Tag Archives: Philippians 4:6-7

How should we pray? (Maybe not like this)

 

There are no ‘magic’ words or secret codes prayer phrases; we should pray from our hearts. But let’s invite God to search and cleanse our hearts before we make our requests. Our prayers get mixed up when our minds overrule the message of our heart. For example:

 

The detailed informant:
“Oh Lord who sees and knows all things, please watch over Judith, the one in our flock who lives at 457 Main Street, the two-story house with the blue shutters. She’s having gall bladder surgery 8:30 a.m. Central Time Friday at Our Blessed Hope Hospital on South Street. Give Dr. John Walter Bernard II a good night sleep and his favorite breakfast so he will be strong and concentrate on the medical procedures he was taught at John Hopkins University back in 1985.”

 

The name dropper:
“Lord, I just ask you, Lord, to, Lord, be with those, Lord, who, need you, Lord.” (You wouldn’t talk this way to your friend Betty; why talk to God this way?)

 

The Gossiper:
“Lord, change the heart of sinner Sam Jones who I heard is having an adulterous affair with Suzy Mae.”

 

The King James prayer:
“I beseech Thee, in The Holiest Of Holies, O Lord. Heareth the prayer of Thy lowliest worm, and forgiveth mine gravest iniquities…” (This might be okay if you talk that way in real life.)

 

The self-seeker:
“God, watch over my red sports car. Protect it from scratches and dents so it can shine for your glory.”

 

The vengeance-seeker:
“Lord go after the person who dinged my new car in the parking lot today. Pursue them until the end of their days. Punish them with your mighty right hand so that I, your righteous one, will be avenged and lifted up.”

 

The ‘just’ prayer:
“Lord I JUST ask that you will do JUST (do this) and JUST (do that) in my life. . . And JUST these other things on my 12 page prayer list, JUST like I want.”

 

The pharisee (praying loudly):
“Oh God, you know my righteous ways, how I always praise you and seek only to be blameless in your sight. Surely, you’ve noticed how blameless I already am! And thankful you for giving me such an extremely humble heart.”

 

The comfort seeker:
“Lord I want to know you and be just like you. Only protect me from all pain and sorrow and suffering. Let my life be an example of worldly success so others will know that you are my God.”

 

The babbler (when asked to say a simple grace at meal time):
“O Lord, I want to lift up to you all the believers of the world, the plagues in Africa, the wars in the middle east, the infidelity of … (that other political party). Thank you Lord for watching over me all my days, for watching over the day I was born and all the days of my childhood and…” (Praying without ceasing is intended to be a condition of our heart, not a litany of endless words.)

 

The intent here isn’t to be judgmental of others but to ask God to guard our own hearts. Don’t worry over your prayer words. Just come to Him with thanksgiving in your heart and let your requests be known.

 

“Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

 

 

Having a bad day?

 

Are you having a bad day?
A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?

 

Someone recently commented on Facebook that they were ‘fed up’. One of their ‘friends’ replied, “Mondays are like that.”  We do get fed up, don’t we? What makes you sometimes ‘fed up’? Sometimes I get ‘fed up’ when I constantly forget things or make mistakes I have to correct.  Oh, I could probably make a long list and so could you. But let’s not, okay? Let’s hit the fast forward button to whatever situation bugs us today and see beyond it to another reality:

 

Are your kids complaining driving you crazy? It won’t be long before there is complete silence in the house and you’ll long for their presence.

 

Don’t like what you have to eat? Millions would love to have anything to feed their family!

 

Do your legs hurt? There is someone out there who would love to have legs! (I was convicted of this once as I was whining to myself about my thrombosis and came upon a man stumbling down the sidewalk with one leg and a crutch.)

 

Depressed about your retirement savings? Many people in the world have to work their entire life with little hope of rest.

 

You know, my mom used to say things like this. Probably yours did too. But it turns out mom was right! Of course, there are sometimes much more serious problems that make for a bad day or continuously bad years!

But regardless of the depth of our pain and sorrows we all have to ‘choose this day’ how we’re going to get through it. We can either curse the darkness or light a candle. One such light for not letting bad days defeat you is to find a reason to be thankful. You might be having a bad day, but at least you are having a day! Believe it or not, some would love to have your day. It might not be the day you wanted it to be, but it is your day to live. How this was confirmed in my journey through leukemia. You probably have seen people persist through severe pain and grief because they chose thankfulness and hope over resentment and despair.

 

The way we live out our bad days will either steal our joy and crush our spirit or it will strengthen us and encourage us with a reminder of what is good. It will either drive us to despair or help us to hope. And the way we live out our bad days affects others too. Grumpiness and thankfulness are both contagious. Don’t let your circumstances make it a bad day. Talk to God about it and choose a thankful alternative.

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” – Philippians 4:6

 

 

Resting and wrestling

 

 

John Piper writes: “There is a restful side to the Christian life. “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest,” Jesus said in Matthew 11:28. “Be anxious for nothing . . . let your requests be made known to God . . . and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). There is rest and peace in the Christian soul.

 

But there is also wrestling. Jesus said in Luke 13:24, “Strive <wrestle/struggle> to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” At the end of his life, Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” Keeping the faith is a fight to be fought and a race to be run.”

 

We’ve written quite a bit about the resting side of the Christian life. Unless you are facing mighty challenges yourself, who wants to pursue the kind of suffering that comes from a wrestling life? But the two are interrelated. We wrestle with our response to life challenges with the goal of finding rest. And, as we’ve commented before, we find rest in these trials because Christ-in-us has already won the battle and assured our victory, IF (and this is a very strong IF):

 

IF you are willing to believe God at His Word, even when it flies in the face of your present circumstances.

 

IF you believe that God is sovereign and He has a provident plan for your life.

 

IF you believe that you are an alien and foreigner in this land we call earth; that your real home is heaven.

 

IF you believe that you are a spiritual being with a temporary earthly shell, not merely a physical being with some small spiritual component.

 

IF you believe that God’s loving discipline is even better for us than the parental discipline of our childhood.

 

We wrestle with each of these tenets when we face difficulties and temptations. God knows that our wrestling makes us tired and can lead us to lose heart. He knows our wrestling can lead to a dangerous sense of despair. And so he reminds us:
“Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:3-4)

 

If you are wrestling with pain, suffering, sorrow, unpleasant work or home life, there is good news. There comes from wrestling a sense of rest IF we believe what God has in store for us as His children.

 

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” ( v 7,11)

 

Maybe you need to wrestle harder. If so, rest in the confidence that Jesus-in-you has already secured the victory. Believe it.

 

 

Peace right now

 

 

No Jesus – No peace.

Know Jesus – Know peace.

 

“My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart not be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

 

Jesus was talking with his followers shortly before the end of His physical ministry on earth. He was encouraging them by promising them God would send a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to remind and teach them all they needed to enter into God’s presence and His peace. (Words for us today!)

 

How valuable to you is peace? I can assure you that the more turmoil there is in your life, the more you will long for some peace. If your body is torn apart by disease – or by the effects of the cure – you will long for peace. If your mind is constantly in a whirlwind, always jumping from one worry to another, trying to find an escape from sorrow and pain, you will seek peace with all your might. While you are recovering from grief you will welcome peace.

 

But what kind of peace will fill our needs? Will quietness or solitude? If you experience Tinnitus, a constant ringing in your ears that never stops,  quietness may bring more stress than peace! If you are lonely, solitude may only serve to insult your sensibilities. What about the absence of stress and hurt? That would be nice, but do you know of such a protective place where heartache never visits? How about a bigger pile of money, a life of comfort? There are too many stories of extremely wealthy people who never found peace.

 

Jesus says that He gives us true peace, not the kind of peace the world offers. What is this true peace that we are offered? He says it is the kind of peace that can protect our hearts from being troubled by the storm raging around and within us. It is the peace that overcomes fear. It is a peace that endures and persists despite our circumstances.

 

Paul wrote that he had learned the secret of being content; that whether he had plenty or none, he “could do all things through Christ who strengthened him.” He endured plenty of pain and sorrow, including some unknown ‘thorn in the flesh’ that just wouldn’t leave him. But a contented peace allowed him to rise above his circumstances. He found the peace that surpasses all human understanding, the peace that Jesus gives. Surely, this peace is ‘the favor of the Lord, more than any other ‘riches’ you may acquire!

 

Doesn’t that sound like the peace you want? Isn’t that the kind of peace that would make your light shine brighter within and around you? I wonder what transformation awaits us when we decide to relentlessly pursue the peace of God rather than the peace that the world offers! Why not spend time with God and talk with the Prince of Peace about experiencing His peace in your life?!

 

 

Fretting is good…for repairing guitars

If you repair guitars it could be helpful to know something about fretting. It is useful for producing quality tones on the instrument. But the kind of fretting the rest of us tend to do is not helpful for anything except creating ulcers and resentment. It’s called worry.

The Lord Almighty who created all the universe with His spoken command, the One who created everything out of nothing, the One who chose you before the foundations of the earth were laid…this same gracious, loving, holy, powerful, just, all-knowing, wise, sovereign and glorious ‘El Roi’ God sees you where you are. The question is do we trust a sovereign God? Or do we feel more comfortable trusting ourself?

If we trust God, we have nothing to worry about, do we? After all, He knows best and has the best interest of His children at heart. If he chooses suffering and hardship to bring us into that better plan it will be for our good. If we choose our own hardship, He promises to bring us through it if we turn to Him. We earthly parents do the same, however imperfectly. He promises He will never abandon us and that our pain, sorrow, and suffering will one day end and produce glory. If we really believe it, what is there to be anxious about?

But we still worry, don’t we? We don’t need to beat ourself up because a worrying thought comes across our mind. The question is, what do we do with it? Do we dismiss it and turn it quickly over to God or do we dwell on it? Do we determine its fate or does it determine ours? Take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) I like the mental image of handcuffing that wrong thought and marching it into God’s courtroom. Let Him deal with it.

I admit, I have lots of questions. When will my leukemia be cured? What might cause it to take a turn for the worse? Will we get to carry on with plans to minister in South America? Will my finances hold out? How do I fulfill God’s will when I am so weak? I’m guessing you have lots of questions about your life too. Questions are great. They bring us to God.

But when questions turn and churn into worry, fear grows and interferes with trusting God. We start to think His way is too hard or start thinking OUR way is better than His. (Talk about irrational thinking!)

Jesus said repeatedly, don’t worry. Maybe we should just take Him at His Word. And when we start fretting about something, reaffirm our trust in the One who is sovereign, who has our best interest at heart. “I believe, Lord. Help me in my unbelief.”

Leave fretting to the guitar repairers.

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 4:6-7

Transcending anxiety and suffering

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 4:6-7

It’s easy to become anxious about things, isn’t it? I think it is a part of our earthly nature, and so will challenge us as long as we have these earthy bodies. But there is an effective antidote against anxiety. It is in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, presenting all our requests, our concerns and our anxious thoughts to God. And how does God respond? He gives peace to those who trust him. Not just any peace, but that peace which transcends all understanding. Not the peace that is merely the absence of anxiety, but peace that mysteriously and powerfully transcends it.

Other than this passage, my only other recollection of this word is from my college days. Transcendental Meditation (TM) was taught and encouraged throughout the university. But this focused on ‘new age’ and eastern philosophies that I didn’t want to be associated with. I remembered the saying that if it’s new, it isn’t true, and if it’s true, it isn’t new.

Much of the time I suspect we settle for enduring suffering. Is that your experience – learning to grit your teeth and put up with your hurts and anxious thoughts? Or maybe you have learned how to cope with suffering: experiencing suffering and at the same time not being ruled by it.

So how do we pursue Godly transcendental meditation? The Bible offers guidance for those disciplined to learn this ‘secret.’ It starts with ‘being still.’ But being still isn’t the absence of activity and it isn’t a vacation into mindlessness. I am still learning but I think it is about contemplating the fullness of God, his peace, his purpose, his power in your life. Contemplating his Word and his characteristics may guide you into Godly stillness. This stillness is a preparation for a conversation with God, both speaking and listening. It’s about focused listening to what God wants to reveal to you about YOUR life.

Transcendent peace is not only found in being still before a sovereign God and keenly focusing on what he wants to reveal to you. It is about really trusting him to do just that. And this comes from faithfully following him throughout the whole day, through the business of life, the mundane chores, the sorrows, and the celebrations. It is about being mindful of his love for you and sensitive to his plan for your life.

So here is a challenge: try this every day for thirty days. Pursue his love and his peace; that peace which transcends all understanding.

Peace beyond understanding

 

I am guessing that  you receive more information than you can process each day. Me too. If you read an inspirational and motivational book, you will no doubt unveil more truths than you can practically apply at once to your life. I like the way Francis Chan deals with this in his book, Crazy Love. He said (I paraphrase), “Maybe what you need to do is put this book down right now. Instead of reading more, meditate on this one truth and go live it – put it in action.”

That is the intent of this blog too. We attempt to share practical truths and points of understanding that are intended to help each of us hone our capacity to be the light of the world that Jesus commanded us to be. But then the next day comes with a new blog post. Maybe rather than reading all the daily posts, you might try to latch onto one truth that speaks to your heart and contemplate that for a number of days; try it on and see how it fits in your life. (Remember, it takes 3-4 weeks to establish a new habit.) Set aside time to meditate or contemplate how this speaks peace and wisdom to your life.  Pray and give thanks. And then watch how the anxieties of life grow dimmer and the peace that surpasses all understanding gradually grows in your heart.

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 4:6-7