Don’t worry, rather pray !

Call To Prayer 

Title: Do not worry, rather, pray! 

Date: 27/06/2022 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

6 Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-8 

In the life of a Christian, we can go through all kinds of trials and tribulations but there is one thing that is guaranteed and accessible to claim; And that is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. Anxiety is something that attacks your heart and mind to seize your peace. Make you feel restless. Even push you to sin. But our opening verse gives us the recipe against anxiety. The steps of the recipe are;  

1. we pray,
2. we thank God
3. we rest.

And every time the enemy attacks us with anxiety presented in the form of a problem or a lack, start cooking again our recipe: we pray, we thank God and we rest. (Rest is not in any way referring to idling or being lazy) 

Do not worry about it, rather, pray! Jesus asks in Luke 12: 25: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life”. Then in verse 30 to 31 He says “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” 

From the above verses, we see that what distinguishes you from a pagan is your “worry less ness”. Your calmness in times of trouble. Because you have entrusted the situation in God’s hands. By so doing you are exercising your faith and this pleases God. A good illustration of this is seen in Mark 4:39-41. Jesus was sleeping in a boat while there was a storm. His disciples so worried and surprised at Jesus, woke him up saying “Teacher, don’t you care about us? We are going to drown!”. And Jesus woke up, first he commanded the wind to be calm and then addressed them saying “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”. So, Jesus by this time expected that they have gotten the point. That is, there is no point in worrying and panicking over situations when you know the master of the universe. You should simply pray, thank God and rest.  

What does it mean to thank God. Yes, it means thank God. Even in that situation there are many reasons to give thanks. Salvation! You still have the hope of eternal happiness. What is greater than this.! And if you are still in good health isn’t that such a great blessing ?. What about food and shelter? What about the gift of sight and taste? Thanksgiving is the will of God for us (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). And it brings joy to our hearts. 

Once you have prayed and given thanks then you enter the rest of God. Knowing that it is already done in the spirit what you have requested for. Knowing that even before you asked God is aware and He cares. Dearly beloved in Christ, Jesus did not promise us a life without trials but that He will always be there with us and provide strength which we can access in prayer. Life is full of ups and downs. In those down times, do not worry, pray! 

Prayer point:

Let’s thank God for this word today. Let’s pray for grace to abide Him so that we find rest in all situations.