God does not want you to go through life uptight, upset, or easily offended. He does not want you to be easily angered, annoyed, or irritated by things that don’t matter. God wants you to experience His peace that no one can completely understand and goes beyond our imagination. The kind of peace that drives, governs, and controls how you think and how you feel. That is what we are looking at today.

Philippians 4:4-9 says,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (NASB)

God gives you seven practices that help you defend yourself against your anxieties.

  • Practice #1 is the practice of joy. God’s Word says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!” This is learning how to apply the attitude and power of spiritual joy based on your relationship with Jesus in unhappy situations. This is where knowing the difference between joy and happiness is crucial.
  • Practice #2 is the practice of gentleness. God’s Word says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all people.” This is learning how to express gentleness in stressful and anxious moments of life. The Holy Spirit has given you a gentle spirit and He wants that gentle spirit to dominate your life regardless of who you encounter. This will help you to remain calm when facing difficult situations.
  • Practice #3 is the practice of awareness. God’s Word says, “The Lord is near.” When you are aware of how big and awesome your Lord is it makes what you are anxious about not so overwhelming. This is developing the skill of being aware of the Lord’s presence, His return, and His glory.
  • Practice #4 is the practice of calmness. God’s Word says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Another way to say that is, “Be calm.” When you are calm, you are composed. When you are composed, you are able to focus and be present to do what God wants you to do and to bless people the way God wants you to bless them. You are able to hear God more clearly and to respond to Him more faithfully.
  • Practice #5 is the practice of prayer. God’s Word says in verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (NASB).
    • We have already looked at the need for prayer and we saw that we need prayer “in everything.”
    • Then we looked at the different types of prayer. The phrase “by prayer” is a general term for prayer and refers to all kinds and types of prayers in the Bible. We examined five key prayers for dealing with anxiety.
      • Adoration: “God, you are wonderful!”
      • Lament: “God, I am hurting!”
      • Deliverance: “God, I feel trapped!”
      • Confession: “God, I have sinned!”
      • Guidance: “God, I need direction!”

Today, we continue looking at prayer as a weapon against anxiety. We are going to look at two that are specifically mentioned in verse 6.

Supplication: “God, I have a need”

Let’s talk about the prayer of supplication, which says, “God, I have a need.” God’s Word says in verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (NASB). Circle that word “pleading.” What does that mean? The word “pleading” (deesis) can be translated as supplication, petition, or entreaty. I believe the word supplication captures the meaning of this word the best. Even though it’s not a common word we use in everyday language, it does a good job at communicating the type of prayer God is referring to here.

Some translations will use the word supplication to catch the meaning of the Greek word. For example, the English Standard Version says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The definition of supplication is the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

With that said, let me give you some Biblical observations about supplications.

Supplication involves a need

You are asking God for help. It refers to making known your specific In the context of Philippians 4, it is referring to asking God for help with something you are anxious about, afraid of, or worried about.

Your need might be about sharing the gospel. You might pray, “God, I’m nervous about sharing the gospel with Jimmy. I need your help.” You are anxious about this conversation, so you are asking God to help you say the right words, to listen before speaking, etc.

Your need might be about what someone said. You might pray, “God what they said offended and upset me. I don’t want to be easily offended. I need your help.”

This could be anything ranging from being irritated and annoyed with the clutter or noise in the house to worried about your marriage, afraid of losing your job, or nervous about the doctor’s report. When you are praying a prayer of supplication you have a specific need. It’s not generic in nature, it is an identifiable need.

Supplication involves a sense of urgency

Anxiety makes everything feel urgent. In Psalm 86 we hear this type of prayer. The Psalmist prays, “O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me” (vs. 5-7, NLT). Throughout your life things will go wrong. Your car will not start, but you need to get to work. Your basement floods or a tree falls on your house during a storm. You lose your job, your spouse leaves you, your child get hurts, your lose a friend over a Biblical conviction you have. All those needs will feel urgent. God says, “Bring that urgent need to me.”

Supplication involves something personal

What you are anxious about may not cause someone else anxiety. This is something you are concerned about, worried about, afraid of, or angry about. It’s personal to you. For whatever reason it is on your mind and bothering you. God says, “Bring that to Me. Let me help you with that. I want you to experience My peace in this.”

Supplication involves reverence

When you are asking God for help you have a deep respect for Him, yourself, and anyone involved with what you are anxious about. What you are praying about you are taking seriously. This is not asking God for help and having no intentions of listening to Him or doing what He says. Hebrews 5:7 says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (ESV). When Jesus talked to the Heavenly Father, He was serious about what He was talking about. I think we talk to God, but it’s a one-sided conversation. There is no reverence in it. When you are talking to God, take what you say and what He says seriously.

Supplication involves your humanity

In one of the most stressful days of Jesus life was in the garden of Gethsemane and He was talking to God about what was about to happen: the trials, the beatings, the mockery, the whipping, the crucifixion, and the separation from the Father for the sins of mankind. Look at Hebrews 5:7 again, it tells us, “In the days of his flesh (that’s talking about His humanity), Jesus offered up prayers and supplications (that’s the kind of prayer we are talking about), with loud cries and tears (He was hurting and concerned about what was about to happen), to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (ESV).

Supplication says, “I need help. Is there any other way.” When Jesus was praying to the Father, He was revealing His humanity. When you pray to the Father, you reveal you are human. You need help. If Jesus prayed this way, you need to pray this way.

Supplication involves spiritual warfare

In Ephesians 6, God is teaching us about spiritual warfare. Listen to this carefully.

He tells us in verse 11 to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (ESV). The devil has developed a scheme and a strategy to steal, kill, and destroy anything good in your life and anything that represents God in your life. The devil does not want you to love God or love people and he will do everything he can to make you angry at God and others, worried about this and that, stressed out about one thing and another, easily offended, and nervous about to much. He wants you preoccupied with what might happen, rather than doing and feeling what God would have you to do and feel in the present. If the devil can trap your mind with fear about the future, he knows you will never be aware, calm, and present in the now.

Then verse 12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (ESV). You are in a spiritual battle. You are in a war against the spiritual forces of evil. To help you in your battle God has given you spiritual armor. He describes this armor over the next few verses. The helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the belt of truth, and so on.

Then He concludes by saying we are to pray “at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (v.18, ESV).

When you pray the prayer of supplication and lay your urgent need before God and when you talk to God about what you are anxious about you are engaging in spiritual warfare over your heart and mind. The prayer of supplication says, “I have a need. I am nervous about something. I am afraid of what might happen. I am worried. I am angry. I am upset. I have a need.” God says, “Come to me with your need and your concerns and let me calm you. Let me give you peace. Its going to be okay. This too shall pass.”

Conclusion 

God does not want you to go through life uptight, upset, or easily offended. He does not want you to be easily angered, annoyed, and irritated by things that don’t matter. God wants you to experience His peace that no one can completely understand and goes beyond our imagination. The kind of peace that drives, governs, and controls how you think and how you feel. One of the ways to protect your heart and mind against anxieties is to pray saying, “God, I have a need” and “God, I am thankful to You.” The devil does not want you to talk to God about your needs and the devil does not want you to be thankful. He knows the power of praying and learning how to use prayer as a weapon and shield against anxieties, fears, worries, and anger. God wants you to be aware, calm, and present. The devil wants you to be confuse, nervous, and distracted.