Philippians 4:6-8
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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 minds in Christ Jesus.”
“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise - dwell on these things.”
This is a wonderful Scripture! Let’s take a look at it again starting with verse six.
When we read this we must realize that it is a conditional statement.
This Scripture contains and instruction followed by a promise, followed in the next verse by another instruction that will keep you in the promise! We have a very thorough God! PTL!!
First the condition, this promise is to those who are born again, Bible believing, committed Christians. The children of God. The “saints” of the church. Saints in the Biblical sense.
If you are not a born again, Bible believing child of God you need to find out what it takes, do it and then this Scripture will pertain to you.
So, if you are a child of God and this instruction applies to you let’s jump right in!
Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Do not be anxious about anything! ANYTHING!
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi while he was a prisoner in Rome facing possible and probable execution.
Paul and Silas had formerly been in prison in Philippi on an earlier visit there.
They had been surrounded by a mob.
The magistrates had ordered them to be stripped, beaten with rods and placed in stocks in an inner cell.
Man were they worried? Not one bit!
Acts 16:25 says,
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”
Apparently Paul and Silas either were not worried or anxious or they did not understand the meaning of the words!
What makes you anxious? Would being in prison make you anxious?
The KJV says, “Be careful for nothing.”
The word that is translated as “careful” in the KJV and “anxious” in most other translations means, “to be troubled with cares.”
Troubled with cares. Well we can certainly be troubled with cares!
One person who has an extravagant amount of possessions can be worried about losing them. A person with nothing can be worried about not having as much as someone else.
Some people just seem naturally wired for worry.
Listen to this description of worry
Worry is the misuse of imagination. - Unknown
In the parable of the Sower or Planter Jesus says that the cares of this world can actually choke the spiritual life out of a Christian!
For a Christian anxiety is actually a trust issue.
So, if we’re worried or anxious or filled with cares what should we do?
“In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Man, that section of Scripture is HUGE!
“In every situation”
When a burden comes to your heart you don’t need to go to the Bible and search through the pages in order to see if this is something you should take to the Lord or not! If it is troubling your heart! Take it to Jesus.
Are you worried about anything? What is it?
An old hymn of the church says:
Are you weary, are you heavy hearted?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Are you grieving over joys departed?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Do the tears flow down your cheeks unbidden?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Have you sins that to men’s eyes are hidden?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Are you troubled at the thought of dying?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
For Christ’s coming kingdom are you sighing?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
“Oh what peace we often forfeit! Oh what needless pain we bear!
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!”
So, in Every Situation what should we do? “By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
“By prayer and petition” some versions say “by prayer and supplication”. Most people on the street do not know what the word supplication means and they’ve probably never even heard it.
I was raised hearing the word supplication in that verse in the KJV and I had a general idea of what it might mean but I had to look it up and it means,
“humble prayer, entreaty, or petition.”
Supplication originated in the late 14th century and I’ve never heard it used once outside of the church. If you were to say to a person, “Go to the judge with supplication.” They would probably look at you like you were speaking Klingonese or some other language.
The point is that when we go to God by general prayer and by specific petition it is the right thing to do, and, it should be done with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Always thanksgiving!
If you are a child of God your eternal life is owed to God!
He gave His life for you and He deserves your life!
You have been saved from hell.
You have been given forgiveness.
You have been brought into a relationship with Him.
He has made you into a new creation and you are now in a position to walk through life with Him instead of facing eternity on your own.
Only a child of God will truly be able to pray “with thanksgiving.”
If you are saved and you do not find yourself praying with thanksgiving you need to go back to the time when the Lord rescued you from your sin and gave you new life in Christ!
“in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Present your requests to God! To God alone.
When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray He prayed to the Father.
When any of the disciples prayed they prayed to God alone.
When any of the prophets prayed they prayed to God alone.
Some would say that we can pray to saints.
There is not one verse in the Bible that says it is OK to pray or communicate in any way to a dead person!
There are many verses in the Bible that prohibit praying to or communicating with a dead person in any way!
Those who pray to saints say that they are only asking the dead person to pray for them in the same way that we would ask a friend to pray for us.
There are no verses in the Bible that even remotely teach such a thing.
There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that we should pray for one another.
Listen to this prayer of Morning Consecration to Mary
My queen, my mother, I offer
myself entirely to thee.
And to show my devotion to thee,
I offer thee this day, my eyes,
my ears, my mouth, my heart,
my whole being without reserve.
Wherefore, good mother, as I am thine own, keep me,
guard me as thy property and possession.
Amen.
I’m not even going to comment on such a thing.
The Bible says, “Present your requests to God!”
Now, let’s look at the same prayer with a few words substituted.
My King, My Father, I offer
myself entirely to Thee.
And to show my devotion to Thee,
I offer Thee this day, my eyes,
my ears, my mouth, my heart,
my whole being without reserve.
Wherefore, good Father, as I am Thine own, keep me,
guard me as Thy property and possession.
Amen.
Now, that’s a GREAT prayer! One we would do well to repeat every day!
Who do we pray to? Who in heaven takes up our cause?
1 Timothy 2:5-6
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”
1 John 2:1
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
There is a danger whenever we divert our focus from God to something else no matter how pleasing and good it may seem.
God warned us that the devil himself will appear as an angel of light in order to deceive us. Be aware. Know God. Know His Word.
So, when this Scripture says, “Present your requests to God.” It means just that. To God and Him alone. Praying to the Father in the name of Jesus and directed by the Holy Spirit.
OK. So, we’ve got the instruction!
Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
So, what’s the promise???
Philippians 4:7
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Do you want peace?
Do you want irrational peace, peace which passes all understanding?
Do you want your heart and mind to be guarded, protected in Christ Jesus?
Then, obey the instructions found in verse 6!
Wesley wrote: “Happy, if with my latest breath - I may but gasp His Name, and preach Him to all and cry in death, ‘Behold, behold the Lamb!’”
Now, THAT’S peace!
So, this “irrational peace”! How awesome is that?
A phobia is an irrational fear of something.
Top phobias are fear of:
Spiders
Snakes
Heights
Crowds or situations where escape is difficult
Dogs
Thunder and lightning
Injections
Oddly enough there was no listing on the internet for irrational peace!
So, once you have the peace of God which transcends all understanding how do you keep it?
Try verse 8:
Philippians 4:8 (HSCB)
“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise - dwell on these things.”
For 17 years I was a computer programmer
These three verses along with other Scriptures look like this in a language called stevecode … (OK, I made that up, If you know anyone who knows an older style of programming they should be able to explain this to you.)
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“Enter”- be born again
“Anxious” - If you are anxious
“Pray” - present your requests to God with thanksgiving
“Peace” - receive the peace of God which transcends all understanding.
“Think”
If you think on godly things - Goto “Peace”
If you think on evil things - Goto “Anxious”
Else - Goto “Prayer”
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Where are you in the loop today?
Are you like Paul in prison awaiting execution and writing,
“Do not be anxious about anything?”
Or are you letting the cares of this world choke out your spiritual life?
Conclusion
