HOW I MESSED UP PRAYER

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  (Philippians 4:6 NIV)

This used to be one of the harder verses in the whole bible for me. When I was going through a tough time in my life I would do what I’d been taught: I’d take it to the Lord in prayer. My experience was the more and more I would pray about the troubling circumstances the more anxious I would become. It was the exact opposite of my expectation based on the verse above. I would be embarrassed to admit how many years I struggled with this verse. In my struggle I would avoid praying about certain things because if I did it would cause me to become anxious. I knew I had things messed up and mixed up, because there’s no way the bible was wrong. Over a period of time and with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Teacher, I began to understand where I was going wrong. Instead of hurrying to the end of the verse where it says, “…present your requests to God.” I considered the whole thing. The most important part of the verse for me, especially if I’m battling anxiety and worry, are the two words, “with thanksgiving.” In my earlier experience, I thought the point of prayer was to tell the Lord what I needed him to do in my life, the prayer and petition part of the verse. Looking back it’s almost silly to think about how I would tell an all-knowing God about the circumstances causing my anxiety and then give him advice regarding how to fix things. I can’t say I’ve completely eliminated anxiety and worry from my life and that prayer always brings me peace. I can say that things are so much better now as I focus more on all the things I am thankful for. It’s helpful, in a big way, to remind myself of God’s faithfulness. Something very powerful happens in my heart, where anxiety tries to settle, when I think about the many different ways God has rescued, restored, and redeemed people (myself included) from situations that appear to be completely hopeless.

If you’re going through a particularly hard time right now I encourage you to include huge amounts of thanksgiving in your prayers. Remind yourself of God’s faithfulness. Resist the urge to tell the Lord how to fix your problems. It’s nice that you want to help him out, but God has dealt with situations far more difficult than yours so let Him do His thing.

In my next blog I want to look at the two words, PRAYER and PETITION. Until then…

“Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith…and always be thankful.” (Colossians 2:7 NCV)

“Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking…always be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15 NCV)

“No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT)