Do not be anxious. . .

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Phil 4:5-7, NIV

       This is one of my favorite passages about anxiety.  I think it gives us a lot of clues about how to overcome anxiety.  One thing that it says is that we should pray in a spirit of thanksgiving.  This tells me that even as we are praying, that our expectation should be that God is going to act.  We should not pray expecting that nothing will happen.  Or that while God is sympathetic that he cannot do anything.  We should pray knowing that God hears and cares.  And that at the right time that He will respond.

        Praying in an attitude of thanksgiving also tells me that even as I pray, my heart and mind should be reminded of past times when God has answered prayers.  I should recall them to mind and express thanksgiving for them.  If for nothing else, I can always thank God for the cross, his great love and mercy, the power of the resurrection, his merciful forgiveness and the gift of His Holy Spirit.  I can be thankful that he is going to come again and that he came the first time.  Focusing on these things puts me in the right frame of mind and helps to build my faith for the future.

      The other thing that this passage reminds me of is that it says “in everything”.  To me, this means that there is nothing too small for God.  The God who created heaven and earth by the power of his word is not too busy to hear about your trouble.   While other people may be tired or busy or on another call, God is always available.  And he commands us through Paul in this passage to bring every care to him no matter how trivial in may seem.  Because he cares about you then he also cares about what is on your mind and heart.

        It is when these two things are done, that the promise is fulfilled.  It is that the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding will guard our hearts and minds.  It doesn’t guard just our heart or just our mind, but both of these.  It keeps us from chasing after anxious thoughts and it keeps our emotions in check because our hearts are filled with faith and thankfulness.

       There is one other experience that the scripture tells us about that gives me hope.  There are times when my heart is so filled with anxiety and thoughts that I don’t know how to pray.  I don’t exactly know what to say or even what is bothering me.  I may feel tired or worn out or just depressed and I don’t know why.  The scripture is clear in Romans 8:26 that the Spirit then intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  When I am unclear on exactly what I should say, the Spirit within takes over and the Spirit speaks to the Son who intercedes before the Father.  All three members of the Trinity involved in both helping me to pray, interceding for me and hearing me.  The ultimate prayer team is at my service helping me to effectively pray.  Sometimes I simply need to present myself to God and give him my time and my attention and share my heart with him and let him know my troubles and give God an opportunity to lift those things off of my shoulders and take them away.  My problem is that at times I am too prideful or busy or foolish to take the time to do that.  I may be too busy, but the God who commands the sun to shine is ready to listen and to respond.

   God commands us to give our cares to Him.

A sermon online from Pastor Brian Bill on Partaking of Peace
 http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/partaking-of-peace-brian-bill-sermon-on-peace-58735.asp

Sermon by Ray Stedman, Standing While Running Phil 4:1-9
http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/philippians/standing-while-running