Good morning! It’s great to be together on Tuesday in the Pastor’s Workshop.
This week we’re looking at one of the most practical aspects of practicing prayer. In a world that’s full of stress how can the Holy Spirit be of help? Our Scripture for Sunday is Philippians 4:6-7.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The title of our message is, “Prepare with Prayer: Spiritual Stress”.
On Tuesday we look at the structure of the text. Is there a logic that leads us as we read this Scripture? How is a main idea “emerging” through the Biblical word?
Like so much of the Apostle Paul’s writing, this text is very compact. He puts so much into so few words. “Unpacking” this Scripture can be done “word by word”.
The first word is “worry”. As we face into the challenges and changes of life, it is always stressful. The question is how will we handle the stress? A normal reaction is “fear”, fear that expresses itself in worry.
Worry is an indicator that we are on a path we don’t want to follow. We go from having stress (which is a normal part of life) to being “stressed out” (which is when stress becomes worry becomes anxiety).
In our reaction of fear we can choose a response of faith. Faith is when give our worry “wings”. Faith is when we turn our cares into prayers.
Paul says “Pray”. Prayer brings God into the picture. It is no longer us handling our stress by ourselves. The Spirit is now with us.
Supplication is when we make Prayer specific. It is when we detail the changes, the challenges, our fears, our frustrations --- when we lay it all out in ways that our worries are turned into a way of coming closer to God.
As we get specific with supplication, we don’t do it as a recitation of worry and care, of complaining and fear. We lift our prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. We are thankful for who God is as a caring God. We are thankful for how God has helped us in the past. We are thankful for how God is with us in this present moment leading us forward. We are thankful.
This thankfulness bring us more fully into God’s presence. How do we know we are in God’s presence? By the peace we begin to experience. It is a peace that has be with us all along, just as God has been with us all along. We just weren’t focused into the peace through our faith. Now, with prayer, we are!
It is in that place of peace that Christ Jesus “guards” our hearts and minds. As we respond to the challenges and changes of life from a “place of peace” we respond more positively, productively, more under control – self-control and God’s control.
Through following the counsel of this Scripture we have gone from Stressing Out about Stress to Centering in God in our Stress. We have “Spiritualized Stress”.
That’s the logic I see in this Scripture. What do you see? What is the main idea that you find “unfolding”? How do you follow it through?
I invite you to make your notes as you do your work today and get ready for tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for Your presence with us always. Thank You especially for how You are with us in our times of stress. Thank You for Your invitation to pray, which invites us to claim Your presence and practice Your peace. We praise You for these blessings today through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen