Gregory Dickow - 5 Steps to Break Free and Overcome Anxiety
Now, today we are going to dive into one of the entries from our daily devotionals in our 2025 Fast from Wrong Thinking. Today, we’re going to specifically draw from Day 23, to be exact. You get an email every day. By the way, this year’s theme is all about flipping the script on the mindsets that defeat us and keep us limited. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s absolutely free. I want to personally invite you to join me on this journey. You’ll get 40 days of transformational thoughts delivered straight to your inbox, each one designed to dismantle negative thinking and replace it with the Word of God, the truth-God’s way of thinking. You can sign up at gregorydickow.com or fastfromwrongthinking.com as well.
Now let’s get into today’s content, which also comes from our book, Fast from Wrong Thinking. You can get this on our website as well. It has 40 of our top Fast from Wrong Thinking concepts or chapters, if you will. I want to read a couple of testimonies real quick before we actually dive deeper. The testimony of Jesus, Revelation 19 says in verse 10, is the spirit of prophecy. When you hear somebody else’s testimony, treat it as a prophecy of what God can do in your life as well.
Somebody said, «I recently completed your 40-day fast from wrong thinking. As a result, I quit smoking shortly after. I had smoked for over 50 years of my life, and I have now been four months clean with no cravings at all. Only God could have done that. Thank you, Pastor Dau, for being real and doing all that God has planned for you according to His will. Amen.»
We constantly receive testimonies like this. By the way, someone else said, «Thank you very much for the email messages on fasting from wrong thinking. They helped me. I was even able to share them with a former colleague who had just received negative medical news and was threatening to commit suicide. This message of hope made all the difference.» Wow, that is a powerful testimony of how God can deliver us from even the darkest hours.
Another testimony: «I praise God that you were obedient to God to start this fast from wrong thinking. I don’t want to know, nor will I think, of where my life would be without going through it. I never stopped this life-changing fast and was healed of a lifetime of post-traumatic stress disorder. If you’ve never had it, you don’t want to know what it’s like. I praise God daily for my healing. Thank you again.»
So these are some of the testimonies that come from our Fast from Wrong Thinking, a journey that we go on every year. It’s not a fast from food but a fast from wrong thinking. You can get this book on the website, as well as a daily journal to go with it if you would like.
All right, so today we’re going to attack the thought that says, «I’m worried about my finances and what’s going on in the world.» Those two things often go together. We’re struggling financially; we’re anxious about what’s going on in the world. We’re worried. And listen, this thought isn’t far from all of us. We all deal with this kind of thinking. There’s a lot going on in this world: financial pressure, wars around the world in multiple places. It’s enough to keep anyone up at night if we let it. In fact, a recent study showed that one in three Americans report experiencing anxiety on a regular basis.
Now it used to be one in five, one in four. This is really a crisis: one in three. Crisis hotlines have seen over a 30% increase in calls in recent years. People are overwhelmed. But God knows. God cares. And He’s given us the tools to deal with this anxiety. And frankly, here’s the truth: anxiety is not your destiny; peace is your destiny, and freedom is your destiny.
So today we’re fasting from the anxiety that comes from this world system and from what we’re struggling with, even in our own finances or personal lives. So, number one, we’re going to take these steps and renew our thinking. This is how it works. This is neuroplasticity. This is how we reprogram our minds, how we renew our minds to God’s thinking, how we change our brains, frankly. God wants to take care of you.
Number one, God wants to take care of you more than you realize. He wants to take this care off of your mind. He wants to take care of you, and He wants to take the care off of your mind. How does He do it? Philippians 4:6-8 provides the blueprint: Don’t worry about anything. He gives us the blueprint here: Don’t worry about anything; pray about everything; thank God; and think on these things that are good and praiseworthy. Watch this four-step process:
1. Don’t worry about anything.
2. Pray about everything.
3. Thank Him.
4. Think on what is good and praiseworthy.
If you follow this system: don’t worry about anything; pray about everything. So when you’re worried about anything, pray about everything-or pray about that thing-and then thank Him for the answer and fill your mind with thoughts of God’s goodness.
And we’re doing that right now. When you’re anxious, tell God what’s bothering you. Go to Him. This is the point: go to God when you feel anxious, when you feel worried. Immediately go to God. He’s not bothered by you. He loves you; He wants to hear from you. Ask Him to take care of it. Tell Him how you feel. Thank Him for being with you. Thank Him for the answer.
Then fix your thoughts on His promises, not on the problems. Fix your thoughts on His promises. What are His promises? Well, one is that God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. I really want to encourage you to believe this -believe that He will supply all your needs, not just spiritually, but all your needs-not just financially, but all your needs. Philippians 4:19 says, «My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.»
You see, sometimes it’s money that we need, but sometimes it’s not money that we need. Sometimes it’s wisdom; sometimes it’s the right connection; sometimes it’s creativity; sometimes it’s an idea-whatever we need. God says He’ll supply all of our needs according to His riches. He doesn’t supply our needs according to our riches; He supplies our needs according to His riches, and He supplies all of them-all of our needs, not just one once in a while, but all of your needs.
Now you may ask, «Will He supply all my wants and desires?» How about if we just start with the fact that He’ll supply all your needs? Once you see that His track record of supplying all your needs is solid, then you can graduate to asking for more so you can help other people with their needs. Whether that’s financial, whether that’s in healing, whether that’s in wisdom, ideas, that’s the next point.
As we renew our minds, the way we take these thoughts captive, the way we retrain our thinking, is by continually reminding ourselves we can go to God, that He wants to take care of us, that He will supply all of our needs, and then that we can ask Him for wisdom. This is the next thing to do to change this way of thinking. Instead of being filled with worry, ask God for wisdom.
Wisdom delivers us from worry. When we know how to respond to the situation, we’ll stop worrying about it. Ask God for wisdom. God promised whoever asks for wisdom, He will give generously to you. In fact, wisdom is so valuable that the Bible says in Proverbs 8 that it’s better than silver, it’s better than gold. It says that when God came to Solomon in a dream, He said, «I want to offer you anything you ask for.» Solomon could have asked for riches, fame, power, or victory over his enemies, but he asked for wisdom. He went to God.
When God came to him and said, «Ask anything,» Solomon asked Him for wisdom. You know, Jesus said in John 14 and John 16 that if we ask God anything in Jesus' name, He will do it. God wants to answer. God wants to give, and wisdom is one of the greatest things that He gives. God said to Solomon, «Because you did not ask for silver, gold, riches, power, or fame, I’m going to give you the wisdom and understanding you asked for, but I’m also going to give you all those other things because all of those things come from wisdom and understanding.» Wow! The shortcut to experiencing God’s provision is asking Him for wisdom.
The hack to experiencing God’s provision is asking God for wisdom. Wisdom is better than anything, and He says He will give to you generously when you ask. You don’t need to figure everything out; you just need to ask God for wisdom and believe that it’s yours the moment you ask for it. It’s actually yours before you ask, but believe that it’s yours the moment you ask for it.
Then, after asking for wisdom, this is how I deal with anxiety. This is how I deal with the worries of this world-the wars, the problems, the struggles, all that goes on in this world-the disasters, the tragedies. I remember what God has done. Boy, you’ve got to start remembering! There’s a reason why the devil attacks our memories; he doesn’t want us to remember the good things. He wants us to think about what is going wrong rather than remember what God has done.
David gives us a lesson about remembering how God has always come through for him. He said in Psalm 37: 25, «I was young and now I’m old, and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.» He said, «From the time I was young until I was old, I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.» God will answer, and God will do it. And if you look back and see what He’s done, it’s going to give you peace. It’s going to calm the storm.
Genesis 24:1 says that God blessed Abraham in all things. If you belong to Christ, that blessing belongs to you. So how do you access the blessing of God? How do you access His provision? How do you access His abundance? How do we access all of our needs? We ask God; we ask God to bless us. We pray like Jabez did in 1 Chronicles 4. We say, «Oh God,» he prayed this, «Oh God, bless me indeed. Enlarge my territory. Let Your hand be with me. Let me bring healing and not pain.»
And here’s the good news: it says in 1 Chronicles 4:10, «And God granted his request.» What a powerful promise! And if God granted his request, He will grant yours too.
Then I want you to start seeing yourself differently. So let’s go over these steps to take to take this thought captive: «I’m worried about my finances. I’m worried about what’s going on in the world. I’m worried about my needs.»
1. Go to God because He wants to take care of you and He wants to take the care off of your mind.
2. Believe He will supply all of your needs.
3. Ask God for wisdom.
4. Remember how God has always provided. Remember the times that God has provided. You can remember them from your life or remember them from the lives of people in Scripture.
5. Then ask God to bless you. Ask Him to bless you like Jabez did. And God granted his request.
6. Start seeing yourself differently. See yourself as someone that attracts favor; see yourself as someone that’s irresistible. You know, the Bible says there’s a shield of favor surrounding you-a shield of favor that, in every direction you turn, God’s going to give you favor.
See yourself like that. See yourself as irresistible. See yourself as God’s favorite. See yourself as someone who’s fearfully and wonderfully made. You have something that this world needs; you have a gift, you have a calling, you have a purpose, you have a light. Expect people to notice. Expect people to open doors for you that no one can close. You’re made in God’s image. Expect favor.
You’ve got something that this world is looking for, and trust God. Give your gifts, give your talents to God. Trust Him and watch what He’ll do. He doesn’t just work through your salary, your income, or your paycheck. Your hours that you work-God is not limited to providing for your needs just through that alone. He brings provision from the most unexpected places.
We see in Scripture He brings water out of a rock, He brings manna out of heaven, bread from heaven, fish from an empty net. He’s Jehovah Jireh; He’s your provider, and He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does miracles, and He wants to do one in your life today.
In fact, I want to pray for you, and then I want you to say this with me. But first, I want to pray for your needs. Father, I thank You that every person right now connected to me has needs that only You know. They have needs that only You can meet. Father, I thank You. They have needs that are deeper than just their money-deeper than just a friend, deeper than just somebody to love.
I pray You would meet them where they’re at. Lord, I pray that You would meet the deepest need in every person’s life. I’m asking You for every person I’m connected to right now-for the man, for the woman, for the child that is listening right now. I declare in Jesus' name that God cares about you, and God is taking your care upon Himself.
Roll it over on Him. Just say, «Lord, I give this anxiety to You.» Just say it: «I surrender my anxious thoughts to You. I surrender my cares to You.» I believe-say this-I believe, God, You care about every detail of my life. I believe You’re meeting all my needs. I receive Your wisdom. I ask for Your wisdom. Come on, pray that with me: «I ask for Your wisdom, and I receive Your wisdom because it’s more valuable than gold.»
And I am valuable as well. I say this-pray this: «I’m in demand. I have what people need. God has countless ways to provide for me.» Boy, if you’ll just say that again, something’s going to go through you. «God has countless ways to provide for me.» Say that.
And I want you to declare this. I want you to pray this like Jabez prayed: «Oh Lord, bless me indeed. Enlarge my territory. Enlarge my impact. Let Your hand be upon me. Thank You for Your hand of favor in my life. Let me bring healing and not pain.» In Jesus' name, amen.