With Thanksgiving, Bring Your Requests
November 7
With Thanksgiving, Bring Your Requests
Matthew (Tolu) Olowoyeye
Founder · The Berean
Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
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Paul's antidote to anxiety contains an ingredient we easily overlook: with thanksgiving. He tells the worried to bring everything to God in prayer, but not anxious, demanding prayer; rather, prayer laced with thanksgiving. We are to make our requests known to God with thanks. This little phrase transforms the whole character of our praying, and it is precisely what anxious hearts tend to omit.
Consider why thanksgiving is so powerful here. Anxiety fixes our eyes on what we lack and fear; thanksgiving turns them to what we have already received. When we pause, even in our worry, to thank God for what He has already done, we are reminded that the God we are asking has a track record of faithfulness, that He has provided before, answered before, carried us before. Gratitude steadies the anxious heart by recalling God's past goodness as the ground for present trust. To pray "with thanksgiving" is to ask the God we have reason to thank, and that changes everything.
When anxiety drives you to prayer today, do not forget the thanksgiving. Mix your requests with thanks, recalling all God has already done, and let gratitude calm your fear.
Take Into The Day
The next time you pray about something you're anxious about today, deliberately include thanksgiving, thank God for what He has already done before you ask for what you need. Let remembering His past faithfulness steady your present worry.
Prayer
Father, when anxiety drives me to prayer, remind me to come with thanksgiving. As I make my requests known, let me first recall all You have already done. Steady my anxious heart by gratitude, and ground my asking in Your proven faithfulness. Amen.
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