How can we lift up prayers and supplications with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6)?

Not only are the will and the passions to be bridled and silenced, but anxieties also. We are in relationship with God; in all things He is our refuge; and events do not disturb Him. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything, He knows it beforehand; events shake neither His throne, nor His heart; they always accomplish His purposes. But to us He is love; we are through grace the objects of His tender care. He listens to us and bows down His ear to hear us. In all things therefore, instead of disquieting ourselves and weighing everything in our own hearts, we ought to present our requests to God with prayer, with supplication, with a heart that makes itself known (for we are human beings) but with the knowledge of the heart of God (for He loves us perfectly); so that, even while making our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of His grace, be it what it may; and it is our requests that we are to present to Him. Nor is it a cold commandment to find out His will and then come: we are to go with our requests. Hence it does not say, you will have what you ask; but God's peace will keep your hearts. This is trust; and His peace, the peace of God Himself, shall keep our hearts. It does not say that our hearts shall keep the peace of God; but, having cast our burden on Him whose peace nothing can disturb, His peace keeps our hearts. Our trouble is before Him, and the constant peace of the God of love, who takes charge of everything and knows all beforehand, quiets our disburdened hearts, and imparts to us the peace which is in Himself and which is above all understanding (or at least keeps our hearts by it), even as He Himself is above all the circumstances that can disquiet us, and above the poor human heart that is troubled by them. Oh, what grace! that even our anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvellous peace, if we know how to bring them to God, and true He is. May we learn indeed how to maintain this intercourse with God and its reality, in order that we may converse with Him and understand His ways with believers!

And the way to cast all our care upon Him, so that we are anxious for nothing, is told us in this lovely verse in Philippians: "In every thing, by your prayer and by your supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God". Sometimes the load of care seems too heavy to cast it anywhere. Then the Lord invites us to "roll thy way upon the Lord" (Ps. 37:5: Margin). When we were children in Canada, in the winter, we would make great snowballs; and when they got too heavy to lift, we still could roll them. So roll that great load of care on Him, "because it is a matter of care to Him, concerning you," as the Greek so sweetly puts it. And in the Greek Testament two different words are used here for care. The one is "anxious, harassing care:" the other is God's loving "providential care" over us.*

We are not to be anxious about "one thing," as it is literally, but in "every thing" we are to let our requests be made known unto God: and you do this "by your prayer and by your supplication with thanksgiving." True, God knows all before we make them known: but He loves to have us come and tell Him. Actually it does not say "your prayer and your supplication," but "the prayer and the supplication". You may remember we have suggested that the Greek word "the" is like a finger pointing: and here we have two fingers, pointing to two different words. It is as though the Apostle was thinking: "by the prayer and by the supplication, which of course you will make". You recall how sometimes only one article (the) is used with two words, to link them closely together. Here we see just the opposite, twice the article is used, where we cannot use it at all, to point out the two separate acts when we come to God with our anxious, harassing cares. So we have substituted your for the "the" that we cannot use. And let us remember "every thing" means just what the word says: every single thing: the little things, as well as the big things: the things we are ashamed to bring to our Lord: in not one of these we are to be anxious: for every one is to be spread out before Him.

Second, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” “In everything.” This covers all the circumstances of our path. It takes in the greatest anxiety as well as the smallest detail. It embraces circumstances over which we have no control and those into which we have been brought by our own folly and sin. Now God’s government must stand. But even here a repentant child may bring his prayer and supplication, and obtain an answer of grace. We are encouraged to make known our requests to God. “Our requests.” We are to do it by prayer. Aye, and even if pressure is great and a request much desired, we are exhorted to supplication—something more intense and importunate than prayer.

Further, we are directed to let it all be “with thanksgiving”—thanks before the answer is given. Why? We may not always get our requests granted, but we shall always have an answer of wisdom and grace. The request may be granted, or modified, or altered, or refused. In each case love is equally at work with wisdom to give us an answer that suits us best. We may not think so. God knows best. And what will be the issue to those who are thus exercised? Rejoicing in the Lord but not in circumstances. Gentle to all men. “The Lord is at hand.” Resting in a sense of God’s tender care, making known our requests with thanksgiving.

"Let your moderation [mildness] be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful [anxious] about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." vv. 5, 6. To prayer is added thanksgiving, because the Lord is entitled to it. The heart should not forget what a God we are making our requests to. In the confidence of this let us thank Him, even when we are spreading our wants before Him. But he had said before this, "Let your moderation be known unto all men." Supposing there is someone who has seen us a little off our balance in standing upon our rights, real or imaginary, something which contradicted the gentleness of Christ, ought we not to feel humbled, and take an early opportunity to wipe off what may have given a false impression to that man's soul? God would have our readiness to yield, not resist, known, and this not sometimes or to some persons, but to all men. By moderation the Apostle means that spirit of meekness which can only be where the will is not allowed to work actively for that which we may desire. And what a reason why we need not be anxious to assert a claim, even when we are right! "The Lord is at hand." Where there is the happy feeling in the soul that one is doing that which pleases God, there is generally the readiness of trust in the Lord that puts aside anxiety and leaves all in His hands. Besides, He is coming soon.

He will bring out everything that is according to Himself. He will bless every desire wherever there may have been a true testimony for Himself. He will give effect to it in that day. "The Lord is at hand." He is not come yet, but you can go to Him now and lay all your requests before Him, assured that He is near, that He is coming. And what is the result? "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." v. 7. When the heart commits to God all that would be a burden to it, the consequence is that His peace, the peace in which He moves and lives, guards us from the entrance of all that would harass. The sources of care are cast into the Lord's lap, and the peace of God Himself, which surpasses every understanding, becomes our protection.

How then can we find relief? How is it possible to "Be careful for nothing"? Very blessedly the Apostle unfolds the way to be free, not necessarily of the trial, but of the burden of the trial, so that it no longer weighs the spirit down with care and anxiety. He says, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Thus only shall we find relief. "In everything," whatever the trial may be, small or great, make it known to God in prayer; and tell God exactly what you wish, "let your requests be made known to Him." The requests may not be for our good, they may not be according to the mind of God; they may even be foolish, but we are to make them known to God.

What will be the result? Will He answer the requests? Will He remove the trial? He may see that to answer the request, or remove the trial would not be for our good. So far as the immediate trial is concerned, He will act in perfect wisdom for our good, according to His perfect love. But this God will do; He will relieve our hearts from the burden of the trial. If we pour out our hearts before Him, He will pour in His peace into our hearts — that peace of God which passes all understanding.

"Be careful for nothing." I have found that word so often a thorough comfort. Even if it be a great trial, still "be careful for nothing." "Oh," you say, "it is not my petty circumstances; it is a question of saints going wrong." Well, "be careful for nothing." It is not that you are careless, but you are trying to carry the burden, and so you are racking your heart with it. How often a burden possesses a person's mind, and when he tries in vain to cast it off, it comes back and worries him. But "be careful for nothing" is a command; and it is blessed to have such a command.

What shall I do then? Go to God. "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Then in the midst of all the care you can give thanks; and we see the exceeding grace of God in this. It is not that you are to wait till you find out if what you want is the will of God. No. "Let your requests be made known." Have you a burden on your heart? Now go with your request to God. He does not say that you will get it. Paul, when he prayed, had for answer, "My grace is sufficient for thee." But peace will keep your heart and mind, not you will keep this peace. Is He ever troubled by the little things that trouble us? Do they shake His throne? He thinks of us we know, but He is not troubled; and the peace that is in God's heart is to keep ours. I go and carry it all to Him, and I find Him all quiet about it. It is all settled. He knows quite well what He is going to do. I have laid the burden on the throne that never shakes, with the perfect certainty that God takes an interest in me, and the peace He is in keeps my heart, and I can thank Him even before the trouble has passed. I can say, Thank God, He takes an interest in me. It is a pleasant thing that I can have this peace, and thus go and make my request - perhaps a very foolish one; and, instead of brooding over trials, that I can be with God about them.

There are trials in the way; but then you get, "Be careful for nothing." This is a magnificent sentence and leaves no loophole. It has often stopped my mouth completely when I have thought of the church, the saints. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God." He does not say, Do you go and do the will of God, but reckon on God that you are going to get the best thing. Present your requests to God; thank Him before you get them. He does not say you will get them always; it is the interest which God takes in us that is the point here. Paul besought the Lord three times that the thorn should be taken away. Indeed I am not going to take away what I sent for your good! such virtually was the answer. "My grace is sufficient for you."

No wonder that the apostle can now return to his final exhortation with redoubled force. (Phil. 4:4) "Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I say, Rejoice." But some one may think that the greatest hindrance of all to joy has been overlooked. What about care? One absolute word, "Be careful for nothing." "Ah!" says some one, "if you only knew my circumstances you would know that it was perfectly impossible for me to be without care." But does not He who inspired this word know every circumstance of yours, beloved brother or sister? It is God who says to you, "Be careful for nothing." And with the word He gives the resource to lift you above all that would have otherwise pressed on you for care, "in everything" — again how absolute — the merest trifle or what seems of the greatest concern; it is enough that it presses on you: "by prayer and supplication … let your requests be made known unto God." It is His will that we should lay before Him whatever it is that presses upon us. But I have omitted a clause, "with thanksgiving" — how important as to the state of the soul! giving thanks, not for the answer that we expect (He has something far greater than this for us), but because we know His love; we have the only gauge and measure of it, in that He has not spared His own Son but given Him up for us all, and we know that all is well, and can bow in thanksgiving. It is the normal expression of the Christian's confidence in the heart of God. And now comes the greater thing, "The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds."

As a necessary ingredient in all our prayers: Let your requests be made known with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). This spice must be in all our offerings. He that prays for a mercy he wants, and is not thankful for mercies received, may seem mindful of himself, but is forgetful of God, and so takes the right course to shut his prayers out of doors. God will not put His mercies into a rent purse; and such is an unthankful heart.

Notice how thanksgiving and prayer are linked together here: "I thank my God," "always in all supplication." In the prison in Philippi in the early days, Paul and Silas had prayed and sung praises: and now in the prison at Rome, Paul is still doing the same thing. In Chapter 4:6 of our Epistle he tells us the secret of that Peace we saw in the previous verse: "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Thanksgiving sees the blessings already received, and prayer sees the needs still to be met. And Paul could never think of these dear saints in Philippi without giving thanks for them. The word is not, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." It is, rather, "for all my remembrance of you," or, "my whole remembrance of you." It was not only at isolated times he remembered and gave thanks for them, but the whole, complete memory of them, was one that filled him with thanksgiving. Notice how "all" is repeated in these verses: "All my remembrance;" "always;" "in all my supplication;" "for you all."