June 28, 2023
Written By Elijah McSwain Sr.
Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV — "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Anxiety is an emotion that perplexes the mind. The dictionary defines anxiety as "distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune." The existence of anxiety or worry is often associated with some dire circumstance or situation from which mental unease and distress arises. Being anxious is the effect of some cause that produces a state of being troubled. Our mental disturbances are connected to some form of adversity, trial, tribulation, calamity, affliction, burden, concern, or sorrow that arises in our lives. Sure enough, life has its problematic issues and pains, ups and downs, and its highs and lows. Life is full of the unexpected, hurts, fears, disappointments, let down, failures, health scares, and more.
Job stated it best in Job 14:1 NKJV — “man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble."
The very nature of being born into this world attaches people to experience trouble at some point in life. The effects that come with facing troubling situations can challenge us, overwhelm us, cause us to lose hope, and become defeated. In moments of uncertainty, we become hopeless, feel helpless, and drown in our despair when we are not grounded or connected the source of our strength. The disconnect from God that people experienced is due to the sinful disposition that takes place within an individual for a lack of trust in God. Grant Richison denoted that, “anxiety is a sin because it demonstrates a lack of confidence in the sovereignty of God to deal with our concerns.” 1 A loose connection from God will enable followers of Christ to be vulnerable and susceptible to being a prey to worry and thus, be held in bondage to all the things that are affiliated with succumbing to anxiety.
It is inevitably clear that problems are a part of life. The problems that we encounter, we have little to no control over the things that we face. With this known reality, we should not allow anxiety or worry to have dominion over us because it is detrimental to our physical health and spiritual health. As it relates to physical damage caused by anxiety, Betterhelp.com concluded "whether directly or indirectly, anxiety is linked to an impaired immune system, cardiovascular disease, heart disease, and digestive problems. Over the long term, any of these health conditions can reduce a person's lifespan or contribute to other problems such as cardiovascular events or coronary artery disease." 2 Being mentally overcome with anxiety, will cause our health to deteriorate and decline.
Not only that but worrying and being anxious will cause Christians to be spiritually imbalanced. In our Christian walk, when we allow trials to overtake us and lose heart, then there will be a deficiency of faith and belief in our spiritual walk. To lack faith, trust, and belief in God is disastrous to the life of any Christian as it gives way for believers to become spiritually weak and often spiritually malnourished as hardships can cause the elect to stray from God.
Spiritual weakness sets in when a believer is spiritual out of alignment with God. Being out of alignment, enables Christians to lose their focus on who God is and thereby ascribed more power to their problems as being exalted over the power of God. When believers adopt this mindset, they will experience a spiritual decline in their faith.
In response to combating worry, the writings of Philippians 4:6-7 presents the body of Christ with godly wisdom on how to defeat worry. First, the Apostle Paul informs us that prayer is the avenue to handle worry.
Engage In Prayer
Anxiety is the breeding ground for emotional conflict. Often our circumstances dictate certain emotional responses that cause a multitude of thoughts to flood our minds in a negative way. Various kinds of thoughts come to the forefront of our minds when anxiety sets in. For this reason, Paul concluded that prayer is the means to alleviate worry by trusting in God. Prayer is the antidote to cure worry. Prayer remedies the poisonous effects of worry. When prayer is utilized, it shifts the focus from resorting to our own power as an attempt to handle life's problems to relying on the power of God to provide deliverance from our trying moments in life.
Paul admonished his audience to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6). When prayer is engaged in, we are able to bring our problematic issues before God and be anxious for nothing. H.B. Charles, Jr stated in his book, It Happens After Prayer, “Paul is not saying that we should be carefree or unconcerned about the importance things, issues, and people in our lives. Legitimate concern turns into sinful anxiety when we allow our hearts and minds to be pulled into different directions by our circumstances. Faith pulls us in one direction. Doubt pulls us in another direction. Similarly, hope pulls us in one direction; fear pulls us the opposite direction. And we find ourselves pulled apart with worry……Whatever it is that you are worried about, God says to stop worrying. But the Lord does not leave us there…..God has given us an answer for your anxiety. He has shown us how to win over our worries. Here it is: Pray your worries away! Don’t worry. Pray. Turn your worries into prayers. Take everything off of your worry list and put it on your prayer list. Whenever you start to worry, stop, and pray. Give each worry- one by one-, to God in prayer.” 4
Worry and prayer are polar opposites on the spiritual spectrum. Usually, worry pulls people away from God, whereas, sincere prayer draws people closer to God. Prayer should be the answer to all of life’s pains and woes.
Needless to say, many of us worry about things that will never come to pass or things that have happened in our past. David Jeremiah writes “these are the facts about worrying:
40% of the things people worry about never happen.
30% of our worries are related to past matters, which are now beyond our control.
12% of our worries have to do with our health, even when we are not actually ill
10 % of our worries are about friends and neighbors and are not based on evidence or fact.
Only 8% of our worries have some basis in reality, which means that over 90% of the things that we worry about never happen.
With that information in mind, try picturing the Christian prayer life this way: The Christian prayer life is composed of three circles. The first is the Worry Circle, in which the word nothing is written because the Bible says, “Be anxious about nothing.” The second is the Prayer Circle, with the word everything written inside because the Bible says, “In everything let your prayers be known to God.” The third is the Thanksgiving Circle, with the word anything written inside because the Bible says, “be thankful for anything.” When we live within those three circles, we overcome the stress that comes into our lives.” 3
We frequently give time, energy, and negative effort to things that are only a figment of our minds. We worry about the “what if’s” of life that often rob us of our joy, peace, and faith in the Lord. Whether or not our worries are centered around the “what if’s” or some real daunting circumstance, we are to worry less and to pray more.
Our proper response to problems in life should be demonstrated by prayer that is rooted in faith. Prayer is our volitional response to trust God and avoid entering a state of being anxious.
God desires for His children to engage in prayer in all matters of life. For Scripture declares:
James 5:13 NKJV — "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV — "Pray without ceasing."
Luke 18:1 NKJV — "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart."
Prayer should be our first resort not our last resort. Prayer should be primary in our lives not secondary. It should not be something that we use sparingly, occasionally, or sporadically when we encounter the problems of life.
Prayer should be an integral and essential part of the Christian life. In the midst of distress or suffering, we should turn to God. Prayer is the most honorable act to engage in when despair attempts to set it. Prayer is vital as it acknowledges our weakness in light of God's strength. It highlights His ability in light of our inability. It involves our submission in light of His sovereignty. It demonstrates our dependence upon His provision. It is a sign of communion with God despite adversity. It involves shifting our problems to a vertical plain. Prayer makes the declaration that our sufficiency is of God. It involves petitioning God for help. It is a demonstration of exercising faith in His provision. Prayer is a critical component that all believers should tap into, no matter how great or small the problem may be.
Biblical evidence is provided by the biblical writers that prayer is the avenue that God uses to response to the righteous.
Psalm 145:18 NKJV — "The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth."
1 Peter 3:12 NKJV — “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers.”
The fact that we know that God hears us and is near unto us when we engage in prayer causes us to suppress discouragement and in turn enables us to be encouraged. This known reality eases the mind from shifting toward being discombobulated or troubled. Engaging in prayer is refreshment for the soul. It is refreshment for the faint at heart who may be on the brink of giving up at hearing the news of sickness from a doctor’s report, receiving news of being on the verge of being laid off, being stressed about financial matters, being overwhelmed with your children, being downtrodden about your career, or even being worried about your future. Knowing that God is in control of all things puts us at ease that He is greater than any problem that we will face in life.
God is not caught off guard about our issues. God is not in a frantic state of what He is going to do to provide resolve in our dire ailments. He has everything under control. If God is not frantic about it, then why are you? Why are you upset? Why are you mentally and physically drained? Why are you depressed? Why are you bothered? Why are you struggling? Why are we losing sleep over things that we have no control over?
Grant Richison penned that “anxiety is unacceptable because it fails to place confidence in God about the uncertainties of life. There is no reason for a child of God to worry because God manages his life.” 1
H.B. Charles, Jr. concluded that "God is intimately aware of what you’re dealing with. He cares about your situation. And He is at work on your behalf." 4
Therefore, Paul asserts that we can let our requests be made known unto the Lord (Philippians 4:6). We can pour our hearts out unto God. We can be open and honest with Him as it relates to what we are dealing with. We can cast our concerns, our fears, our troublesome situations, our mental derangement, and our misfortunes upon Him because He cares for us.
1 Peter 5:7 NKJV — casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Psalm 55:22 NKJV — Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
God has our best interest at heart. John MacArthur writes that, “Christians are to cast all of their discontent, discouragement, despair, and suffering on the Lord, and trust Him for knowing what He’s doing with their lives.” 5 In doing so, we trust that God will see us through trying times and persevere us in the process.
Just as the Apostle Paul encouraged his audience to engage in the power of prayer and make known their requests unto God; his words still have the same profound effect on believers today about engaging in prayer as a means to overcome worry. Worry is a tool of Satan that can be defeat with prayer.
E.M. Bounds mentioned that "prayer that is felt as a mighty force is the mediate or immediate product of time spent with God." 6
Engaging God in sincere prayer as we pray according to His will helps us to overcome the odds that are against us. Prayer is the antidote to win over worry.
References
Grant Richison. Verse By Verse Commentary
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/anxiety/when-mental-health-gets-physical-can-you-die-from-anxiety/
The Jeremiah Study Bible
H.B. Charles, Jr. It Happens After Prayer
The MacArthur Study Bible
E.M. Bounds. The Power Of Prayer