Chronic anxiety is very disabling: it is never a good thing.  Paul commands his readers that it should be expelled from their lives.  Throughout the Bible, ‘Do not fear’, ‘Do not be afraid’ and ‘Do not be anxious’ are often repeated.  Abraham needed to hear it (Genesis 15:1), so did Joshua (Joshua 8:1), Ruth (Ruth 3:11), Elijah (2 Kings 1:15), and Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:30).  Even Paul knew fear (2 Corinthians 7:5).  If such Bible heroes needed God’s instruction to lay fears to rest quickly, so do we.  ‘Easier said than done’, I hear someone say; and you are right ... but it is not impossible, otherwise this verse would not be in the Bible.  

What is anxiety?  It is the fear-laden emotion of uncertainty which points to a bad future and is encouraged by the devil’s lies.  Its resolution does not depend on how strong we feel, but on trusting how strong God is (Deuteronomy 3:22).  Sin-infected humanity wrongly believes it is in control, or ought to be in control.  However, circumstances can easily run out of control, and relationships do not always go the way we want.  When that happens, we naturally try to mend the problem.  However, often the matter is too big to be completely resolved, or we make matters worse by our meddling (Matthew 6:27).  The problem remains unresolved and then we get repeated bouts of anxiety until we become exhausted.

The spiral of anxious thoughts always continues until the uncertainty is resolved.  Everybody handles it differently, but the effects can range from desperation to suppressed feelings which manifest the internal tension in unexpected behaviour.  The Bible's advice is simple: resolve the matter by giving it to God.  Trust that He will resolve what you cannot (Psalm 56:3).  Of course, the Lord knows the future.  And He sees how all the different parts of the problem are joined together (Romans 8:28); so He is uniquely placed to deal with it.  God has the authority, power and wisdom to know what to do and the ability to do it (Revelation 5:12).

So our task is to tell Him the problem in detail, thanking Him for His promise to care for His children.  Of course, He already knows, but He wants us to tell Him - and thank Him for the answer (Matthew 6:5-8).  Our relationship with Him has to be built on trust.  Sometimes He will allow unresolved problems to persist, until we have learned to commit them to Him, take our hand off the controls and trust Him to work.  We can and should do that with everything - not just 'spiritual' matters.  The workplace usually has enough issues so that the watchful believer will pray as much at work as in church.  If you know others who follow Jesus at work, it is good to meet regularly to pray ... not just about your own needs, but the needs of the business too.  Your decreased anxiety will be a happy relief for your colleagues!