Anxiety or Prayer?

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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

God has been dealing with me on my response to difficult situations. I have a tendency to stress myself out trying to figure out a solution to a situation then, after everything fails, I finally remember to pray and bring it to God. By this time I've already been dealing with anxiety over that situation for several days, weeks, even months. 

Why does it take so long for us to remember to pray?

We have a tendency to approach situations with an attitude of, once I've exhausted all my resources and ideas I'm left with my last resort of praying. But praying should be our first resort, our first response. 

When we pray we have no need for anxiety because we have given the problem to God.

When we pray we relinquish control and put it in His hands. 

I think this is sometimes why it is so hard for us to pray. We want control. We feel that we are supposed to have control. As Americans we are constantly bombarded with this value of independence. We are told that true freedom is being independent and taking control of our own lives. But this is not a Biblical idea.

Christ shows a way of relinquishing control in order to receive freedom from Him. 

"Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, and you will find rest for your souls. 

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

By coming to Him with our labors and are burdens we relinquish control of these and take on His burden which is easy and light. We yoke ourselves with Him and allow Him to help us through the process. As long as we hold onto the value of independence ingrained in us by our culture, this is difficult to do, however, once we do it we find peace and rest like never before. 

Don't wait for the last resort to pray. Next time you are facing a problem bring it to God immediately and let His Spirit direct you on what to do. Even if His direction is to "wait and see" rest in the knowledge that God's got this!