Peace Through Prayer

D. Scott Meadows

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

Philippians 4 calls us to have well-ordered emotions as a believing response to doctrinal truth. For example, be glad constantly, for Christ is near (vv. 4, 5). Verses six and seven are another example. Instead of anxiety, enjoy inner peace through prayer.

Our text says, “be careful for nothing.” This is an elegant way to say, Let nothing make you “full of care” (the old sense of “careful”), controlled by undue concern, or “anxious.” “Anxious” means experiencing worry, nervousness, unease, apprehensiveness. This is prohibited. Anticipating potential problems and planning ahead is good (Prov 22.3), but a Christian should not and need not succumb to the corrosive worry that stems from a lack of faith in God to care for you.

YOUR PRAYER TO GOD (v. 6)

The word “but” suggests prayer is the better alternative to worry. Why worry when you can pray? You should be “casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet 5.7). Our text verse describes the kind of praying that is effective to reduce anxiety.

1. Sweeping prayer. Note the contrast of “nothing” and “every thing.” Do not be anxious about anything; pray about everything that tempts you to anxiety (implied). Pray about whatever burdens you. Jesus taught that believers do not need to worry about the necessities of life, for example, because “your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matt 6.25-34). Prayer is an act of trusting our heavenly Father who loves us. We bring it to Him and leave it there.

2. Sincere prayer. “By prayer and supplication” uses a general word for prayer with one that is more focused, intensifying it: request and earnest plea. Jairus exemplifies this (Mark 5.22, 23). It is one thing to say prayers; it is another really to do business with God. Feeling my needs, bowing my knees, and making my pleas. Praying without sincerity is a mockery. “Pour out your heart before God, a refuge for us” (Psa 62.8). “Rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart” (John Bunyan). John Calvin taught “that in our petitions [to God] we [must] ever sense our own insufficiency, and earnestly pondering how we need all that we seek, join with this prayer an earnest—nay, burning—desire to attain it” (ICR III.xx.6).

3. Satisfied prayer. We are to pray “with thanksgiving,” that is, rendering thanks verbally (cf. 1 Tim 2.1). How wicked it would be if we were in the habit of asking and receiving from God, yet failing to give Him thanks! Holy minds possess a sense of need and contentment at the same time. Our urgent requests must be paired with our thankful acknowledgements of His mercies (WSC #98). “Prayer without thanksgiving is like a bird without wings: it cannot rise to heaven or find acceptance with God” (Hendricksen). Without thanksgiving, prayer becomes merely a way of complaining to God about all the bad things that are or might be happening” (Hansen).

4. Specific prayer. “Let your requests be made known unto God.” God is omniscient and learns nothing from His creatures, yet we pray to Him as if we were making known to Him what we specifically request. A third word for prayer, “requests” is strong. In other contexts it can even mean “demands.” It points to the content of a request (TDNT). We must go beyond saying things like help us, bless us, be with us, to things like, “Oh Lord, please, give us today’s food!” (Matt 6.11). Specific requests undergird specific confidence for the things we ask.

GOD’S PEACE TO YOU (v. 7)

The linkage of these two verses by the word “and” shows an effect from a cause, a blessing promised to the faithful, and the sweet fruit of peace from the fruitful tree of fervent prayer (Jas 5.16).

1. Promised peace. “Peace . . . shall keep.” While there may be no real difference of sense between “will” and “shall,” Paul’s inspired words here amount to a conditional promise from God. If you do verse six, you will have the blessing of verse seven, because God is faithful.

2. Perfect peace. This is “the peace of God,” from God and associated with God, both of which suggest its superiority to any other peace. “The world’s peace is shallow and fickle in comparison” (Bruner on John 14.27). This peace of God “is beyond our utmost understanding” (alt.). It thrives even in catastrophes and assures us of a salvation beyond all we can ask or think.

3. Protective peace. This peace shall “keep,” “guard,” or “protect.” All three are good translations as the figurative use of a military term. “Hearts and minds” may be distinguished here because both your feelings and your thoughts need protection. “Together these words refer to the entire inner being of the Christian” (WBC). Sinful anxiety is the soul’s enemy. The peace that comes through prayer is a sentry that holds the fort and secures the treasure. Present worries blossom as future terrors for the prayerless, except they repent.

4. Procured peace. We have this peace “through Christ Jesus.” Our Savior, by His death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession for us, has procured this stupendous blessing of such a peace for all God’s elect. As a Christian, you have this as part of your inheritance in Christ. Lay hold of it by faith even now. Enjoy this peace through prayer, for you have a right to it, and it is there for the taking. Unbelievers, let your jealousy for such a blessing move you to trust Christ also, that you, too, may experience this incomprehensible peace in God’s mercy. Ω