Prayerful not Fearful

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6 LITV, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and by petition with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known to God.’

What are we to pray? The Bible says, ‘by prayer and by petition.’  Petition can be defined as praying to God about something specific in Christ Jesus. The Lord God commands His people for their good for specific prayers to be made known to Him. When it says, ‘known to Him’, it does not mean God does not know, and we must inform Him, so He can know—obviously it does not mean that.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:8 LITV, ‘Then do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.’ What the Bible is saying in Philippians, the Father wants to hear these things from His people—He wants to know them from them. God wants us to depend on Him, recognizing He is our God, our Heavenly Father, who provides our every need, every time. Everything we have which is good, has come from the Lord’s hands—We receive nothing good, unless it is by the will of God, and from His good hand. We are to rely on Him. Of course, God uses means, absolutely, but as we live for Him according to the Word of God, we are not to be anxious, but come to our Lord and trust Him, stand on His word, and have peace in Christ.

Notice Paul wrote, ‘Let your requests be made known to God.’ What does Paul the apostle mean? The word, ‘request’, refers to the specific details of the petition. In our prayers, we bring our petitions to God—His people are to pray a specific thing to God, and then pray about the details of that specific thing—the specific details about that petition.

For example, Let us go Ephesians 1:16-23, and we can see Paul do exactly this. Paul the apostle prays, v. 16 LITV, ‘I also do not cease giving thanks on your behalf, making mention of you in my prayers’, then we see his petition, a specific prayer in v. 17,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,

Then we see the request, the details of the petition, v. 18, ‘the eyes of your mind having been enlightened, for you to know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’, and he continues after v. 18. This is how we are to pray—commanded by the Lord in Philippians 4.

Now, there is another aspect of prayer, and that is thanksgivings. Very important aspect of prayer. Notice what Paul wrote, ‘but in everything by prayer and petitions with thanksgivings, let you request be made known to God.’ This is an expression of thanks or gratitude for all the things the Lord has done for us and is doing. It is thankfulness from the heart for His mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus. The Greek word holds thanksgiving in the upmost importance. This thankfulness will guard our hearts from whining and complaining before the Lord. All that we have comes from the Lord, we do not deserve anything, but because of His love for us, He has given to us the greatest and most precious gift of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. His people would have to admit, there is always something to give thanks to God for, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and all we have received in Him. We are to give thanks to God, because without the mercy and grace of God, we would not have Christ. His people are to be thankful to God in Christ Jesus, for all our spiritual and temporal blessings.

Another scripture, we see that it is God will for us to be thankful to Him in Christ Jesus. 1Thessalonians 5:18 LITV, ‘In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.’ Notice the apostle Paul wrote, ‘in everything give thanks.’ God is always good to His people—in everything in Christ Jesus. God is good to His people not only in good times, but God is good to them in hard times; God is good to them in everything. God is good to His people.

Paul the apostle when he wrote Ephesians was in bonds, but he had a thankful heart and grateful heart. His people are not to forget to be thankful in all things, because our God is always good to us in all things. Every good thing is from God, and without Him, we would not even be here. It is God’s will that we (His people) find joy in prayer in Christ Jesus in every condition of life, with a grateful heart.

Also notice, when Paul wrote, ‘be made known to God.’ We are only to pray to God, and no other. To pray to any other except to God is a despicable sin. If a brother and/or sister is praying for you to God, no problem, because they are still praying to God, and we saw Paul doing that in Ephesians, but we are never to pray to anyone else except God—we are only to pray to the true and living God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Lord is commanding His people here in Philippians 4, to let Him know our petitions and requests, with thanksgivings to Him. This command is in the present tense, which means this command is always present—we are to keep praying to Him and not lose heart, for the Bible says in 1Thessalonians 5:17 LITV, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ Prayer is a conversation, it is how we speak to our God in Christ, who hears us perfectly, knows us perfectly, understands us perfectly, cares for us perfectly, and responds to us perfectly, knowing what is best for us perfectly. If we pray according to His will, He will do it, but if not, we can know, He knows what is best for us perfectly, and He can be fully trusted in all things, for He is perfect—God is always faithful to His Word. God is perfect in all His ways—He is our sovereign God. There is no other like our Lord, for He is the one true living God.

Let us finish these two scriptures about the prayers of His people:

Proverbs 15:8 LITV, ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is a hateful thing to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.’

1Peter 3:12 LITV, ‘because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against any doing evil things.’