I am not sure who is picking the daily verses over there at Bible.com, but I thought today’s was a great choice. Let’s read it together:

Philippians 4:6-7

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(NIV)

I don’t know about you, but personally, I am glad they did not give this Scripture to us before Christmas. The conviction might have been too much 🙂  

Anyway, let’s dig into this one today.  Do not be anxious about anything. That doesn’t leave much room for worry (Matthew 6:25-34).  First, we need to understand why worry is so strongly addressed in Scripture. Worry and anxiousness are forms of fear.  Fear is the opposite of faith and indicates a lack of understanding of God’s love for us. This is why Paul prays earnestly that we would have power from God to grasp the vast dimensions of God’s love for us (Ephesians 3:17-18).  The more we understand that we have a God, not a mere man, but the Creator of everything who continues to hold all things together (Colossians 1:17), who loves us infinitely, the more fear dissipates from our heart.  

If we truly believe that God is able to give us the strength, the wisdom, and the power to overcome every obstacle in life and come out on the other side better than when we went in, AND He loves us perfectly, unconditionally, and always, ALWAYS wants the very best for us.  Out of this surpassingly great love for us, through His omnipotence, He will always work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). It seems that our knowledge of this would leave little room in our hearts for stress and worry. Yet the truth is that there is often wide-open spaces in our hearts for stress and worry.  Why is that?

One of the consequences of sin is that we experience is an innate sense of being responsible for our own well-being.  We do not naturally trust others nor God. We think we are the only ones who have the ability to sustain and prosper our life.  There could be nothing further from the truth. But this natural tendency, our sinful nature, is always at work to push out our knowledge and faith in the love and power of our Lord.  It is a battle of the mind to defeat stress and worry. Prayer is what moves our thoughts back to faith in God. Prayer moves our mind back to assurance in God’s love and power.  

Prayer is the divine missile that will utterly disintegrate our worry, but only for the moment.  And that is where petition comes in. We keep praying when fear rears its ugly head. We drive out fear with the love of God and we do it over and over and over again.  Never stop praying!

Pastor Lee is a pastor and Biblical life coach.  He has been helping people through counseling, pastoring, teaching, and preaching for 20+ years.  His ministry focuses on helping people overcome the strongholds of the past and press on into God’s plan for an abundant life.  He has been married to his wife, Amy for 28 years.  He has three sons and one daughter-in-love.  For more about Pastor Lee or to get some Biblical advice, go to the About page.