Albert Barnes Commentary Philippians 4:6

"In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." — Philippians 4:6 (ASV)

Be careful for nothing. That is, do not be anxious or overly concerned about the things of the present life. The word used here—merimnate—does not mean that we are to exercise no care about worldly matters—no care to preserve our property, or to provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8); but that there is to be such confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety, and such a sense of dependence on Him as to keep it calm. See Barnes on Matthew 6:25.

But in every thing. Everything concerning the supply of your wants and the wants of your families; everything regarding afflictions, embarrassments, and trials; and everything relating to your spiritual condition. There is nothing pertaining to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, or fears, about which we may not go and spread it all out before the Lord.

By prayer and supplication. The word rendered supplication is a stronger term than the former. It is the mode of prayer that particularly arises from the sense of need, or want—from deomai, to want, to need.

With thanksgiving. Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what the burden of our wants may be, or the special subject of our petitions. When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that kind Providence which has until now befriended us; when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have until now enjoyed, for God's merciful intervention in former days of trial, and for His goodness in now sparing our lives. When we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God has intervened to save them. When, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray for pardon, we have abundant cause for thanksgiving that there is a glorious way by which we may be saved. The greatest sufferer who lives in this world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of heaven before him, has cause for gratitude.

Let your request be made known unto God. Not as if you were to give Him information, but to express to Him your wants. God does not need to be informed of our necessities, but He requires that we come and express them to Him. Compare to Ezekiel 36:37: Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.