Philippians 4:6-8

⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This was the very first set of verses in the Bible that I can remember seeing and reading when I was truly intent on reading the Bible to know who God is. I read them from the front page inside by newly gifted Bible. My life had spiraled out of control and I was flat on my back. I had hit rock bottom. I was repentant through a series of events and The Lord reaching out to me. In my response to God and with the help of my brother I began to pray and seek after God. To know Him and know who I was to Him. My brother penned a dedication with these verses as the keynote message. They were encouraging and sound spiritual advice with God’s word in the center. It was June 2007 and my life was being transformed. Albeit tumultuous, God had plans of peace and stability for my future. I had no idea the spiritual weight or power these verses carried. I also had no understanding how timeless or relevant these verses are in all ages of time on Earth. These first verses have shaped my faith more than any others.

I want to tap into a few take aways from these scriptures and it may be possible that you have never noticed the take aways here. I hope after reading you draw close to God in a greater way. These verses are often quoted to encourage believers. This is good but there is some untapped power here and when you get ahold of that power in The Spirit, you will experience true peace in due time.

The verses imply a sincere request by Paul to take your concerns to God and we will be guided into God’s peace. Peter wrote also that we ought to bring our cares to God because God cares for us. So this principle is valid in scripture that we should take ourselves before God. Ask Him things, request things of God. A side note of caution. A friend of mine a couple years ago said something profound. She said “I have learned to thank God for the times He has told me no in prayer. God’s no is leading me to His yes for whatever I am praying about.” Do not get impatient with God when you do not get the response you expected! We pray because we do not know what to expect. If we knew what to expect all of the time we wouldn’t need faith or Jesus anyway. Paul begins by saying “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication” Whatever worries your soul needs to be taken to God in prayer. This is obvious. Supplication is also included with prayer. If prayer is “the what” supplication is “the how” that we get our worries, concerns, and thoughts to God. I truly believe this is why most who struggle do not see breakthrough: Supplication. The study notes of The Spirit-Filled Life Bible say this: “Supplication is more than petitioning, but suggests an intensity of earnestness in extended prayer- not to gain merit by many words, but to fully transfer the burden of one’s soul into God’s hands. Prayer and peace are closely connected.” I have struggled to learn how to bring my prayers in with supplication to God. Are you transferring your worries and fears? Is this a faith act when you pray? Are you praying and allowing the burden to be transferred in The Spirit? This will work your faith and align you in prayer. It will align you in God’s will. This is take the “No” from God to where your requests line up with His “Yes.”

The next thing we see is “with thanksgiving make your requests known to God.” Are you thanking God for what He is doing presently? We all make requests to God but are you thankful while doing so? Finally, God’s peace is not something we humans understand. We who have lived a Spirit filled Christian life for any length of time have experienced God’s supernatural peace. HOWEVER, we do not understand it. We cannot so don’t try. You will experience something that you cannot fully understand or describe. That is what is called supernatural. It’s not of our nature. It is like when you are a child and ask mom: “How did you know that you were in love with Dad?” My mom’s response was this: “It’s hard to explain, you just do. It is something that just happens and when it does you will know it.” This is God’s peace. This is why when God asks us to do something, by faith we should. We cannot understand what comes from God until we experience whatever is supposed to happen God’s way. Peace comes and makes all things right -Even when all things are not right. I believe the peace of God is directly related to God’s presence. The Bible says God is near the broken hearted. Finally this peace from The Holy Ghost will guard our soul and thoughts through Christ Jesus. We are guarded and we have a peace. You personally may be in a terrible position in life. You can still have God’s peace in this moment though. It is as if The Holy Spirit comes in and rests with you, in you, even in the moment of confusion or pain, ect. To sum it up Paul is writing telling believers to quit worrying and take all of our concerns to God and transfer the weight to Him. Do this with a thankful attitude and The Holy Spirit will come in with such a peace that you will be settled inside even when you can’t explain it!

So how are you doing? Seriously, how are you right now? Reading this I assume you are alone or at least not interacting with others at the moment. Can you take a moment to make an honest actual real assessment of your current life? Can you take off the mask and say not everything is perfect or alright? If you aren’t anxious or suffering at this moment, then begin to think and pray for someone else. When the time comes, I hope this will come to remembrance. If you are anxious or suffering then I hope this will help. As I said, Paul is telling believers to go to God in prayer and transfer the burden into God’s possession. Give over things to God. I used to struggle heavily with anxiety and depression. At one point was on medication for it. During my Christian conversion, I not only came off of medication but was healed from these two issues. I will tell you that they have come back at me in certain seasons. God has brought me through those seasons through. He can heal you too. I struggled so bad with anxiety that I sometimes wouldn’t go in public. I would avoid people. I avoided talking in public to strangers at times. One day in particular, I stopped to get gas in my car on my way to work. I went in to get coffee and pay for the gas. I stopped short of getting a cup of coffee because I was so full of anxiety that morning. The reason why was because I thought people would think I was weird for the type of creamer or amount of sugar I would load my coffee cup with. You may think this is ridiculous. That is ok if you do. In that season of life I was so beat down and very far from God. My mind was so twisted from so much that had happened to me. The core issue was poor relationships. I had never really had a proper relationship in my life to that point. My communication skills were poor and I lacked trust and openness with others. So anxiety and depression led my emotions to decide what actions to take for everything. The Lord, over time, healed me and I began to learn how to have proper meaningful relationships. This is still a work in progress personally. The core issue for me was lack of meaningful relationships with God and with others. This led to so much anxiety and depression. I believe that I am not alone the more I talk with people about life. I now have that peace from God. When I do not, I know it’s time to pray about my relationships. It is time to pray for others. This is because when God’s peace is missing, it is often due to relationships. It may be me who is in the wrong. It may be someone else. We are not reconciled somehow.

I wanted to share this about relationships because Paul wrote about them to us in the Bible. When we read these key verses, we often address anxieties or conflicts and use these verses to draw close to God. When we are not drawing close to God’s peace it could be because you have a people problem. It may be you. Philippians 4:2-3 says “ I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. ³ Yes, I ask you also, true companion,^[b] help these women, who have labored^[c] side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” Here is what these two verses are talking about. There were two women in the local church who had a major disagreement and opposed each other. We can figure this out because Paul took the time to address these two women by name in a letter to the church. I doubt the issue was minor due to this case. He also asks for the help of another to mediate and mend the relationship where possible. Imagine being at odds with someone and you are called out by intervention to come together and forgive and move on? That is what we see here. It wasn’t done with intentions to embarass them. It was done with the highest intent to bring unity and love. We know this because Paul is writing in chapter 3 about pressing on in Christ and letting nothing stand in the way. What is one of the strongest tools of the devil? The answer is offense/unforgiveness. They bring division and isolation. A lack of peace from The Spirit. Maybe you can connect some dots now…

As Paul urges deeply the need to reconcile we read that we should rejoice and be gentle to each other. Then the key scriptures about prayer and peace come. Now it all makes more sense. We struggle personally. Each one of us has fear or doubt in life somewhere at some point. I believe most of our conflict comes because we are at odds with others. Either directly or indirectly due to closed minded opinions of how we think the world should be. This world is The Lords though. We should be gentle on the opinions we hold. Could it be today that we carry undue pressure because of our divisions? Could it be that we are disconnected and we are fooled thinking we are truly connected? Paul preaches about unity with Christ, then addresses the disunity of these women. He then says to take all concerns to God and do not stop until you have given it completely over to Jesus. When do you know you’ve completely given it over? You will have supernatural peace about it. It is likely that the peace you seek will come when you are connected to other believers without bias, hypocrisy, or ill thought. Relationships in harmony with God himself were the main reason Paul wrote these verses. It wasn’t for your personal prosperity! These verses were for your personal connection so you would NEVER be alone again! You will no longer be alienated from God or others who are true Christians.

Considering the time of year, reach out to those people prayerfully. Forgive them because Jesus loves and forgives you. Ask for forgiveness where needed. Jesus wants see us reconciled our differences as much as possible. Love other people who have been bad to you or ignorantly offended you. Maybe they didn’t know they hurt you. Agree to disagree with someone who doesn’t believe everything you do. While you may not compromise beliefs, you can express the love of Christ. Remember Jesus loved you when you were sinning against him. Maybe loving someone who disagrees with you is how Jesus will get through to them if they are wrong in life. I have learned that most of my anxieties have left when I effectively transferred my cares to God. I have learned most of my anxieties do not return when I am seeking to love others like Jesus loves me. Not asking for a beneficial return but simply giving opportunity for The Spirit of God to do what He wills. This peace sets in. It becomes welcome in my soul. The junk food of my opinions is less palatable each moment God’s peace gets between me and someone else. I do not understand the peace of God completely but I know it comes this way. It is meant to between our relationships. You, me, and the rest of the world we interact with. The days we are living in now need this peace between us more than ever. The church truly needs unity and peace where possible so we can see God’s glory.

My proposal to you is this: If you are feeling worried or anxious about anything, go to God with it continuing until the burden is transferred to Him. If the issues are from broken relationships, with proper actions, reconcile them. Sometimes it isn’t possible to do so with another but in that case you can through The Holy Spirit. If you will do this, a great peace will settle you. If relationships are difficult for you, study on healthy relationships. Get help and grow as a Christian, as a person.Do not allow fear or shame to stop you from this. Agree to forgive others. Trust God where you were taken advantage of and know that HE alone will add back anything that was taken away from you no matter how difficult that sounds to accept.