While the Bible does show that anxiety is common among humans, being anxious does point to some issues regarding our spiritual walk with the Lord. When we allow ourselves to be controlled by anxiety, it signals the idea that we have taken our eyes off of the Lord. John 14 offers hope in the midst of uncertainties and chaos. I’m going to share with you three quick points about anxiety and the hope we find in John 14, however, this is going to be brief.

The entire answer to the issue of anxiety and fear is found in just one verse: John 14:1…

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

WHEN ANXIETY STRIKES, ANCHOR YOURSELF TO THE LORD BY FAITH! (V. 1)

Understand this: the things that we get anxious about fall into three categories: food, shelter, and security! In Luke 12: 22, Jesus says… “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.”

The fact is when we think about it, it makes no sense for us to worry about these things. Think about it,

1. We cannot control any of these things… I believe Jesus wanted to make this point clear to us when He made this statement in Luke 12:25… And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
2. We are the children of the Almighty Sovereign God to whom everything belongs
3. Everything we have ever had, every we have, and everything we will ever have comes from one source and one source only: OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN! Anxiety sets in when we begin to get this twisted! When we begin to develop self-reliance and self-dependency, we are placing ourselves in the position for the anxiety hurricane to roll in and destroy our foundation. This is why I believe we can learn this great lesson from what Jesus says in Luke 12:24…Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them—the way to kill self-dependency and eliminate anxiety in our lives is to live like the birds… trust God for everything! Leave it in His hands!
4. We are more valuable to God than anything else in this world! Jesus said even though all these things that God made, all the lilies of the field, all the birds of the air, you and me are so much more valuable than all of them combined. You know how I know this is true? Here’s my evidence…God sent His Son to die on the cross from us in order that through Him, we might be reconciled unto God! We were lost, but God gave His Son, the Lord Jesus, as the perfect ransom for us and this is why Jesus, back to John 14:13 promises that He will not leave us orphans, He will come to us!
5. We are powerless within ourselves to change our situation… We cannot even add a day to our lifespan!

So instead of allowing our hearts to be troubled, instead of succumbing to anxiety, Jesus says we need to become heavenly minded—stop focusing on our earthly needs, instead, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

WHEN ANXIETY STRIKES, SET YOUR MIND ON YOUR ETERNAL FUTURE! (V. 2-7)

Jesus continues in v. 2 by stating, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Here’s what this means folks, it means that all of this pain and uncertainty is temporary! It means that there is much more in store for us than what we can see! So be encouraged! Sometimes when we allow anxiety to flood our hearts and we begin to sink deeper into its vast ocean and we begin to adopt to the mindset that all is lost! Jesus says NO, all is not lost, this is all temporary: I am going to prepare a place for you in my Father’s household in heaven and since I am going to prepare that place for you, it means, I will come back to get you. And here’s what this means: it means that I am coming to get you so that you will be with me where I am!

This is not pipe dream! The Lord is always faithful to His Word!

1. Revelation 1:7…Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen
2. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17… For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
3. Matthew 24:31-33… And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
4. Revelation 22:12-13…“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

The Lord said He will come again so that means He will come again to collect us, so instead of allowing the cares of this world to cause us to become anxious, LET’S SET OUR MINDS ON OUR ETERNAL FUTURE!

Jesus continues in John 14:4… 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

This is such a beautiful verse and such a wealth of a verse because it should build our faith in the way we need so that we can defeat anxiety. Listen, Jesus says I am going to prepare a place for you in my Father’s house and I will return to take you back with me! But here’s where this gets beautiful and awesome: Jesus is THE WAY! So if you are in Jesus, you already are in the way! This means that you can go to the Father because you are in Jesus! We are in Jesus because God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:4-6)

Jesus reconciled us to the Father and so because we know Jesus (i.e. we have a relationship with Jesus), we KNOW the Father too! In fact “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). We are clear to go to the Father’s house with Jesus because we are children of God and God made us to be citizens of heaven so we are here in this world today, but our future is in the Father’s house for eternity!

So let’s not let anxiety drown out our joy! Let’s not allow anxiety to ruin the few years we have on this earth! WHEN ANXIETY STRIKES, SET YOUR MIND ON YOUR ETERNAL FUTURE!

WHEN ANXIETY STRIKES, BE STILL AND REMEMBER THE LORD DID NOT LEAVE YOU BY YOURSELF! (V. 16-19)

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[g] in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

We Don’t Need to Fear

One thing we must remember when the anxious times befall us: we have no power to control the situation or issue causing the anxiety, but we are the children of the One with the power and authority over all things!

Jesus is the answer!