How to Evict the Spirit of Anxiety, Part 1 of 2, Ep 3-18

Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing the spirit of Anxiety. We will identify the various levels of anxiety, see what the Bible reveals about anxiety and talk about how the Spirit of Anxiety works in us to create these various reactions and how we can overcome their attacks and control over our lives. There is so much to discuss here that this is part 1 of a 2 part series.

First off, I want to do my frequent disclaimer that not all cases of anxiety are demonically influenced, some are physiological.  That being said, our discussion involves circumstances that have created anxiety that are derived from a demonic influence.

Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

There are 4 different levels of anxiety we are going to address:

Normal (Mild): base level of anxiety we all feel when we have a tight deadline, a final, job interview, everyday activities that are short-lived and for most can be overcome by increasing activity to complete the task. Most people feel this multiple times in our lives and this level can be healthy because it can motivate us to perform at a higher than normal level in order to complete that task.  Not likely we will live a life without some level of anxiety.  An example of that is Paul in his letter to the Philippians in speaking of Epaphroditus who had been very sick, Paul was sending him back to them and asked them to welcome him on his behalf. Paul writes this, Philippians 2:28, Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. From this we see, some level of anxiety is normal if it is short-lived and derives from everyday life situations. Another example of this is found in Luke 2:48 when Joseph and Mary realize Jesus was not traveling with the family and they had to go back to Jerusalem to find them, it says this: When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

General anxiety disorder: this occurs when someone experiences excessive or unrealistic or uncontrollable anxiety about numerous aspects of their life circumstances and in some cases things that have not yet happened. It can be accompanied by physical symptoms such as muscle tension, difficulty sleeping, inability to focus, confusion and fear.

Someone with a general anxiety disorder may have it at differing levels

Moderate: most common, occurring in about 1/3 of all people who experience anxiety above the normal level. Focus is decreased and the ability to observe or focus on details becomes challenging.  Perspiration increases, heart rate increases, shakiness, headaches, gastric discomfort.

Severe: At this level one may begin to have feelings that are debilitating and feel like they are going to break, unable to function in normal activities, crying, confusion, emotional outbursts, impending doom. This occurs in about 22% of people who experience anxiety.

Panic: Extreme, feeling out being out of control, hallucinations, inability to control their breathing and reactions, highly likely medical intervention is necessary to manage heart rate or breathing. At this level, the person cannot function.

Now we are all on the same page regarding anxiety, so let’s start talking about some of the spiritual reasons why anxiety increases in our lives.  Sometimes I talk about spirits being quiet or loud.  What I mean by that is how it enters our lives and how it resides, the characteristic of being quiet or loud.  The spirits of anger or violence tend to be more loud because the nature of what they bring out of people is noticeable.  While something like anxiety or doubt will tend to be quiet because we tend to want to hide that aspect of ourselves so others don’t know we are experiencing them.  The quiet ones are the ones who are able to linger and over time wreak more havoc in our lives than the loud ones.  The loud ones cannot function full force all the time but the quiet ones can because they can move almost completely unnoticed.  Anxiety starts as a quiet spirit. 

The spirit of Anxiety will move slowly into our lives, generally not the first one into our lives but it works like a glue to hold the other demonic spirits together.  It functions like an octopus, and I apologize to all the octopi out there for needing to use you for this analogy but it is helpful.  So think of Anxiety as the Octopus.  Over your life you have experienced many things, some fantastic, some loving, some tragic, some unfortunate, some sad, some unjust.  How we respond to all of these things, how we were raised, sometimes where we were raised, the nature of our childhood, all of these things add up.  When we have experienced trauma as a child, it places on us an impact.  We could have experienced mostly positive events in our life, but anxiety wants us to forget about those, and instead wants to bring up the hurtful things, shape our minds around the ugly things that have happened to us and control us using those ugly things. 

Anxiety moved in slowly and while it remained quiet, slowly building in strength, it also brought in other demonic spirits to work with it.  I work with many people on their anxiety issues and I am going to give you an idea of the most common demonic influences I see in their lives: fear, doubt, unworthiness, insecurity, uncertainty, worry, control, fear of judgment, inferiority, shyness, frustration, legalism, crying. 

When I am working with someone who has anxiety, I want to find the strongman, and with anxiety it is often difficult to identify because anxiety isn’t usually the first to show up in their lives, fear is.  By the time I am talking to them, however, anxiety has had the biggest impact and here is why.  Think of the spirit of anxiety as that octopus and all of the other demonic spirits, the ones he invited in, as situated at the end of each of the arms. A trigger will occur, which is different for everyone, and as that trigger occurs, anxiety uses its arms to reach out to all the other demons that can help to turn what should be no anxiety or normal anxiety into moderate anxiety and if we do not address it, then it will continue to severe and ultimately panic whenever it so chooses.  When you see someone in a severe or panic level attack, these aren’t voluntary situations.  If you have never experienced it, you may even dismiss the person as being silly or dramatic, but it is very real. If I saw someone having a severe or even to some degree a moderate attack, I can’t just say “oh, look at 1 Peter 5:7, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you, then walk away and think everything will be okay for them.  That’s not helping them. It’s true, but they are dealing with much more than normal anxiety and we need to understand they don’t know how to apply that because the enemy is terrorizing them.

One of the common denominators I see with people who have anxiety issues is that the root of it started when they were children, young children 3,4,5 years old and there was an ongoing circumstance that created fear in their lives.  That is where we need to start because that is where the door was opened and likely is still open. To address how that door opened often involves them talking about painful memories they would rather forget. Generally, one memory is tied to another and tied to another and so on.  It’s not an easy task to address all of this, but if we don’t then we will not be able to fully excise the root. 

Last week I talked about divination being a cancer to Christianity when we allow those beliefs and practices to enter Christianity unchallenged.  It is the same principle here.  Leaving a root intact that allowed these demonic influences to enter our lives, leaving that door open to allow them to continue to enter our lives because the root is still in place will eventually eat at us and take over our lives and our ability to function.  We cannot allow that and we need to excise the root and close the door. 

Another common denominator I see with people who are dealing with higher level anxiety issues is they say things like they are tired of it and want it gone.  There is an impatience to wanting to have it out of their lives.  If this is you or you know someone with this issue, you are familiar with what they are experiencing.  You can hear it in the pain of their voice and through their words. 

The good news is we can get rid of it.  It is possible, the less good news is that it takes time.  It takes time because of how much is involved, the length of time it has been going on has meant there is an accrual of demonic influences that need to be dealt with as well.  This ultimately leads to a deliverance.  This is not a deliverance where you just tell it to go in the name of Jesus.  There has been a long and winding path to get to this point, and we need to deal with that long and winding path.  If we do not do that, we are putting ourselves in the position of any or all of these demonic spirits coming back because we did not excise it and close the door. 

This process involves looking at some of our life choices as well.  We may have entertained demonic spirits at some point in our lives.  We have made choices outside of God’s will.  We may need to renounce some things, we may need to repent of some things.  While the initial event that began all of this situation may have occurred when we were a child, we have to look at what we have contributed to it along the way.  If we do not address those issues, we will then remove the legal rights the enemy has to your life and you will be right back where you started. So, it’s a process.  It took time to get in this position and it will take time to change this situation. Behaviors have been developed and sometimes ingrained that will need to be addressed and changed so we can begin to handle life situations differently than we have been accustomed to responding or reacting to when a trigger presents itself.  We need to be able to identify those triggers and learn ways to manage our reactions, which takes time. 

When we include the Holy Spirit in the process He can begin to clean out the damage the enemy has done over the years, bring healing and restore us to Him with a new way to love, a new way to manage and a new way to live our abundant life as Jesus tells us in John 10:10.

This is a good stopping point for this first episode.  We have laid the groundwork for what anxiety is, how it functions and that there is a process we need to follow so we can change how we respond.  In the next episode we will lay out the groundwork for how to start the process and make the changes necessary to root everything out that allows anxiety to function in our lives, so make sure you come back for that.

I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.

If you are growing through our podcast, consider supporting us each month as we continue to build the Kingdom of God. www.buzzsprout.com/1995558/support.  Don’t forget to check us out on the YouTube Channel, Conquering Our Unseen Enemies.  https://www.youtube.com/@conqueringourunseenenemies/featured

If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share. 

As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:

·      Discussing the Spirit of Anxiety

·      Not all cases of anxiety are demonically influenced but our discussion involves circumstances from a demonic influence.

·      Defintition of Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

·      There are 4 different levels of anxiety we are going to address:

·      Normal (Mild):

·      Philippians 2:28,

·      Luke 2:48

·      General anxiety disorder: 

o   Moderate:

o   Severe:

o   Panic:

·      Anxiety starts as a quiet spirit. 

·      The spirit of Anxiety will move slowly into our lives, generally not the first one into our lives but it works like a glue to hold the other demonic spirits together.

·      Spirit of Anxiety functions like an Octopus. 

·      Most common demonic influences I see that pair with the spirit of anxiety: fear, doubt, unworthiness, insecurity, uncertainty, worry, control, fear of judgment, inferiority, shyness, frustration, legalism, crying. 

·      The spirit of Fear usually works in our life before the spirit of anxiety.

·      The strongman is difficult to identify because anxiety isn’t usually the first demonic influence to show up in their lives.

·      The spirit of anxiety is like an octopus and all of the other demonic spirits, are situated at the end of each of the arms.

·      1 Peter 5:7, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

·      A common denominator for people with anxiety is it started when they were young children 3,4,5 years old

·      We can get rid of it but it takes time because of how much is involved, the length of time it has been going on has meant there is an accrual of demonic influences that need to be dealt with as well.  This ultimately leads to a deliverance. 

·      It took time to get in this position and it will take time to change this situation. Behaviors need to be changed so we can begin to handle situations differently when a trigger presents itself.    

·      When we include the Holy Spirit in the process He can begin to clean out the damage the enemy has done over the years, bring healing and restore us to Him with a new way to love, a new way to manage and a new way to live our abundant life.

·      In the next episode we will lay out the groundwork for how to start the process and make the changes necessary to root everything out that allows anxiety to function in our lives.

We encourage you:

·      To have an active Bible reading plan, if you want a personal relationship with the Lord, you need to be active about reading His word.

·      Take a look at my newest book, Conquering Our Unseen Enemies, available on Amazon or our website, Conqueringourunseenenemies.com

·      Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies and FB.

I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!