Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
Anxiety can find its way into the smallest cracks in our emotional armor. As much as we seek to keep a strong and positive mental attitude, we can sometimes be overwhelmed by a flood of possible outcomes to a given situation, or our circumstances in general.
It is natural to consider the possibilities of things that might happen; this is a response to ensuring we are safeguarding our positions and being circumspect regarding our known responsibilities. We all have plans that need to be made and kept in line as we progress through life.
However to dwell unnecessarily on thoughts of unknown things that might happen to the point of stress can be debilitating. Anxiety can creep in where unknown influences come into play. When the fear and thoughts of things beyond our control begin to take over, the advice of Paul to the Philippians can be a way through the incoming fears.
His advice is to pray about everything. When we express our needs and our thanks to God, we are recognizing him as the one who is ultimately in control of all things. Where we sometimes err is in thinking that if we pray about a situation, God will control the outcome to be beneficial to us in all aspects. However, in this recognition of his ultimate authority in all things, we should ensure that our desires always fall under the category of trusting in his judgment for the outcome that is best.
Yeshua expressed this as, “Not my will, but yours be done.” This is the prayer that demonstrates ultimate trust in God releasing us from our self-induced prison of anxiety. When we really take those words to heart and mean them, we do receive a sense of peace, a peace that absorbs our anxiety and stress because we are being honest about our limitations to change or influence a specific outcome. We are deferring to him as the ultimate authority in all aspects of life. We are allowing God to be God.
However, in praying this way, we must remain open to seeking and recognizing what his will really is in any given situation. This comes through consistently being in his word, receptive to his torah, or instruction. This is how, according to Paul, we “live in Christ Jesus.” With our prayers containing the sense of Yeshua’s relegation of obligation to God, we can maintain our trust in God while minding our own responsibilities. This is where our peace and rest from anxiety lies.
If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive here.
The Core of the Bible 