George Müller shared this on January 4, 1897.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, NIV)
The biblical command “do not be anxious about anything” means no anxiety ought to be found in the believer. Great, many and varied may be our trials, our sufferings, our difficulties, and yet there should be no anxiety under any circumstances, because we have a Father in heaven who is Almighty, who loves His children as He loves His only begotten Son, and whose joy and delight it is to sustain and help them at all times and under all circumstances.
Therefore, anxiety should not be found in the children of God, but we should frequently turn back to the exhortation given us in this verse: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Particularly notice the following points:
He says “in everything”! That is, not merely when the house is on fire, not merely when the beloved wife is dying, not merely when our children are on the brink of the grave, but even the smallest matters of life! Bring EVERYTHING before God—the little things, the very little things, the things the world calls trivial—EVERYTHING! This is how we live in daily holy communion with our heavenly Father and with our worthy Lord Jesus Christ. And when we wake in the night, by a kind of spiritual instinct, turn again to Him, speaking and bringing before Him the various little matters throughout the sleepless night—whether it be family problems, work difficulties, whatever troubles us in any way! Talk to the Lord about them! And in the same way, talk to Him about your joys, the easy days. And ASK Him! Ask Him to help in everything!
“By prayer and petition.” This is taking the place of beggars, with earnestness, with perseverance, going on, waiting, waiting, waiting on God!
“With thanksgiving.” We should, at all times, lay a foundation with thanksgiving! If everything else were lacking, this is always present: He has saved us from hell. And He has given us His holy Word—His only begotten Son, His greatest gift. And He has given us the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we always have abundant reasons to be thankful. Oh, let us make this our aim!
And what are the results?
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We’ll have the peace of God. And this is so great a blessing, so real a blessing, so precious a blessing! It must be known EXPERIENTIALLY, for it transcends all understanding. Oh, the peace of God, how exceedingly amazing this blessing!
Do you see how God’s peace can be ours? It’s through living out this exhortation! In EVERYTHING, even the most trivial of things, we let our requests be known to God through prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving. Furthermore, we strive to avoid anxiety! Oh, let us take these things to heart, knowing the results will be, if we continually walk in this vein, that we shall glorify God more abundantly than ever before. Lord, may this be known of us, that we are people who honor and glorify You. Amen!
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George Müller
