“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”  (NLT)

One Monday morning, I was called into the church early. When I got to the church, I was met by the Pastor and head of the church staff. They sat me down and began to expound words I never wanted to hear. All the things I had been stressing over – the causes of my anxiety and fear – suddenly reached a painful climax. When I woke up that morning, I was serving and employed at a church I genuinely loved. When I walked out of the church office that morning, I was unemployed, churchless, and crushed in spirit. The anxiety I had about the church now was exchanged with anxiety about my family. I had a wife and kids to support. In that moment, the idea of trusting in God’s faithfulness to provide was something that seemed impossible for my heart to grasp. I thought God had let me down. Little did I know that God was about to take me on a hard journey of learning how to trust Him, and Him alone. Peace from fear and anxiety cannot come without trust.

There is a formula for peace.  To execute this formula will take perseverance on our part. Three things are included in this formula for finding peace:  thankfulness; trust; and intimacy.  Expressing thankfulness to God for all He has done will create within us a trust for Who He is. Likewise, our trust in God will deepen as we develop the disciplines of prayer and scripture reading. God desires for each of us to have an intimate relationship with Him, a relationship developed as we spend time with Him and get to know Who He is. The more we know about God, the easier it is to work through the process of letting go and trusting Him to work out all things according to His purposes in Christ Jesus. A deeper intimacy between you and God will bring peace into all areas of your life.

One: Thankfulness. Thankfulness is how we express our gratitude to God. We can all look back on our lives and find times when God has demonstrated His rich love for us through the blessings He has given us.  Even if we are not able to identify any blessings, we can all stand in amazement at God’s blessing of the gift of salvation, which He has given to us through the death of Jesus on the cross for the payment for our sins. It is important to remember God is at work all the time in our life. I think an unfortunate reality is that we often miss what God is doing. At times, it is only after the fact that we get a glimpse of what He has done for us, possibly because we come to God with a sense of entitlement and a display of pride, or maybe with an unforgiving heart towards others or a spirit of complacency, where we say the words but no longer experience the intimacy between us and God. If you can’t see God’s work and His blessings in your life today, start thanking Him for what you take for granted – a place to live, a job, a family, food in your belly. When you are exhibiting an attitude of thanks for those things, you will begin to see the richer and less noticeable things God is blessing you with.

God’s faithfulness to keep His promises is why we can pray with thanksgiving. Fear makes us forgetful. When our focus is on the fears creeping into our life, we tend to forget the faithfulness of God. It is true that we do not always know what awaits us, but we can have the assurance that we know the One Who is walking along side of us in our journey. God knows we need to be reminded about this truth, which is why in Deuteronomy 11, He instructs the Israelites to tell their children the stories of how God has rescued them. In addition to telling the stories, God asks them to write His promises to them on their doorposts and tie them around their heads, providing a visual reminder of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. When we focus on God’s faithfulness, rather than on our fear, we are consistently reminded of what God has done for us in the past and consistently aware of His continued presence in our lives during our current situation.

Two: Trust. Trust always comes in a relationship as one has proven himself to be of a particular character. There is no better way to build trust then through communication. Communication consists of a verbal transaction, where words are spoken, an audible transaction, where words are heard, and a physical transaction, which is an action that follows up on what was heard and spoken.  Philippians 4:6 makes it clear that in every situation we are to pray. Prayer is our ability to communicate with God. It is in prayer that we share with God everything we need and everything that is on our hearts. This should not be done in a demanding manner, as an entitled child, but rather with humility, recognizing God doesn’t owe us a thing. We show this humility though our gratitude for all He is has already graciously done for us. We also show humility through our willingness to listen and to surrender our will to Him through our obedience.  

As we learn to trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness, even if His answers to our prayers are not what we initially desired, we will find ourselves growing closer to Him. Our faith will be strengthened. The reality of prayer is that it signifies intimacy with God. Prayer connects us directly with God, just as a husband and wife are connected by devotion. In prayer, our spirit connects and overlaps with His Spirit. So, pray about everything, even those things which seem insignificant.

Three: Intimacy. What does intimacy have to do with overcoming our fear or worry? Everything. Intimacy is the true result of trust, which comes through prayer. Can we ever really know God enough?  I’m not talking about having knowledge about God; I’m talking about true genuine knowing, the kind of knowing a parent has for his children. As a parent, we understand what drives them, what moves them, and what stops them. Do you know Jesus that intimately? Do you understand His heart for you? Have you experienced His presence, His power, and His grace? At His feet all things must bow. Fear has no power over Him. When we take our fears, our worries, our concerns before God and leave them at His feet, we are acting out of our trust in who God says He is and what God says He will do. God is always faithful to keep His promises.

Getting back to my story, I spent the next several months applying and interviewing at one church after another, each time to be turned down. During that time, I spent countless hours in prayer, continually keeping thankfulness at the forefront. It was hard and painful to do. I would thank God for the church that let me go; I would thank God for those who gave me a hard time while I was there; and I would thank God for protecting me by removing me from that situation. Then, I would pray for a new church family and new place to minister. I would walk in laps at the local park while I prayed, and as I walked the circle, I would envision this new church and this new ministry in the center. Like the Israelites marching around Jericho, I believed by encircling what I was praying for would lead to victory – God’s glory moving on my behalf. The God I knew proved Himself bigger than my current circumstances.  

Intimacy with God, through prayer and gratitude, brings us true victory over our fears and anxieties. It offers us a peace that surpasses all the understanding of our heart and our mind.