“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:7

One of the most fulfilling experiences as a Christian is to discover the full measure of Christ’s grace. Not only does His grace encompass all sin, death, and hatred, but it also covers our weakness. After all, it is within our weakness that our true hearts are revealed.

Christ shows His perfection through our imperfection. In times of pain and trial, he is the one most glorified through us, His servants. And even though he brings trials for a reason, he does take a measure of that pain and anger and sorrow upon himself.

Christ shows His perfection through our imperfection. In times of pain and trial, he is the one most glorified through us, His servants.

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

The verse directly before Philippians 4:7 speaks right into this. Not only does it tell us to rid ourselves of anxiety, it also tells us to do so by “prayer and petition”. In place of the word “petition”, some other translations use the word “supplication”, which I particularly like. The word is used within the phrase “a prayer of supplication”, which is basically a humble prayer towards God. This goes far deeper than that, however, as the website What Christians Want to Know eloquently tells us.

Therefore, when we pray with supplication we are asking God to change us into the image of His Son and to mold us into what He wants us to be. When this happens, it helps us to grow closer to Christ and our desires become His desires. When our desires become His desires, it changes our opinion of what we want God to do and what we believe is right. With this in mind, it gives us a deeper perspective on Psalms 37:4-5 where we are told: “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

Many people read this verse with the idea that if they draw close to God that God will give them what they desire. However, when we submit our prayers to God with supplication, He changes us and our desires change as well. Therefore, this verse teaches not that we will get what we want, but instead we will desire what God wants.

Supplication is commonly defined as: “The action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.” The word supplication comes from a Latin term, supplicare, which means to plead humbly and has the word supple as its root. When we pray with supplication, we are not only humbly submitting our requests to God, we’re doing it with the mindset of allowing our minds to be supple and receptive to God’s will. We want God to mold our thinking, our opinions, and our emotions to be in line with His thinking, opinions, and emotions. When this happens, God changes us to be more like His Son, which changes our desires and our will to be in line with His.

Dr. Michael L. Williams

Last night, I received some very difficult news. This built upon several anxieties and stresses that had accumulated through the last week, and later that night, I had a minor panic attack. Thankfully, I remembered the peace that comes with talking to Christ. He receives my burdens, and he can receive yours too. Just like he took my stress, my anxiety, and my worry, he can do the same.

If you are, like me, worried about the coronavirus and its outcome, there are two things to do. The first is to give that worry to God. Simply pray, confess your worry or anxiety, and ask God to take it upon Himself. It’s honestly that simple. Then, once you have done that, ask God for wisdom and grace in this difficult time. Pray for those with the coronavirus, and pray for your family members, that they will remain healthy.

Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you were encouraged by this smaller post. If you were, make sure to click that Follow button below (oro to the side). That way, when I release new posts, you’ll get notified. Thanks again, and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Williams, Michael. “What is a Prayer of Supplication?” What Christianity Wants to Know, July 22, 2015, https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/what-is-a-prayer-of-supplication-a-christian-study/

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