When Your Circumstances Make You Anxious: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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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

Transcript

Good morning,

Well, each weekday morning at this time, we’re talking about the practical issues of life from God’s perspective. You know, we read the Bible every day just to let God inform our worldview, to shape the way we think about life.

And he speaks so much about the practical things we face in life. All this week we’re talking about how to respond when your circumstances make you anxious. And maybe as you’re listening this morning, you would say, boy, that’s me for sure.

Instantly into your mind, your mind is full of all the things that are making you anxious, and maybe even talking about being anxious makes your stomach turn over a little bit as you think about the things that you’re facing, how to respond to those things.

Well, we’ve been looking at a couple of verses all this week and unpacking them as we look at how to respond to those circumstances that make us anxious. Let me read them again. Philippians chapter 4 in the Bible, verses 6 and 7.

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It says 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.

Well, I just want to zero in on one little phrase in that. Don’t be anxious, he says, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

I think there’s so much insight in that. Present your requests with thanksgiving to God. That is, put the context of these circumstances that are making you anxious. Put that in context with all that you have experienced of God in your life, all the ways that God has been involved in your life in the past when you’ve brought your circumstances to Him and looked to Him for help.

How has God been involved in your life?

Well, maybe you would say, well, actually God doesn’t seem to get that involved in my circumstances. So that doesn’t encourage me very much. Well, if you don’t have a history of God’s involvement in your circumstances, start one.

Because God does get involved as we bring our circumstances to Him and call on Him. He doesn’t always just take away those stressful circumstances, right?

What does the promise say? Not present your request to God, and He will take away your anxious circumstances. No. By prayer and petition in every circumstance 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.

You may still have to struggle through that difficult circumstance, but this can be a completely different attitude because your inner person that is really being stressed to the limit by this anxious situation – it will be fortified. It’ll be strengthened. The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As you learn to bring these circumstances of your life and not just say I believe in myself I can make it through this, no acknowledge to God I need your help. I need your help with the circumstance.

Here’s my request. And I need your help in my inner life to be able to move through this with confidence and with strength and not let anxiety totally overwhelm me and ruin my inner life.

Well, when you come to God with that kind of honesty and saying, I’m desperate, I’m depending on you, I’m calling on you, then God gets involved. That’s what the verse says. He’ll get involved in your inner life, and this experience then will be something in your past that next time you face an anxious circumstance, you’ll be able to look back on and say, OK, I can trust God because I trusted Him last time, and look at how he responded.

Think about how God has been involved in your life in the past and let that give you confidence as you face your circumstances now trusting Him.

I’m John North.

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