Words of Inspiration BlogInspirational and Uplifting

Philippians 4:6-9 -  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Dear Friends – Staying in peace in times of turmoil and stress, how hard it is. Settling it in your heart, what you’ve believed and received, is a must in today’s world, and certainly the foundation of a peace-filled existence. Scripture exhorts us to be anxious for nothing. But often we display just the opposite characteristics. I believe that the mind with its constant barrage of questions, concerns, doubts and fears, trips us up quicker than any other storms we may face in life. Staying in peace is both physically and mentally rewarding in that when fear and doubts come we know what we have believed and with our mouth we confess it. It sounds like a simple enough task, a rather menial endeavor, but think again. Staying in peace takes extreme discipline for even the most committed of followers. When the storms are raging in life it’s easy to start to focus on the waves. It’s easy to take our eyes off the Savior and begin to fret. And as the boisterous waves of life’s calamities and hard places continue to pick up strength and speed, it becomes even harder to stand.

But stand we must. Stay in peace at all costs. Run to God at these times and get alone with Him. He knows your heart before you call. He is aware of your needs before the prayer is spoken. But in your time alone with Him pour out your requests and supplications, make them known to Him heart to heart, then thank Him that He’s heard and will answer. How precious that no matter our problems, no matter what troubles us and keeps us on the run, we have a Savior that is ever at our side, looking for fellowship with us, to comfort us and settle us, to establish us in His way.

Yes staying in peace is a precious gift. That is why scripture says it “passeth all understanding”. For we ask ourselves how can we stay in peace in the torrential onslaught of mental and emotional turmoil? How can we stay in peace in the face of physical distress? Can we stay in peace in the midst of financial difficulties, for ourselves, for others? What about wars and rumors of wars? It is possible to truly trust God so much that these things don’t distress us and cause us to fall? Can we trust Him to such a degree that we spend our days looking for ways to comfort and strengthen others rather than worrying unceasingly about our own difficulties. This is the peace which passes understanding. This is the peace we experience through Christ Jesus, knowing He will keep our hearts and minds because they are committed to Him.

It seems impossible at times to stand believing, committed, trusting in Him at all costs, but to experience that peace that passes understanding, I promise you the end result will leave you strengthened, refreshed, encouraged, with a new perspective on your circumstances and the possible outcomes. What good is worrying about so much in life when in reality we can usually change very little? And so much time spent worrying about things that may never even happen can steal the moments we could be living, laughing, helping others, all of which have much more benefit than pacing the floor and wringing our hands in dismay when we have allowed problems or people to overwhelm us and send us reeling out of control.

No, we must not allow ourselves to lose another moment of this precious gift of life so lovingly bestowed on us by our Savior. It may not make sense to some lost in pain and despair. Some may ask how can just staying in peace change the situation or the outcome of such? First of all, it passes understanding, meaning we as mere humans can’t really understand how God can bring peace in troubled times just because we are trusting Him. But this loving Savior does bring peace when we choose to walk in it and above all stay in it. I actually put this to the test in my personal life. First I gave God a week, just baby-steps. In prayer I decided to trust Him with issues in my life that seemed too big to ever be resolved, with people that were difficult, and with situations I had no answers to and felt it had become my lot in life to just suffer through every day rather than walk in victory. One week. That’s how it all started and I can say it was the best decision of my life.

Circumstances may not have changed that much but I changed. My perspective on life changed. The realization of what was important and what was not changed. Trying to justify myself and my feelings changed. For ultimately God forgives us our frailties and failures and expects us in turn to forgive others. Let the sin debt be paid, friends, yours and others with whom you have to do. And those “others”, well they changed too because they saw the glorious work God had done in me. I started with baby-steps and am now experiencing leaps and bounds on my spiritual journey.  And all because I made the quality decision to trust God and stay in peace.

At the end of the first week, I found myself at a crossroads. Would I pick up the old life of worry, anger, fearfulness, or would I go on for another week of staying in peace? It wasn’t a hard decision. I was definitely feeling “lighter”. The old baggage had been tossed aside so I decided another week would be good. At the end of the second week, well I was no longer at a crossroads asking what I should do. No, I knew I was on a bountiful path that could only lead me to beautiful new beginnings. Since this “staying in peace” journey began I have 3 books on amazon.kindle and 3 books on amazon in print. Amazing that what I had been trying to do in my own strength for so many years miraculously turned around because of that baby-step week. I say none of these things would have come my way had I continued in struggling, worrying, unforgiveness, and all that entails. I trusted God and He met me at every need. I trusted God and He gave me a new life, a new purpose, and truly joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Truly, it has passed all understanding. I would not trade the old life with it’s worries, concerns, failures, uncertainties and drama, yes, always drama, for the peace I have found in Christ alone. I’ve been blessed, truly blessed, above and beyond anything I expected at the outset of my little baby-steps. My heart is at rest, my mind is at rest. It was an even more surprising  life-changing event because I’ve always been somewhat of a worrier. Now when thoughts trouble me, when I feel that urge to pick up the old life and take matters into my own hands, I commit it to Him. I commit it to Him knowing He is taking care of all things much better than I ever could. I commit it to Him knowing He is for me and not against me, and that all things are working together for my good. I commit it to Him, take my hands off, walk away in peace, that peace that passes understanding, and focus on the good that I can do, those that I may help in some way, or just relaxing and living the life God has called me to live. It’s gloriously liberating and freeing.

I pray these words of inspiration have encouraged you to stay in peace today, my friends, and begin to live the abundant life Jesus died to give us.

In His Love,

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 Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace – author unknown

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

WHAT IFS

I have a dear and precious friend with pining, anxious soul.

O’er worried mind, the fear within, she cannot gain control.

“What if”, she says with trembling lips and wringing of the hands.

“What if”, she says, ‘midst her distress, her cares like ocean sands.

Too numerous to count, you see, their torment never ending,

for what ifs never cease in life when all our time we’re spending

looking at our frailties, our weaknesses and pain.

We must look to our Savior, His Spirit will sustain.

The Bible says He cares for us no matter who we be.

The details of our life He knows and every tear He sees.

He feels our pain, our longings, and every woe will take

from off our minds, from off our hearts, a lighter burden make.

Be not anxious was His command, fret not He spoke as well.

He cares for us, He loves us more than words can ever tell.

Go to His throne and kneeling there your heart to Him lay bare,

then leave it at His throne and know He’s heard your every prayer.

The what ifs of this life do only serve to choke the Spirit

that ever speaks to us of love and comfort if we hear it.

For God, our maker, is concerned and He alone can bear them,

if our burdens we lay down and with Him learn to share them.

There is no problem He can’t solve, no need He won’t supply,

if we’ll but take Him at his word and on Him we rely.

We’ll never understand it all, the way life is, the whys,

but we will understand it in our home beyond the skies.

So if you’re feeling useless, broken hearted, in despair,

let Jesus take your load, your life, and keep you in His care.

 

“I have known a great many troubles in life, but most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain

Dear Friends – We all have what ifs in life. The question is not whether we have them or indulge them, rather, how long is our list? In today’s world there seems to be a growing uncertainty of the future. How many times a day do we say, “but what if this happens”, or “what if that happens”, not realizing that this is basically a negative outlook on situations that have not occurred yet, and as Mark Twain stated, perhaps never will.

Yes, beloved, we can spend precious time reasoning, reasoning, analyzing, analyzing, and never figure anything out, remain in a quandary about situations and future issues, and ultimately find ourselves still planted, and that rather firmly, on square one. God gives us one day at a time and tells us to “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt 6:34).

My beloved friend that I wrote the above poem for at her request, was a precious saint. We spent many hours on her front porch talking about our love of the Lord. But the what ifs plagued many of our conversations. It was a real awakening for me to realize that these what ifs plague us all. We may not voice them openly, perhaps they are just nagging queries our minds struggle to keep in perspective, but a distraction to the things in life that matter, and certainly draining emotionally to always be looking for the elusive “bottom line”. And it is elusive, like a butterfly, just when you think you’ve got the net on it, it flitters away, or changes altogether. The only “bottom line” that matters is God’s, for He knows when we don’t, He helps when we won’t, and He sees what we can’t. He just has us covered, covered with love.

The point is we don’t need to know everything about everything to be happy, well adjusted people. God is in control of His Universe, His Earth and all that dwell therein. He loves us each one as if we were the only one and He is aware of all that troubles us, all that causes us uneasiness, fear, worry, anxiety, He knows. He knows and He tells us take no thought, don’t worry, He’s got it all in the palm of His hands. What a blessed thought! Doesn’t it make one feel totally inept to spend so much time asking the what ifs, expend so much mental energy on the cares of the future, when God has it all in His hands? Can we by any means work things out as He does? Is there some way we can even see our needs as He does?

God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. What man may consider life-changing and disastrous, God can fix with just one Word. When we look at a situation and feel all is lost we must remind ourselves that God can make a way where there seems no way. God is so able when we’re so not. We may not know how things will work out, all the ins and outs and specifics of our lives, but we can rest assured it WILL all work out because, if we are trusting God, He has a great plan for our life. He said He would never leave us or forsake us. He said if we trusted Him we would never be ashamed. With man it may seem impossible but not with God, for with God all things are possible. And even when it seems like there is no good thing that can come out of a messy situation, once again, God’s word says what the enemy meant for evil, He will use it for good.

So He covers us in His grace and mercy. He sends angels to watch over us. He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place to be the Sacrifice Lamb. And this Jesus was broken and spilled out for you and for me, that through His blood we might be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. There just aren’t any excuses, precious ones, we trust Him or we don’t. Rather than spend the gift of another day in thoughts of uncertainty, worry, excessive concern, etc., just believe God loves you and that He’s right there with you. Just take every negative thought captive the moment it enters the mind and replace it with a positive thought, a loving thought. Dream big dreams for your future and the future of those you love instead of worrying. Why not? Put God first in your thoughts because He has put you first in His.

What ifs! We all have them, but we must not allow them to overwhelm and depress us. Believe that when we’ve got questions, God has answers. Commit your what ifs to Him and trust that He has a beautiful plan for your life, plans to give you a hope and a future and not to harm you. Because what if you trusted God’s way and not your way and the issues of your life turned from tragedy to triumph? What if the refiner’s fire heated seven times hotter that you feel you have been in for so long brings you out looking like Jesus rather than the burned out mess you may be fearing? What if you trusted God’s economy and not the world’s? What if the hopelessness and hardness you experience is committed to Him and your life becomes a testimony, a testimony that can reach the world? What if? We live in a time where God’s way is not just the best way, for all intents and purposes it is the only way. For only God knows the future, your future, my future, and that of the world. Give Him your all today and let him change the warfare into worship.

 

In His Love,

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