He Keeps in Perfect Peace...
I am, by nature, a worrier. My brothers called me their second mother because I was often more concerned with the safety of their bless-ed little, dare devil boy lives than our own mother. If there is a problem, my natural inclination is to jump to the worst possible conclusion...in a single, breathless bound. Fun gift, right? So here's my real life experience. It is summed up best by Isaiah 26:3 which I paraphrase this way, "He keeps in perfect peace all who trust in him, whose thoughts are on him". I run my natural inclination toward fear through the filter of God and his word. The result? The world is crazy and I will do whatever I can to help BUT I'm not even worried. No anxiety here. No fear here. Only perfect, supernatural peace. Not duck my head in the sand and ignore the crisis peace, but real, tangible, informed, actionable peace. And it is available to everyone.
No I'm not even worried about the Seahawks trading Harvin ;), Ebola, ISIS, or Persecution. It's time to calmly solve some problems. Let's do this.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The NEWS and what to do with it...
Just read a few news articles. They left me feeling disturbed...
Never has it been more obvious that this world is broken, that common sense is nearly dead, that evil is running rampant and that people of God inspired principles are targets.
If you are a Christian and your prayer life is weak it's time to rev it up. Your brothers and sisters need you and, frankly, you're going to need it too in the coming days. If you are a Christian but rarely read the Bible it's time to mak...e it priority number 1. You need to know what IT says more than you need to know what someone else says it says...
You and I need to be inspired by David and Daniel stories because we need more Davids and Daniels. We need people who do what's right whether it's popular or not. We need people who will speak truth in the public square rather than remain silent because they're scared or they've bought the lie that it's not the way to win people or the lie that their voice doesn't belong there. We need brave truth tellers, truth demonstrators, truth illuminators. Sometimes I feel like we're standing here holding this great orb of light. It's stunning and life giving but we're covering it because we're listening to these little voices..."They won't want it", "That's not how you share it", "They won't like it", "They'll hate me"...meanwhile...the people are perishing! They are entangled in their sin, becoming more lost to it everyday and we're just standing here tongue tied, scared, defeated...LIED to!
But here's the truth. We hold life. We hold truth. And we're meant to share it!
And then there are those who are intentionally trying to take us out, trying to smother any hint of God. And yes, it often looks like they have the upper hand, like they are winning BUT, again, if you read your David and Daniel stories you will see their situation was the same. It looked impossible. It seemed extremely unlikely that they would win or make any positive influence BUT GOD.
"The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." Psalm 33:16-20
My prayer today is this, that his Holy Spirit would be the wind at your back, causing you to soar and making you brave. I pray that he would illuminate your way, that he would speak his truth to your heart and to your mind, and that he would inspire you with his ideas and his solutions. So make sure you get in a position to hear from him today. Read his word. Pray. Worship. Let him fill you...and then see what he will do with you!
Just read a few news articles. They left me feeling disturbed...
Never has it been more obvious that this world is broken, that common sense is nearly dead, that evil is running rampant and that people of God inspired principles are targets.
If you are a Christian and your prayer life is weak it's time to rev it up. Your brothers and sisters need you and, frankly, you're going to need it too in the coming days. If you are a Christian but rarely read the Bible it's time to mak...e it priority number 1. You need to know what IT says more than you need to know what someone else says it says...
You and I need to be inspired by David and Daniel stories because we need more Davids and Daniels. We need people who do what's right whether it's popular or not. We need people who will speak truth in the public square rather than remain silent because they're scared or they've bought the lie that it's not the way to win people or the lie that their voice doesn't belong there. We need brave truth tellers, truth demonstrators, truth illuminators. Sometimes I feel like we're standing here holding this great orb of light. It's stunning and life giving but we're covering it because we're listening to these little voices..."They won't want it", "That's not how you share it", "They won't like it", "They'll hate me"...meanwhile...the people are perishing! They are entangled in their sin, becoming more lost to it everyday and we're just standing here tongue tied, scared, defeated...LIED to!
But here's the truth. We hold life. We hold truth. And we're meant to share it!
And then there are those who are intentionally trying to take us out, trying to smother any hint of God. And yes, it often looks like they have the upper hand, like they are winning BUT, again, if you read your David and Daniel stories you will see their situation was the same. It looked impossible. It seemed extremely unlikely that they would win or make any positive influence BUT GOD.
"The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." Psalm 33:16-20
My prayer today is this, that his Holy Spirit would be the wind at your back, causing you to soar and making you brave. I pray that he would illuminate your way, that he would speak his truth to your heart and to your mind, and that he would inspire you with his ideas and his solutions. So make sure you get in a position to hear from him today. Read his word. Pray. Worship. Let him fill you...and then see what he will do with you!
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