Let's consider the words that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
From this passage, there is a basic three point outline:
- Panic
- Prayer
- Peace
I remember back in April of 2008, I was a senior at Iowa State University, graduation was coming closer and closer. I had a few months left in my apartment and then I would need to find a new place to live. I needed to find a job too, and as many people know, it was a lot harder in 2008 to find a job out of college than it was back in 2000. As summer progressed I still did not have a new place lined up to live. My lease was coming to an end at my apartment and I had no clue what job I would be going to or where I'd be moving.
What about the illustration I used to begin? Most of us when on a long road trip might start to worry or panic when we see multiple accidents taking place. It is very easy for a person's thoughts to turn to panic or worry when such events take place.
We are told not to panic, Jesus goes on to say in His Sermon on the Mount, "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26, NKJV)
Let's consider this thought a little further, Jesus is telling us to consider the birds. He is telling us that the birds have everything that they need and then He reminds us that we are of a much higher value than they are. Let's think back to the creation. God made man to have superiority over all of the creatures of the earth. God made man to be important. If that is the case, and if Jesus is saying that the birds of the air have what they need, then isn't He saying that He will make sure that mankind will have everything that they need?
Besides, worrying will not profit one bit. "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" (Matthew 6:27, NKJV)
Do you remember the last time you were worried about something? How did everything work out? When I was worried about finding a job or a place to live, God provided. Worrying did not solve the problem, but trusting in God did.
Now, that we have established that there is no need to worry or "panic" let's move onto the next point, "prayer." We need to let our requests be made known to God by prayer.
"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we asked of Him." (1 John 5:14-15, NKJV)
We see from 1 John, that if we ask something according to God's will, that He hears us and if He hears us, then we know that we will have the petitions that we ask for. We need to remember though, that we must be asking for God's will and we also need to remember God's timing and not ours.
We also need to understand that God knows what we need before we ask. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:8 that the Father knows what we need before we ever ask Him. The question is, are we going to trust God enough to make our requests known to Him by prayer, or are we going to try to fulfill our desires in our own way?
Jesus even provided a model for us to use when we pray. In Matthew 6, we find what most like to refer to as the "Lord's Prayer." We need to remember that Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore, pray..." He did not say, "pray this verbatim." The Lord's prayer might be found more in John 17 when Jesus was praying for His disciples. Going back to the model prayer though, we see that we need to address our Father who is in Heaven and acknowledge that He is Holy. When we pray, we exalt His name. In the model prayer, we also read, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done. On Earth as it is in Heaven." The Kingdom of God is often referred to as the church. Since the church was established on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, this part of the prayer has already been answered. When we pray, we need to be mindful of God's will and pray for His will to be done. Often times when we are praying we pray for everything that we want or desire or maybe even need with placing little consideration into what God's plan may be. Let us always be mindful of the Lord's will when making plans for ourselves. We pray that the Lord's will may be done on Earth just as it is in Heaven. When we see in the model prayer, "give us this day our daily bread," that means we need to pray for the things that we need in life. As the model prayer goes on, we see that we need to pray that our sins may be forgiven because we all fall short (Romans 6:23). In addition to praying for the forgiveness of our own sins though, we also need to pray that the sins of others against us may also be forgiven. Remember the story of the man who owed a large sum of money and begged for forgiveness? When he was granted forgiveness, he found someone who owed him a small portion of money yet wouldn't even forgive that man his debt. How can we expect God to forgive us of our sins if we hold grudges against others and will not forgive them of the wrongs that they have done to us? We also pray that we will not be lead into temptation and that when we are faced with trials, that the Lord will deliver us so that we will not be given into the evil schemes of the devil. When we close our prayer, we see that we acknowledge the Lord's kingdom, His power, and His glory. We acknowledge that He holds these attributes forever, for all eternity. We close by saying, "Amen." This is taken from the Greek which means, "truly." When we are finished praying we sign and seal our prayer by saying, amen, or truly. These words of prayer are our words of prayer and we sign them and seal them as truth. It is kind of like signing a letter before sending it on in the mail.
Now that we have examined the first two points, being anxious for nothing, and letting our requests be made known, let us examine the third and final point, which is the result of prayer; "peace."
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7, NKJV)
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV)
In Psalm 23, we read that the Lord is our shepherd and that He will take care of our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that we, shall not want.
In 1 Kings 3, we see an example of how King Solomon prayed. In 1 Kings 3: 5, God instructed Solomon to ask for what he desired to have. In 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon prayed for wisdom and discernment to lead the people of Israel, he did not pray for wealth or honor, just wisdom. As a result, God granted Solomon wisdom and an understanding heart, so much so that there would never be anyone past or present quite like Solomon. We also see that God went beyond Solomon's request and also granted him riches and honor, so much so that no one could equal Solomon's riches. Often times, not only does God want to grant our prayers, but He also wants to go above and beyond granting our prayers and give us more than we originally asked for to begin with.
Now that all of the three "P's" have been examined, let's think about this a little more. There is a song that we often sing called, "Did you think to pray." Let's consider the first line of three verses of the song.
Ere you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray?
This should remind us that we need to start each day with prayer.
When your heart was filled with anger, Did you think to pray?
This should remind us to pray when we begin to feel angry about something.
When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray?
This should remind us to pray when we are faced with trials and difficulties.
The majority of the Psalms were written by King David, a man with whom God was well pleased. When thinking about all of the Psalms that David wrote, I heard someone say, "What a whiny man." He was only making his requests known to God!
What about Jeremiah? Jeremiah had a sorrowful life too, in fact in Jeremiah 20, he cursed the day of his birth. In Jeremiah 20:14-18, Jeremiah states, "Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father saying, 'A male child has been born to you!' Making him very glad. And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent; Let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon, Because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me. Why did I come forth from the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" Jeremiah lived a rough life and we know this in that he was around during the time of the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity. We also know that Jeremiah wrote Lamentations which describes the plight of Israel.
What about Job? In Job 3, he cursed the day of his birth. He had everything only to have it taken away. Job stated that sorrowful speech not even knowing why all the hardship had befallen him, but he let his feelings be known to God.
Jeremiah let his feelings be known to God.
David expressed his feelings to God.
We need to express our feelings to God.
I've paged through a book that Charles Swindoll wrote on the Book of Job, and he writes,
"I think it is noteworthy that there is no blast against Job at the end of Chapter 3. God doesn't say, 'Shame on you Job.' God could handle Job's words. He understood why he had said what he said. And he understands you. Unfortunately, Job has his words on record for preachers to talk about for centuries. Yours and mine, thankfully, will remain a secret inside our cars, or in the back part of our bedrooms, or along the crashing surf, or perhaps under tall trees in a forest. God can handle it all, so let it all out. Tell Him all that's in your heart. You never get over grief completely until you express it fully. Job didn't hold back." (Swindoll, p. 71)
To sum up everything, we see that there is no need to panic. We are told to be anxious for nothing. If the birds have what they need, how much more will God give man since He created us to be superior to all other creatures? We are told to let our requests be made known to God and if we pray according to His will, He hears us. He knows our needs and desires before we even ask. As a result, the God of peace shall be with us. He will guard our hearts and minds.
What about the power of prayer in your life? Do you worry about circumstances or rather do you take those needs to the Father in prayer? We know that God will hear the prayers of His children and we know that as children of the Lord, we can go to Him with our every need.
