This message was preached by Chris B at Word of Grace Church on September 11th, 2016. To listen/download the audio please click here.
Phil 4:6-7- “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.”
As I was reading this I came to a revelation that I may not
exactly understand the idea of Biblical prayer. This might be alarming to you
because I lead you in prayer during the last 15 min. I wonder if you are not so
different from me.
By prayer and
supplication- This is the difficulty or confusion I fell into. What's the
difference bet the two words? The two words in isolation makes sense but both
the words are there.
Q. What is Paul
trying to illustrate to me?
We are at the end of the letter where Paul is wrapping it
up. Perhaps this confusion was already cleared in the beginning of the letter
in Phil 1:3-4. What is said in short
hand here is explained in the beginning.
Phil 1:3-4 “I thank my God every time I remember you. In
all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy”
So Paul is busy with life and he remembers the Philippians
and thanks God for them. And this fits under Paul's paradigm of prayer. He did
not stop and go into a closet to pray. There
is formal prayer, acts of prayer which we just did, and a state of prayer. This
is demonstrated in verse 3 and in verse 9 he is praying for their love.
In this background, chapter 4 makes sense. In the broad
sense, this prayer happens in constant communion. 1 Thes 5:16 instructs us to pray without ceasing. This is the
idea of abiding in Christ. This is a very parallel idea.
In John 15:4-5
Jesus explains the same idea of remaining. How important is it that we pray
without ceasing and abiding in Christ!
We all have things that we critically need to function in a
day. E.g., coffee! Abiding is an active and not a passive activity. This is a posture
of desperation.
Q. What does it look
like?
Heb 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin
that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out
for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the
joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God.”
When we realize that we are desperate for this we will shed
everything. We need to get rid of everything that will prevent us from abiding. We need that kind of desperation.
Q. What does it look
like in our daily life?
Chapter 4:6- When I
look at my family I give thanks to God. When I look at the church I give thanks
to God. When we see evil etc, we need to see the sovereignty of God in that and
that He can save them too. When we see a corrupt world we don't feel hopeless
but see a King in control of everything! This helps is give thanks.
I don't think we think of this. We often think of prayer as an act of prayer which often leads to
selfish prayer. We are not abiding when we do this.
God warns us about this in Phil 3:12 where our mind is
focused on earthly things. We are
citizen s of heaven
Phil 4:3-4 begins with negative and ends with positive. Same
idea said in two ways. God's peace will guard our hearts and minds. Heart is where are affections are. Mind is
where our thoughts are.
So if we relate to
God in this way we will not have anxiety. Paul knows this because he is
writing from a Prison cell.
So let's remain in prayer always- A state of prayer is
different!
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
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