“Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.”

1) How is it possible to “not be anxious in anything”?
In our western culture, we happen to dearly love our chapters and verses and books of the Bible, and while they are useful for finding verses, they make it easy to forget that many New Testament books were actually letters. No chapters. No verses. No breaks. One might think that this verse isn’t in the middle of a sentence, as it is often quoted that way, but the first part of it, and the answer to the question, lie in the verse 5. “The Lord is at hand.” Our ability to not fall into anxiety has utterly nothing to do with us, but rather with the character of God. Shifting our gaze from our worry/fear/anxiety onto the steadfast, faithful, unchanging Lord who knows all dispels our fears and calms our anxious souls.

2) How does thanksgiving play a role in “making our requests known”?
Like everything about this relationship that the Lord is longing for with us, it all comes back to the heart. Making requests of God is easy; most of us have lists that could go on forever. And we know that Jesus Himself tells us to ask, so why add in the random part about “with thanksgiving”? Heart. Attitude. When we shift the focus of our heart to who God is, and what we are truly thankful for, our hearts take up a posture of humility before the Almighty. As James says, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.” A humble, thankful heart puts us in the position to properly receive God’s blessing, His peace, and honestly assess our list of “requests” to see which ones are self-focused, and which ones line up with God-shaped desires.

3) Why does God want us to tell Him our requests? Doesn’t He already know them?
Yes, the all-knowing God of the universe who knit you together in your mother’s womb, knows exactly every single inclination of your heart. He knows your fears, your vulnerabilities, your weaknesses, your shame, and the deep-seated desires you are afraid will never go fulfilled. Clearly, God doesn’t ask for your requests because He is ignorant and wanting to know your Christmas wish list. He asks for at least 2 reasons. One, He longs for relationship with us; a mutual one where there is sharing and depth and you feel like you are known and He is revealed in ever deepening ways. You cannot build a relationship without heart-level communication. Two, He asks that we may look into our hearts and see ourselves better in light of Him and His glory. When we take the time to hold up our requests, carefully looking at them, then looking at the heart of God, then looking at our requests that we realize exactly how much we need Him.

1) How is it possible to “not be anxious in anything”?
Truly, we cannot manage to go very far into our day without worrying about something, can we?  Control. We hate not having it and little else amps up our fear like not holding the reigns and seeing where the ship of our life is headed. Finances, health, relationships, future, death….any of these can bring on an anxious fear, but that is not how we were designed to live! The beauty of this situations where we are tempted to fear is that the Lord not only knew they were coming toward us, He knew He would meet us inside them, waiting to teach our hearts more about Him. Next time you are tempted to be anxious, take a step back and let God shape your heart. Rest in the solid, unwavering truth that “The Lord is at hand!”

2) How does thanksgiving play a role in “making our requests known”?
Proverbs says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” There is no better way to have a genuinely cheerful heart than to focus on the richness that God has supplied us with. Though it sounds cheesy, the deep, spiritual benefit of slowing down and audibly thanking God for the very good things around you will bring peace and bring you quickly into a sweeter fellowship with Jesus. Try it! Go for making a 10 count list, then a 20, add more each day. Write them down. Sing them out loud. Share them in a text. Watch your anxiety go down and your peace rise! “I praise Jesus for….” Go ahead! Fill it in and then do it again!

3) Why does God want us to tell Him our requests? Doesn’t He already know them?
If He asks because He desires relationship and intimacy, what greater invitation of deep love could there be than that? What holds you back from entering in to that arena of being able to ask, being wrapped in grace-filled humility, and cloaked with a peace that passes all understanding? Perhaps we do not ask because we fear He will clap a resounding, “No!”. But what if, supposing that His desire truly is intimacy and to give us peace, that whatever His answer was, it was crafted to bring us even closer to Him and fill us with more satisfaction than we could know? Remember, “The Lord is near”. The Lord who knows, the Lord who commands creation, the Lord who loves. Trust Him, Beauty, trust Him!

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Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

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Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

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