Worried? Try The Antidote

WORRIED? The word "worry" is from an ancient anglo-saxon word: "wyrgan" which means to strangle. Worrying can strangle faith and hope. Charles Simpson once said: "Anxiety is a mild case of atheism."

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matt. 6:34 (The Message)

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
-- Fanny Crosby

After Easter: Is Your Heart Burning with His Words?

In a couple of places this morning, I read about how God's gentle whispers to your hearts, will cause us to burn inside from the warming impact of what He says to us. After our Lord's resurrection, two disciples were walking in the road when the risen Lord seemed to catch up with them as they walked. He continued on with them, but they didn't recognize that it was Him. When they arrived at their destination He accepted their invitation to join them in their home for a meal. When he broke the bread and "offered thanks" for it, their eyes were opened. He then vanished from sight. They reflected together about the encounter and recalled how their hearts burned within, as He spoke (Luke 24:32).

Many run here and there at the accounts of "revival" breaking out. They rejoice at great wonders that seem to take place. Elijah was discouraged and distressed at the political developments in his nation. He cried out to God that the godly had disappeared. As he waited for God to show Himself, there was a gail force wind that blew, then an earthquake shook the ground, then a raging fire broke out. He heard nothing. Then as the man of God stood at the mouth of the cave as he covered his face with his coat, there was a quiet voice, like a whisper that came to him. It was God's voice. It said,

“So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” (1Kings 19:13 "The Message")

It was a "tuneup" question. It held a gentle rebuke for being so human and not trusting the Lord.

Are you worried about what's going on in our land? Feeling anxious? Worried? Pay no attention to the winds, quakes or fires. Get still and listen for words that burn in your heart. They will come in gentle quietness and Spirit-whispers if you will wait long enough. Don't fret. Get still and remind yourself that God has not lost control of anything. Perhaps some of us have, but He has not.

Grace – Not the Law – Is An Ever-flowing River

I was strolling down the Facebook neighborhood listening to various conversations between friends. I overheard one of my FB friends conversing with one of his about the struggles of humanity, trying to serve God’s law in their minds while their flesh wrestled with the law of sin (Romans 7:15-24).

As I pondered this, I thought to myself: the operative word here, "law." We absolutely cannot serve the law of God, and because we are marked by Christ's blood, we can't adequately serve sin with success or pleasure either.

The verses in Romans 7 about the dark struggle are followed by:

"O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." (vv 24, 25)

But read on to the next verses (Rom 8:1-5) "The Message" is rich with good news:

"With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

"God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.

"The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

"Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God!"

Our blessed Lord replaced law with grace. He has fulfilled the law for us. By that, He made provision for us to step away from the fight and let grace take over. We can rest in His grace.

As we serve the Lord in sincerity and love, He will not take our sins into account (Romans 4:4-8; Psalms 32:1,2). This is because, when He forgave us, it was for ALL our sins, past, present and future. He saw all of them in the eternal realm where there is no time (timelessness, i.e. “The I Am”). So when grace was released from the atonement provision for us, we got all our obedience to the law taken care of for us, by our precious, risen Lord.

Therefore, Grace says: "Leave it at the foot of the cross and continue on. I've got your back!"

Grace is an ever-flowing river that never stops! Wow!