While my oldest son John was in Iraq as Marine and my youngest son Paul who is in the Navy was stationed in the small island country of Bahrain in the Persian gulf, about one hundred twenty miles from Iran, I was frequently asked, if I was worried about their safety. Worried no, but when I regularly prayed for them, it was mostly for their safety. Because of my both of my son’s military service, it gave me the opportunity to learn that there is a big difference between worrying about someone and being mindful of someone whom I am praying for. Worrying, being concerned, having apprehension, anxiety or being nervous about my sons in their sometimes-dangerous situations would not have done them or me any good. I knew from God’s Word and have many times experienced this truth in my relationship with Christ Jesus what James states in James 5:16, that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” for them and myself.
When we pray for God’s intervention, protection or even for a blessing in a person’s life, it is not just for their benefit, but it also benefits us because of what God does in us when we pray. The Bible teaches us that when we pray, what God does in us and in the life of the person we are praying for, which is always more than what we realize and ask for when we pray.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”
Ephesians 3:20
When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church, he knew about many of their unique characteristics because he was their founding Pastor. One of these characteristics wrote about is that he knew some of the people of the church struggled with the problem of worrying. Paul gives the Church a powerfully effective but simple advice of what to do when they were worried, pray. He not only tells them not to worry and pray but also tells them how to pray. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6.
Being “anxious about anything” in other words is everything or whatsoever. Being “anxious about anything” can also be a person, a personal situation or difficulty. It can be about something that happened in the past or an event that will happen in the near future. Being “anxious about anything” can be good or bad, such as; “I’m so excited that my package from Amazon is coming today, but I hope my package arrives when I’m home, I don’t want it to be stolen from my porch.”
It would be great if we could just quote Philippians 4:6-7 and say, “amen, it’s all taken care of” and everything will turn out okay. It is not that easy, there is an ever-growing level of trust in God that needs to be developed in us through our constant relationship with Him. The better we relationally and intimately know God and His Word, the more we will trust Him. Our trust in God and the assurance we have, that He will do what He said He will do in His Word, is because we know who He is.
The apostle Paul writing to his spiritual son Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12 said “…I know whom I have believed…”. Do we experientially know God and really believe to trust Him with our prayers and petitions?
Philippians 4:6-7 clearly divides into two distinct parts. Verse six is our part. This verse first tells us what we need not to do, “be anxious about anything”. Then it tells us what we need to do, “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Verse seven, which we will look at next week is God’s part, which tells us what He will do in us. An important point to note here, there is nothing in these two verses that mention anything about what God will do concerning our prayer requests or petitions.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. If we are anxious or worried about something, what does that say about us? In the context of these two verses, being anxious is a human emotion, a symptom of something that is lacking in a Christian’s relationship with God, such as a peace of mind that comes from knowing and trusting God. A simple definition of being anxious is; “Being uneasy and apprehensive about an uncertain event or matter; worried. To feel or be afraid, especially about something unpleasant that may have happened or may happen.”
The first very important point that Paul mentions in verse six is, “Do not be anxious about anything”, why is that? What does being anxious have to do with the way we see a situation? What does being anxious have to do with the way we see God in the situation? Why is God first concerned about how we feel?
To better understand what the Bible teaches about worry it is important to read what Jesus teaches about worry in Matthew 6:25-27. Many times Christians are affected by worry because they do not know what God’s Word says about how much God loves them and how He promises in His Word that He will take care of those who belong to Him. Ask yourself these questions. Am I worried because I do not know how much God loves and values me as His Child? Have I forgotten and or do not fully appreciate that God loves me and promises to take care of me? Why am I valuable to God? “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26
Jesus also teaches in Matthew 25:28-34 that some Christians worry because their priorities of life are in the wrong order, they put the basic things of this world in a more important priority than developing their relationship with God.
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-34
After reading Matthew 25:28-34 ask yourself these important questions. What are the things in my life that cause me to worry? Am I worried because I have the wrong priories in my life? What place or importance does God have in my life over everything else?
Pastor John
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows;
it empties today of its strength”
Corrie Ten Boon
