Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

General Context Questions

• Who wrote this? Who is or which groups of people are involved?
• Was this written before, during, or after Jesus’ lifetime?
• Is this a narrative, a parable, a praise, a suggestion, a command, an instruction, or something else?
• Is there anything that stands out to you?
• Did anything confuse you? Were there words or phrases that didn’t make sense?

Specific Questions

• How does prayer defeat worry? Does it resolve the situation that causes the worry? Does it free us from the situation? Is there some other way?
• If God knows everything, why should we bother telling him what we need? What’s the point of that?
• Have you ever felt the peace of God in a difficult situation? What happened as a result of that feeling?
• The author encourages people to follow his example. Do you want people to follow the example you’re setting? If not, what will you change so that you do?