The way I learned to memorize this verse was in the King James Version. It goes something like this: Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. I like the way the New Living Translation boils prayer down to two simple parts: tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. It’s not the religious order we might expect (you know—be thankful first, and then get to the laundry list of TODOs for God).

I like this order better, don’t you? God knows what’s on our minds. Typically, what brings us to prayer is a need that only God can fill. Since God knows it, why not spill the beans (that is, if we mean to be honest in our prayers)? A spiritual director in my life named John Westerhoff advised a group of us in Divinity School to name all of our worries and concerns at the outset of our prayers, giving each one into God’s perfect care and keeping. Only then, he taught us, after we had unburdened ourselves of anxiety, could we bask in the glory of God’s presence.

And here’s the curious thing: we don’t really know how to bask in God’s presence, do we? Like Moses, we can’t stand the full light of God’s glory, so we must veil our faces, or hide in the cleft of a rock while God passes behind us. So Paul gives us a way of being in God’s presence when we get past the barrier of our neediness. Give thanks, writes Paul. Rejoice in the Lord—always. Then he says it again in case you missed it the first time around. Sure, tell God what you need. But get ready in prayer to allow God’s presence to envelope you with a sense of awe, joy, and gratitude.

An old hymn encourages us to count our blessings—name them one by one. In doing so, we open our eyes, according to the hymn, and gain the ability to see what God has done. What would happen if we could live always with a sense of God’s love in our lives and in our world? I love how Paul assumes so much in this passage. He’s just finished counseling two members of the Philippian Church to reconcile with each other. He has every reason to scold them, on that account. But instead he writes to them to “Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.”

Hold that counsel in your heart for a moment, will you? Paul does not say: “Pray hard in order to become a more faithful person!” Look again at that verse. He says: “Let the world see how considerate you are.” It throws the stereotype of a church hypocrite on its head, doesn’t it? When our behavior and our words aren’t matching up, our behavior, and not our words, is the lie. We’re created in the image of God, you see. And with a few words, God created the universe, giving it permission to be.

God has given us powerful words. When we use them to speak with God, about the things we need, and in celebration and gratitude for all of the blessings God continues to provide for us, the Kingdom of God draws nearer. When we use our words to repent, to declare our belief and assent to God’s will, and to share the Good News of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, our world takes on a new form. That said, why would you ever stop rejoicing?

Think deeply about the things that you need in your life. If you could condense all of your various needs and desires into a single request of God, what would that request be? What is it that you really need? Ask God now. Make your request known to God.

Now get out your prayer journal. Clear some sacred space in your day and spend some time with God counting your blessings with your heavenly Father. Write down the things that you give God thanks for in your life. Can you think of 10 things? How about 50? Write down and give God thanks for at least 100 different blessings in your life.

Now consider for a moment how anxious you are, having engaged in this exercise of supplication and thanksgiving in God’s presence. In your thanksgiving, would you say that your thoughts were fixed on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise? How has this prayer experience increased your joy?