Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. -- Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
Philippians is the warmest letter Paul ever wrote, and he wrote it chained to a Roman guard, waiting on a verdict that could end his life. From that room he gives the church a command, then gives it again in the same breath: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice." He repeats it because he means it as an instruction, not a mood. A feeling cannot be ordered up, but a practice can, and Paul is prescribing the practice.
Then he tells the church what to do with worry, and the instruction is specific. Be careful for nothing, anxious over nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God. Tucked inside the sentence sits the word that makes it hard: "with thanksgiving."
Thanks Before the Verdict
The thanksgiving in this verse is not waiting at the end for the answer to come back. It goes in with the request. Paul, unsentenced and unsure of his own future, tells believers to bring God their asking and their thanks in the same prayer, gratitude offered while the outcome is still open.
And the promise that follows is not that the situation resolves. It is that "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Keep is garrison language, a guard posted at the door of your thoughts. Most of us run the sentence backward. We plan to thank God once we feel that peace. In Paul's order the thanks is offered first, and the peace arrives afterward to stand watch.
Tonight, Not After
Take the one situation you have been waiting to feel settled about before you could pray gladly about it. What would you thank Him for tonight if the thanks did not have to wait on the outcome? Bring the request with that gratitude already attached. Then leave the verdict where Paul left his.
