Scripture says prayer is God’s prescription for anxiety. But Scripture doesn’t merely tell us that we should pray when we’re anxious; it tells us how we should. If people say they’ve already tried to pray in response to anxiety and it “didn’t work” (i.e. it did not minister to their anxiousness), then I would ask whether or not they’ve been trying to pray in the particular way that Scripture prescribes. In previous blogs, I have considered some of those ways the Word teaches the anxious to pray (see here and here). In this blog, I’ll further address the topic by focusing on another important (but often overlooked) phrase in Philippians 4:6–7.
In Everything
Philippians 4 attaches the promise of God’s peace to a very specific manner of praying: in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6). Notice it does not simply say, “in your deeply anxious moments, let your requests be made known to God.” The call is much higher! Of course, “in everything” includes your anxious moments, but it goes far beyond them.
The verse is telling us we need to pray when we’re tempted to be anxious and also when we’re not. To pray “in everything” implies a life of persistent prayer. It envisions prayerfulness in and out of anxious seasons. It’s commending what Paul elsewhere describes as “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18), “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and “being constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). That’s what it takes to have the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds. The promise of God’s peace is for those who pray in everything, not those who only pray when they are experiencing a crisis of anxiety. You also might find it difficult to pray in moments of strong anxiety if those are really the only moments you do.
Consider how Charles Spurgeon applied this important little phrase in Philippians 4:6:
Never keep a trouble half an hour on your own mind before you tell it to God. As soon as the trouble comes, quick, the first thing, tell it to your Father. Remember, that the longer you take telling your trouble to God, the more your peace will be impaired. The longer the frost lasts, the more likely the ponds will be frozen. Your frost will last till you go to the sun; and when you go to God—the sun, then your frost will soon become a thaw, and your troubles will melt away. But do not be long, because the longer you are in waiting, the longer will your trouble be in thawing afterwards. Wait a long time till your troubles gets frozen thick and firm, and it will take many a day of prayer to get your trouble thawed again. Away to the throne as quick as ever you can. Do as the child did, when he ran and told his mother as soon as his little trouble happened to him; run and tell your Father the first moment you are in affliction. Do this in every thing, in every little thing—“in every thing by prayer and supplication make known your wants unto God.”¹
Clearly, the call of Philippians 4:6 is not a snap-your-fingers, easy, quick fix. It’s a long-term strategy; a lifestyle. It calls us to cultivate an “in everything” prayer life, where you learn moment by moment (anxious moments and otherwise) to commune with the Father, asking Him to supply for all your needs (4:19).
The command in Philippians 4:6 might be a much higher bar than you previously realized! But no believer needs to despair the height at which it aims. Instead, give thanks (4:6) that unceasing communion with God is possible in Christ Jesus (4:7). And take courage, Christian, that Philippians 4 later promises that you can develop this “in everything” life of prayer through the strength of the grace of Jesus (4:13). The more you do, the more you’ll find yourself guarded by a divine peace that surpasses all understanding.
¹ From Spurgeon’s sermon “How to Keep the Heart” on Philippians 4:7, preached February 21, 1858.