God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Our eyes need to be on God’s Word. Specifically we need to know and trust by faith the promises He has revealed to us in Scripture. We need to train ourselves to see the unseen. We need to view His doing as the ultimate reality. We need to keep His character and His truths forefront in our minds. We need to walk not by what we see, but by faith in what might be invisible, yet what we know to be true. Then and only then will we be able to cut through the smokescreen of this world and have the confidence to conduct ourselves with hope and courage, knowing God is in charge and He will keep His promises.
We put off all worry (Philippians 4:6) by bringing everything to God in prayer with a heart of thanksgiving. Could Paul have made his point any clearer? He uses three terms for the same activity in this verse: “Prayer,” “Supplication,” and “Requests made known to God.” Here is the solution to the sin we all struggle with: Be anxious for nothing, prayer about everything. Or put another way, instead of taking your troubling matters in your own impotent hands, place your matters in God’s omnipotent hands. Worry is a preoccupation with yourself. Prayer is a preoccupation with God. Which preoccupation will bring you the greatest joy (Philippians 4:4)? Which one will bring you the greatest peace (Philippians 4:7)?
