February 5
“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.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Before we leave these well-known verses, we need to talk about the amazing results that prayer brings to our lives.
I find it interesting (and revealing) that the apostle’s mention of the result of our prayers has virtually nothing to do with God giving us what we are asking. This is not what we would expect.
We would expect that the result of prayer should be to get what we are asking God to give us. The result should be the results of our praying. Prayers, like questions, should get answers (and positive answers, at that!).
But the apostle is telling us that the unexpected happens when we pray. And not only the unexpected… it is indescribable.
Something happens within us when we pray – and it has so little to do with getting our prayers answered in the way that we want them answered.
That something is… peace. Unexplainable, undeniable peace. It is not just a “feel good” peace… it is a peace that literally builds an impenetrable shield around our “hearts and minds.” It places us within the confines of God’s unseen (but infinite) protection and floods our spirits with something that can only come from beyond ourselves. 
It is otherworldly. It is capable of shifting our vision from our problem to the One Who’s Presence overwhelms our problem.
This is why prayer is the cure to our anxiety. The God Who is bigger than whatever we are facing, grants us a fresh revelation of just how big He really is. He does this within us. In ways that words just can’t explain, define – or describe.
This is a peace that must be experienced to be truly understood. And it is something that only our (alive) inner spirits can grasp and comprehend.
This brings something new to the table. When we, as believers in Jesus, pray… we are not just praying to get things from God – we are praying to “feel” the touch of God within us. Our prayers are aimed at the “ears” of God, but find their way to His Heart – and, in turn, His Heart finds its way into our hearts. Not only in His Presence is there the fullness of joy… there is also the fullness of peace – the peace that only occurs in the Heart of Almighty God Himself.
So in prayer, we find that our solution to our problems is the very Presence of God – reaching out to fill us with the one thing we really need the most. His closeness. His awareness. His goodness. His Fatherly love.
Yes, there is way more to prayer than just getting divine results… prayer is our lifeline to the very Heart and Mind of the God Who loves us infinitely.
And our very real connection with Him, in prayer, is worth more than all the “answers” we could possibly get.
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