Day 18: Anxious For Nothing

Early on in this series I briefly touched on what the Bible has to say about fear. I may have been a bit understated in that post. Yeah, I was. Jesus wants us to know that, in Him, there is nothing to be feared. NOTHING! So much so that He had Paul write us this:

...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6 ESV)

Some translations say "Be anxious for nothing"...I'm not going to do and exegesis on this passage. I'm not even going to look up the Greek for the word we see translated "anything" or "nothing". Why? Because that word needs not explanation. We aren't supposed to fear or be anxious about anything, nothing...NO THING...

I have a tendency to say ok, God I get that I shouldn't be afraid of the big stuff...death, taxes...but what about the little stuff...What about that plane ride to that conference that I know I'm supposed to go to? What about my wee one's fussiness and fever? Surely that justifies some fear, right? What about all the what if's?

I'm absolutely convinced that if I could see God during those conversations he would be shooshing me before the words got out of my mouth. He says nothing, but with fear there is always some thing.
His response to our fear? Leave it with me. Thank me for the good stuff, talk to me about the bad stuff and leave all those some things with me.

Over the next few days we are going to look at what a life of prayer and thanksgiving looks like...guess what? It doesn't look like fear!

Tomorrow: Day 19: The Prayer-Full Life