Anxiety to Peace

On May 20, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 4:6 – 7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today I’m just taking you along on a journey with me. I hope you don’t mind. This verse is where I’m living since my wrist injury. I have needed God’s peace, and this verse teaches us how to have it. Prayer, drawing near to the Lord, is the way to the peace of the Lord.

This verse is set up on two poles; one is in anxiety; the other is peace. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Today’s verse is intended to show us how to move from anxiety to peace. This peace is God’s peace. It is beyond any kind of peace we know in the natural. God’s peace is being calm and assured even in times and situations when it would seem impossible to be so. The situation around you, the circumstances might seem to call for anxiety and fretting, but in God’s peace you can still have confidence even in the worst of circumstances. Most of us would prefer to live in that kind of peace than in anxiety. Now we know how we can avail ourselves of divine peace. It is through prayer.

Prayer has more functions than just begging God to do something for us. In fact, at its base, the most important thing about prayer is simply communion with God. Prayer is spending time with God and time spent with God is good for the soul. It is healing and comfort, and because of that, it leads our hearts away from anxiety into perfect peace. Most of us do not pray enough. I hope today’s Word will be encouragement to spend more time in prayer. As I said, this isn’t just begging God to do something for us, so let us look at the elements of this kind of prayer.

Today’s verse tells us that there are three parts To this prayer. Part one is simple. It is the petition or more importantly the communion and communication with God. However, the peace of God comes with adding the two other components. The first is supplication. Supplication can best be defined as humility. As we lay our hearts and petitions before God, it is important that we humble ourselves. There are times we can make a demand off of a promise God has given us. This prayer, however, is one of humility. We are to humble ourselves before the Lord as we lay our petition at his feet.

Second, this prayer is to be accompanied by thanksgiving. Thanksgiving puts your heart in a state to receive. When you combine thanksgiving with humility, you’re able to receive the peace of God, the peace which surpasses human understanding.

This is not prayer without confidence, however. God does not require that you bow and kowtow. You may still pray, going into his throne room with confidence even as you enter with humility and thanksgiving. It is our knowledge of Him as a great and wonderful father that gives us confidence to enter into His throne room of grace. Humbly enter in. Lay your petitions at his feet. Give him praise and Thanksgiving for all that He is doing for you and will do for you. Believe confidently that you are about to receive the peace which surpasses understanding. Trade in your anxiety for the peace of God.

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Shift Gears

On April 18, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 30: 2      GW

O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help, and you healed me.

What do you hear when you read this? I can hear emotion and waves of relief. David’s anguish turned into relief. You almost want to take a deep breath for him.

This verse reminds me of 2 Kings 20: 5, “I’ve heard your prayer. I’ve seen your tears. Now I’m going to heal you.” Oh, I love that one. Of course, I believe we should speak words of faith. I think we should be strong in our belief. There is a time, though, to cry out to God. However, one of the things I have learned by reading David’s psalms is that although he may begin with the most forlorn language you have ever heard, he always ends his song in praise and thanksgiving. There is something powerful to be gleaned from that. Cry with all your heart. Bare your soul to the Lord (not to others), but when you are ready, when your grief and despondency have waned, shift into affirmative language about the greatness of God. What does that look like?

You may begin by telling God how sick you are, how bad you feel and how desperate you are. Keep it up, tell him everything. Just pour out until you have emptied yourself. Then, shift gears. “Father, though I feel sick, alone and like I will never fully heal, I know that you are the healer. I know that you sent your word and healed me. Father, the Word tells me that I was healed by Jesus’ stripes and Father, I thank you. Thank you for sending your beloved to earth to take all my sin, sickness and pain. Thank you, Jesus, that you bore, on your body, the stripes by which I am healed. Father, I confess before you that I am healed. Jesus has made me whole. I am not cursed but rather blessed. I am blessed coming in and blessed going out. I am blessed when I lie down and blessed when I arise. I am blessed, Father, when I inhale and when I exhale. You promised your healing power and Jesus has fulfilled every one of your promises. I may look sick, but I am healed. Father, I claim this healing blessing which you have provided for me. I declare, in Jesus’ name and by his precious blood, that the healing power of the Ezekiel river is running through every vein, capillary and vessel in my body. Every cell of my body is saturated with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and I declare and decree, in the name of Jesus, that I am whole. I am healed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. And I thank you Father. Thank you for your love and for your faithfulness. Amen.”

Copy that down. Print it out. Read it out loud when you aren’t feeling your best and speak loudly. Say it until you feel the belief rising up within you and then say what you wish to see manifested. “My knee is healed, praise God.” “I shall live and not die and will proclaim the goodness of the Lord.”

Cry out to the Lord with a loud voice. Complain, moan, groan and whine, but then shift gears. Get in sync with that power which is within you and proclaim the healing in your body. End with thanksgiving and praise. You are going to feel better. I promise.

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Happy Thanksgiving

On November 25, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 5: 20

 Always thank God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My prayer this year is that you have much to be thankful for.  According to Paul, we are to learn to be thankful in all things. Thankfulness is a healing balm.  Do you know that your digestion is actually better when a meal is consumed with a heaping serving of gratitude.

Our forefathers halted their labors to thank the Father of the Harvest for provision.  Although these last two years have been remarkably challenging, I find there is still much for which to be grateful.  I pray you have that same sense in your spirit.

May you be blessed with joy, merriment and every good thing.  God bless you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

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Thanksgiving

On November 26, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 100: 4

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courtyards with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

It’s been a hard year but let’s give thanks for all the Lord is. Offer him sacrifices of thanksgiving. What if we did that, made thanksgiving offerings.  That is what they did in the Old Testament.  They showed their thanks in a tangible way by taking an offering to the church.

Like the Pilgrims of old, let’s be grateful for having survived the year and that we have food to eat. And while we are giving thanks, let’s remember those who perished this year and who don’t have food. Open your heart to the joy of the Lord but also to His heart of compassion. Thank you, Father, for looking after us and please care for all the people who don’t know you and feed those who are hungry. Thank you.

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Abundant Thanks Lord

On October 30, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 109: 30 – 31

With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.

This verse is for me today. I would like to be this person. Of all the things I think I could change about me, this is one I would like to succeed at. I doubt I am the only person who feels they do not praise the Lord enough or give Him enough thanks. But then, how could we ever give Him enough thanks. We set aside a day a year but how much do we even thank Him on Thanksgiving Day?

I have known people who praise God in the midst of others. They lived in an attitude of praise. I want to be like that.

God stands at the right hand of the needy. Who is that? I figure that is each one of us. He stands ready to save us from those who judge us and from every situation which plagues us.

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Shout Happily

On May 11, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 100      GW

Shout happily to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord cheerfully.
Come into his presence with a joyful song.

Realize that the Lord alone is God.
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people and the sheep in his care.

Enter his gates with a song of thanksgiving.
Come into his courtyards with a song of praise.
Give thanks to him; praise his name.

The Lord is good.
His mercy endures forever.
His faithfulness endures throughout every generation.

Here is an admonition to praise God, sing to Him, serve Him, and thank Him. My question is, “Why?”  Why does this author exhort us to enter into the gates with thanksgiving and the courtyards with a song of praise?

This song is an expression of His joy and thanksgiving for who God is. He had a revelation in his spirit or an experience which caused his heart to move to praise. Finally, at the end of the song he resorts to reasoning. God is worthy of praise because He is good, merciful and faithful to every generation.

Sometimes we need to convince our minds that God is worthy of praise, but I like the notion that we do not need to be persuaded to praise the Lord. We might praise Him just because He is. It sounds like that is the psalmist’s sentiment. Praise the Lord because He is God. He is the Lord and He alone is the great shepherd and our maker. Praise the Lord and glory in that praise. Enter into His presence with joy which erupts in gratitude and praise. Praise the Lord with a happy shout!

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Praise

On March 9, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 92: 1 – 4

It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre. For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

How good is your praise? When I read passages like this, I am both encouraged and disappointed. I am encouraged because I see what praise can be and I am reminded how great our God is. I am disappointed, though, that I do not routinely engage in good praise. Even though I think and speak about how great God is, I don’t find myself praising Him like I could.

So, maybe like me, you choose to take today’s verse as a dose of encouragement. We too, can praise like David did but it means loosening up, letting go of some inhibitions. I think it also takes practice. You can always sing a song written by someone else but I would encourage you to really let go and allow your own words and sentiments to tumble out. And, praise doesn’t have to be sung. Maybe you just want to tell the Lord how much you appreciate Him. Tell others too, how great He is. It is good to give thanks to the Lord.

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