Dwell on These Things: Transform Your Heart and Mind by Memorizing God’s WordSample

Practical Prayer

We’re invited to give God all of our everything in prayer.

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of everything.

People I love, people I struggle with, difficult situations, responsibilities, unknowns, the future, the past, all the possible and realized problems in the world—I could go on.

That’s a lot of everything.

What about you? What’s your everything? Does your list feel like a towering pile ready to topple over and crush you? Mine does sometimes. When we try to consider all of it at once, it’s overwhelming and more than we can handle. It’s no wonder our hearts race and our minds reel. We simply cannot deal with all of our everything. An honest assessment should lead any logical person to this realization: we are not wise enough, powerful enough, or good enough to take care of everything on our own. That’s why Paul says to give it to God.

That massive, soul-crushing pile. Give it to God. He is wise enough. He is powerful enough. He is good enough. He can take care of your everything. He is the only right and safe place for all of it. Give it to Him.

But how?

Practically speaking, how do we give our everything over to God in prayer? Paul told us in Philippians 4:6.

In this verse, Paul used absolutes and repetition to emphasize his point. He said don’t be anxious about anything and pray about everything. He mentioned four words to communicate how we are to come to God: prayer, petition, request, and thanksgiving. But this wasn’t the only time he used absolutes and repetitive language to emphasize the importance of prayer.

In Philippians 1:3-6, he says, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Paul wanted his readers to understand the full power of God over all things, and that God Himself would bring His good work to final, perfect, and absolute completion on the day Christ returns.

Let’s get back to the ways Paul told us to pray in Philippians 4:6. The words praying, petitioning, and presenting your requests are similar in meaning. They all refer to coming to God and asking Him to help. We are to take our anxieties (and everything else) to God and ask Him to take care of them. Our prayers don’t have to be fancy or prescribed; we just present Him with what’s heaviest upon our hearts, believing that He is going to bring good out of our situations. We believe He will complete His good work in us despite the difficulties we face.

Finally, Paul instructs the Philippians to bring their prayers to God with thanksgiving. Keep in mind we’re not instructed to necessarily be thankful for the difficult circumstances we’re in that bring us anxiety. Rather, we’re to be thankful for the Lord’s presence and peace. Thankful that He’s got us and is for us and will carry us through whatever we’re facing. And thankful that whatever the outcome, it will be for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

Read Philippians 4:6 and consider what anxieties have been weighing heavy on your heart. View this moment as an opportunity to bring all of your everything to the Lord in prayer.