We will spend a few days on this verse, Philippians 4: 6: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." “Be careful for nothing” is sometimes translated: Be anxious for nothing, or not overly anxious. The fact of the matter is that Paul seems to be making a play upon two indefinite pronouns: nothing and everything. Let me give you my translation, which I call the Jenkins Translation: “Worry about nothing; pray about everything.” Prayer is the secret of power. “Worry about nothing.” In verse 4 we were given one of the new commandments God has given us: Rejoice. Now here is another commandment. Worry about nothing; pray about everything. Nothing is a very interesting word. If you have something, it’s not nothing—that is not correct grammar, but it is an accurate statement. Nothing is nothing, and you are to worry about nothing. Does this mean we are to look at life through rose-colored glasses, that we are not to face reality? Are we to believe that sin is not real, that sickness is not real, that problems are not real? Are we to ignore these things? No., of course not. Paul teaches that we are to worry about nothing because we are to pray about everything. Nothing is the most exclusive word in the English language. It leaves out everything. “Worry about nothing.” I confess that this is a commandment I sometimes break because I worry, generally, about my wife and children. I need to remember this devotional when I begin to feel the seeds of worry starting to take root. We pray, trust and refuse to worry. This is a life changer.
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