Author: kezha1

The bottom line is…anxiety accomplishes nothing. It won’t stop what’s going to happen tomorrow, it only empties the joy out of today. Jesus warns us in Luke 12: 22-34 to worry about only one thing…our relationship with Him. But still we stress over temporal things. Yet the Lord KNOWS our circumstances even better than we do. But the real danger to us lies in our anxiety becoming the primary concern of our life…and thus directly opposing our relationship with Him (and what He warned us about.) Anxious thoughts do us no good…but God’s Words can console & comfort our soul… or as Jesus said in Luke 12, “Don’t worry, I will take care of you, just as I care for the birds of the air & the flowers of the field, I will take care of you.”

We should always be striving towards the goal set before us, or as Paul exhorted the young pastor Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (I Timothy 6:12) Here Paul was invoking the imagery of the Panhellenic Games (The Ancient Greek Olympic Games) with the prize being Salvation in its fullness as we await our glorification when our Lord removes the presence of sin permanently. Meanwhile, we are to persevere…firmly grasping our call and the plan & purpose God has laid out for us.

Anxiety…even the ancient writers recognized the link between mental & physical health. For in Proverbs 15:13 says, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” That’s because when we are chronically fearful, worried, & stressed, our bodies react with symptoms such as difficultly concentrating, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, stomach & G.I. problems, headaches, insomnia, & panic attacks. Unfortunately, for many of us, (myself included) anxiety has been part of our lives for years…and having someone come up, pat our hand, and say, “Just don’t worry honey!” doesn’t help much . That’s because the Ministry of Encouragement needs concrete substance using the Word of God to effectively care one for another. Words like, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6) Or Jesus’ discourse on worrying in Matthew 6:25-34 where He shows that our uncertainty & distrust reveals faltering faith in God’s ability to take care of our physical needs. Both Scriptures illustrate how anxiety is incompatible with trust in God…and in both, the antidote is the same…prayer & supplication. The practice of prayer provides an outlet for our built up anxiety…our focus shifting off ourselves to the One Who’s in control & can change things. And in the end, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

Telling people about the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the precious gift of salvation through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection should be constantly on our minds. We should be, as Paul writes, eager to share with anyone we come in contact with the way to eternal life. So why do we freeze up & stumble about…not wanting to offend anyone with this wonderful news? In Psalm 40:9-10 David boldly proclaims that he will declare righteousness to the assembly & will not hide it nor conceal God’s love & truth to them. Just think about it, anytime we stop short of testifying about our Lord…we are doing that person a huge disservice & possibly even denying them the opportunity to make a decision for Christ. Jesus addressed the graveness of these mis-actions in Mark 8:38 when He warned, ” If anyone is ashamed of Me and My Words…I will be ashamed of him.”

No wonder the Jews tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy after He made this incredible statement. It clearly referenced Jesus to being eternally preexistent, or in other words, “I have always been!” But the crowd was incapable of comprehending that this man Jesus standing before them could have possibly been there at the beginning of time. But in Revelation 1:8 we read, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.” By using the first & last letter of the Greek alphabet here, John illustrates that the Lord God is both Creator (Alpha) & the One Who will usher in the new heaven & new earth. (Omega) So when Jesus declared this, He was simply stating that He is the Lord of all…past, present, & future.

Jesus was purposefully walking towards Jerusalem…”His face set like a flint.” Isaiah 50:7 tells us…and His disciples were stunned, shocked, & stupefied. Didn’t Jesus realize how determined the Jewish leaders were to kill Him? And now here He was leading them back into the city and a likely ambush? No wonder they were terrified & fearful. Even though the Lord had explained what was to happen…the disciples couldn’t comprehend it, let alone put all the pieces of the puzzle together to get the big picture. All they could do was follow Him. Many times in our life we’ll find our self in the same place…nothing makes sense…we’re frightened out of of mind…and all we can physically muster is to slowly plod behind Him as Jesus leads the way.

This is known as a Pilgrimage Psalm…where the writer is expressing his longing to be in the presence of God. Now as Christians today, we no longer need to travel to a special place in order to experience God, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit,(John 4:21-24) but the importance of being in Church & serving in any capacity is evident here by the writer’s yearning. He likened one day as a insignificant Temple gatekeeper to be the ultimate joyful purpose of his life. But can we say the same? Are we happy to serve in positions never seen by the congregation? Or do we allow self-importance, pride, & vanity rule the places we choose to serve in Church? Charles Spurgeon once wisely said, ” Do not desire to be the principal man in Church. Be lowly. Be humble. The best man in the Church is the man who is willing to be a doormat for all to wipe their boots on, the brother who does not mind what happens to him at all, so long as God is glorified.”

The heartfelt obedience that’s required by God is a moment by moment series of choices on our part. We can either submit our will to God’s as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as You Will.” Or we can stubbornly stand on our own rights & ambitions…insisting we’ll do what we want. But when we come to that fork in the road & our choices have taken us farther rather than closer to God…we need to repent of our defiance & ask the Lord to open our eyes and ears to His truth. (Isaiah 35:5) It’s then we’ll see that God’s Will for our life is only a good thing. (Philippians 2:13)

From the very beginning Satan has been the chief instigator of evil in the world… his two main characteristics being lying & murder. In the Garden of Eden the serpent twisted the truth & caused Eve to doubt God, and later Cain became envious of his brother Abel’s offering and murdered him. And thus Satan’s reign of terror began on earth. So as Jesus is telling us in this verse, we have two options…we are either children of God or children of Satan. If our inclination & impulsive urges are unrighteous, deceptive, and false…we follow after our father the devil. But as I John 3:8 says, if we do what is right & love one another, we are children of God. Satan’s original language is lies…the total opposite of God’s truth, and murder is not just being guilty of killing someone. for both Galatians 5:19-21 and Matthew 5:21-22 both speak of the evil works of the flesh & specifically Matthew 5 show us that anger & hatred towards a brother is considered murder in God’s eyes & thus subject to judgment.

The Jews were arguing with Jesus that Abraham was their father, and thus based their deliverance on ancestry. They had traced their descent back to the Patriarchs and were smugly using their pedigree as their key to heaven. But Jesus quickly pointed out that their father Abraham had been obedient to God no matter what God had asked of him…even to offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice. So in other words, true sonship with their heavenly Father would never be defined by biology & ancestry, but only by obedience.