Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of March
Verses:
Phil. 4:6 “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Excerpts:
If we would have a life free of anxiety, we need to realize that all our circumstances, good or bad, have been assigned to us by God. We can be freed from worry not because God has promised us a life without suffering, but because we know that all our circumstances come to us as God’s assignment. Paul did not care about life or death. He cared only that Christ would be magnified in him. He realized that every circumstance was for his good. This is the way to have no anxiety.
In 4:6 Paul does not speak of prayer, petition, and thanksgiving, but of prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Let us all learn to pray and petition with thanksgiving. Praying about our situation may actually cause our anxiety to grow. But if we pray and petition with thanksgiving, our anxiety will be driven away.
Whether or not we can exercise forbearance in difficult situations depends on the kind of realization and practice we have. If we realize that a particular situation is of the Lord, that it is needed to perfect us, and then thank Him for it, we shall not be anxious or threatened. We shall be able to say, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man is consumed, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For the momentary lightness of the affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (Life-study of Philippians, Chaps. 60, 62)
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