Peace and How to Experience It, Part 1

Philippians 4v6-7

24^th May 2024

Philippians 4v6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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.

Paul had more reasons to be anxious than most of us. He was persecuted by both Jews and Romans and mistreated in many ways. In 2 Corinthians 11v23-29, he mentions imprisonment, stoning, whipping and beating. He suffered other hardships including shipwreck, hunger, thirst and nakedness. He was opposed by members of his own churches, and by false apostles who had infiltrate them. Some of his churches seemed to be turning away from the Gospel. He implies in Chapter 1, verses 19-21 that he doesn't know if his current imprisonment will end in freedom or execution. Yet Paul urges us not to be anxious about anything. Paul, then, must have reached a level of Christian maturity in which he genuinely wasn't anxious about the very real likelihood of further mistreatment, suffering or death.

He tells us that the cure for anxiety is prayer and petition with thanksgiving. He must has practiced these and proved their effectiveness.

In the New Testament, "prayer" is a general term for "speaking to God", of course. "Petition", though, translates the Greek word deesis. This means to ask for something that is needed. ESV has "supplication". Paul is saying that we best handle anxiety by speaking to God, and including in that conversation requests for what we and others need God to do, and remembering to thank God for His wonderful nature, His amazing grace and His awesome works.

This teaching is no great surprise for the average Christian, but how many of us really believe that it works? How many of us are free from anxiety?

It may clarify things if I distinguish between stress, anxiety and worry. It seems to me that:

• Stress is a state of mental unease caused by current events.
• Anxiety is a state of mental unease caused by thinking about possible future events.
• To worry is to submit to anxiety, allowing oneself to dwell unhealthily on possible negative future outcomes.

We can't always avoid stress. When we're being persecuted, or in other dangerous or painful situations, stress is normal.

However, Paul teaches here that we can fight our anxiety with God's help. As Peter said, "Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5v7).

If we fail to deal with our anxiety by giving it to God in prayer, it may develop into worry. We will dwell unhealthily on the different possibilities of what might happen in the future, perhaps even becoming obsessive about all the possible eventualities. This can result in our being less able to function well in the present.

Time spent with our Father, remembering His greatness and love, giving our problems over to Him, reassuring ourselves of our adoption as His children for ever, and choosing again to trust Him, calms our souls. When we pray with petitions and thanksgiving, we talk things through with our heavenly Father, we choose to trust Him to do what we need Him to do, we thank Him because we know that "my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus" (verse 19), we remember all the times He met our needs in the past, and we remember that earthly trials are temporary and that, whatever happens, an eternity in heaven awaits us.

And we know that there is no need to be anxious because God is in control. He has predestined everything that will ever happen. He is Lord of all. He is absolutely wise, absolutely living and absolutely powerful.

I have no doubt that God will always do the right thing, the best thing. I have no doubt that "nothing is too difficult for God" (Jeremiah 32v27). When I worry, my concern is really either that God will choose not to do something I want Him to do, or that God will choose to do something I don't want Him to do. But we pray "Thy will be done", which is a choice to accept God's will, whether or not it coincides with ours. Really, we know that God's will is perfect and ours is not.

Don't believe the "prosperity Gospel". God's will often results in suffering for His people, even for His own Son. So anxiety is really a manifestation of either a doubt about God's goodness or power, or a fear that God's plan will cost me something. It is better, if we can, to willingly embrace suffering for Christ, and the ability to do that comes through prayer and petition with thanksgiving.

If we will pray everything through properly, thoroughly, then we will be more able to believe that God will answer our prayers perfectly, because He is perfect. His perfect answer may not be what we want, except in the overriding sense that we want "Thy will be done". As We accept God's will and renew our trust in His goodness, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Paul had proved that this works.