Wouldn’t it be nice if we could say, “I’m going to stop worrying now,” and then all of a sudden stop?
If you’re a worrier, you know that it’s not as easy as that.
Sometimes those worries just take hold of us and won’t let go. When that happens, one of the best things to do is pray.
We could follow the advice in Philippians 4:6-7 and pray with thanksgiving. Or we could just pray through some straight Scripture. Here are 20 helpful Bible verses to pray through when you’re worried:
Note: Click here for 11 questions that will help with worry. Click here for an example of how to pray about your worry.
Bible Verses for Worry
Psalm 27:1, 3 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident.
Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.
Psalm 27:13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 46: 1-2, 7 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Psalm 61:1-2 Hear my cry, O God; give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.
Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?
Matthew 6:9-10 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ ”
Matthew 6:27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 19:26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Romans 5:3-5 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:35–37 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Question: Do you have a favorite Bible verses for worry?
I have an old folded piece of notebook paper that has been sitting by my sink in the bathroom for over five years, it is Isaiah 8:13, “God is the one you are to regard as holy, He is the one you are to fear, He is the one you are to dread.”
I’ve studied in depth just about every verse in the Bible about fear. I’ve learned that when we fear or revere the world more than we do our Father we’re dishonoring the One who holds all things in His hand. It is like idolatry. We fear things that sit in the palm of His hand along side of us more than we revere the Hand that holds us…
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” I learned that the hard way, but glad I learned it… I just have to remind myself in prayer. With you, sister. Thanks for the reminder.
I agree with you on idolatry, Floyd. I usually find that the things I worry about are things i care about more than God wants me to care about them. Letting go of them – being able to accept the idea of life without them – is necessary for me to let go of the worry. Once they’re out of that idol position, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get them so know need to worry about them any longer. Love the Bible verse! Thanks for sharing.
My anxiety levels and habitual worry robbed me of so much joy when my children were young. Like Floyd, I learned the hard way that worry doesn’t prevent bad things from happening and that God is true to His promises to walk with me through whatever happens.
I daily stand on my life verse – Psalm 73:26 – My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Isn’t it strange that worry doesn’t prevent bad things from happening – but in an odd way it can give us this feeling of control? I remember being in a plane years ago in heavy turbulence – I felt like I couldn’t stop looking at the wings of the plane, that somehow i could keep the plane in the air by sheer force of will. Life is so much more peaceful without worry. Thanks for sharing your life verse, Deb – that’s a perfect one for worry!
Barb, I didn’t fly for about eight years after a very turbulent flight. So, thankful God finally helped me get over that! ;-)
That is something to be thankful for! I guess you didn’t try my “staring at the wings” technique. Not very effective. I’m glad God helped you get over it. :)
Me too, Barb!
Thanks, Deb. I needed that scripture.
Bernard, God has strengthened me through living out my worst fears. I claim this verse with confidence. I could not have done it without Him.
Oh how easily I can tend to fall into worry. When my husband was unemployed for three years, after we lost our home and fell into financial ruin, His Word and His promises were the only thing that kept me afloat. Thank you for sharing these scriptures today. Psalm 27:13 has become such a source of hope and strength to me in this season.
You’ve been through the ringer, Barbie. It’s much more difficult to let go of worry when life is falling apart. I too love Psalm 27:13 – so comforting. I think when we’re in situations like that – that’s when we learn to really rely on God.
Excellent post. Worry hold us hostage from living the life God designed us to live. I tend to allow worry to come in and distract my life. Thanks for the reminder that victory is in trusting God and not living with worry.
Thanks, Bernard. Worry can be incredibly distracting. I hate it when I go all day without dealing with it. Much better when i take care of it right away – and it doesn’t seem like it even takes that long to deal with it and carry those thoughts captive to the truth.
Barb, theses verses are a great resource. It’s so important to get our mind on truth when we start to worry. In a way worry is like pornography. The more you think about it the worse it becomes. The solution is to change the wrong pattern of thinking with correct patterns and there’s not better way to do that than with God’s Word.
I agree, Caleb. I really like praying Bible verses for worry, and also praying with thanksgiving. It helps me see worry from God’s perspective. It’s surprising how much different habits and negative emotions have in comment – all fueled by lies and conquered with truth.
Worry only leads to more worry.
My pastor recently said that there’s an easy way to tell the difference between concern & worry. When we are concerned, we talk to God. When we are worried, we talk to others. I like the idea of having “go to” scriptures like these that can help turn our worry into concern.
Interesting observation by your pastor, Kari. Thanks for sharing. It’s interesting how we can develop the habit of going to God for worry in one area of our lives but not another. Praying through Scriptures really helps to get a biblical perspective.
“When we are concerned, we talk to God. When we are worried, we talk to others.” I like that. It clicks. That’s a takeaway. Thanks, Kari.
Part of living a simple life is listening to simple wisdom. I am trying to do that more and to keep complication at bay whenever possible. Glad this helped you too!
Thanks for that resource for worry scriptures, Barb. Hmm. Yeah. We don’t have enough reason to worry. ‘Just lay it down now. Relax.’ Talking to myself. :) Came here from your comment on Dan Black.
Thanks for stopping by, Arlen. Glad to have you here! And I love listening to your talking-to-yourself session. It sounds very similar to the little talks I have with myself. :)
Loving it! Blessings to you, Barb.
I love this – i just recently did a post with 52 promises from God – just because sometimes we need verses like this at our fingertips. When worry sticks its ugly head up – i try to claim Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17 and Jeremiah 32:27 = Is anything to hard for the Lord? Thanks for the great reminders!
@spreadingJOY
Wow, Marie, I just checked out your blog post – what a great list! I’ll add the link here in case anyone reads this and wants to find it: http://www.spreading-joy.org/site/godpromised/52-promises-from-gods-word/. Thanks for stopping by and adding to the discussion. Also love the extra worry verses!
I love Isaiah 26:3-4:
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Thanks for putting this together. Great list here.
That’s a great one, Larry. Thanks for adding it to the list. Isn’t it interesting that it says He will keep in peace “all whose thoughts are fixed on You”? That’s the key – fixing our thoughts on Him. Thanks for sharing it.
It’s one of my favorite verses for combatting fear.
Many times we forget that as Christians, we already know the end of the story :-)
Thank you for sharing these great verses. I’ve always been a Jeremiah 29:11-13 fan!
Me too. It’s a very comforting verse.
These are great verses Barb, many of them are my personal favorites. thank you for sharing.
Psalm 4:8 is another favorite of mine “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” It’s helped me sleep on some of those nights when sleep was hard to come by! :)
Oh, that’s a great one, Ngina. That would be a good one to meditate on as you’re going to sleep. Thanks!
Barb, thanks for all the work you put into the post. Worry is the number one things that can steal our joy. These post are good reminded of the battle between trust and worry.
Great scriptures!
I go to many of these. I also really like, 1 John 4:4.
Oh yes, I definitely should have included that one. Thanks for mentioning it!
My favorite weapon against worry is a concept based off of Lamentations where it says his mercies are new every morning. John Piper has pointed out how God will give you the strength you need – but only when you need it. Worry comes often when I look at my strength today as measured against potential future problems. It doesn’t seem enough. But it’s not supposed to be enough – at least not now. We just have to trust God to give us the strength when we need it.
That’s a neat idea, Loren. I like it. Thanks for sharing!