Laura Ingle

Key scripture- “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7, ESV).
Do you want to know how to pray so that you get a deep peace and feel connected to God?

Pastor, James McDonald says that throughout the day we can pray without ceasing by having little arrow prayers—quick prayers in the car, in the office, in the kitchen. When we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), this connects us to the Lord in sweet communion. But these quick-fire prayers, though important, don’t yield the deepest peace.

Little prayers yield little peace. Big prayers yield big peace. Below is a practical list on how to pray big fervent prayers.

Get alone with God, pray out loud, kneeling down, with a list. If you pray like that for five or ten minutes, a river of peace will rush down the parched canyon of your anxiety. Peace will come like a flood to a person praying fervently to the Lord.

The enemy of your peace is anxiety, therefore, if you are crippled by anxiety, that suggests your prayer life could use some focused improvement. Review the past month of your life. Have you been fretting over some things? Fearful? Anxious? Worried? I can tell you, those feelings increased as you moved further from your last, fervent prayer time with God.

On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your prayerfulness over the past month? Ten means you are rocking your world several times a day with faith filled awesome prayer. Zero means… zero, nothing, there is a prayer vacuum in your life. You might not be able to recall the last time you knelt down and prayed out loud, fervently, with a list.

Now, on the same scale of 1 to 10, rate your anxiety level. Zero means you are calm, nothing is deeply dividing you even though bad things happen to you, they don’t rob you of your peace. Ten is frequently freaking out, crippled by dividing cares, and you have no peace.

Do you notice the correlation, the lower your score in prayer, the higher your score in anxiety. The higher your score in prayer, the lower your score in anxiety. Where fervent prayer abounds, peace abounds.

If you want to lower your score in anxiety, the solution is to raise your score in prayer. This isn’t a mystery. It’s not a function of personality, as if some people are natural pray-ers and others missed out on that gene. Philippians 4:6 clearly links anxiety and prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.” When anxiety goes up, up, up, you must pray it back down.

Go in a room by yourself, shut the door, pray out loud fervently with a list, and begin to thank God. Review what you know to be true about God, His faithfulness, and Hs promises.Thank him for who He is, all He has done in your life, the ways you have seen Him provide, and His personal, intimate care and love for you.

When you pray “with thanksgiving” and review God’s resume of faithfulness, you become more aware of who he has been and will continue to be. In light of his faithfulness, and who He is, A Good, Great, Awesome, Big Big God, your anxiety will minimize and your problems will shrink in perspective. It is truly a holy exchange – anxiety for peace, through prayer, that is available for you today.

Write a prayer list of all you need to express to God: first, your thankfulness for all He is and has done for you, and second, your needs, worries, fears, doubts, hopes, etc. Now discuss that list with God in fervent prayer.

Pray this – My Precious Heavenly Father, thank You that you do not want me to live crippled by anxiety. Thank you that you are available anytime day or night when I pray. Forgive me for my prayerlessness and my stubborn attempts to handle my problems on my own. I realize that’s not working for me at all. Lord, teach me to pray with fervency and with Thanksgiving. Give me a clearer view of you, Lord, and all my anxieties and problems will fade into perspective because You are a BIG BIG GOD, compared to my problems. Even though my problems at times feel overwhelming, they are but light, momentary afflictions. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). I choose prayer. I choose peace. I choose You. I choose Jesus. I choose Your Word. In the Name of Jesus, my Savior, I pray, Amen.