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DO NOT BE ANXIOUS

I believe most Christians are familiar with Paul's statement to the church in his letter to the Philippians "be anxious for nothing" (4:6-8). But how much do we practice this? Do we even practice this in any capacity?

In the blog before this one, I make clear that the Christian is different from the person of the world, and he ought to give himself wholly to God as we are urged to do in Romans 12 by the mercies of God.

Why is the Christian anxious? We are commanded in scripture not to be anxious but to devote ourselves to prayer. Most times we are held back to devote ourselves to prayer because we have not devoted our lives to God. We are still in the driving seat. We do not want to let go and let God take the steering wheel. We think we know enough about driving when all we do is wreck our souls and bodies. We never want to lose control. We want to be "lords" of our lives. 

This reminds me of Carrie Underwood's song — Jesus Take The Wheel. She sings:

Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
'Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel

If there's anything the Christian ought to know, it is this; you cannot do this on your own. The Christian walk cannot be done alone. We are to be dependent on our Lord. We are servants under a Lord, and a lord is an owner. Jesus Christ is our Lord. The slave is not independent of his master. He depends on his master for everything. It's almost like without his master, he does not exist. The master clothes him, feeds him and shelters him.

If we are servants unto the Lord why do we live like we have no Lord? Why do we not report our anxieties (burdens) to our Lord? 

The Christian ought to be in the presence of his Lord always. Giving himself to the Lord, to the reading of His Word, and continually giving himself to prayer. Depend on Him! "For Christians, prayer is like breathing...every believer must be continually in the presence of God," says Pastor John MacArthur.

Over and over again we're encouraged to pray at all times (Eph. 6:18) and to devote (give all our time/resources) ourselves to prayer (Col.4:2). Continual, persistent, incessant prayer is an essential part of Christian living, and it flows out of dependence on God.

Stop being anxious and instead “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6)

Depend on God!

May the grace of our Lord be with us all. Amen.

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