Have You Prayed About It?
In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul encourages them on how to find peace through prayer and gratitude, especially in times of worry. He writes:
“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 4:6-8 NLT
Often in life, we will face things that can tempt us to worry and be anxious. These can be a host of various things, from our past mistakes and failures, the present trials and temptations of life, and uncertainty about the future.
Despite the worry that may come from any of these, God promises us great peace through the channel of prayer.
One writer, in a book entitled Prayer, gives a beautiful description of prayer, defining it as “the opening of the heart to God as to a friend… Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.” (E. White)
While God speaks to us through the text of the Bible, He invites us to communicate with Him through prayer. The door is opened so that finite human beings can communicate with the Creator of the universe; to tell Him everything that concerns our actual personal life.
“Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything.”
If there is something you and I may happen to be worried, stressed, or anxious about, the Bible challenges us to substitute worry with prayer.
We may pray about everything. There is nothing in our lives that God isn’t concerned about or that we cannot tell Him about. The things we go through on a day-to-day basis, which tend to bring us worry, are to form part of the contents of our prayers.
One can make the mistake of thinking that God is only concerned about certain parts of our lives, that He only cares about our spiritual affairs. No, God listens attentively to the prayers we bring to Him about work, school, relationships, money, health, and everything in between.
He invites us to “tell Him what we need,” not because He is unaware of our needs, but because of what it does to us when we express this to Him. As we open up to God about our needs, it makes way for us to experience peace over worry.
By bringing our needs to God, we acknowledge our dependence on Him and His ability to meet our needs, remembering the promise:
“God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
The power of gratitude in prayer:
Together with praying about all our needs and telling God everything we go through, we are also called to “thank God for all He has done.”
This expression of gratitude is an essential part of the type of prayer that grants us peace.
Sometimes, in times of stress, we may be tempted to forget what God has done for us before. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, the difficulty of the journey can consume so much of our focus that we forget the many miracles God has performed in the past and where He has delivered us from.
But thanking God for all that He has done in your personal life has a way of bringing peace during times of worry. Gratitude for God’s dealings in the past gives peace and confidence to us in the present.
In the book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah gives us a guide on how gratitude can give hope during a time of worry. He writes:
“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23
Remembering and recalling God’s mercies in the past has a way of providing hope, because it makes us remember that God is able to deliver us. Despite what we may have faced in the past, by God’s mercies we have not been consumed.
We are instructed to thank God for these past mercies as a way to experience peace instead of worry.
Finding the promised peace:
“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”
This is a wonderful promise that is worth taking seriously. While the stresses of life tempt us to worry, we can have a peace that is beyond human understanding. Have you prayed about it? Whatever it may be that you are facing, tell God what you need and thank Him for what He’s done for you before.
We’re invited to open up to God as to a friend about everything that concerns us and all that we need. Thus, you will gain peace through prayer and gratitude.
“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In his arms he’ll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.”
~ Joseph M Scriven
PS. See the list below for additional resources that can be of massive value in the above:
- Connect – A Practical Model For Deeper Devotion offers a great model for prayer and a structure for reflection.
- The book Communion with Christ has 2 chapters that go into great depth on both the subject of Prayer (Chapter 6: Relentless Prayer) and Meditation (Chapter 4: Biblical Meditation).