Phillipians 4:6 & 7
"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."
In today's day and time it is easy to wake up anxious, go through the day anxious, and go to sleep anxious. Today the news states that some 3 million people in Haiti are need of relief after a devastating earthquake. Recently a would be airplane bomber failed to properly detonate his weapon of destruction. Unemployment in the United States as well as in many other countries is the highest its been in decades.
The circumstances around us continue to give us a single command: be anxious.
Be anxious about your life. Be anxious about your job. Be anxious about your future. Who knows what calamity may befall you so you might as well be anxious.
Websters Dictionary states that the word "anxious" comes from the Latin "anxius" which is akin to the Latin word "angere" which means "to strangle."
Anxiety in our lives has 1 purpose. To strangle us. To choke us so that we can not breathe. We can not speak. We can not move. When we are anxious about any area we become focused on that thing to exclusion of all else. It chokes us and strangles us pulling us from the rest of our lives.
God has a plan for anxiety. In Philippians we are given a clear path to guard our lives from the damage of anxiety.
First of all we are directed to pray. I've heard it said that "prayer changes things." How true this is, especially when I am the thing that is changed.
Secondly the Bible says to petition God. God our Father invites us to ask Him to meet our needs. In fact it shows our faith when we ask Him instead of attempting to meet our needs on our own.
Third, we are to take these steps with thanksgiving. We can gratefully approach God for all He has done and all that He is about to do for us.
Finally, present your needs to Him. All to often we are aware of our needs yet we hold them as a "silent prayer." God is available to us. We must then approach Him and voice our needs.
The amazing result of this path of peace is its destination. These steps come with a promise. Verse 7 assures us that the peace of God will guard us Even if this peace seems to make no sense in accordance with our circumstances. God promises us that His peace will guard our hearts and minds. He will keep us from being strangled by our anxiety.
So pray and petition God today. With thanksgiving present your needs to Him. He wants to guard you.
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