Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful Fill Our Soul Sunday, I pray you are waking up to the day knowing the Lord is with us and no matter what we are walking through we can cast our cares on Him through prayer. He already knows what we are walking through and He wants us to give Him our burdens. As usual, I am sharing what I need to hear.
Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6 Don't worry about anything: instead, pray about everything.
Very simple yet why do we stay in the worry zone?
Pray... 4 tiny words than can change the course of our day, our lives and each moment. Don't worry.... pray. God knew we can't do both at the same time so He gave us the best and only way to defeat worry moment by moment: Talk to Him about it.
I love looking at this verse and what comes before it and after it:
Here are the lessons and reminders of what we are to do when worry comes knocking at our door:
Worry takes away our joy. Apart from making us miserable, it has a lot of negative health implications.
The Bible encourages us to “Always be full of joy in the Lord” ... We can have joy IN the Lord! How? By feeling His presence when we feel calm in the midst of chaos and happiness... in the midst of sadness, and confidence... in the midst of uncertainty. We are rejoicing in knowing that God is there with us, strengthening us when we are weak and encouraging us when you feel like giving up. (Philippians 4:4)
Instead of worrying about things, the Word of the Lord recommends that we “pray about it and tell the Lord what we need”. Not only that, we should also “thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6).
This means PRAY IN FAITH!
The result? “Then you will experience God’s peace”. This peace will then “guard your hearts and minds”. (Philippians 4:7) – the remedy for worry is prayer.
Prayer is much more than saying the right things. It’s about knowing the person you are speaking to. This explains the awkwardly placed phrase, “The Lord is near” (4:5). Even though Paul will go on to speak about a peace that transcends understanding, we pray to a God who is imminent. More than this, he is a God who invites us into an intimate, deeply personal relationship. Let us remember that our God is near and prayer is a way for us to enjoy his personal presence.
Bible Commentary puts it this way:
The exhortation to pray is coupled with the prohibition against anxiety (4:6). Earlier Paul reflected on his own anxiety (2:29). Therefore the Christian is not a Stoic. Anxiety is inevitable, especially when we possess a genuine love for the wellbeing of others. We, as Christians ought to prayer in “every situation” (4:6)—perhaps especially when there is reason to worry. We might call prayer an antidote to anxiety. D. A. Carson put it excellently when he said that there are two kinds of anxiety: one drives us to prayerful dependence on God and the other drives us away from him. Paul is calling for the former. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer…present your requests to God…And the peace of God…will guard your hearts” (4:6-7). Our hearts are vulnerable to anxiety, uncertainty, and worry. So we must petition our listening Father.
When we find ourselves in extremely challenging circumstances, the default response is to worry. So what are we to do? We can remember when worry comes knocking at our door, PRAY! Talk to God about the situation and thank Him for everything He has done for us in the past. This will give us the much-needed peace. Worry does not resolve problems, prayer does!
Have a prayerful, peaceful Fill Our Soul Sunday My Friends.
AMEN!
