Scripture:
"Be anxious for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7

Not all that we regard as prayer is true prayer. More often what we exercise is verbalized worry before God.

We all have experienced times when someone has come to us in their distress. It isn’t long, if we are not careful, before their troubles affect us and we become co-worrier with them.

Is this how we approach God? When we pray are we really believing for answers or are we seeking for God to be a co-worrier with us? When we genuinely pray we submit our situation, crisis and burden to the Lord with the expectation that He will deliver a divine solution.

The proof that our prayer has been authentic is found in the exchange. Here is what I mean. According to verse seven there is an exchange the takes place in prayer. When we lay our burden down in prayer we receive peace from God in exchange. If after praying we still are anxious then we have not truly prayed. We have only expressed our worries to God.

When we have prayed God exchanges our worry and anxiety with his peace. This is a peace that passes all understanding. This peace is so strong that it keeps our heart and our minds through Christ Jesus.

The next time you go to prayer about anything take inventory afterwards. Did you receive peace in exchange? If you discover that you are still experiencing anxiety then perhaps you’ve only verbalized your worries and are calling it prayer.