Prayer is a Problem Solver

Life can be scary at times living in the devil’s world and God knows this of course and that is why He gave us provisions, like prayer, to deal with our problems.

God does not want us to be anxious about anything because He wants us to trust in His Word.

Today, we will study Philippians 4:6, which teaches that we should pray for a solution to our problems, rather than become worried or anxious.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (NASB95)

Philippians 4:6 At this very moment, all of you stop continuing to be anxious about absolutely anything, but rather, concerning anything at all by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father and by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks, let your specific detailed requests be repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father. (My translation)

Philippians 4:6 is composed of two elements: a prohibition and a command.

The prohibition is “At this very moment, all of you stop continuing to be anxious about absolutely anything.”

The command is “concerning anything at all by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father and by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks, let your specific detailed requests be repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father.”

In this passage, we see that the means by which the Philippians were to deal with their adversities was three-fold: (1) “by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father,” (2) “by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks,” and through (3) “specific detailed requests repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father.”

“Be anxious” is the verb merimnao and means, “to be anxious about something” and its meaning is negated by the emphatic adverb meden, meaning, “nothing.”

Therefore, Paul emphatically did not want the Philippians to be anxious about anything in life.

If God provided us His Son to die for our sins, while we were unbelievers, how much more will God provide for us through His Son after we are saved.

The Philippians were anxious for Paul, who was under house arrest, awaiting his appeal before Caesar (Phi 1:12-18).

Another reason the Philippians were anxious was because they were undergoing underserved suffering from spiritual combat (Phi 1:27-30).

Upon this worry is the worry of Epaphroditus, who was critically ill in Rome (Phi 2:28).

Therefore, it is clear that the Philippians had legitimate problems, but still had no excuse to be consumed with anxiety and stress.

Now in Philippians 4:6, the present tense of the verb “be anxious” is merimnao, with the imperative mood of the verb denotes the termination of an activity already in progress and suggests putting an end to anxiety and apprehension.

The adverb meden expresses the degree to which the Philippians were to cease being anxious: “for nothing,” said Paul.

“But” introduces a contrast to being anxious and indicates praying to the Father for one’s need, as opposed to worrying about the need.

The prepositional phrase “in everything” means that no matter what the problem or adversity, the Philippians were to pray, rather than be anxious.

The word for “prayer” is the noun proseuche, which literally means, “a face to face audience with God the Father” and refers to the general concept of prayer, which is directed toward the Father without reference to the content of the prayer.

It speaks of being face to face or in the presence of the Father to worship and adore Him in reverential prayer.

Therefore, prayer is the means by which the believer can approach the Father face to face, submit to His will, and depend upon His sufficiency.

“Supplication” is the noun deesis, which refers to praying for a specific need, whether spiritual or material, but always in accordance with the will of the Father.

“With thanksgiving” is the noun eucharistia, which denotes the act of giving thanks to the Father in appreciation for who and what He is, and what He has given us through His grace provisions.

“Requests,” in Philippians 4:6, is the noun aitema and refers to the specific detailed or itemized requests to the Father.

“Let…be made known” is the verb gnorizo, which is in the present tense emphasizing that the Philippians were to “repeatedly” make known to the Father their specific detailed requests for both spiritual and material needs.

It denotes perseverance in prayer, which is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, and a state.

The Philippians were to persevere in their prayer life (Mat 7:7-8; 26:39-44; Luke 11:9-10; 18:1-8; 21:36; Rom 12:12; 15:30; Acts 1:14; 6:4; 12:5; Eph 6:18; 1 Th 5:17; 1 Ti 5:5; 2 Ti 1:3; Col 1:9; 4:2, 12; Heb 10:22).

“To God” is composed of the preposition pros, which means, “face to face,” and theos, which means, “God,” referring to God the Father.

Therefore, Paul made the Philippians aware of the fact that when they prayed, they were entering into the presence of the Father.

Since the believer is seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father, the believer is, in reality, speaking face to face with the Father, just as the Lord Jesus speaks face to face with the Father.

Now, in Philippians 4:7, Paul presented the fantastic, wonderful results that would take place in the soul of the believer who obeyed his prohibition and command in Philippians 4:6 and utilized the three-fold means to dealing with adversity in life.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NASB95)

Philippians 4:7 And as a result the peace produced by God the Holy Spirit, which is always superior to any and every human conception, will as a dogmatic statement of fact cause your hearts to be protected and, as a result, your thoughts by means of the doctrine of Christ Jesus. (My translation)

Philippians 4:7 presents the result or the consequence of obeying the prohibition and command in Philippians 4:6.

“Peace” is the noun eirene, which denotes freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, or obsession; it means tranquility, serenity and is the tranquil or serene state of the soul of the believer who goes to the Father in prayer in order to worship and adore Him.

This peace is synonymous with the Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4:1-16, which the believer is to be diligent in applying.

God the Holy Spirit produces this tranquility through the process of experiential sanctification (Gal 5:22-23).

This tranquility, however, was contingent upon the Philippians’ obedience towards the principles mentioned in Philippians 4:6.

The noun theos is in the genitive case, which is a “genitive of production,” meaning that the Holy Spirit “produces” this peace in the believer who obeys the commands and prohibitions that were issued by Paul in Philippians 4:6.

“Surpasses” is the verb huperecho, which means, “to be superior, to stand out above, to be of surpassing or exceptional value.”

“Comprehension” is the noun nous, which refers to the “human conception” that Paul assured us is entirely inferior to the peace produced by God the Holy Spirit.

This word expresses the idea that the peace produced by God the Holy Spirit by means of prayer in the soul of the believer is always superior to human capacity, the function of the human mind or the process of the human mind to understand and produce by itself.

It is expressing the idea that this peace produced by the Spirit is superior to any human idea, superior to any and every complex product of abstract and reflective human thinking, superior to the sum of all human ideas and beliefs concerning the subject of peace, and superior to anything originating in the human mind.

“Will guard” is the verb phroureo, which means, “to protect, guard, or garrison” and is a military term, used by Paul because it appealed to the Philippians’ frame of reference since Philippi was a Roman colony and a military outpost for the Roman Empire at the time.

“Hearts” is the noun kardia, which refers to the dominant lobe of the soul, the right lobe and is the mental activity or function of the psuche, “soul.”

The kardia is that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where the believer’s frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary and classification of thoughts, and norms and standards reside.

“Minds” is the noun noema, which means, “thoughts.”

“In Christ Jesus” contains a figure of speech called metonymy and indicates that the doctrine of Christ, i.e., the Word of God is the means by which the Holy Spirit produces peace or tranquility in the heart, which protects the believer from fear, worry, and anxiety entering into his heart or mind.

Therefore, in Philippians 4:6-7, Paul taught that prayer, essentially, solves the problem of stress and anxiety, which is widespread in twenty-first century America.

Prayer solved the problem of drought in Elijah’s day who prayed “earnestly that it might not rain,” and it didn’t (Jam 5:17; 1 Ki 17:1) and he prayed again for it to rain after a drought of three years and six months, and his prayer was answered (Jam 5:18; 1 Ki 18:41-45).

Prayer solved the problem of Peter’s imprisonment because the Father answered the early Church’s prayer and sent an angel to deliver Peter from prison.