Don’t be Anxious but by Prayer and Petition with Thanksgiving Tell God your Requests

As believers in Christ who enjoy and experience Christ as our peace offering, we need to be anxious in nothing, but in everything – by prayer and petition with thanksgiving – we should let our requests be made known to God, and the peace of God will guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

Our Christ is so wonderful and all-inclusive, and He has become the all-sufficient provision from God to us; as we enjoy Him and experience Him, opening to Him about everything and speaking with Him, we have the all-encompassing Christian virtue of forbearance.

What is forbearance, which Paul said that we should display before all? Forbearance is Christ, and Christ is forbearance.

When we enjoy and experience Christ as our peace offering, we exercise self-control, we are moderate, we are gentle, we are understanding toward others, we exercise sympathy toward them, we have Christ as our wisdom, we have mercy on others, we look to the Lord for everything, and we have the virtue of admitting that the Lord is sovereign in all things.

When we take Christ as our peace offering, we realize that there’s nothing we have to worry about, because everything that we have and everything coming our way is what the Lord has assigned to us – it is His will, and we will accept it.

When things happen to us and when our circumstances become such that we are puzzled and perplexed, we should simply come to the Lord by prayer and petition with thanksgiving and tell it all to Him; then, the peace of God which surpasses every man’s understanding will guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!

We need to take Christ as our peace offering, letting His peace rule and arbitrate in us, and we will be a person that will always fit in, one whose behavior is always suitable.

A forbearing person has the wisdom and ability to supply others with what they need, and they also have the full knowledge of what to say to them and when to say it.

A forbearing person considers how others are affected by what we say or do, and they learn to take Christ as his wisdom and even his attitude, that he may speak to others in wisdom and all purity, with the sole goal of ministering Christ to others for their growth in life.

In Phil. 4, right after he spoke of forbearance, Paul says that the Lord is near. With respect to space, the Lord is near us, ready to help us; with regard to time, the Lord is at hand, coming soon (see Rom. 10:8-13).

He is with us, always in our spirit, and His name is Emmanuel – God with us; therefore, we should be anxious in nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving we should let our requests and needs be known to God!

Not being Anxious but by Prayer and Petition with Thanksgiving Tell God your Requests

A life that lives Christ is a life full of forbearance but without anxiety. If we live Christ, we will let others know our forbearance, that is, we will manifest the Christ whom we enjoy, live, and magnify.

And if there’s any reason to worry – which Satan brings about every day – we should be anxious in nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, we should speak with God, making all our requests be known to Him.

Often we worry when we hear bad news, or when we don’t get something that we think we should get; anxiety undermines the living of Christ.

Instead of being anxious, in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving we should make our requests known to God, and the result will be that the peace of God will guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

These words, “in everything” refer to the many different things that happen to us day by day. When we lose something, we should tell the Lord; when we miss the bus and are late for work, we should talk to the Lord; when we have a failure, we should tell the Lord first.

We simply need to talk to the Lord about all things. We should tell Him our anxieties, sorrows, worries, and needs; we need to speak to Him, and He will supply us.

Even when we are happy, we should talk to Him; when something nice happens, when we hear good news, when we have a success, and when are full of joy, we should tell the Lord.

Prayer is general, having worship and fellowship as its essence, while petition is special, being for particular needs; both our prayer and our petition should be accompanied by our giving thanks to the Lord.

We need to bring everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving to the Lord; to God denotes we make a motion toward Him, in the sense of a living union and communion, implying fellowship.

How should we bring everything to God? We should bring everything in prayer and petition with thanksgiving in fellowship with God. When we make a move toward God, the peace of God will move toward us and even in us to guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus.

The God of peace patrols before our hearts and thoughts in Christ, keeping us calm and tranquil. A proper Christian life is a life of calm, tranquillity, peace, and quiet (1 Tim. 2:1-2; Isa. 30:15), and the first aspect of a life that lives Christ is tranquillity.

To live a tranquil life is to live without rivalry, without vainglory, without murmurings or reasonings, and without any debate, arguing, or fighting with others.

As we open to the Lord whenever anxiety comes, and in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving we tell Him all, He is on patrol before and around our heart to keep us calm and tranquil.

Satan comes to attack us with anxiety and anxious thoughts, but as we tell the Lord everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, thanking Him for everything and trusting in Him, the God of peace patrols and stands guard before our hearts and thoughts in Christ.

The peace of God guards both our hearts and thoughts; in Christ Jesus the peace of God patrols as a guard who goes back and forth before our hearts and our thoughts. Even though there may be many troubles and anxiety, nothing will disturb us, for we are in Christ, and His peace patrols to guard us from anxiety!

Lord Jesus, we refuse to be anxious and choose to come to You about everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving! Thank You we can come to You and open to You about everything. We can bring all our cares, needs, requests, and wants, and we can tell You about all things. Lord, we cast our cares on You, and we allow You to guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah, God is right now patrolling around and before our heart to keep it at peace in Christ! Thank You Lord, for being our peace in everything, even when anxious thoughts come and troubles are ahead of us!

Turning our Anxiety into Forbearance by Letting our Requests be Known to God

Toward man we need to let our forbearance known by living Christ and magnifying Christ. Toward God, we need to turn our anxiety into forbearance by letting our requests be known to God (see Phil. 4:5-6).

Our anxiety can be turned into forbearance by bringing all our needs, all our requests, to God, and by conversing with Him. We should be frank and open with the Lord and converse with Him, telling Him what we need.

Satan tries to tempt us to worry and import the things from the future into our thinking now, thus becoming anxious. But we as believers in Christ need to simply tell the Lord what we need. If we have any worry or anxiety, we should just tell Him.

On one hand we need to open to Him and talk to Him about everything, and on the other, we need to petition Him for our particular needs. As we pray and petition Him, we need to also thank Him; we need to thank Him for the small things and big things He has done for us.

Our prayer and petition should be accompanied with thanksgiving to the Lord. As we do this, as we turn our anxiety into forbearance by letting our requests be known to God, the peace of God patrols around our heart and guards our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Toward man we need to have forbearance, and with God we need to fellowship with Him. Fellowship with the Lord and forbearance toward man causes us to remain calm inwardly, and this makes us tranquil people.

There may still be negative things happening around us, the problems may still be there, and the hardships may not leave, but we no longer are anxious, for we turn our anxiety into forbearance by letting all our requests be known to God.

It matters to God concerning us; He wants to hear our requests and needs, and He desires that we open to Him to give Him our anxieties. Instead of complaining about our situation, we should simply live Christ by praying, opening to the Lord, telling Him everything, and having forbearance toward man and fellowship with God.

As we let the Lord know concerning our requests, we make a motion toward Him; then, His response is His dispensing, His mingling Himself with us, even before He answers our request.

The practical mingling of divinity with humanity is carried out by this traffic – we are mingled with God and God is mingled with us.

If we would have a life free of anxiety, we need to realize that all our circumstances, good or bad, have been assigned to us by God in order to serve us in fulfilling our destiny to gain Christ, live Christ, and magnify Christ (Rom. 8:28-29; Matt. 10:29-30; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Our destiny is to gain Christ, live Christ, and magnify Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem. All things are arranged by God to work together for good to those who love God, so that we may be conformed to the image of the Firstborn Son of God.

All persons, matters, things, situations, environments, and conditions work together so that the Lord would have a way to work Himself into us to transform us and conform us to the image of the firstborn Son of God. Hallelujah! This makes us desperate to contact the Lord, so that He becomes real to us. The more real we are with the Lord, the more real He becomes to us.

Lord Jesus, remind us to turn any anxiety into forbearance by letting our requests be known to God. We want to make a motion toward You by letting You know about all our needs, requests, and problems. Lord, we come to You with all our problems. Mingle Yourself more with us. No matter what happens around us and to us, Lord, keep us in the process of gaining Christ, living Christ, and magnifying Christ. Hallelujah, all persons, all matters, all situations, all environments, and all conditions work together for good for us to us, for we love the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msg. 27 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 10, Christ as the Peace between God and God’s People for Their Co-enjoyment in Fellowship to Have the Vital-group Church Life and to Consummate in the New Jerusalem as the Ultimate Peace Offering.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Dear Lord Jesus, precious Jesus, / Can I tell it all to Thee? / Thou my love and satisfaction, / Thou my everlasting portion; / Thou art all that I desire, / Nothing else I would pursue. (Hymns #1158)
  # In nothing be anxious, / But in everything, / By prayer and petition / With thanksgiving, / Let your requests, let your requests / Be made known to God; / And the peace of God, / Which surpasses / Every man’s understanding, / Will guard your hearts / Will guard your thoughts / In Christ Jesus. (Scripture song)
  # In nothing be anxious; the Lord is at hand. / In peace and in vict’ry triumphantly stand; / Let nothing affright thee and nothing dismay, / For Jesus is coming! It may be today. / In nothing be anxious; on Him roll thy care. (Hymns #660)