Ann Mizer  

Anxiety and Prayer

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  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. Philippians 4:5-7 (NIV)

I imagine that all of us are anxious at times in our lives about various things – jobs, family, decisions we have to make.  God knows this and through Paul, in his letter to the church at Philippi, assures us that we can and should give every situation to God.  I don’t know that we always do it with thanksgiving, in fact I know that there are many times it is the last effort to go to God in prayer, in desperation.  But there is comfort in this verse that assures us of peace.

This is one of those scripture that periodically shows up for me.  This week I heard Max Lucado being interviewed about his recently published book and he quoted this scripture. I wrote down the chapter and verses and when I went to my stack of devotions – I had written this same passage down to consider writing about.  I think that God often comes to us when we repeatedly hear the same message  from different people.

Heavenly Father, remind me to come to you in every situation, to petition, to request, to give thanks and to find peace.  Amen