Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Quoting scriptures one line at a time in answer to any particular scenario may be helpful but once you let the words out of your mouth, you lose control of how it is received. The person on the listening end will by nature focus on one point or another which holds some interest to them. We do not all use the Holy Spirit to relate scriptures in the same manner.

How dangerous is it to accept this word above and hear only “be careful for nothing” without a proper perspective of the subjective placement of that term in context with the surrounding verses? Nothing is an unrestricted absolute without applied context. It can be a danger in life application.

Look to verse 3 “help those women which laboured with me in the gospel”. Paul calls out the needs of the ministry. Support is requested. Have we lost focus upon that request so soon in viewing verse 6 out of context? Did we think he was finished making that plea and had moved on?

V5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

It would seem that Paul had moved on given that he now speaks to moderation. But has he really moved on or is he hinting about availability of resources? What if Paul is speaking to moderation as an example of making resources, i.e. money, available because it has not been used in indulgences? How many times can you think of when you spent some of your savings on that “special” item that serves only to please your base appetites, only to hear immediately of a worthy need that you can no long support financially?

If you widen your view of scriptures to take in the whole picture you will no longer view one term in one line as an unrestricted absolute.

Or perhaps you do not have to be careful about what you pray for in support of the gospel?