Other Articles in this Series:
A Good Kind of Anxiety
How Can We Enjoy the Peace of God?
Five Essential Practices for Overcoming Anxiety, Part 1: Rejoice Always in the Lord
Five Essential Practices for Overcoming Anxiety, Part 2: Practice Public Gentleness
In the last few articles, we’ve seen that overcoming anxiety involves more than just prayer and passive waiting. We must rejoice in the Lord and practice gentleness with others if we are going to enjoy God’s supernatural peace (see Phil 4:4-5).
But when I say that enjoying God’s peace and overcoming anxiety involves more than prayer, we can’t conclude that it ever involves less. Prayer is an essential weapon in our fight against debilitating anxiety, and Paul provides us with practical counsel in Philippians on how we should pray when confronted with worry.
What is Sinful Anxiety?
What is anxiety? Anxiety is the fear that something will not go well for us or someone we love in the near or distant future. As I noted in a previous article, Scripture acknowledges that there is a good kind of anxiety that flows out of a heart that cares for others. Christians will express godly concern for the spiritual and physical well-being of their family members, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends (see 1 Cor 7:32-35; 12:25).
But there is also a sinful kind of anxiety that Scripture helps us overcome. What is sinful anxiety? Sinful anxiety is an inner fear that something in the immediate or distant future will not go well for you or someone you care about that causes you to sin in other areas of your life, neglect your responsibilities, and become careless in your obedience to God.
Sinful anxiety is characterized by excessive fear that disables us from worship, keeps us from obedience, robs us of joy, and increases our temptation to sin in other areas of our lives. Ungodly anxiety often causes us to be easily angry or annoyed, even depressed. Depression may arise because our anxiety has disabled us from fulfilling our responsibilities, so we feel guilty about our neglect, which leads us to more negligence, which deepens our depression. Why? Because God made us to work and exercise dominion (Gen 1:26-31; 2:15; 1 Thess 4:10-12; 2 Thess 3:6-12), and when we neglect this fundamental aspect of our lives, depression grows.
Paul, then, is giving us gracious and exceedingly practical counsel in this passage in Philippians 4:6. When he says, “Be anxious for nothing,” he is not calling us to be indifferent to those who are suffering or careless about potential harm that could come our way. Rather, he is exhorting us to take deliberate action to fend off the encroachment of sinful anxiety—anxiety that overwhelms us and provokes sin in other areas of our lives.
How do we do that? As I’ve already noted, the enjoyment of God’s supernatural peace includes the essential spiritual disciplines of rejoicing in the Lord and practicing public gentleness (Phil 4:4-5). The instruction in verse 6, therefore, can’t be separated from those two practices. But in verse six, Paul is taking us directly to God’s throne room to combat our anxiety. “Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.”
The Power of Thankful Prayer
This is a call for genuine, intentional prayer and earnest request to God in the face of anxiety. By splitting the first and second halves of verse six with a strong adversative (“but”), Paul is telling us that prayer is the appropriate first response to anxiety. We should already be rejoicing in the Lord and practicing public gentleness. But walking in joy and gentleness won’t always keep anxiety from rearing its head. When it does, though, the first impulse of the regenerate heart should be prayer to God.
And not just prayer, but prayer that is attended by thankfulness.
Thankfulness is vital because anxiety grows where God’s providential kindness is not clearly seen. When we express gratitude to God for all that he has done for us, we will see with greater clarity his kindness in our lives. The discipline of thankfulness dispels our anxiety.
Paul also instructs us to let our requests be known to God. Why? Because anxiety grows when we lose sight of God’s care for us. God cares for us comprehensively—in our spiritual needs (Heb 13:20) and our temporal needs (Matt 6:11), and he is the only one who has infinite resources at his disposal. In truth, only God can ultimately help us in any given situation. The immediate turn of the heart when confronted with anxiety should be thankful prayer.
Make the Request!
Again, we should linger over Paul’s instruction to let our “requests” be known to God. The apostle doesn’t say, “Let your anxieties be known to God.” Our anxieties are caused by a future concern about our welfare or the welfare of others we love. For example, we may be anxious about an upcoming doctor’s appointment and hearing about our recent test results. Paul doesn’t say, “Let God know that you are anxious about the doctor’s appointment.” Yes, it is right to let God know that we are anxious, for Peter tells us to cast all our anxieties upon God (1 Peter 5:7). In Philippians 4:6, however, Paul is telling us to make the request. What is your request?
Father, my request is that my test results will be good. And if they are not, my request is that my disease will be treatable and that you will help me glorify you through the whole process. And if it is not treatable, that you would sustain my faith and enable me to treasure you through my suffering and finish my race well.
Perhaps you are anxious about your son driving himself to college for the first time this fall. You’ve made all the necessary provisions—you’ve checked the engine and the tires, laid out the roadmap, and provided him with a new cell phone. But you are still anxious about the actual drive. Why? You love your son and want him to arrive safely at college. Let that request be known to God. “Father, please protect my son on his drive to college.”
When we respond to anxiety with thankful prayer, making our requests known to God, our troubled spirits are calmed, and the peace of God begins to comfort us in ways that are beyond description. That’s why Paul ends verse 6 with the promise that, as we offer thankful requests to God, “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Peace that Surpasses all Understanding
Even amid great trial, believers can experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. When Paul says that this peace “surpasses all understanding,” he means that this peace goes beyond mere intellectual agreement with a logical syllogism:
If God is good, I will be fine.
God is good.
Therefore, I will be fine.
Rather, the peace of God is a supernatural sense that our heavenly Father is in full control of all things, that he loves us, and that he will do all that is necessary for our good. It is a supernatural clarity of mind and trust in the heart that our heavenly Father has everything under control no matter what it looks like in our lives or in the world at the moment (see also Prov 3:5-6).
Again, the peace of God is not staid indifference to those who are suffering or potential harm that could befall us. But it is an inner sense that our heavenly Father is trustworthy to only do good to us, even if that good involves some kind of suffering in this life. It is the firm trust that every moment we experience is under the sovereign hand of God; the inner-certainty that God will cause everything to work together for my good and his glory (see Rom 8:28).
The peace of God is not irrational; it is rooted in verbal promises provided in God’s written Word. Our minds, hearts, and wills are fully engaged. But, it is a peace that is sensed deeply in our whole being. This peace guards our hearts (our emotions and affections) and our minds (our thought life) from ungodly worry as we see with spiritual clarity that Christ rules over all and that he possesses infinite wisdom to work out everything according to his good purposes (Heb 1:3; Job 42:2). My heart is settled. My mind is calm. My final destiny is a place where there will be no more anxiety (Rev 21:1-4). Amen.