“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
I believe the Bible gives us preventative tools more than curative tools. Unfortunately we too often use the words in the Word only when things get really bad and we are throwing darts at the problem-solving dart board. 
God happens to be on the board with a host of other possible cures. We wait until the flames are licking at our heals, head for the fire extinguishers and if the closest one happens to be prayer, we pull it down and pull the pin. In this passage the Apostle Paul writes that we should present all things to Him, not just all big things. After all, most of our big worries started as smaller ones. We just usually don’t worry about praying until we start sweating a lot. Typically, we try to handle things on our own first and then when our alternatives are all exhausted, we turn to God. After all, why bring God in to sweat the small things? He has enough on His plate.
Don’t ask me how, but God is the magnificent multitasker. We can’t overwhelm Him or bother Him. The instruction Paul gives us here is to take any request, concern, or worry to our Father, who is willing to listen and to give us peace. Paul knew what he was talking about. He wrote most of the New Testament not knowing whether the next day would be his last. Essentially every day he spent in prison was on death row. At someone’s instruction or even whim, he might have been taken out and executed. 
This eventually happened, but in the meantime, Paul wrote some of the most uplifting, encouraging, and beautiful words ever penned. So as he wrote to the Philippians “to be anxious for nothing” and by extension is telling us “to be anxious for nothing,” he was illustrating the principle in his own life.
How do we present our concerns for ourselves or others to the Lord? By prayer with thanksgiving. If we present with thanksgiving, that reveals our trust in the Father. We are thanking Him for whatever He will do, knowing that His will is perfect. We don’t know what God will do. Some prayers He cannot answer the way we might hope because there is an overall plan that cannot be thwarted or it goes against His nature. Some say that God can do anything, but that is not true. He cannot lie or go against His nature. He cannot make a triangle with four sides, because that goes against His natural law. But within His plans there are many things that can be, and will be, adjusted according to our asking. There are two major camps of thoughts out there when it comes to prayer, but I think both of them miss the point of the Philippians verse. One group says the God is sovereign and everything is planned out, so we puny 
humans have no say because we cannot change God’s mind. The other group puts man in charge and if we request something, God must deliver because if we ask, He is bound by promise, to give us what we want. In other words, on one side God is in charge and we don’t matter and in the other man is charge and God just waits for our instruction. If these scenerios seem a little too simplified, they are, but they are, in essence, what many believe. I believe neither of these extremes.
I believe that God is sovereign, because He is. I believe prayer matters, because He says it does. So the truth is our human understanding cannot understand what seems to be two diametrically opposed truths. Since God never lies, these truths must be merged in such a way that both are true. I believe there is a way that is actually understandable (somewhat) by our limited minds, but to go into that here would take much longer than a simple devotion (although I know some of these are very long!). In one of the books that the apostle John gave us, he wraps up the sovereign nature of God and God’s desire to hear and meet our needs in one verse, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16) See, God is in control, but He still listens to our requests.
The second part of today’s Philippians verse is so beautiful. 
He will give us a peace that passes all understanding. When we go through trials God can give us the peace of knowing that He is there and that nothing escapes His sight. The peace He gives is what the world can’t give. All the self-help books, Dr. Phils and Oprahs can’t give that peace. True peace can only come through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful that the verse says He shall shall keep our hearts and minds. People today will say to follow our hearts or trust in our minds. But God’s peace shall keep them both at rest so that we may walk in truth not guided by them, but by the Word. In an earlier devotion I wrote that we cannot trust our hearts or minds because they will lead us astray, but instead we must be led by God’s Word. With His peace through His truth we can be assured that we are not walking on our own whims or thoughts, but instead trusting in our Shepherd to “lead us by still waters.” (Psalm 23:2 ).
We need not worry because He is there for us. The song says, “don’t worry, be happy,” but more fittingly is God’s Word that says, “Don’t worry, be content.” I may not be happy about all things, but I can be at peace with all things because God says He will supply that peace- and I believe Him.