How to pray when we’re worried about the future

When I talk to someone struggling with anxiety, I usually start by asking questions about their prayer life. I have found that most people struggling with anxiety are praying, but their prayers tend to be one-dimensional: they’re praying that God would take the anxiety away. For them, prayer is a panic button. They reach for it when the feelings become overwhelming. But praying this way doesn’t have the staying power necessary to help us overcome anxiety. Fortunately for us, God didn’t leave us uninformed. With over 650 prayers recorded in the Bible, we have examples for how to pray, whatever the situation.
I want to encourage you to think of prayer more as a pattern to develop than a panic button to push. The apostle Paul gives us one of these patterns immediately following his command to not be anxious. He writes, 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 (Phil. 4:6-7).
For someone struggling with anxiety, this passage offers a deeply sought-after promise: the peace of God. . .will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. But that promise is predicated upon a consistent prayer life, and Paul gives us four words that shape our conversation with God: prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and requests.

Think of prayer more as a pattern to develop than a panic button to push.

(1) Prayer: Realizing that Nothing is Too Small or Too Big for God.

The text tells us that we are to bring “everything in prayer.” Nothing is too small for God to be concerned about. Jesus reminded us that his Father noticed when a sparrow fell from the sky (Matt. 10:29). There are an estimated 400 billion birds in the world. They come in all sorts and sizes, but God is aware of the loss of even the smallest. Don’t think your cares are too little for God; he is interested in them. The Psalmist wrote that God’s thoughts about the details of his life were vast. He said, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand” (Psa. 139:16-17).
Because my family lives close to the Jersey Shore, during the summer we visit there frequently. The boardwalks, with their shops, rides, and places to eat, line the most popular beaches to the west; the Atlantic Ocean, with its thunderous waves, lies to the east. Because the shoreline isn’t naturally protected, it is prone to erosion. Each year, they replenish the beaches with sand from the bottom of the ocean about a half a mile away, pumping it in huge pipes back up onto the beaches. And each winter, the ocean tears those beaches down, depositing that sand at the bottom of the ocean about a half a mile away. The project is massive; bulldozers and heavy equipment are required to reposition the sand once it’s on the beach. The refurbishing of just one beach can cost 15 million dollars.
Ponder this: God’s thoughts about you are greater than all the sand on the seashore. To correct an oft-used phrase, it’s not the devil that’s in the details it’s God.

Don’t think your needs are too small. God is interested. Don’t think they’re too big. God is able.

(2) Supplication: Acknowledging Your Need to God.

The word “supplication” came to mean “pray,” but that was not its original meaning. The root word deesis meant “to lack or to have need.” This is an important starting point for the person struggling with anxiety. We are prone to anxious thoughts because we try to carry burdens on our own, but we lack the strength or ability to sustain those burdens.  This is why Peter encouraged us to “cast our burdens on the Lord.” We were not meant to carry them alone.
Most of us who battle anxiety rarely admit to others that it’s a problem. Think about it: when was the last time you heard someone request prayer for their struggle with anxiety? You would think from the limited times it’s mentioned at a prayer meeting, hardly anyone would struggle with it. But statistically that is not the case. One study declares that over 40 million Americans struggle with some form of anxiety. While it is not unusual to request prayer for cancer or unemployment, it is the rare individual who will publicly acknowledge a struggle with worry and ask for others to pray for them. But this is exactly what God had in mind for our assistance. Don’t be anxious, admit your need and bring it to the Lord.
On the night that Jesus was arrested and tried, he foresaw Peter’s anxious heart and his unwillingness to admit it. Notice what he said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31). The word Jesus chose to use for prayed is the word translated in our Philippians 4:6 text as “supplication.” Jesus is saying, Peter I see your lack. I recognize your need even if you refuse to admit it. I will pray for you. A part of overcoming your anxiety is admitting your need. Bring it to God. Share it with others so that they can pray. Acknowledge your struggle, then continually pray for victory.

(3) Thanksgiving: Looking for Reasons to Praise God.

God will not protect you from what he can perfect you through.

 The anxious person may initially struggle to find things for which to be thankful, but a thankful spirit is a habit that can be developed.  Paul mentions thanksgiving as the third step for prayer knowing that anxious thoughts cannot coexist with grateful ones. Deep in the anxious heart is the growing seed of discontentment. We believe that if only our circumstances would change, we would be at peace.
But peace, the very thing that we desire, remains elusive because we have tied it to circumstances that we can’t control. The bottom line is we are discontent with our present situation. The practice of being thankful fosters a spirit of contentment even in the direst of circumstances. Consider the biblical characters who were thankful in spite of the difficulties the faced: Job, Jeremiah, Paul. Perhaps Paul stated it best: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:11-12).
Paul doesn’t see his circumstances as the cause of his thankful, contented Spirit. Rather, he sees those difficult times as opportunities to be grateful for the strength that Christ supplied that he might endure them. Elsewhere, he writes that the difficult times cause him to place his confidence in Christ and not in himself. I once heard someone share, “God will not protect you from what he can perfect you through.” This was the secret that Paul had discovered. God was increasing his spiritual endurance through the difficulties and causing him to be more dependent on the Lord Jesus. This was the focus of Paul’s gratitude. He was thankful for the opportunity to personally change; he was not looking to change his circumstances. This is a pattern of thinking that you can develop as well.

(4) Requests: Seeking First the Kingdom of God.

Developing these first three steps of prayer will significantly change the content of your prayer requests. Your prayer time will feel less like hitting a panic button, and you will begin to ask the Lord for better things than simply relief from your anxiety. Perhaps that is why Paul listed the “requests” as the final step of prayer.  Imagine how your requests might change if you were careful to include these other three elements up front. Most of us spend the majority of our prayer time on the requests, as if God has to be reminded of our needs. But when Jesus spoke about anxiety, he explicitly stated that our heavenly Father knows what we need. He said,
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:7-8).
Jesus encouraged us to change the content of our prayer requests. Our chief pursuit is no longer relief from anxiety, but rather the kingdom of God and his righteousness. For the anxious person, this is only possible when you prime the pump with the previous three steps: prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving.
 After praying with this four-fold pattern found in Philippians 4:6, the Scripture extends to us the promise of 4:7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  For the person struggling with anxious thoughts, this offers tremendous hope. Who wouldn’t want the peace that comes from God himself? It passes our understanding, and it guards our hearts and our minds. 

Phil Moser is a pastor and author of the Biblical Strategies series.  and 4M Training for Men. This post is taken from his book Safe in the Storm: biblical strategies for overcoming anxiety. His books are available on Amazon and at biblicalstrategies.com

This post is taken from his book Safe in the Storm: biblical strategies for overcoming anxiety. Phil’s books are available on Amazon and at biblicalstrategies.com