Babs Winterson

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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.

I love these verses, partly because they tell me that nothing is too small or insignificant to take to our heavenly Father in prayer. It is easy to try and manage on our own and not bother God with what seems like trivia, compared to the troubles of the world. But think how we love it when our young children or grandchildren talk to us at length about anything. We just don’t want that special time to end, and God’s love for us is far, far greater than anything we can understand.

The words ‘with thanksgiving’ remind us to keep a balance in prayer. It is wrong to just come to God with a huge list of all we want from Him. I believe that worship and giving thanks puts us in the right frame of mind to come before God.

I love ‘Do not be anxious about anything’. Other translations say ‘Don’t fret or worry’ or ‘Don’t get stressed about anything’. When we read the News or hear of people’s problems it is so easy to worry or get anxious. If we allow ourselves to be pulled down into depression we can increase the problems instead of being a positive influence. It helps to consciously reject the ‘spirit of despair’ and put on the ‘Garment of Praise’ (Isaiah 61 v3).

Rob Lacey’s Street Bible expresses these verses
‘Don’t get stressed about anything – whatever hits you, verbalise it with God; balance your ‘pleases’ with your ‘thank you’s’, and God’s serenity, which even medics can’t suss, will flood your deep places, saturate your thinking, acting like a minder, ‘cos you’re in with the Liberator Jesus.’