Right Thinking and Praying

If you want to overcome worry, it starts with right praying.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 NLT).

Paul used a military term for the word guard. He was saying, “God’s peace will stand guard around your heart and protect you.” So when your mind is flooded with worry, you can say, “Lord, I cast all of my care upon You because Your Word tells me that You care for me, and Your peace will guard my heart and mind.”

God’s peace will stand guard over the two areas of your life that cause worry: the heart, which represents our emotions and feeling, and the mind, which refers to our thinking.

Not only do we need right praying, but we also need right thinking. Paul went on to say, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (verse 8 NLT).

The Message puts it this way: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (MSG).

What we think about ultimately affects what we do, so we need to remind ourselves of what is true. We all will have moments of despair, lapses of faith, and times in our lives when we don’t understand what is going on. That’s why we need to turn to the word of God.

When we pray instead of worry and rejoice instead of panic, we will have peace.