Prayer Leads to Peace

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  5 Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I've read this passage of Scripture many, many times.  I've believed in this passage of Scripture each and every time that I've read it or thought about it.  Today, I can tell you that I truly embrace this passage and understand it better than I ever have before!  It is amazing to me how God prepares us ahead of time for each and every journey, for each and every circumstance of life.  At the beginning of this year, I challenged my church family to do two things this year: 1. Be devoted to PRAYER, and 2. Be devoted to the WORD.  Much of my preaching up to this point has been about the importance of knowing God's Word and actively living out God's Word.  Much of my preaching up to this point has been about the importance of praying to God, not just talking to God but listening to Him, as well.

Just a few days ago my older brother John was diagnosed with cancer.  When my wife called to tell me over the phone about my brother's diagnosis, I have to admit I was shaken.  I don't know that anyone is ever prepared to hear the word "cancer" as a diagnosis, whether it is your own diagnosis or the diagnosis of someone you love.  I remember asking my wife, "What kind of cancer?"  "What stage of cancer?"  "Where is John right now?"  I remember hanging up the phone and feeling really numb, even dumbfounded.  I wanted to pray immediately, but I didn't know how in the moment.  And then, the Spirit of God began to move in me and began to speak to me.  "Yes, you know how."  "Yes.  Pray to Me."  You see, just about a week before I got that call to tell me about John's cancer, I started a Wednesday night Bible study, and the title of the Bible study was, "Pray Like This: Living the Lord's Prayer," by Pastor Steve Gaines.  Over the course of a week before that call, I had been reading and studying the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13.  The disciples wanted to know how to pray, so they turned to Jesus.  Jesus told them to PRAY LIKE THIS!  His words from Matthew 6:9-13 are as follows: "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"  In this study, we are learning that God is a good, good Father!  We are learning that God is holy!  It is a privilege to be able to pray to God and call out to Him, "Our Father!"  He welcomes us into His presence; as a matter of fact, He delights in us!  His holiness is the foundation of His nature.  His love is holy.  His grace is holy.  His mercy is holy.  His justice is holy.  He is holy!  When we pray like this, as Jesus taught us, we enter into our Father's holy presence, and He welcomes us and delights in us.  We can take our petitions and our intercessions to our Father and know that He hears us and cares for us.  Our Father provides for us and protects us.  He forgives us and heals us in every way.  When we pray like this we are in complete surrender to our Holy Father, to our Sovereign Father!  We can actually pray, "Your kingdom come; Your will be done," and find peace and strength.   

God, in His perfect plan and perfect timing, prepared me to pray for my brother.  Instead of my mind racing away and my heart racing away with unbridled thoughts and emotions, my mind and my heart have been steadied by God, steadied by His Word, steadied through prayer.  I love Paul's encouraging words in the New Testament.  Paul was a man who struggled in His walk with the Lord. He struggled with temptation and sin and self; he struggled with humble service in gospel ministry; he even struggled with prayer.  However, Paul knew what to do with all of his struggles.  Paul looked to Jesus.  Paul focused on his Lord and Savior.  Paul was a man of prayer because he followed the example set by Jesus in prayer.  Jesus was a prayer warrior and a prayer teacher.  Jesus understood the necessity of praying to the Father.  Paul encouraged believers to pray like Jesus.  He encouraged believers to pray at all times and to pray all kinds of prayers, knowing that the Holy Father welcomed our prayers and delighted in our prayers.  In Philippians, Paul reminds us to pray with joy and thanksgiving and peace rather than be anxious about the circumstances of life.  Paul assures us that praying like this leads to the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds.  I can assure you, too, I have experienced these words this week!  By letting go of my anxious thoughts and feelings and trusting in God's kingdom and God's will, He has graciously given me peace and strength.  He has graciously guarded my heart and my mind.  

Today I am asking you to pray with me for my older brother John and his family.  Pray for God's will to be done in his life.  Pray for God's strength in the days to come.  John will have surgery on Tuesday of this week to remove a cancerous tumor and to biopsy other spots.  Pray for the doctors and the nurses who will perform this procedure.  Pray for his wife Dawn, and pray for his children: Mackenzie, John Daniel, and Natalie.  Our Father is good!  Our Father is holy!  Our Father is perfect!  And our Father welcomes us in prayer and delights in us, especially as we pray!  Join me in praying for John.  Join me in praying for God's glory to be revealed through our prayers and through John's life.  Amen!