The 7 Day Anxiety Detox: Practical Tips For Biblically Overcoming Anxiety

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Galatians 5:22, Philippians 4:8

In the context of 2 Corinthians 10:3, Paul talks to us about spiritual warfare and our necessary role in destroying every obstacle that stands against the truth of Christ.

This includes the thoughts that arise in opposition of our faith.

But taking our thoughts captive and living by the Spirit rather than our flesh is easier said than done. Half of the battle of anxiety is realizing when you’re entering the battle. This is mainly because our fears and insecurities feel so true. We tend to go along with whatever pops into our heads.

But there is one thing that we must get down today if we’re truly going to start breaking free…

Just because the thought exists, doesn’t make it true.

(Go ahead, speak this to yourself, “Just because this thought exists, doesn’t make it true.”)

This is your reminder that you don’t have to believe everything you think today.

You have this incredible God-given skill called metacognition.

Metacognition means you have the ability to think about your thoughts. 

This means that you can pause, momentarily separate yourself from your thoughts and begin to discern what’s healthy and what is not; and discard the latter.

Action Plan:

Work through anxiety in these 4 steps.

1. Identify the “trigger” (What’s causing you to react).

Start pinpointing the event or individual that keeps triggering your emotions.

Ask yourself: Why does this have so much power over me? Is my anxiety about the

situation appropriate or created by my own fears and insecurities?

2. Write down the thoughts that follow.

Write down everything that you’re thinking. Analyze those thoughts and be your own judge.

Ask yourself: Is my thought process rational? Is it being led by the Spirit or led by fear?

3. Note the Reaction. 

What is your first reaction in response to the trigger event? 

Ask yourself: How does this make me react? What is a healthier behavior I can exchange this for (ex: praying, journaling, exercising, deep breathing)?

4. Understanding Differences Between Feelings and Reality.

(choosing faith and weighing your anxieties against a more likely truth).

Separate yourself from your feelings by writing in a journal or talking them through with someone else. From this, you’ll be able to weigh the more rational reality of what’s really happening.

Today’s Prayer: “Lord help me become more aware of any thoughts that do not come from you.”

Scriptures: Isaiah 26:3-4, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Matthew 6:28-33, Colossians 1:16, Matthew 6:24

When coming to Christ, many have the wrong idea about who God is and it only leads to a disappointment in their faith. Instead of taking the time to understand who God is, they view Him as a “spiritual addition” to their lives that is suppose to make everything happy and increase their blessings.

And if you’ve been viewing God as a “spiritual asset” to your life rather than letting Him be Lord over your life, I want to challenge you.

You limit yourself from experiencing the fullness of the Spirit if you are still operating primarily within yourself.

We can’t do both.

We cannot serve God and our selfish ambition.

We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

We will either let God be God in our life or we will continue to struggle to make our life work only to come up empty, anxious and frustrated over and over again.

The important concept I want you to digest today is God’s sovereignty.

I truly believe that when anxiety takes over our lives, it’s because we forgot who God is. We forgot that even though our fears are out of our control, they are still under His control. We stop trusting in Him and start depending on ourselves, but that is a set up for failure, because we are flawed beings.

We find peace within Gods provision, and we trust in The Lord when we understand how much He loves us. Many of us have been hurt and damaged over and over again to the point we don’t know what safety looks like; let alone the safety of love. But God is challenging us to find this safety in Him maybe for the first time ever and be vulnerable enough to trust that His love is the real thing. That this grace is sufficient to cover, protect, provide and look out for us. It’s a love that never lets go, a love that’s inescapable, a love that won’t leave us hanging or questioning where we stand and pursues us to the ends of the Earth.

Trade your anxiety for His sovereign peace today. 

Action Plan:

Start practicing making two columns in your journal and writing your raw, anxious thoughts on one side, while writing about who God is and what God’s Word promises on the other. 

Yes, you may have to do some digging for verses but digging is good. Plus you have the internet to search anything you can think of! Trust me, just taking the time to look up and write out God’s truth for yourself will bring a renewing process to you.

That’s the beauty of God’s word; when we take it in, it becomes a part of us. This refilling of our mind so necessary for our mental health.

Today’s Prayer: Lord help me to put my trust in you in the moments I strive to turn to myself.

Scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:7, James 1:3-8, Mark 5:24-34

There is nothing more self- sabotaging and frustrating than being double-minded.

Now, in James 1:3, he is suggesting that when we ask God for wisdom, we do so with confidence and unwavering trust in Him. Still this can be applied to anything that we go to God for.

Because the truth is, you either trust in Him or you don’t.

Remember the ill woman who followed Jesus through the crowd (Mark 5:24)?

She reached out her hand thinking,

“If I could just touch his robe I will be healed.”

She didn’t say, I think I’ll be healed.

Or I hope I’ll be healed.

Or He’s healed all these other people but I don’t know if he’ll actually heal me.

She said, I will be healed.

And she did it; pressing in with full faith in the power of Christ.

Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you.” and she was instantly freed from her suffering.

He didn’t touch her. He didn’t say some eloquent prayer. (Not that I disregard any of these things).

But in this case, it was her unwavering faith and the 100% confidence of her recovery in the power of Christ that activated her healing. 

Friend, faith is an activator.

However, fear is also an activator. 

An opposing activator that wages war against our minds. There exists a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). But the spirit of fear and anxiety is opposite to the spirit of faith. The two cannot cohabitate the mind. One will, by nature, rule out the other.

So which are you going to activate today?

Let’s commit to refusing to be double-minded.

We either trust God is at work in our life or we don’t.

Today when you give your worries over to God, you do not pick them back up. You don’t not worry about it any more. He has you.

You make up your mind about what you are going to believe. Keep in mind, faith is not the belief that things will work out the way that we want them to, but that God will keep us no matter how things turn out.

Action Plan:

Make a list of affirmations of what you will choose to believe today and hang it somewhere visible throughout your day.

Today’s prayer: Lord help me to keep my thoughts fixed on you and to have unwavering faith for what you are doing in my life.

Scriptures: Ephesians 6:10-18, John 10:10, Colossians 2:15, James 4:7, John 8:44

The scriptures make it clear in Ephesians 6 that there are evil rulers and principalities in the spiritual world that seek to steal, kill and destroy those of us who bear the image of God (John 10:10). It can be so easy to sink into life and forget we have a real enemy with a real agenda. But the truth is, we can’t afford to forget.

Because the mind is a target.

Think about it. Whenever there is a state of war, what is the smartest move for an armed force to take on their enemies?

To take out their communication.

If the enemy can take out the communication between the commanding force and it’s troops, he now has an advantage through the door of confusion and disconnection. Know that one of the enemy’s biggest tactics is also to take out your communication and connection with God.

To get us confused about who we are.

Confused about if God is even there.

Confused about the hope we thought we had in Christ.

He works through the haze of confusion.

To be honest, many of us aren’t prepared. I can personally attest that we make it too easy for him to gain access to our hearts and to our minds. This is why, as mentioned in Day 1, it’s important to be aware of what triggers your anxiety. So you know how to prepare your defenses.

Scripture says the enemy is the “father of lies” (John 8:44).

But wait, in order for a lie to work, it takes TWO:

1. The one who speaks the lie.

2. The one who believes it.

A lie has no power unless you believe it!

So it’s vital that we pursue staying connected to Christ for our mental and spiritual health. We take in His Word. We equip ourselves with the armor of God:

The sword of the Spirit- The Word.

The helmet of salvation- Your assurance in Christ.

The shield of faith- Your unwavering belief in the Lord.

The breastplate of righteousness- Your firm standing with God.

The belt of truth- The truth of God’s word.

Let’s let our minds be so filled with the truth of God that we leave no room for the enemy’s lies.

Action Steps:

1. Grab a deck of flashcards.

2. Write a scripture on each flash card that speaks the truth against fear and anxiety. 

Now when you go into prayer or you feel your mind under spiritual attack:

Grab your sword, this deck of scripture, and call out each verse during prayer.

Consider also getting on the phone and praying with a friend or a trusted counselor.

Today’s Affirmation: Today no weapon formed against my mind shall prosper.

Scriptures: Philippians 4:6-7, John 14:27

Jesus gave us the perfect formula for ditching anxiety.

Worry replaced by prayer equals the peace of God.

But remember, when we give our worries to God, we need to leave it with God. We cannot be double-minded in our praying. God grants a peace that this world can’t comprehend (John 14:27). It’s when we have every reason to lose our minds but because we trust God we are not moved. It’s this kind of faith that tells the world what kind of God we serve and how great He is. 

The truth is, the same time we dedicate to worrying and ruminating on our fears is the same amount of time we could dedicate to praying instead. It’s all about what you choose to give your energy and your spirit over to in these moments. The difference is that one will keep you bound and the other will set you free.

Let’s do a quick exercise.

I want you to look around where you currently are and count 5 things that are red.

Ready, go!

Okay, now without taking your eyes from this page, can you remember how many

things surrounding you that were yellow?

Pretty hard to recall isn’t it?

That’s because you were so focused on red that you could not see yellow even though it was there.

So let’s say red is your anxiety and yellow is your faith.

The reasons to have faith, think of other solutions, and be grateful were around you, but you couldn’t see them because you were too busying focusing on the red–the anxiety that existed.

This exercise can be applied to the perspectives we choose to have on life.

We will either look for ways to affirm our anxieties or seek ways to trust God and be grateful for what we do have.

Jesus had the perfect formula.

Action steps:

Scientific studies have proven that being grateful instead of focusing on the negative:

• Increases mental strength 
• Improves psychological health by increasing happiness and reducing depression.
• Greatly improves confidence and self-esteem

Today let’s focus on the reasons to have faith. List 10 things that you are grateful for right now or in this season of your life.

Today’s Prayer: Lord help me not to become too distracted to see how much you have blessed me.

Scriptures: Matthew 6:34, Psalms 46:10, Romans 8:28

You know what the problem is with anxiety?

We get too far ahead of ourselves.

We convince ourselves to fear things that either haven’t happened or don’t actually exist. After all, FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. Sometimes it’s so bad, we won’t allow ourselves to get too happy, enjoy ourselves too much or experience the fullness of a great relationship. We self-sabotage our own joy all out of the fear of disappointment.

Fear that it’s only so long before something goes wrong. We’d rather be prepared than endangered, but these walls soon become a self-imposed prison.

Have you ever experienced this?

I know I have.

Brené Brown, in her book Daring Greatly, calls this the shield of “Foreboding Joy”. 

Brown mentions, the whole idea is that “you sacrifice joy, but you suffer less pain.”

This has become the world that many of us live in.

And let’s be real, it is bondage.

However Christ instructs us in Matthew 6:34 to take one day at a time- to be present.

The truth is that you cannot experience the fullness of joy without allowing yourself to be vulnerable to the present. It was when I realized how hard it was for me to be fully present that I began to understand the depth of my anxiety. By placing my mind in the future I somehow thought I could control it or stop things before they happened even though they never existed.

And most of the things we fear, never even happen. It’s all a trap to keep us from living the abundant life we’ve been called to in Christ. Remember God’s sovereignty? He has already seen your future. He has every single day of your life laid out before Him (Psalm 139:16). So we don’t have to worry about the future when we know He is already there.

Today my challenge for you is to let go of Foreboding Joy and be present.

Action steps:

When you feel tempted to overthink a situation:

1. Set aside another time to think about it.

Designate a time when you have more peace and better timing to think it through.

You’ll feel better because you can redirect your focus to what’s in front of you without the lingering feeling that things have gone unresolved.

2. Slow Down.

Practice the pause. Recognize that anxious ruminating bears no fruit. Visualize yourself pushing everything out of your brain and to the side. Readjust your concentration and slow down. 

Today’s Prayer: Lord, right now I am grateful for the 24 hours you have placed in front of me and I will trust you with the days to come.

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, John 9:1-7, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 24:16

Today I wanted to encourage you.

It is so easy to look at ourselves in defect and shame when an ongoing affliction rises up in our life. To forfeit our purpose and live in this constant pit of “something is wrong with me”.

But I want to reassure you that this anxiety has not canceled God’s plan over your life. Your struggle has been no surprise to God. He is not taken off-guard by your fears and insecurities. He’s not waiting for some future version of you to show up. He delights in you, His child, right now. In fact, He gets the glory shining through our broken cracks.

 His power is made perfect in your weakness.

What does that mean?

It means that despite your flaws, when God meets them, you become the perfect match. So be proud that He is at work in your life. It was never up to you to get this whole thing right.

What you’re going through now and the work God is doing in your life is all specifically tailored to the calling He has on your life. These vulnerabilities are a part of your story. They are how you will connect with the world around you from a real place of humanity and compassion. They are how you will be able to speak the language of the hurting and the broken and show them the light of Christ.

I’m a witness.

This series exists because of my weakness.

Remember when Jesus and the disciples came across a blind man and they asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:2-3)

Many times these struggles aren’t because of something we did. It isn’t because we’re any less Christian or because God has decided to turn His back on us.

We live in a fallen world, disrupted by sin, where being broken is inevitable. Some things God allows so that we may witness His restorative power and He will show His glory to others. So I want you to rebuke shame and condemnation.

God can turn our pain into a purpose and we have to trust His love in the process. And to be completely honest, while I hope these 7 days have encouraged you with the tools and edification to let go of anxiety, that doesn’t mean it won’t try to pop up again. It will.

On my weakest days, it still tries to have it’s way with me. But because of the combination of my understanding of how anxiety works, loved ones I can turn to as needed and personal accountability to take my thoughts captive, I have learned how to face it.

Renewing and sustaining our minds is a daily practice.

Action Steps:

Start seeking out accountability and don’t be afraid to reach out for the help you need to manage and develop more skills for combatting anxiety. 

Today’s Prayer: Lord I know I’m not perfect but I trust that in spite of myself you are still faithful to see me through the trials of this life. Because of this I will continue to have hope.