Post by Cindy on Nov 17, 2015 12:59:15 GMT -5
REACT TO PROBLEMS WITH THANKFUL PRAYER
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
Instead of praying to God with doubt or discontentment, the believer is to approach God in a spirit of thanksgiving. That’s because God promised not to allow anything into our lives that will be too much for us to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). He has promised to work out everything for our good (Rom. 8:28), and “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle” us in the midst of our suffering (1 Pet. 5:10).
All difficulties are within God’s purpose, so we can thank Him for His available power and promises. Peter said to cast “all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). In doing so, we are to be thankful for His providence, His promise of perfecting us, the glory He will receive from accomplishing His will, and for past mercies that are the promise of future blessings. MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
The peace of God comes to a child of God who trusts and prays. All Christians have peace with God, & all Christians may have the peace of God, that inward tranquility of soul grounded in God’s presence, God’s promise, & God’s power. One may have peace with God without having the peace of God. Peace with God is dependent upon faith, & peace of God is dependent upon prayer. Peace with God describes the state between God & you, & the peace of God describes the condition within you. KJV Bible Commentary
So how do we know when we're not thinking the way we should be? We can know this instantly when we realize that we are not at peace!
Prayer is our chief means of avoiding anxiety. As believers, we’re to leave the sin of worry behind with our prayers, & gradually become different people through new ways of thinking and acting. Anxiety Attacked.
If we have the single mind of Phil 1 then we can give adoration. (How can a double-minded person ever praise God?) If we have the submissive mind of Phil 2, we can come with supplication. (Would a person with a proud mind ask God for something?) If we have the spiritual mind of Phil 3 we can show our appreciation. (A worldly minded person would not know that God had given him anything to appreciate!) In other words, we must practice Phil 1, 2, and 3 if we are going to experience the secure mind of Phil 4. If we're to conquer worry & experience the secure mind, we must meet the three conditions that God has laid down: right praying (Phil. 4:6–7), right thinking (Phil. 4:8), & right living (Phil. 4:9). He uses three different words to describe “right praying”: prayer, supplication, & thanksgiving.“Right praying” involves all three. Peace involves the heart & the mind (Isa. 26:3).
Wrong thinking leads to wrong feeling, & before long the heart & mind are pulled apart & we are strangled by worry. We must realize that thoughts are real & powerful, even though they cannot be seen, weighed, or measured. We must bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny!” Paul spells out in detail the things we ought to think about as Christians.(Phil. 4:8) If you will compare this list to David’s description of the Word of God in Psalm 19:7–9, you will see a parallel. The Christian who fills his heart and mind with God’s Word will have a “built-in radar” for detecting wrong thoughts. “Great peace have they which love Thy Law” (Ps. 119:165). Right thinking is the result of daily meditation on the Word of God. (Phil. 4:9) You can't separate outward action & inward attitude. Sin always results in unrest & purity ought to result in peace. (Isa. 32:17; James 3:17). Right living is a necessary condition for experiencing the peace of God. Paul balances 4 activities: “learned & received” & “heard & seen.” It is one thing to learn a truth, but quite another to receive it inwardly & make it a part of our inner man (see 1 Thes. 2:13). Facts in the head are not enough; we must also have truths in the heart. "The peace of God” is one test of whether or not we are in the will of God. The Bible exposition commentary
Phil 4:6–7 deals with both worry and anxiety cognitively (thoughts), emotionally (feelings), & behaviorally (actions). Totally sufficient
Managing stress for a Christian begins with understanding yourself & knowing what Scripture teaches about the nature of God. To understand yourself means to know your basic nature, the potential of your strengths, & the limits of your weaknesses. Self-deception can prevent clear discernment (Jer. 17:9). Pride & independence can block self-awareness. God Himself must give the self-awareness needed (Jer. 17:10). Only He can show clearly where change is needed & bring about that change in basic human nature (Ps. 139:23, 24).
Stress Management: Peace That Passes Understanding. Through prayer, supplication, & thanksgiving, you can realize a “peace which surpasses all understanding” & know that this peace “will guard your hearts and minds” (Phil 4:6, 7). Your natural human desire for acceptance, status, & possessions can create tension within. If you perceive that your needs or desires aren't going to be met, you may experience anxiety & stress. How can you “be anxious for nothing” in the face of such situations? An understanding of the nature of God comes from His self-revelation in Scripture & in Christ. Knowing & accepting the unchanging nature of God produces stability & peace. Understanding the quality of His character inspires trust. Much of stress dissipates when you acknowledge your dependence upon God & submit to His leadership (Ps. 73:26; 1 Pet. 5:6, 7), recognizing that you're locked into time & space as finite creatures, while He is infinite, eternal, & omnipresent. The Woman’s Study Bible.
The natural temptation with every difficulty is to plan for it, to put it out of the way yourself; but stop short with all your planning, your thinking, your worry, & talk to Him! “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee.” Then keep on with supplication until you know He has it, & prayer becomes praise. Rest, trust, & wait, & see how He does that which you wanted to do, & had so much care about. “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” Thoughts for the quiet hour.
There can be no doubt that the biblical antidote for worry is prayer. Having really prayed, the believer must have the confidence that his needs have been made known to God. Worry denies the reality of prayer. Worriers don't really pray; they may utter their anxieties & frustrations before God, but they do not really pray in faith with thanksgiving because they're not at peace with God. This passage makes it clear that worry & anxiety come from a lack of prayer. It's common for believers to insist that they've prayed about their problems, but often they haven't really communicated with God at all. Rather, they've simply muttered their frustrations to God, which isn't the same as praying! God is There in the Tough Times
Phil 4:6–7 promises inner calm or tranquility to the believer who prays with a thankful attitude. Notice it doesn’t promise what the answer to our prayers will be.“Surpasses all understanding,” refers to its divine origin. It transcends human intellect, analysis, & insight. No human counselor can give it to you as it’s a gift from God. The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from your life, but to trust the infinite, holy, sovereign, & powerful God in the midst of every situation. So accept that you live in a fallen world, & allow God to do His perfect work in you. & God will give you His peace as you confidently entrust yourself to His care.
The believer who doesn’t live in the confidence of God’s sovereignty will lack His peace & be left to the chaos of a troubled heart. But our confident trust in the Lord will allow us to thank Him in the midst of trials because we have God’s peace on duty to protect our hearts & minds. Truth for today
When peace is on guard, the Christian has entered an impregnable citadel from which nothing can dislodge him. The name of the fortress is Christ, & the guard is peace. The peace of God stands guard & keeps worry from corroding our hearts & unworthy thoughts from tearing up our minds. Jesus gives us His own personal peace. It has been tested; it was Christ’s own shield & His own helmet that served Him in spiritual battle. & He gave it to us when He left. It should give us the same serenity in danger, the same calm in trouble, & the same freedom from anxiety. How to survive in a world of unbelievers
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
Instead of praying to God with doubt or discontentment, the believer is to approach God in a spirit of thanksgiving. That’s because God promised not to allow anything into our lives that will be too much for us to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). He has promised to work out everything for our good (Rom. 8:28), and “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle” us in the midst of our suffering (1 Pet. 5:10).
All difficulties are within God’s purpose, so we can thank Him for His available power and promises. Peter said to cast “all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). In doing so, we are to be thankful for His providence, His promise of perfecting us, the glory He will receive from accomplishing His will, and for past mercies that are the promise of future blessings. MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
The peace of God comes to a child of God who trusts and prays. All Christians have peace with God, & all Christians may have the peace of God, that inward tranquility of soul grounded in God’s presence, God’s promise, & God’s power. One may have peace with God without having the peace of God. Peace with God is dependent upon faith, & peace of God is dependent upon prayer. Peace with God describes the state between God & you, & the peace of God describes the condition within you. KJV Bible Commentary
So how do we know when we're not thinking the way we should be? We can know this instantly when we realize that we are not at peace!
Prayer is our chief means of avoiding anxiety. As believers, we’re to leave the sin of worry behind with our prayers, & gradually become different people through new ways of thinking and acting. Anxiety Attacked.
If we have the single mind of Phil 1 then we can give adoration. (How can a double-minded person ever praise God?) If we have the submissive mind of Phil 2, we can come with supplication. (Would a person with a proud mind ask God for something?) If we have the spiritual mind of Phil 3 we can show our appreciation. (A worldly minded person would not know that God had given him anything to appreciate!) In other words, we must practice Phil 1, 2, and 3 if we are going to experience the secure mind of Phil 4. If we're to conquer worry & experience the secure mind, we must meet the three conditions that God has laid down: right praying (Phil. 4:6–7), right thinking (Phil. 4:8), & right living (Phil. 4:9). He uses three different words to describe “right praying”: prayer, supplication, & thanksgiving.“Right praying” involves all three. Peace involves the heart & the mind (Isa. 26:3).
Wrong thinking leads to wrong feeling, & before long the heart & mind are pulled apart & we are strangled by worry. We must realize that thoughts are real & powerful, even though they cannot be seen, weighed, or measured. We must bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny!” Paul spells out in detail the things we ought to think about as Christians.(Phil. 4:8) If you will compare this list to David’s description of the Word of God in Psalm 19:7–9, you will see a parallel. The Christian who fills his heart and mind with God’s Word will have a “built-in radar” for detecting wrong thoughts. “Great peace have they which love Thy Law” (Ps. 119:165). Right thinking is the result of daily meditation on the Word of God. (Phil. 4:9) You can't separate outward action & inward attitude. Sin always results in unrest & purity ought to result in peace. (Isa. 32:17; James 3:17). Right living is a necessary condition for experiencing the peace of God. Paul balances 4 activities: “learned & received” & “heard & seen.” It is one thing to learn a truth, but quite another to receive it inwardly & make it a part of our inner man (see 1 Thes. 2:13). Facts in the head are not enough; we must also have truths in the heart. "The peace of God” is one test of whether or not we are in the will of God. The Bible exposition commentary
Phil 4:6–7 deals with both worry and anxiety cognitively (thoughts), emotionally (feelings), & behaviorally (actions). Totally sufficient
Managing stress for a Christian begins with understanding yourself & knowing what Scripture teaches about the nature of God. To understand yourself means to know your basic nature, the potential of your strengths, & the limits of your weaknesses. Self-deception can prevent clear discernment (Jer. 17:9). Pride & independence can block self-awareness. God Himself must give the self-awareness needed (Jer. 17:10). Only He can show clearly where change is needed & bring about that change in basic human nature (Ps. 139:23, 24).
Stress Management: Peace That Passes Understanding. Through prayer, supplication, & thanksgiving, you can realize a “peace which surpasses all understanding” & know that this peace “will guard your hearts and minds” (Phil 4:6, 7). Your natural human desire for acceptance, status, & possessions can create tension within. If you perceive that your needs or desires aren't going to be met, you may experience anxiety & stress. How can you “be anxious for nothing” in the face of such situations? An understanding of the nature of God comes from His self-revelation in Scripture & in Christ. Knowing & accepting the unchanging nature of God produces stability & peace. Understanding the quality of His character inspires trust. Much of stress dissipates when you acknowledge your dependence upon God & submit to His leadership (Ps. 73:26; 1 Pet. 5:6, 7), recognizing that you're locked into time & space as finite creatures, while He is infinite, eternal, & omnipresent. The Woman’s Study Bible.
The natural temptation with every difficulty is to plan for it, to put it out of the way yourself; but stop short with all your planning, your thinking, your worry, & talk to Him! “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee.” Then keep on with supplication until you know He has it, & prayer becomes praise. Rest, trust, & wait, & see how He does that which you wanted to do, & had so much care about. “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” Thoughts for the quiet hour.
There can be no doubt that the biblical antidote for worry is prayer. Having really prayed, the believer must have the confidence that his needs have been made known to God. Worry denies the reality of prayer. Worriers don't really pray; they may utter their anxieties & frustrations before God, but they do not really pray in faith with thanksgiving because they're not at peace with God. This passage makes it clear that worry & anxiety come from a lack of prayer. It's common for believers to insist that they've prayed about their problems, but often they haven't really communicated with God at all. Rather, they've simply muttered their frustrations to God, which isn't the same as praying! God is There in the Tough Times
Phil 4:6–7 promises inner calm or tranquility to the believer who prays with a thankful attitude. Notice it doesn’t promise what the answer to our prayers will be.“Surpasses all understanding,” refers to its divine origin. It transcends human intellect, analysis, & insight. No human counselor can give it to you as it’s a gift from God. The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from your life, but to trust the infinite, holy, sovereign, & powerful God in the midst of every situation. So accept that you live in a fallen world, & allow God to do His perfect work in you. & God will give you His peace as you confidently entrust yourself to His care.
The believer who doesn’t live in the confidence of God’s sovereignty will lack His peace & be left to the chaos of a troubled heart. But our confident trust in the Lord will allow us to thank Him in the midst of trials because we have God’s peace on duty to protect our hearts & minds. Truth for today
When peace is on guard, the Christian has entered an impregnable citadel from which nothing can dislodge him. The name of the fortress is Christ, & the guard is peace. The peace of God stands guard & keeps worry from corroding our hearts & unworthy thoughts from tearing up our minds. Jesus gives us His own personal peace. It has been tested; it was Christ’s own shield & His own helmet that served Him in spiritual battle. & He gave it to us when He left. It should give us the same serenity in danger, the same calm in trouble, & the same freedom from anxiety. How to survive in a world of unbelievers
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