Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.
Acts 12:5-6

Peter was in jail for his faith in Christ. There was no imaginable escape from a trial and probably a speedy execution. Yet Peter was asleep. We previously mentioned that while anxiety is real and frequently overtakes believers, and while God uses our anxiety to draw us to Himself, He draws us that we might experience His peace.

We gave three passages to prayerfully meditate on when experiencing anxiety. Let me unpack the third of those three passages a bit.

Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

First, note the Apostle’s direct words: “Be anxious for nothing.” In other words, God doesn’t want us to be anxious—about anything!” His desire is that we be “kept in perfect peace” (Isaiah 26:3).

Second, the Rx for anxiety involves two essential ingredients:

Prayer (in general) and supplication (specific requests, regarding what is causing our anxiety).
Thanksgiving. For what? How about that as believers, our sins are forgiven? That we can bring Him our anxieties in prayer—and that He hears our prayers and cares enough to answer! That our anxieties drive us to Him! That this life with all its anxieties will one day be through when He takes us to glory! And I’ll bet you can think of other things for which to be thankful.
(And by the way, just as a recipe for chocolate chip cookies without the chips will not yield chocolate chip cookies, both prayer and thanksgiving are essential ingredients if we would experience His peace!)

Tomorrow: “The peace of God” and how to sustain it.