our life to that and conforming even the environment which we are in to being around people who also embrace that character of love. And it would be nice to be able to say that you could go to any church and find that. And it’s important for us to be in communities of believers, but also people in church are broken. Also finding the places where you experience that connection and you experience that safety, that does help you to have peace. And learning to develop to understand yourself and what your needs are so that you can develop that trust more and experience God’s love into those parts of your life that you maybe didn’t have when you were younger. Those are the things that help to bring that healing in our nervous system and that training in our nervous system to trust in God.

Speaker 1

Amen. All right, Tina, are you back? And Sean, I hope that’s helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions. Thank you for joining us tonight. We’ll keep you in our prayers.

Speaker 3

Can you guys hear me?

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 2

Okay, good.

Speaker 1

Now, we gave feedback.

Speaker 2

Oh, no.

Speaker 3

Just really quick one quick verse I want to share with you, my friend, is just Isaiah 26 three that says and I agree with all that my brother and sister shared, but just one verse that has helped some people I know with panic, isaiah 26 three that says the Lord will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on me because he trusted me. And so just remembering that God does want to give you that peace. And there’s definitely sometimes there’s a need for medical intervention and that sort of thing, but it’s also very important to remember to just try to keep in mind that state on God, because that will bring about another level of God can give you. So I just pray for your healing and your blessing, my friend.

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