SOAR 2 - Prayer

   Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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.

    Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:4-9)

If you are serious about stopping the frantic pace and getting free from the bondage of "measuring up;"  if you want to soar on the wind of the Spirit instead of flapping your wings on your own limited strength, then prayer is necessary.

Look at this entire passage.  Peace, rejoicing, positive mind-set, gentleness: all of these things come from prayer.  However many of us who follow Christ still do not experience these things because our prayer life is either not consistent or not faith-filled.  In my estimation, this  particular passage provides solutions for most Christ followers when it comes to a prayer life that seems ineffective.  

Verse 6 begins with a primary flight lesson for people who wish to soar.  "Do not be anxious about anything."  Worry is a choice.  When we have troubling or difficult information, we can choose our response.  This is not to say that we will not have emotions connected to situations.  But when we have bad feelings, or even experience fear, worry does not have to be a result or that.  Worry is one of our choices.

Many of us worry generally happens because we feel responsible for something AND somewhat powerless in regard to that something.  In the conflict between those two realities, we experience worry/anxiety.  Only when we trust God instead of taking responsibility and when we invite God to act in His power on our behalf can we divert our inclination toward worry.  This is a process we have to learn, practice and commit to memory.  When we make this a habit, worry loses its power.

Once we have chosen not to worry, our prayer becomes clear.  One of my friends was recently told by a spiritual mentor to "stop prayer her anxieties."  The point was that praying from anxiety/worry is a negative prayer that cannot gain positive momentum.  In fact that kind of prayer encourages either backward spiritual movement or no spiritual movement at all.  A worry-free prayer become clear and gains 'loft' or forward momentum to help us soar.

An eagle soaring on the wind has to worry about how it will arrive from here to there.  It experiences peace because of its intrinsic reliance on the power of the wind.  Prayer equips us to have the same kind of intrinsic trust.  Faith-filled prayer equips us with supernatural peace to soar.

Stop now and pray.  But first choose to put your situation in God's hands and to see it from His perspective.  See it a smaller than Him and less powerful than Him.  Then pray from confidence in God's plan to do good to you, for you, and through you.  Then, let your confident prayer reside in the front of your awareness as you go through your day.  Keep that prayer in front of your mind and keep it lifted before God in everything that you do.  Feel His peace and power.  Soar.