Prepare
Opening Prayer
Ask God to receive our requests and thanksgiving, calm our turmoil with confidence in his good purposes, and give peace surpassing understanding.
Read
Scripture Passage
6 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.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Php 4:6–7.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
In an anxious and painful year, believers may bring every request to God with thanksgiving, remembering his past goodness and receiving his guarding peace in Christ.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Philippians 4:6–7
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
be anxious for nothing but in all things 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 heart and mind through christ jesus
The special Thanksgiving message does not announce a separate Best Verse. Both verses are distilled together because Bryan structures the entire reflection around replacing anxiety with thankful prayer and receiving God's peace in Christ.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Bring grief, worry, and requests to God; thank him for every gift and remembered mercy; and entrust the future to his good purposes and guarding peace.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
hey hey welcome to coffee and devotions this thursday morning november 26th that's where every weekday morning at 9 a.m and on the weekends when i get a spare moment from my kid you and i we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together well typically we go through the gospels and this year we'll get through all of them but today today is thanksgiving today is a special message today is a time that i want to spend with you outside of the gospels but in a different book philippians chapter 4. philippians chapter 4 verses 6 through 7 say this be anxious for nothing but in all things 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 heart and mind through christ jesus 2020 has been a crazy year i mean if if you've told me that 2020 was going to look like this i would have been like no way oxford university uh has a dictionary that they put out and every year they put a whole bunch of words that they thought were fitting for the year normally it's just one or two words one year it was just the smiley face with the tears emoji but this year they couldn't just pick one or two words because there were so many neologisms so many new words and some of them were pretty shocking coronavirus social distancing in-person voting there's so much this year that has caused anxiety worry so much this year that could distract us from what today is a day to give thanks for some of you it's been a really hard year for some of you this is the first year that you're celebrating thanksgiving without your children for some of you this is the first thanksgiving you've ever had without your parents for some of you you're grieving because a loved one has died for some of you you have family members in the hospital right now who are suffering from this virus for some of you there is much that this world would tell you to be anxious about but what does god tell us here be anxious for nothing but in all things by by all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to god this is a time for thanksgiving for those of you who are grieving grieve with hope thank god for every moment you had with your loved one for those of you who are grieving because you don't get to spend time with your family members thank god for every thanksgiving that he's given you to spend time with them thank god for the health that they have for those of you who have family members who are in the icu even the day thank god for the years and years of health that he has given them thank god for the doctors that they have thank god for the hospital staff who is working on their thanksgiving thank god for them tell these people thank you tell god thank you the christian heart is the heart that's supposed to over be over flowing with thanksgiving because every good and perfect gift that we receive comes from above from the father of lights it is god who has given us everything beautiful and perfect and good even though these things might be fleeting even though 2020 words like corruption anxiety riots fear might have dominated the news cycle today is a day that we get to take it back today is the day that we get to thank god do me a favor in the comments section i'm going to challenge you this morning in the comments section let me know something that you are going to give thanks to god for today it doesn't have to just be one thing maybe you want to write a whole bunch of things but let me know down in the comments what is it this thanksgiving that you are going to thank god for let's go ahead and thank the lord together now father we thank you so much first and foremost for jesus christ we thank you for our savior who has unconditionally voluntarily loved us lord we thank you that you have lavished upon us blessing upon blessing we thank you that you rose the sun up this morning and that you gave us food to eat we thank you for our families lord we might miss our families today but father we thank you for giving us mothers and fathers grandparents great-grandparents brothers and sisters children nieces nephews grandchildren great-grandchildren lord we thank you for giving us breakfast today and we look forward to the meal that you will give us father we don't know what's coming the rest of this year but we know that our hearts do not need to be in a knot do not need to be in turmoil for we know that all your plans for us are good for you have loved us and called us according to your purposes father we pray that we would bring our requests or petitions to you but that we would never forget to give thanksgivings for you are so good and kind father we pray that your peace would be upon us that you would give us a peace that surpasses all understanding as this day our eyes are lifted up to you as we remember all your goodness toward us in jesus name amen i pray that god blesses you today and then he fills your heart with joy and peace as you count all the blessings he has poured out upon you and you give him thanks from the depth of your heart may lord bless you today bye