PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5-7, NASB)
REFLECTIONS:
In Philippians 4, Paul is closing a letter to his Christians friends in Philippi by encouraging them to free their hearts and minds from worry and from whatever disputes were causing anxiety and division in the local church body. “Be anxious for nothing.” The Greek word merimnaō is "an old verb for worry and anxiety—literally, to be divided, distracted." This verb for “worry” in combination with the term “nothing” was a purposeful use of a double-negative (“worry” considered negative in Greek). This writing technique of using a double-negative was to provide emphasis to the statement: “Be anxious for NOTHING!!!”
“… but in everything…” in every condition, or in every matter. Not just the “big things” or just the “politically-correct things,” but in EVERYTHING!
“… by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The Wiersbe Bible Commentary points out that Paul did not simply write “Pray about it!” Paul used three words to describe correct praying: “prayer, supplication and thanksgiving.” Dr. Wiersbe states that the word “prayer” carries the idea of adoration, devotion, and worship and should be the first step in coming into the Lord’s presence. “Supplication” should then be an earnest sharing of our needs and problems, followed by “thanksgiving” for all of the blessings He constantly showers upon us.
Paul then explains the results of his anti-anxiety formula:
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The Greek word used for “guard” is phrouréō
(from phrousos, "a sentinel, guard")—properly,
to guard (keep watch) like a military sentinel; (figuratively) to actively
display whatever defensive and offensive means are necessary to guard. To guard or protect by a military guard,
either in order to prevent hostile invasion, or to keep the inhabitants of a
besieged city from flight. Picture this
in your mind. Paul was describing this
truth that God’s incomprehensible peace will both (a) defensively “guard”
our hearts and minds by keeping anxiety, worry, distraction and division out;
AND (b) offensively “guard” God’s peace so that it remains
in our hearts and minds and cannot escape.
Paul intimately knew how God’s peace guarded his own heart and
mind. After all, it is believed that at
the time Paul wrote this letter he was in jail in Rome, awaiting trial and
possible death. Not to mention, the
Roman guard physically chained to Paul’s person. Knowing God can fill Paul with peace in those
circumstances should encourage us to give to God every issue and condition in
our lives, through prayer, supplication and thanksgiving in exchange for His
unexplainable peace.
This season of focus
on prayer, in our daily devotionals, has been so helpful for me to better
understand God’s desire to hear us cry and lament to Him from the very depths
of our pain, praise Him from the heights of our celebration and constantly draw
near to Him whatEVER our current situation.
Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians is yet another passage that
clearly explains why our prayer-life is so important. I am not (yet) one of the "prayer warriors"
who seem to know how best to state their prayers. However, when I find I have no words to speak
into a prayer, I have learned a useful technique the author Beth Moore
recommends for breaking down strongholds in our lives. She recommends rewording a Scripture into a
prayer. Using today’s passage, the
technique works something like this (italicized words are Beth Moore’s
recommendation):
PRAYER:
Dear
Father in heaven, in accordance with Your powerful, life-giving Word,
I ask You to help me to not be anxious or worry about anything. Help me to lift ALL of
my worries, cares, issues and situations as requests to You through prayer,
supplication and thanksgiving; trusting that Your peace is beyond our
understanding and that You are capable of guarding our hearts and minds through
Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
WHO AM I?
I am Linda Stewart and I am very humbled to be asked to
write about Paul’s anti-anxiety formula.
I would also note that there are no plagiarism issues using Beth Moore’s
technique of turning Scripture into your own prayer. J
No comments:
Post a Comment