Today, we’re finally going to talk about the practical methods that the Lord gives us in His Word to overcome stress, fear, worry , depression, etc. The things the Lord gives us to do are very easy and yet require total commitment. You have to stick with it every single day. In fact the things the Lord gives us to help us, are commands from Him that we are to be doing anyway, but most of us tend to skip over that little fact.
Let me assure you that the Lord is quite aware of your thoughts and feelings every day. He wants you to be aware of them as well and more then that, He expects us to take control of them. While the world teaches us that we are at the mercy of our feelings and thoughts, God’s Word tells us that instead we are to be in conscious control of them at all times.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Think of it this way. We know how powerful God’s Word is, well our words are also very powerful. We know that God’s Word is just as powerful when we’re thinking it, reading it, or speaking it right? Our words are also powerful in all those ways. In other words, the words we think, our thoughts, are “words” and they are powerful! It is our thoughts that produce our emotions.
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he
What the Lord wants us to do is take every thought we have captive and make it obedient to Christ. How do we do this and what exactly does that mean?
First let’s talk about what it means. When you have a thought that is saying something like, “What if such and such happens thought”. You know, those fantasy thoughts of “what if my husband died and I had no one” and things like that. God says to “capture” that thought. In other words stop it cold. As soon as you catch yourself thinking something along those lines, you tell yourself to “Stop!” You stop the thought and then you make that thought obedient to Christ.
How do you make it obedient to Christ? You replace the lie (because it is a lie) with God’s Truth. In this case since we’re dealing with fantasy type thoughts here, perhaps you could replace it with these verses:
Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:31-33 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.
Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
You don’t have to worry about remembering an entire verse or anything like that, as long as you get the point that God is trying to get across to you in the verse itself. So while it is best to be able to use the actual verses, you can at first simply replace the “bad” thought with something like, “God will meet all my needs, I don’t have to worry” until you’re able to actually recall the verses that the Lord gives you.
Do you understand the principal here? No matter what the thought is, it is a lie if it is causing you worry, fear, stress, depression etc.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Therefore what God is commanding us to do is to first stop the lies in their tracks as soon as we realize we are thinking them and then replace the lies with His truth. This is what the renewing of your mind is which Paul refers to here:
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
This doesn’t happen by some mystical force, at least not entirely. This happens through good hard work on our part. Then when we do our part, replacing the lies with God’s Word, with His Truth, God then renews our minds, and little by little our attitudes are made new.
There is more to this, but I know this is getting long and I really want everyone to be able to read and reflect on this part alone for now, so I’ll add more tomorrow. Please feel free to ask any questions though!
Bible Studies, Friends and Fellowship
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Stress, worry, fear etc & the Christian
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Trials and Tribulations
This is just so perfect and important I had to add it here for us.
“Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”
— Psalm 25:18
It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins—when, being under God’s hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for he counteth the hairs of your head; and your great sorrows you may commit to him, for he holdeth the ocean in the hollow of his hand. Go to him, whatever your present trouble may be, and you shall find him able and willing to relieve you. But we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their defiling power.
The special lesson of the text is this:—that we are to go to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right spirit. Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, “Look upon mine affliction and my pain;” but the next petition is vastly more express, definite, decided, plain—“Forgive all my sins.” Many sufferers would have put it, “Remove my affliction and my pain, and look at my sins.” But David does not say so; he cries, “Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to thy wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to thee, I should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as thou wilt; but as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have them forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment.” A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale than sin; he can bear that his troubles should continue, but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.
Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening : Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.) (April 11 PM). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Too often today, especially with the pervasive influence of the word of faith/prosperity gospel, people have a tendency to think that God must heal all our physical illnesses and pains; That He couldn't possibly allow them to continue. However that's simply not true and not supportable by scripture. Yes, He does heal, but not always unless you count the healing that will occur on the day of our death or rapture. Then we will all be healed completely and never have pain or illness again. Until then however, sickness and pain are part of the curse from the original sin and are something we simply must bear with.
I'm not saying we shouldn't ask for healing, but we certainly shouldn't demand it, nor should we feel "let down" if or when He doesn't heal us. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We can't begin to understand Him entirely --it would be like an ant thinking it could understand a human! We know Him, yes, but we can't hope to attain to His total knowledge and wisdom. What we can know for sure though is that He does love us and He does want what is best for us.
Most of you know that I have lived with chronic pain for 10 years now due to an accident. God has not healed me. He told me He wasn't going to. He didn't say He "never" would, but simply that "now" isn't the time. Those of you who know me, know how much He has blessed me because of this pain too. Yes, it's a trial--a severe one, but I honestly wouldn't give it up if it meant having to give up what He's given me because of it and that's the closeness I have with Him.
We all have choices. My mom used to say that our choice was always to laugh or to cry so why not laugh. That made sense to me and I've tried to live by that. However she wasn't a believer so didn't know the Lord. Now I know our choice goes beyond that.
Our choice is to live our lives knowing that we are beloved by God and that He is doing what is best for us, no matter what our lives may "look like" to other or even ourselves; or we can live our lives constantly fighting and struggling against our circumstances trying to prove to ourselves, others and even God that we somehow deserve to have better; actually trying to prove we deserve to be loved. What a shame when the truth is we are already loved! Or perhaps trying to force God to prove to us that He is in fact God and can heal us. God doesn't need to prove Himself to us though. When we do that, it's called testing the Lord and we are told often enough in His word that we are not to do that!
This is what Paul was talking about when He said:
Philippians 4:11-13 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
He obviously was in great need many times. He was beaten, starved, tortured at times, imprisoned, sick and in pain, etc. but he also had many "good times" when he had plenty and was healthy.
What Paul says here also has a bearing on what we're talking about:
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Again we see that Paul did ask for healing, and again we see that God's answer was "no". Not because He didn't love Paul, not because He wanted Paul to be miserable or unhappy, but because He knew that this was necessary. So we see from this that Paul didn't continue to badger the Lord or "claim" His healing. Instead, in fact, he did the opposite! He said "now I'll boast about my weaknesses!" Paul didn't need God to prove He was God, nor did He need to prove he was worthy of God's love and healing. Instead Paul, like David, simply trusted the Lord to do what was best and accepted His decision.
That then is what we need to do as well when we have trials of any kind. Yes, take them to the Lord! But don't insist that He do things our way or the way that we think He should. Listen for His answer and accept it; remembering that He knows better then we do.
Like David too we also need to remember to examine ourselves for sin and when we find it, to take that to the Lord as well, asking His forgiveness and knowing that He will always forgive us because He loves us.
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Stress,worry,fear etc & the Christian
You're worried about not being able to pay your bills, why? Because you don't have the money and don't know where you're going to get it generally. So you pray that God will provide, but you're still worried. Why? Because you're afraid that He won't. You fear that He will decide for some reason--perhaps because you "haven't been good enough" lately that you deserve to fail and therefore He won't provide the money for the bills or the means to get the money.
Or let's look at depression. We'll use the bills scenario again. You're now depressed because you haven't been able to pay your bills and things are tight and have been for awhile. You've asked God for help but it doesn't seem to be forthcoming...at least not when you want it to be--like preferably yesterday or at least right now. So you get depressed. You're depressed in fact because you're afraid that God has abandoned you or somehow decreed that you are to be made to deal with it on your own without His help. You can think of all kinds of reasons that He has decided that. So the root of the problem is that you fear God has let you down and isn't helping or won't help you.
I'm sure we can each now look back at various circumstances in our lives and see where fear was the root cause of our worry, anxiety, or depression. Often the fear is that we somehow have failed God or that He has or will failed us. We know, every one of us that we're not worthy of any blessing we ask God for so when times get really hard we kind of assume that it's our fault.
Now, let's look at what God says about this.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
No "not made perfect in love" does not mean that the person isn't saved! It simply means that they are not "complete" in love yet. The original word translated "perfect" means more like the perfection achieved when we are complete, mature in our salvation.
Fear isn't from God unless it's the "Fear of the Lord". The fear we're talking about here began in the garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:9-10 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Fear was birthed by the first sin and it is now part of our old sin nature. But remember at our salvation God gave us a new nature, and made us a new creation. That fear we feel from our sin nature is alien to our new nature!
Our whole walk with God from the moment of salvation to the day of the rapture is becoming more mature in our faith so that we express more of our new nature and less of our sin nature. Then on the day of our blessed hope, the rapture, we finally are rid of our sin natures for good and receive our new bodies.
As we walk with the Lord and grow in our faith we exhibit more and more of the fruits of that new Spirit within us:
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
As you can see the very opposite of fear is part of the fruit, the consequences, of living in our new spirit. There is no fear in love!
Anxiety, fear, depression--it's all replaced more and more by God's peace when we have learned to trust Him and trust His Grace and mercy in our lives, until it's totally gone.
God is the one who works this change in us, but we must cooperate with Him in this too. We must strive to always put Him first, stay in communion/prayer with Him and stay in His word to learn more of Him, for it is only through knowing Him better and becoming closer to Him that our new spirit grows. This is what it means when we say like John did, that we must decrease so He can increase.
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
The more we are filled with Him, the less our old sin nature will have it's way with us. The more we trust Him, and trust in His love and our salvation, the more we will know, not just believe, that we have no need to fear anything. This next verse from Romans shows this very well:
Romans 8:15-16 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Here are a couple of other verses to show you that fear isn't from God, but rather He desires us to accept His peace in it's place.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Isaiah 26:3-4 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Thankfully God also gives us some practical ways to overcome fear, anxiety,worry, depression etc. when we do fall prey to them. I've discussed this before in other studies but I don't think we've covered it here, so I'll go over it again tomorrow for us.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Honoring an un-honorable parent
Honoring an un-honorable parent
Originally Posted by pops49
Hey Cindy
I hope I'm asking this right. What does the bible say about being around somebody who's truly mean and corrupt? and what if that person is one of your parents?
I was going to post in trials first but needed to ask here first. Thanks
That's really a HUGE question but I'll do my best for you. This is going to be long though as I want to give you a bunch of scriptures for you to reflect on so you'll know what God's Word says about this. If you want to just skim over the scriptures for now and just read what I wrote, that's fine, but I want you to have them so you can reflect on them later at your leisure.
You don't say if your parents say they are saved or not or which parent it is, so I'll have to cover both possibilities. The reason I said you don't say if they say they are saved is because the one acting this way most likely isn't saved regardless of what they say. But without further information from you I can't be sure...so I'm going to assume that this parent is an angry, mean corrupt person most of the time, which says to me that they aren't saved regardless of whether or not they say they are.
Ok let's start with the basics about parents, children, love and honor. One of the ten commandments is that we are to honor our parents:
Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
It's important for us then to know what was meant by the word that was translated to "honor". Basically it means that we are to value or prize them highly. Children show this by obeying their parents; adult children show this by continuing to treat their parents with respect.
But what if a parent isn't worthy of honor or our respect? What about a parent that abuses their child emotionally, physically, sexually, or spiritually? That kind of parent is not to be honored. It's similar to the situation a wife finds herself in when she's married to an abusive husband. God tells wives to submit to their husbands, but He also expects husbands to behave in a certain way toward their wives. He expects husbands to love their wives and treat them as Christ loved the church--which is a sacrificial love--putting the wife before himself. Parents are to love their children and God tells parents how they are to treat their children too, just as He tells husbands how to treat their wives.
Besides letting us know how husbands should love their wives, God tells us how we are to love each other, especially among family members. Most everyone is familiar with the "love chapter" in the bible but most don't really "get it" because they look at it as the "ideal" rather then God's instructions to us of how we are to love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
And here the Lord is more specific about parents:
Colossians 3:20-21 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Basically these verses are saying that parents shouldn't provoke or irritate their children by continually making unreasonable demands of them. When a parent does this, they are not loving their children in the way the Lord expects them too. Now obviously we cannot expect someone who is unsaved to know God's commands or even care about them. But since you yourself are saved and you do know God's commands, you can see that your parent is not walking in God's ways and by this that they are not loving you the way that the Lord commands us to.
Here again is a passage showing us that God expects parents to be good to their children:
Matthew 7:9-12 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 18:6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
But there is more to parenting then just loving our children. Parents are to train their children in God's ways and they are to discipline their children too. No child enjoys it when they are being disciplined, but it is a very important part of being a parent.
Proverbs 29:15 The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
Proverbs 15:5 A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
So even though we don't like discipline, it's necessary and when we are saved, God will also discipline us, just as any good parent would do for their child. (by the way, there is a big difference between discipline and abuse, and between spanking a child and beating them. God does not want any child to be beaten or abused in any way!)
Hebrews 12:7-11 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
From what you've said though, I doubt if the problem you have is because you didn't like being disciplined as a child. I only brought that up, "just in case" since you didn't give me a lot to go on.
I think by these you can see that the parent treating you badly is not walking in obedience to the Lord. So the question is, where does that leave you? How then are you to react toward them? Your particular situation sounds a bit more difficult in that it sounds like one of your parents is living in sin and the other isn't. That makes it a bit more difficult because you need to show respect and love toward the one who is living the way the Lord tells us too, and if they require you to have an ongoing relationship with the other parent, that's where it could get sticky....I don't think I'll deal with that unless you say that is indeed part of the problem...
So, how do you act? For that we need to look at how the Lord tells us to act in general now. For one thing, you're an adult now and not a child. I assume that you are not living at home with your parents any longer too. (If you are living with them, in their home, then there are some other things that need to be considered...again I won't address that though unless you say that is what's going on)
First, when dealing with the "good" parent, you act toward them with love and respect. You "honor" them just as the Lord says to.
Second, when dealing with the parent that you're having problems with, while you don't have to "honor" them per se, you do need to love them anyway. The difference is that while you're loving the one parent because they've been a good parent and have loved you and cared for you, you'll be loving the "bad" parent because they are in effect your "enemy", and the Lord tells us that we are to love our enemies:
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 6:35-36 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
By those you can see that you are to love them, pray for them and do good things for them when you can. BUT that doesn't mean that you have to spend time with them. While adult children should normally make time regularly to spend with their parents, that's only in a mutually loving situation. That's when the relationship between the child and both parents is a good one.
So Third,since your relationship with one of your parents isn't good due to their mistreatment of you (and from what you said, most likely their mistreatment of others too) it would be best if you simply stayed away from that person entirely or at least as much as is possible for you. That is what the Lord tells us to do. Here are some passages that speak to this:
Proverbs 12:26 A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.
Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Fourth, the important thing to think of is your own spiritual health in this. God tells us that we are not to allow ourselves to stay angry at someone as it could become bitterness in us, or it could precipitate sinful actions on our part, both of which are sins and not good for us. So we need to examine ourselves too and make sure that there is no root of bitterness in us and if there is, we then need to work that out with God.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
God's word tells us what kind of things He does not want to see in us as well as what kind of things we should be doing. I'll post some scriptures about that as well for you to go over. If you find any sin, then of course you need to confess it and He will be faithful to forgive your sin.
Hebrews 12:14-15 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
Fifth, keep in mind that we are always to put God above everyone else, including our parents. That's what Jesus is saying here:
Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
So when a parent is doing something that is against God's Will or His Word, or when they are saying that you should do something like that, we must obey God and not the parent.
So what's the conclusion of all this:
You are to love the parent but you don't have to spend time with them; you are to pray for them and even do good things for them if they ask, but again you don't and shouldn't hang out with them since they are a bad influence and are not godly. You are to forgive them. You are to search and examine yourself to see if you are in sin from this, such as holding onto your anger, or bitterness etc. and if there is, you are to repent and confess it.
Here's some more passages about all this for you to reflect on when you have time; they should help you determine how to handle this situation. I hope this helped you some...
Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.
Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.
Proverbs 27:4 Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
Proverbs 29:8 Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.
Proverbs 29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
Ecclesiastes 7:9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
James 1:19-20 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
2 Corinthians 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
Colossians 3:8-10 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
1 Timothy 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
Hebrews 3:12-13 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
1 Samuel 18 on is about David & Jonathan and Saul, Jonathan's father. Jonathan "honored" his father but never helped him when he was attempting something evil and instead helped David against him. This story shows a lot about honoring parents as well as those in authority over us and what happens when the person no longer deserves honoring etc.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Why should we read/study the Old Testament?
I've heard this from a number of Christians over the years and have actually known some Christians who have never read anything in the Old Testament. This just totally shocked me when I first heard it, and I guess it still does. So I decided that it was time to explain why the Old Testament is so important and why we need to read and study it every bit as much as the New Testament.
The bible was written by God. Yes He used men to do it, but the words themselves are His, not mans. God is the very best teacher there ever was or ever will be. He designed His Word for us to learn from and every single sentence in it is in the exact place where He knew it would do us the most good and teach us the most.
When you read a regular book, you don't start in the middle and finish it, you start at the beginning. No one would even consider leaving the beginning out of a regular book. Why in the world would you ignore the beginning of God's Word then?
Prophecy is progressive--it has a beginning, a middle and an end. If you do not read and study the Old testament, you cannot know the beginning and middle of the meanings of prophecy--any prophecy! And the bible is 2/3rds prophecy!
When the apostles taught people about Jesus, they taught them from the Old Testament! If that's what they did and if that's how the first new Christians learned, shouldn't we learn the same way? Especially considering it was how God wanted them to learn?
These passages are speaking of ALL of God's Word, not just the New Testament; remember, when this was written, there was no "new testament yet:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Do you see that? All scripture, which includes the Old Testament, is to be used for teaching and training in righteousness.
Keep in mind, God doesn't change. He is still the same God as He is in the Old Testament, nor are any of His Words void and without meaning for us.
Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Here Jesus Himself is speaking specifically of the Old Testament and assuring His followers that it is still of utmost importance for them! The Old Testament is not dead, it's not "finished" or "over", it's there to teach us every bit as much as the New Testament. The Old testament fulfills this next passage every bit as much as the New Testament does:
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
God commends the Bereans for searching the scriptures to discover the truth about Jesus. Most of us know that, but what we often fail to realize is that they were searching the Old Testament!
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
As I said, God doesn't change. If He commends them for studying the Old Testament, He will also commend us for doing so!
When you read a secular book, the first part of the book is generally concerned with introducing the major characters of the book, introducing the plot, and building the background of the characters so you can get to know them. This is true in God's Word as well. The Old Testament sets up the whole thing for us. We learn all about God and Jesus in the Old Testament, as well as a lot about the Holy Spirit. Without this basic knowledge of their characters, we can't hope to really understand what's being said in the New Testament. Every word of the New Testament was written with the understanding that the person reading it would have a good background in the Old Testament already!
Do you know that Jesus Himself shows up a bunch of times in the Old Testament? He does and it's fascinating! So does the Holy Spirit! When children are little, they are first taught their ABC's, then little by little they learn to read. The Bible is like that too. The Old Testament is our ABC's and without it we cannot possibly understand or know our Lord very well.
What about the times we're living in right now? What about all that's happening in the world and even all that's happening to us individually in our lives? The Old Testament addressed our times too! No, that's the wrong way to put it...the Old Testament teaches us about the times we're living in right now and the New Testament ADDS to what the Old Testament teaches us about it, not the other way around.
What about our future lives? What about our lives in heaven and/or during the millennium? Guess where you can find information about that...yep, the Old Testament!
Reading the Old Testament also reveals a LOT about our very selves! It teaches us who we really are and how God sees us as well as how He loves us.
Finally, if the Old Testament was important enough for Jesus to learn well and to teach His disciples, then I think it's more then important enough for us to learn well. Jesus set us an example with everything He did and said, and He had a reason for all He did and said, unlike us regular humans. We need to follow His example and part of that is to read and study the Old Testament.
Without the Old Testament the Bible would be incomplete. Without studying the Old Testament, our learning is incomplete. God didn't write it to be a decoration or a paper weight, He wrote it to inform and guide us. The New Testament contains many references to the Old Testament and without having studied it, we can't understand that reference. Look at what Paul says here when he's talking about Abraham in the Old Testament:
Romans 4:23-25 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
This alone tells us without any doubt that the Old Testament was written for us who are born again! He also says speaking of the Old Testament:
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Again speaking of what is written in the Old Testament, Paul said:
1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
1 Corinthians 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
These were all written in the New Testament for us because God knew that some would be tempted not to study His complete Word. Finally to cover that He says:
2 Peter 1:19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
This isn't just a nice poetic thing to say, he is saying that we need to pay attention to the Old Testament and that it will be important to us right up until Christ returns again!
God wrote His Word for us in a manner that He knew was the very best way to teach us. This verse from psalms shows that it is the "unfolding" of His Word that gives us knowledge, wisdom and understanding. By "unfolding" it means "to reveal gradually", "to develop in order". This is why we need the Old Testament.
Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
And here, Jesus is again referring to the Old Testament:
Mark 12:24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
I truly hope that I've been able to show you why we need to read and study the Old Testament as well as the New. It is so very important for our growth! Besides which you simply miss out on some of the best reading in the world if you don't read it!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Stress and the Christian
Stress and the Christian
Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus came to visit them? In that story Martha is running around like any typical housewife today, trying to get her house in order and dinner ready for all her company, most especially for Jesus as He’s a very important person. While Martha is doing all of that, Mary simply sits down with Jesus and listens to every word out of His mouth. She doesn’t want to move for fear of missing something He might say. Martha of course realizes that she’s not getting any help and goes to Jesus to complain. She’s probably thinking that Jesus will not only back her up but that it will cause her sister to feel guilty enough tat she’ll get up and help her. But Jesus once again does the unexpected and says:
Luke 10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I can just imagine the look on Martha’s face at that moment! Pure shock! And Mary was probably in the process of getting to her feet even as He started to speak, and her face probably was a mirror of Martha’s as she sank back down to the floor! Now the Bible doesn’t tell us anymore of what happened, but we know for sure that Jesus made sure Mary was allowed to learn all she wanted to. My guess is, since they both remained close to Jesus is that Martha also realized what was important and joined her sister at least for awhile.
More importantly though, exactly what was it that Jesus was saying was important here? What is the thing that was “needed” and “better” that our Lord said would not be taken from Mary? It was “listening to His Words”. That is what is so much more important then any of the daily busyness of life. Jesus talks about this same thing in the parable of the sower that I believe we looked at earlier.
Luke 8:14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
This is showing the trap that Martha had started to fall into. Martha was being more concerned about life’s every day busyness and worries rather then being concerned about what was much more important, the Word of the Lord. We know from the Bible that she changed her ways because she continued on with Jesus and matured. Those who don’t make their relationship with God and His Word their priority in life, putting Him above everything else, won’t mature. Their spiritual life is choked by life’s worries, and every day activities. Jesus warns us of this again in Luke when He’s talking about the end times. He says:
Luke 21:34-35 “Constantly be on your guard so that your hearts may not be loaded down with self-indulgence, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, or that day will take you by surprise like a trap. For it will come on all who live on the face of the earth.
He’s telling us that if we don’t examine ourselves regularly, and make sure that nothing has inadvertently become a higher priority for us then Himself and His Word, that we can wind up not being ready for His return and instead be taken by surprise. He is not saying that we’ll lose our salvation, but that we won’t be as prepared as we would have been otherwise. Let’s look at how He puts this elsewhere:
Mark 13:35-37 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”
Jesus is quite obviously telling us that we need to stay alert, pay attention and keep ourselves “in the faith”, by keeping Him and His Word as our number one priorities in life. When we don’t do that, it doesn’t affect our salvation but it does affect our future rewards and what our place of ministry will be in His coming Kingdom. When we are saved, God commands us to be faithful to Him. He is is our husband and when we put anything in our lives above being in communication with Him, and studying His Word, then we are committing spiritual adultery; we are allowing the cares and busyness of life to come between us and Him just as Martha did.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Haggai 1:5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Stress and the Christian
Stress and the Christian
Let’s take a look now at what God says our response to the storms in our lives should be.
Romans 8:28-31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.
I know we’ve all heard and read those words many many times, but today let’s see what they’re really saying to us. There are really only two ways we can choose to react or respond to any situation in our lives. We can respond with fear or we can respond with faith. The problem lies in that until we really and truly know in our deepest being that God really does love us, care for us, and will provide for us no matter what, and that He would never ever do anything to cause us harm, then we will act out of fear. For us humans, living in this world of sin, many of us didn’t have good earthly fathers or even a father figure to learn what paternal love really is, and so that also makes us fearful of the Lord. It’s not the good kind of “fear of the Lord” that we are supposed to have though—it’s the bad kind because it’s saying, “I don’t trust you”. All fear and worry have their roots in a lack of trust in the Lord and that lack of trust has it’s roots in not knowing Him very well. Even stress is a form of fear.
There are just so many things in our lives that are based on fear that it can be mind boggling when we begin to realize it. For example, many relationships are based in fear—they are based in the fear of being alone, or the fear of not being able to make it financially alone. Vanity is the fear of being unwanted or unloved, the fear of being alone because no one will look at us because we’re “ugly”. Greed and/or hoarding things come from the fear of being poor or not having enough when you need it. Even anger is often really just fear disguised—fear that the person doesn’t love us or trust us, fear that they will leave us and we’ll be alone; etc. On and on it goes. Fear is not from God, we can know that for sure because He tells us so.
Romans For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Fear is sin as are it’s complements- worry and stress. They do not come from God, they come from our flesh, our sin nature and even sometimes attacks on us from Satan and his demons. How can I say for sure that they are sins? Simply because they do not come from God and also because they are the outward sign that we are not trusting God 100% and that my friends is a sin. The Lord tells us though that when we know Him well we will know His love and His love will cast out that sin of fear.
Romans 8:12-17 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
1 Corinthians And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Do you see that He is saying that we have an obligation once we are saved to live each day, each moment, in the control and power of the Holy Spirit? There is only one way we can do that, and that is to be in constant communication with the Lord all the time. (and to have time daily that we can study His Word) It is our relationship with the Lord and knowing His Word that gives us the victory over fear, worry and stress. It is knowing Him intimately.
We all know that the difference in being a real Christian and a fake one is that the real Christian has a personal relationship with God while the fake Christian is just going through the motions of ritual, tradition and religion. The difference then in someone who is born again and living their life in victory as opposed to one who is floundering is the depth of their relationship with Him. It’s how much they trust Him.
I haven’t reached that prize yet myself, but as Paul says,
Philippians 3:13-16 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Stress and the Christian
Stress and the Christian
So we’ve learned now that in order to have a strong foundation it’s imperative that we are in constant communication with the Lord. I know I often use the term “spend time with the Lord daily” but I realize now that’s really misleading because it gives the impression that there are times during the day when we’re not in communication with Him. I think I first became aware of what Paul meant when He said “pray continually” when my oldest daughter was diagnosed with Hepatitis and was fighting for her life. I literally stayed in contact with the Lord every waking moment from the time I was given that news until the day when her life was no longer in immediate danger. Two years after she was first diagnosed, she discovered she had been miraculously healed by the Lord and that was the day she recommitted her life to Him. For me however, having spent several weeks in contact with Him every waking moment was a real revelation. I grew more in those weeks then I had in several months before that, so I knew I had hit on something and I (of course lol) talked to Him about it. He then continued to teach me why staying so close to Him was important in my every day life. That’s what I’m trying so hard to share here with all of you.
You see, for some reason we humans simply refuse to really learn things when times are good and everything is going smoothly. If we do happen to learn something (which isn’t often) it’s not a well remembered lesson and is often forgotten later. However, when we are in the midst of a storm and we see the Lord sustaining us, working in our lives, then we learn and we remember! It’s the storms of life also that bring out who we really are inside. I know we’ve all heard and probably experienced the fact that when the times are really hard is when you find out who you’re true friends are. Well it’s when the times are really hard that you also find out what you’re really made of and just how much (or how little) you really trust the Lord and rely on Him. It’s during these hard times that we also discover just how good a friend (and sometimes the ONLY friend) that the Lord is to us as well.
These storms in our lives wash away any pretense in us or in our relationship with the Lord. We’re given the choice of trying to stay afloat by our own power or by climbing into His arms where it’s safe. These storms that the Lord allows into our lives either will make us pliable, soften our hearts, make us merciful and allow us to empathize with others, and increase our faith and trust in God, or they will cause us to become bitter, harden our hearts, angry, full of doubt and unbelief. Both ways of reacting are entirely up to us. It depends entirely on which way we choose to react as the storm rages on around us.
Those who have constant communication with the Lord as their anchor will always choose to be pliable, bending under the weight of the storm and leaning on the Lord, counting on Him to get them through it no matter the outcome. Those who don’t yet have that anchor of constant communication with Him are often tossed back and forth by the wind and rain of the storm just as this verse tells us that this is what happens to those who are still not mature in Christ:
Ephesians 4:13-14 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Yes, that passage also brings us right back to studying God’s Word as well as being in constant communication with Him. Both are vitally important and those who start out with just the communication part are inevitably pushed and prodded toward His Word by the Holy Spirit because that’s often how He chooses to speak back to us and it’s an invaluable tool for learning more about the One we love and owe our very existence to.
I still have much I want to share although I realize that this is getting long already, so those who need to can stop here and take up the next portion after a break. I will make the next part of this a separate post, although I’ll post them both today.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Stress and the Christian
Stress and the Christian
I hope though that everyone is beginning to see that the transformation that was begun at salvation is continued daily as we interact with Him, and study and reflect on His Word. As we are transformed, we begin to feel our sins more deeply. It begins to hurt us more when we sin and because of that we are quick to confess them and repent. Pleasing Him becomes more and more important to us and the world in general becomes less important. Each day as the Lord teaches us, we realize that we are absorbing more in a single session with Him then we did in years of sermons or Sunday School! Another part of the transformation is the transformation of our emotions. We discover that we are now having strong reactions to things that never bothered us before, or that we never really thought about before. One day when we are confronted with circumstances that would have worried us in the past, or stressed us out, we discover to our amazement that we aren’t worried about it! Instead when we analyze our feelings we discover that the reason we’re not worried or stressed is because we know it’s going to be ok, because the Lord is in control. It’s no longer “just words” to us, it’s reality! This doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. It comes from knowing God personally, and knowing His Word and understanding it. Of course the only way we can really know and understand God and His Word are to spend time with Him and to really study His Word with His help every day. Jesus talks about this in the parable of the sower too, so let’s look at that today.
Matthew 13:18-23 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.But since he has no root, (foundation) he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Did you notice right away that the seed that fell on the rocky places failed because it had no foundation? Jesus is giving us a huge clue right there on how to be spiritually healthy. He says that when trials came these people floundered because their faith had no foundation. They hadn’t dug deep, and they therefore didn’t understand why these bad things were happening to them or what God expected of them. They fall away because as far as they’re concerned, God didn’t give them what they wanted and it wasn’t worth any effort on their part to look any further.
His next clue comes with the seed that falls among the thorns. He says it is the worries of this life that make it fail. He isn’t saying that worry, in and of itself, causes us to fail, it’s when that worry stops us from making Him our priority, or when that worry causes us to doubt, that it makes us fail. When we allow “the worries of this life” to take precedence and then say we’re too busy to take time to study His Word with Him every day, then again the foundation can’t be built, the transformation isn’t complete and we fail.
The seed that falls on the good ground however is the seed that produces much fruit because that is the person who hears and understands God’s Word! That is the person that spends time daily studying His Word with Him and stays in constant contact with Him throughout the day. It is only through His Spirit that we can understand His Word. Therefore, those who spend time with Him daily studying His Word, are the ones that “hear His word and understand it”. Not only that though, God loves to give us more then we ask for even so to those who respond to Him in this way, He gives even more understanding! That is what He is saying here:
Matthew 13:11-12 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
God is promising us that if we will make Him a priority in our lives and spend time with Him in His Word that He will give us an abundance of understanding. The opposite also holds true however and that is another reason why so many fall prey to false teachers today. Those who don’t spend time with Him this way, will have even their initial understanding taken from them. Our Lord has never been one to tolerate apathy or being lukewarm, but He always gives us more then we deserve, ask for or earn. This abundance of understanding is what will build that strong deep foundation for us and what will make us stand firm and strong during trials. This is what will keep us from being worried or stressed out, and will make our faith become stronger every day.
Please feel free to ask questions and we'll talk more about it tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Stress and the Christian
Stress and the Christian
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
As we study and reflect on God’s Word, we are changed, we are transformed. The transformation that began with our salvation is continued as we study His Word. The study alone isn’t what does it though, it’s the study of His Word along with spending time with Him.
Now, I’m not talking about carving out 15-30 mins a day to pray when I say “spending time with Him”. That’s often what others will tell new Christians but unfortunately it becomes a “duty” or a ritual way to often and there’s little feeling or companionship in it. It becomes a dry recital of a list of wants way to often. When I speak of spending time with the Lord, I mean for us to interact with Him all the time throughout the day just as though He actually was with us. The reason for this is because He really IS with us, and most of the time He’s pretty much ignored or treated like an unwelcome guest at best.
So when we’re studying His Word, we should be talking to Him as well, at the same time. Who better to get understanding of the Bible from then the one who wrote it? Then as we continue our day, we should continue to converse with Him throughout the day about what’s going on with us—again, just as though He was really with us—because He really is!
It’s this combination of interaction with Him and the study of His Word that brings about our transformation to be more and more like Jesus. Our lives do not belong to us any longer as we were bought with a price. So our lives now are our sacrifice to Him, which He purifies and transform daily so that we become more and more like Him, making us holy, sacred and acceptable to Him.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Each day as we interact and study His Word with Him, deepens and solidifies the foundations of our faith so that when the storms come, we can stand firm, and we won’t collapse under the stress. It’s as though He makes His Word a part of us as He transforms us.
Are you wondering what all this has to do with overcoming worry and stress? Think of it this way; have you ever noticed God being worried or stressed out over things? Of course not! In fact, He’s the one that tells us not to worry! So you see, the more we are transformed by Him to become more like Him, the less we will worry and the less we will be stressed out. Things like worry, depression, stress, and fear won’t be an issue for us anymore because we will have built such a strong solid foundation on the Truth that the lies of the enemy won’t be able to take hold of us like they do unbelievers.
We’ll discuss this a little more tomorrow.