“Be Thankful in Prayer” || Anxiety in Anxious Times || Week 4 (FINALE)

Welcome to the series finale! It’s been a fun time writing this series and I pray that you have been able to get something out of it. If this is your first time reading this blog, I appreciate you checking it out and encourage you to go back to the past three weeks and look at the other messages within this series. This series is about learning to control your anxiety during a time when the world is full of it. I’m writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s safe to say that there is a lot of anxiety cycling the globe. I hope that through scripture and personal testimony, you can find ways to cope with the anxiety that you may be struggling with during these crazy times. I’m sure you’ve been waiting for the classic Philippians scripture to pop up when talking about anxiety. I wanted to save it for last. So let’s walk through this part of Paul’s letter in today’s message entitled, “Be Thankful in Prayer”.

First, let’s start with today’s scripture. I’m going to Philippians 4:4-7. It says: “Always be filled with joy in the Lord. I will say it again. Be filled with joy. Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds. There’s a lot to tear apart within these four verses but sit tight. We’re going to break it down and dive into it.

The first part of this sheds an interesting thought. Be filled with joy and be gentle and kind. This is great advice for not only dealing with anxiety, or helping someone that has anxiety. Be joyful, gentle, and kind. No one knows your story, but you. When you encounter others, be gentle and be kind. You never know what someone can be going through at any moment. Being joyful is vital as well, so vital that Paul says it twice. Being joyful in the Lord shares that light that Jesus calls us. We’re called to be a light of the world, so being joyful shares that light with others. This light can also help pulls others out of the darkness that they may be feeling. You then not only uplift someone but can help lead them to Jesus. They can see what Jesus has done for you and be like, “I like that. How do I get some of that.” The mustard seed is now planted, and have faith that God will do the rest. Be in prayer for them as well.

Don’t worry about a thing. Prayer has definitely been a vital thing for me during this time. Prayer has been a way to get all the junk out of my head and give it to God. If I give it God, then I can have faith that we will work through it together. He’s got the solution and all I have to do is listen. One of the biggest things I’ve had to listen to is slowing down. I used to work all the time and always was on the go. I can’t do that now, so I’m being forced to slow down. I’m being forced to focus on me in all areas: physically, mentally, and spiritually. I talk more about this in the blog: March “Breakdown” Part 2. My point is though, I’m not sure that point would’ve been raised without prayer. Talking to God with what I’m thankful for and what I need has been a great solution. With praying prayers like this, I feel at peace with my thought process. God’s peace can bring a serene feeling to your life that can be unexplainable. This feeling is definitely way better what my mind can produce. My mind has been full of anxious thoughts, depressing mindsets, and spiritual warfare. His peace is WAY better than what my brain produces. I’m okay with that too. I don’t want my own thoughts. I want God’s and what God can do for me.

I hope that the past four weeks has found you well. I hope that these have been fun for you to read and have found you well. This is really fun for me to write as my first endeavor in writing a sermon series. I look forward to more as well. If you have a specific topic that you want me to do a series on. Leave it in a comment down below. See you next week to break down all of May’s content!