ABIDING PEACE

“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”  (Philippian 4:5b-9 NIV)

True, lasting peace comes from [communion with God]. Peace is ultimately a fruit of the Spirit which comes to bear through an abiding life with God. Prayer isn’t a quick fix to deal with our fear or anxiety; it’s a lifeline that fuels abiding and brings us into awareness of the presence of God with us. In prayer, we surrender control, embrace our own limitations, and declare our dependence on and need for God.

This is why we are exhorted to pray when faced with anxiety. Not for instant results or solutions, but for deep communion with the One who Himself is peace. Not so we can experience a feeling of peace momentarily, but come to know peace personally. Peace is not found in the absence of anxiety, but in the presence of God. 

-- Excerpted from “Wake-Up Call” with Anna Grace Legband

#6491

TAKE YOUR WORRIES TO THE CROSS

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

What do we do with worries? Take your anxieties to the cross -- literally. Next time you’re worried about your health or house or finances or flights, take a mental trip up the hill. Spend a few moments looking again at the pieces of the passion.

Run your thumb over the tip of the spear. Balance a spike in the palm of your hand. Read the wooden sign written in your own language. And as you do, touch the velvet dirt, moist with the blood of God.

Blood He bled for you. The spear He took for you. The nails He felt for you. The sign He left for you.

He did all of this for you. Knowing this, knowing all He did for you there and then, don’t you think He’ll look out for you here and now? 

-- Max Lucado 

#6489

DO YOU LOVE TO WORRY?

Jesus told His disciples, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Matthew 6:31-34 NIV)

Nobody loves to worry any more than anyone loves to pay taxes or have a root canal or host their in-laws for a week. But those things need to be done, so we do them. Maybe the real question is, do we love our stuff more than we do everything else, especially worry?

When we lean into our troubles instead of God, worry replaces worship; in effect, we’re saying, “God, I don’t think You’ve got this.” We would rather trust our worry than His strength and provision. Worry impacts our witness: Who wants to listen to Christians who think their God isn’t big enough to handle every problem?

Worry is a warning -- a yellow light telling you that a choice is coming up fast. Choice one: take your worry and turn your concerns over to God, trusting Him to help you get through them. Or choice two: take your worry as a badge of honor, bravery in the face of God’s apparent abandonment -- a sign that you care more about your problems than God does.

Worry is a sign that you’re paying attention, that you care about what’s going on. That’s good. But if you hang on to that worry, you risk making it an idol. So really, who do you love more, worry or God? 

-- Quentin Guy in “The 5-Minute Bible Study for Men: Pursuing God”

#6300

TRUSTING IN THE LORD

“Do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV)

There are two things which are more utterly incompatible than even oil and water, and these two are trust and worry. Would you call it trust if you should give something into the hands of a friend to attend to for you, and then spend your nights and days in anxious thoughts and worry as to whether it would be rightly and successfully done? And can you call it trust, when you have given the saving and keeping of your soul into the hands of the Lord, if day after day, and night after night you are spending hours of anxious and questioning about the matter? When a believer really trusts anything, he ceases to worry about that thing which he has trusted. And when he worries, it is plain proof he does not trust…

You find no difficulty in trusting in the Lord with the management of the universe, and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of you? Away with such unworthy doubtings! Take your stand on the power and trustworthiness of your God, and see how quickly all difficulties will vanish before a steadfast determination to believe. Trust in the dark, trust in the light, trust at night and trust in the morning, and you will find that the faith which may begin by mighty effort, will end sooner or later by becoming the easy and natural habit of the soul. 

-- Hannah Whitall Smith in “The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life”

#6279

LOOK TO JESUS

“When I am afraid, I will trust in You.”  (Psalm 56:3)

We all have sleepless nights, don’t we? Tossing and turning. Looking at the clock and seeing it’s barely moved. Stressing because we know we need sleep if we’re going to make it through the next day.

How often do you lie there anxious about situations you can’t do anything about? Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubles. Trust in God; trust also in Me.” (John 14:1) The answer to fear… is faith. When you’re fearful for a loved one or fearful about some event coming up in your life, you can be comforted and calmed as you think about who God is. Then, as you focus on the attributes of God, your faith is planted in Someone bigger than your fears.

The next time fear overwhelms you, look for a Scripture verse that underscores God’s character. And consider who He is. Don’t look to your problem. Look to Jesus [“the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV)].

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus” 

#4821

THE ABODE OF CHRIST

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”  (John 15:4 ESV)

We rest in Christ, find our nourishment in Him. His roof of grace protects us from storms of guilt. His walls of providence secure us from destructive winds. His fireplace warms us during the lonely winters of life. We linger in the abode of Christ and never leave.

-- Max Lucado in “Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World"

#4345

FRETTING AND WORRY

"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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV)

Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way.  Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious because He was not 'out' to realize His own ideas; He was 'out' to realize God's ideas … Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing.  All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.

-- Oswald Chambers

#3754

HAVING HOPE

Hope makes an extraordinary difference. Academic performances of freshman at the University of Pennsylvania were predicted more accurately by tests that measured their level of optimism than by their SAT scores or high school grades.  Daniel Goleman writes, "From the perspective of emotional intelligence, having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks. Indeed, people who are hopeful evidence less depression than others as they maneuver through life in pursuit of their goals, are less anxious in general, and have fewer emotional distresses."  The conviction that our effort makes a difference and that we are not victims of circumstance is what keeps us persisting in the face of setbacks. It saves us from apathy, hopelessness, and despair.

-- John Ortberg in If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat


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