Don’t Worry, Be Praying | Philippians 4:6–7

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7 NLT)

 

Fight fire with fire. That’s what you do when you find yourself in a spiritual battle. Your enemy will be firing spiritual weapons such as temptation, guilt, doubt, and fear. To keep him on the defensive, you must use spiritual weapons as well. The apostle Paul wrote, “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments” (2 Corinthians 10:3–4 NLT).

Let’s take fear, for instance, one of the devil’s most effective weapons. If he can get you to worry about something—more specifically, if he can get you worked up over nothing—he has the upper hand in battle. Have you ever noticed how completely worthless worry is? It can absolutely can devastate you. It’s like a rocking chair. You’re always moving but never getting anywhere. You just start worrying about this. You start worrying about that. What if this and what if that? What are you supposed to do?

Look at what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6–7: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (NLT). That’s fighting fire with fire.

When you feel fear creeping into your thoughts, when you start asking, “What if this happens?” or “What if that happens?” make sure you battle back with your spiritual weapon of prayer. Instead of giving worry a toehold in your mind, simply say, “I don’t know what’s going to happen. But, Lord, I’m committing it to You right now. I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know how to deal with it. But I know that You do. And I know that you are unimaginably greater than whatever may happen. So, I put this into Your hands.”

Let’s say that makes you feel good for about five minutes. And then another fear rears its ugly head. What do you do then? You say, “Lord, here’s another problem for you.” And you keep doing it as often as needed. Prayer isn’t an express lane at the supermarket. There isn’t a twelve-item limit. Every time you humbly and faithfully take another fear or worry to the Lord as part of your spiritual battle, you draw closer to and strengthen your relationship with Him.

Prayer allows you to see your fears in their proper light. If you see God for who He is, you’ll see your fears and problems for what they are—spiritual weapons that work only when you try to counter them with non-spiritual weapons. In Jeremiah 32:27, God says, “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” (NLT). The answer, of course, is no. So, if you’re fighting a spiritual battle right now, take it to God.

 

Reflection question: What might keep you from taking a problem or worry to God in prayer? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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