Week 4 of 4
The anxiety you spend on them was meant to be handed to God.
In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
Paul says do not be anxious, but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. The peace of God will guard your heart. Peter says cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Romans says the Spirit helps us when we do not know how to pray as we ought, and intercedes with groanings too deep for words. A husband often skips this and dumps the anxiety on the nearest person. She becomes the receptacle for a fear he would not take to his Father. Holy hands are hands that have cast the weight, not hands that have passed it down the table.
Formal study reading, written for this series
Formal study reading, written for this series
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything 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 hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Everything is a right size for prayer. Peace guards you after you hand it over.
Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Casting is a throw. He cares, which is why the throw lands.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
When you do not know what a husband should even ask, the Spirit is already praying.
NASB, the Amplified, and the ESV open on Bible Hub. The Legacy Standard Bible opens on its own reader. Close, Expanded, and Easy on this page are original study readings. WEB is the World English Bible, public domain.
Merimna is care that has become a split mind, a weight. Paul does not say a husband has no cares. He says the cares go to God with thanksgiving, and then peace garrisons the heart. If you skip the handoff, the care still leaves your chest. It lands on her as criticism, on the children as urgency, on the evening as a mood. That is not leadership. It is an uncast burden finding a smaller person.
Romans 8 is mercy when the marriage is confusing and the words run out. The Spirit helps weakness. You do not need a polished intercession to be a praying man. You need to stay in the place of weakness instead of covering it with control. Peter’s “he cares for you” is the ground under all of this. The Father’s care is why a strong man is allowed to throw the weight down.
Name the anxiety you have been spending on them: money, a child, her mood, your name. Write the request. Thank God for one true thing in it. Then do not hold the evening hostage to a fear you could have cast.
If you do not know what to ask, say that. “Spirit, I do not know how to pray for her. Help me.” Stay there longer than is comfortable. Then be kind in the next room, which is what a guarded heart can finally do.
Stays on this device. No account.
Father, you care for me. I have made other people carry what I would not cast. Here it is. I make it known, with thanks, and I ask your peace to guard my heart so I stop spending fear on my wife and my children. Spirit, I do not always know what to ask. Take hold with me. Keep this house. Through Jesus Christ, who intercedes. Amen.
Save a copy of your devotionals and week notes, or put a saved copy back. Nothing leaves this device until you save the file.