Anxiety Free

On September 14, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

This is a familiar verse but one that is so very important that I am happy to have us look at it routinely. Any time we feel anxiety, it is a clear sign that we need to stop and counsel with the Father. We should not live with that anxiety. We must find our way back to peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Because we are in him, we should be in peace. That makes sense, right? So, how do we live in peace continually? How do we rid ourselves of anxiety, especially in these very anxious times?

I usually look at this verse in its conjunctive construction. In other words, there are two related thoughts joined together by the word “but.” Now, we know the word “but” signifies contrast. So, the ideas are related but more like antonyms than synonyms. Add the word “rather” and that becomes clearer. Or, “Instead of being anxious, through prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. This shows the contrasting behavior which is called for by this verse. The verse isn’t just about feelings or emotions. It shows a behavioral pattern. Instead of being anxious, DO this. When you do feel anxious, DO this.

The great revelation of this verse shows that it is by praying about everything, submitting to God in confidence, and giving thanks that we both cure and avoid anxiety. When one constantly takes their thoughts and concerns to the Father, there is less opportunity to anxiety to grip the heart. Father, instills us with confident assurance as we commune with Him. We just need to get much better at chatting with Him. And, I use the word “chat” to indicate the informality that can benefit us all. I am not trying to suggest that formal prayer does not have its place, only that if we are going to be in constant communion with our Father, then we must develop a daily voice. When the verse says, “in everything” it means that we pray at all times, pray without ceasing. In order to do that, you must learn to communicate with the Father in a normal way.

One will see that when we are in routine, daily communication with the Father of our hearts, then, of course, anxiety must flee. How can one be with the Father, truly with the Father, and at the same time anxious? So, we have come full circle. When anxiety does strike, we know that is a sign that we need to run into the Father’s presence. Subsequently, when we are in the Father’s presence there is peace. Life intervenes and the world brings trouble to our doorstep but pursue the Father and His peace relentlessly. Let the peace of the Lord be your habitation.

Back to Top

Peace and Happiness

On June 14, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 13 – 18

Blessed is a person who finds wisdom, and one who obtains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her produce better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are those who hold on to her.

Discussing Proverbs Monday with a friend of mine, I confessed that the hardest part is choosing which verse to select. Today’s proverb is an excellent example of that challenge. May I make a suggestion early in this Proverb Monday journey. Perhaps take the rest of the week to read the entire proverb. I am sure you will be very blessed. Then, maybe, on Sunday, reread the Word of the Day from that week. You are sure to glean some amazing truths from this exercise. So, what would that look like again? On Monday, read the Word of the Day’s Monday proverb. Throughout the rest of the week, read that proverb in its entirety. Then on Sunday, reread the Word of the Day. By Sunday you will see much more than you did on Monday when you first read it. Secondly, you will prime yourself for the proverb you will receive the next day.

I only wish to make one observation from today’s proverb and a couple of quick highlights. First, note that Wisdom is referred to with a feminine pronoun. Why is that? Is Wisdom a spirit of God? Is Wisdom a spiritual entity? Just things to ponder or journal.

And the highlights, verse 18 reveals wisdom as a tree of life. That would seem to be a huge revelation. Peace and happiness are with her so let us tenaciously seek wisdom.

Back to Top

Super Love

On February 16, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 13: 6-7

(Love) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Speaking of love . . .. Last week I wrote on verses four and five. They set a very high standard for what love is and what love does. These two verses are no less challenging. This is precisely why we must live intertwined with God. I cannot walk this standard of a love walk in my own strength. I am too weak, too petty and too self-interested. I don’t know how I can live this passage but by the grace, and the power of our Lord. He has to be alive and vibrant within me. I have to live such that his life and mine are stitched together. It is his life within me that allows me to endure anything, much less all things. How can hope prevail in any of our lives but by the glorious grace and benevolent affection of our Lord.

Those without his life within are without hope and without the strength to endure. We must show them the love of God which includes patient tolerance. Those of us with God know these past 12 months have proved a challenge but those who don’t have His love intermeshed through every tendril of their lives didn’t stand a chance. Their hearts and spirits have been stretched beyond their limits and they don’t know what to do. We all try to adapt but let’s be honest, this has not been an adaptive situation. It has been a time of wrenching change and we shall never again fit back into the same form from which we came. People have thought they were rolling with the punches only to find out they were more like a rubber band which has finally been stretched beyond its capacity and has snapped.

It is incumbent upon us to be the ambassadors of love in a very troubled world. I know that sounds like a hokey oversimplification or trite maxim, but I believe it not to be. And, as I have tried to encourage before, we are the people who must be the leaders. You there, sitting at home, still in your pajamas, you really are the leader the world is starving for. No one else is going to see your grocery store clerk or hair stylist. No one else is going to talk to your friends and neighbors. No one else can reach them with the love of God.

We must follow after righteousness and truth. That is an absolute. We are not given the liberty to favor a position which suits our needs unless it comports with absolute truth and righteousness. We must be beacons of truth because our Lord is the truth. This beginning point must be the standard which we, not only carry proudly, but which we resolutely hammer into the ground marking our terrain. It is the flag standard under which we stand. From this position we forge on, loving the unlovely. Not only do we provide an example to hurting people, but we give them that which is God’s very essence, love. It is love which we and they need. We can do without food for a bit, water for a little but the lack of those can only kill the flesh. The spirit needs love and what we are seeing is people dying for lack of sustenance for their inner man.

Each one of us, yes us, must keep enduring and hoping. We must keep standing for truth and waving our banner. We cannot be spreaders of anything less than the love of God. Dissention, negativity, gossip must be arrested as we are called to spread the Good News which is that God loves each and every one of us. Love is a high requirement of the life of Christ. It is our duty, though, to let that love wash over us and through us. Christ is what love gave the world so that love could live in this earth through His beloved. That is you, the beloved of God, His prized ones, His chosen. Let His love transform your life and buoy you during these turbulent times and may that love that He shines on you be a sign to all who see you that, God is love!

Back to Top

Peace, Peace

On January 20, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 32: 17

And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

“Peace, peace to my people, their inheritance is peace.” These are the words of the Lord I hear ringing in my ears. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and in making that substitutionary sacrifice for us, Jesus bought us peace. We are to enjoy quiet peace in the confidence of his grant. He even said he was leaving his own peace here for us, a peace which defies understanding and which is far beyond what the world offers.

Our peace has been disrupted over the last year, but have it known that peace in our inheritance and our right. I know you have been stressed over the last year. Everything seems turned upside down. Today, let your heart find the peace that Jesus, and our Father, promised you.

Confidence in Jesus means that we can do all that needs doing in complete peace. We need not strain or stress because his power and victory are enough to meet every need. It is only because of a lack of faith that we labor to gain that which we desire. In our faith, we can pray and commune with the divine trinity and they will send a heavenly host to accomplish their purposes for us.

Peace, my children, peace. Be calm. Enter into the Father’s rest for the scripture says that is where labor is to be spent, entering into His rest. The NIV Bible says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). Therefore, be at peace and demand peace. Be the spreader of peace, not unrest. Let all those who call upon the name of Jesus as their Lord insist upon peace, tranquility, faith and confidence in our Lord. And, be blessed in the name of our Lord Jesus. May his peace be with you.

Back to Top

Peace

On January 5, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   2 Comments

2 Thessalonians 3: 16

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

I have been thinking about the peace of Jesus much lately. 2020 was an attack on our peace. We have struggled to maintain our peace. I had to turn off the news and Facebook in order to retain my peace. We must guard our peace zealously. Your emotional and even physical well-being depend on it.

The key thought is that we can have peace. Jesus left his kind of peace here when he left earth. Think about Jesus’ life for a moment. Only once do we know of that he lost his peace and that was in fulfillment of prophecy. In the gospel of John Jesus characterized his peace as “not as the world gives,” (John 14: 27). This is a different kind of peace, a kind of peace the world cannot comprehend. It is beyond human expression but not beyond human experience because it is this peace which the Lord has given us. We may have peace even in the most tumultuous of times. Many of you have witnessed this miracle of grace in the past eleven months. Jesus went on to say, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.” Great Jesus, but how do we do that?

If Jesus gave us his peace, then why are we not all walking around in perfect peace? Do we have to earn what was granted? By no means! It doesn’t, however, fall out of the sky on us either. We get to choose whether to abide in this grace or not. I find I lose my peace more readily when I do not spend sufficient time with my Lord. It’s not just praying either. It might just be making myself aware of his presence and abiding there. Sometimes I just look out the window and ponder things. The key is that I get to choose whether I abide in that presence or not. That is why I will not be on Facebook anytime soon nor will I be watching the news. Those things will rob me of my peace, and I am under command from Jesus to protect my heart.

We are blessed to enjoy a kind of peace the world does not know. Protect your heart and abide in Jesus’ peace.

Back to Top

The Test

On November 17, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 7: 16

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

Jesus gave us the method by which we can know whom we can trust. We can know people by their fruit. We saw last week Paul’s elucidation of this principle. Colossians 3 shows the fruit of the chosen of God and also the habits and traits of those not reformed by Christ. Some of the traits Paul identified for Christians are: “a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,” (Colossians 3: 12 – 13). In this list he also included the pursuit of unity (See the Word of the Day for 11/13/20).

Jesus’ teachings give us the principles. Paul’s teachings explain Jesus’ principles. He expounded on them to give further understanding. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul further described what the life of a Christian looks like. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” (Galatians 5: 22 – 24).

When I was practicing law I came to despise when a client offered that they were Christian. Why? Ask many business owners and you will get the same response. It is code language for, “I’m not going to pay you.” It is as though they offered that bit of information in order to cover a defect in their character. As I said last week, pretend I am from the Show Me state. Let your actions identify you as a Christian. As my friend, Robin, said yesterday, “Actions speak louder than words.” Anyone can say, “I am a Christian.” It is an entirely different matter to walk it out. Most people who wish to deceive and take advantage of others will not identify their motives. Instead, they will use some covering ploy and claiming to be a Christian is one of the best. So, how are we to know who is the real deal?

That is the purpose of this series of devotionals which began last week. I know who you are and how you strive to live in the light of Christ. I also know that you are the most vulnerable because you are attracted to people who self-identify as Christian. Now, you don’t have to take their word for it. Look at their lives. Are they givers? If no, then you needn’t ask any more questions. They are done because Yahweh and Jesus are mega-givers. You can’t be in them and be stingy. Beyond that run the test of Galatians 5 and Colossians 3. Here it is synthesized for you.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, a heart of compassion, humility, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.

You might want to cut and paste this bit into your own document or print it. We are not asking people to be perfect, but we are looking for a pattern of behavior. I hope you identify with people who are patient and kind, gentle of speech and generous. We can encourage and expect these traits of people. We should, in fact, expect these kinds of behaviors. More than ever, we need to be considerate. We need to concern ourselves with the best interests of all people. We need to think of others instead of ourselves. That is the Christian mandate. It’s the Word. Let the Word prevail over the lives of us all.

Back to Top

My Prayer

On November 5, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Thessalonians 3: 16

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

Yes Lord! Let peace continually reign over the hearts of everyone within the reach of my pen (or computer, as it were.) Grant them all peace in every circumstance. Father, you have taught us that peace is more than serenity. It is your grace on every touch point of our lives. It is nothing missing, nothing broken. But, Father, it is also that sense, in our hearts that all is well and that you are with us; that every breath we take increases us in You and You in us.

Paul prayed today’s verse over his congregation in Thessalonica. Today, I pray it over you. May the peace of Christ guard and keep you.

Back to Top