Friends in Christ Weekly Message
October 10, 2002

Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.
Philippians 4:6-7 (CEV*)

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Philippians 4:6-7 (Message*)

It often seems there is much to worry about. In the last week or so in our area, there has been a series of seemingly random shootings, most of them snuffing out lives. In the first 16 hours of this spree, there were several shootings, all very near to where my wife and I live. These were places familiar to us; some of them places where we do business. This situation could produce much anxiety. But, while reasonable care makes sense, what good will worry do?

While worry will do no good, prayer will. We need to bring our concerns before God. We need to come to God with thankful hearts, grateful for all the blessings we have received in our lives.

Whatever else our prayers may accomplish, they can have profound effects on our own state of mind. Our prayerfulness can bring a deep sense of peace within ourselves or, as the Message version describes it, a sense of God's wholeness. It is indeed wonderful when Christ displaces worry at the center of our lives.

Dear friends, don't let your life be filled with worry. Turn everything over to God in prayer. Let Christ bring peace and wholeness to the center of your life.

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society. The Message version © by Eugene H. Peterson.

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