Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
What fills your mind today? It is not hard to find out what fills a person’s mind. You just shake them or squeeze them and it runs out of their mouth. They might talk about sports, food, coffee, or grandkids, and none of these things is bad. In fact, some of these are good things to be thinking about, and some are just nice things to be thinking about. But, what you think about speaks to basic traits like joy, pride, hate, worry, or gratitude.
In Philippians 4, we have the contrast between worry and gratitude, prayer and peace. We have a contrast between being careful, full of care, and being thankful, full of thanks. Philippians 4:6 says, “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… shall keep your hearts and minds.” Verse 7 talks about the peace of God, and verse 9 talks about the God of peace. You cannot have the one without the other.
But, what you find here is gratitude. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication.” So, there are times when I need to uncork the reservoir of care in my heart by prayer, and I need to fill that heart back up with the good things that verse 8 talks about. The Bible says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,…honest,… just,… pure,… lovely,… or of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Now, if you watched the news today, the news was not full of any of those things. It is doubtful that social media is full of any of those things today. I think we need to know what is going on in the world, and I am not wholeheartedly condemning social media, but all these things conspire to fill us with care, care by comparison and care by powerlessness. So, I need to uncork and drain out the care and worry with prayer, and I need to fill up that reservoir with gratitude. Gratitude is thinking on all those good traits mentioned in verse 8. So, whatever fills your mind governs your life.
I am not saying you cannot be worried while at the same time being grateful to God for some other thing. I am saying that the more your mind dwells on gratitude, the less room there will be for worry.
Thanks is what we give; peace is what God gives. Pray and drain what is worrying you to God, then fill up that reservoir with gratitude to God.