Practical Praying

Scripture:
Matthew 6:25-34
25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? 28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Last week while eating a hot dog I felt something in my mouth and before I knew it I had swallowed one of my caps. Of course, that afternoon, I went to a dentist and had them put in a temporary filling until I could go to my orthodontist. Like many others, I get very anxious when I have to sit in the dentist chair. There is something about that HUGE hypo, the buzzzz of the drill, the smell of the "burning" tooth and the pain, that just freaks me out and makes me go into cold sweats. Well Saturday I saw the orthodontist and he told me that he was not worried about the tooth that lost the cap, he was worried about the tooth next to it that seemed to be absessed even though I did not feel anything. So, I went in yesterday after work.

Now we all know that Philippians 4:6 tells us to "not be anxious for anything" but I get very anxious about this all the time. Without going into detail, I basically know where it comes from, and each time I sit in the dentist chair I "work out my salvation" (Phil. 2:12) dealing with this "problem" of mine. On the spiritual side of things I try to do what the rest of the verse tells us to do. First of all, I believe that if Paul tells us to NOT be anxious, I am assuming it is possible to not be anxious. Secondly, the rest of the verse basically tells us to pray in four different ways, "but everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" and then in verse 7 the promise is that "the peace of God" will "guard our hearts and minds".

After work yesterday my friend Lee drove me to Long Beach, that is where my orthodontist practices on Monday's, and on the way we prayed together and our fellowship together was very calming. I also took a sleeping pill that would make me a little groggy when I get there :-) Then just before the dentist began doing what he needed to do, Lee prayed for me one more time. In addition to witnessing a little by praying, here is what I think about all of this. One, I know what the Word of God says and I am trying to apply what it says by doing what it says each time I need to. Two, I am not in a place yet in my spiritual walk to be able to pray so much that all of the anxiety goes away, so I take a pill. Three, before the next time I need to apply this passage of scripture, I want to study it more in detail so I can apply more if it and grow in my Christian walk.

I believe everything the scriptures say and I practically apply every part of the Bible the best way I know how. I try not to fall into the trap of believing that I am "not being good enough" which is one of the enemies lies. I already know I am not good enough and it is only through God's Word and the Holy Spirit teaching me and reminding me that I am able to grow to be more and more like Jesus.

As a beginning to my study on Philippians 4:6 I found this article on Billy Graham's website.

https://www.billygraham.org/LFA_Article.asp?ArticleID=2

Request:
That we would ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and remind us to apply the Word of God in practical ways so that we would become more and more like our Saviour Jesus.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, you gave us your Son and he gave us the Holy Spirit. We have so much to rely on but we still keep on doing it ourselves. Forgive us oh Lord and continue to rain on us your tender mercies as we your children grow more and more to be like Jesus. Amen.