Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Happiness and joy
God does not want His children to be mule faced about serving Him. It is also Paul’s desire for us to be rejoicing in our Christian experience (Phil 4:4). We often see this theme in the New Testament teachings – exhortations to be overcomers. Even in the Old Testament passages speak of overcoming circumstances through God (Psa 3:5; 4:8). People do not want to hear what we have to say about our faith if it does not keep us through the difficult times of life. Do we get stressed out? Can we sleep well? Is the joy of the Lord our strength?
Paul’s exhortation
Be careful for nothing – don’t be anxious or full of care. It means anxiety or harassing care, nervous solicitude, brooding over the matter. Jesus taught that we are not to take thought for certain items. It has the same meaning as Paul’s exhortation in this passage. Don’t be over anxious, don’t brood over it. Neither Paul nor Jesus are suggesting that we do not perform the obvious natural and wise providing for necessary matters – it is not an excuse for laziness (2 Thes 3:10).
Paul seems to indicate that our over anxiousness comes from our hearts bad minds. The heart and mind are troubling us and they need a work from God (Jam 4:8; Ro 12:2; 8:7). Because of this uncontrolled aspect we cannot sleep or be at peace over certain matters. They are constantly before us and our imagination even takes part – “what if this happens?”
Paul does not simply say, “stop worrying” because we cannot do that – it is impossible on our own. Some strong willed people may be able to do that to a degree but it is only repression. Neither does Paul say that worry is sin. He proceeds to instruct on the cure.
Let your requests be made known to God with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. The word prayer means not just asking but is a worship and adoration time he wants from us. If we just start in on telling God what the problem is we are keeping it in front of us. We are to get alone with God and worship and adore Him – focused on God. The word prayer also carries the idea of being face to face.
Next we are to bring our petitions to God and be particular not general. And we are to do it with thanksgiving. We cannot come to God with a grudge in our hearts. We must have no doubt of the goodness of God in our hearts.
God’s cure
Paul does not say that our prayer will bring us peace, nor our giving thanks but the peace of God will keep our hurts and minds in Christ. It is a work of God not the methodology or psychotically trick but the work of the God of all grace and peace working in our hearts and minds, Paul says it is something beyond human understanding, but it is very real.