Worry

Submitted anonymously

This Week’s Verse:

Matthew 6: 25-34 "Do Not Worry"

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 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.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Devotion:
Why do I worry? I know God is taking care of me. I know He will always take care of me and my family. Even when bad things happen, God is still there for me. To comfort me, give me peace, and bring me through to the other side of whatever it is I am going through. No matter what, God promises He is always there.

So, why do I lose sleep over what has happened during the day, about my children, or a decision I feel is hanging over my head? Because I am human. I have to ask for forgiveness everyday, and for God's guidance. I have to ask Him to take control, and take away my worries. I have to turn everything over to Him.

As it says in John 10, "no one" can take us away from our Father's hand!! That is powerful! No matter what He is holding us in his hand. God's got us! We have to have faith, assurance about what we do not see, that He is there and always will be.

Lord, Give us faith, so that we may count on you to protect us and get us through each day without worry. Help us to obey you, and to not worry about anything.

Applications: Even though turmoil is going on all around us, God is in control. He is the Creator and can do anything, so we should not fear....anything. Seek first His kingdom, and all these things (whatever you need) will be given to you.

Power verses:
John 10:27-30, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (NIV)

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." (NKJV)

Psalm 46:1-6,
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts." (NIV)

Dogging Jesus--Fast on His Heels

by Mollie Thompson

This Week’s Verse: Psalm 25:4, "Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths."(NKJV)

Devotion:
I just watched Susan Boyle’s first audition for Britain’s Got Talent again. She just amazes me. Here is this forty-seven-year-old woman walking onto this stage that is reserved for the fresh and the young. Sometimes it is shared with those who dare to be ridiculed. She’s dowdy. She’s all alone in this world. She suffered a slight bit of brain damage at birth because of a lack of oxygen, so she’s not keenly bright.

But because of a promise she made her mother before she died, Susan walks onto this huge stage in front of millions of people. She knows what people think of her. She has been bullied, and has not been highly thought of throughout her life. Even the judges are snickering at her and she knows it. She knows the crowd isn’t impressed – until she opens her mouth to sing.

Her voice is to die for. Five succeedingly high notes and she hits them all. Even the words to the song suit her. She gets a standing ovation. So what does she do when her performance is over, when she is to stand in front of the judges and let them critique her? She’s already summed up their responses. She did it for her mother. Now she’s walking off the stage to go on home. But wait. They are telling her to come back. She doesn’t realize she has finally been appreciated. She doesn’t realize that, yes, she really is someone special. People actually love her. They want more of her. Even the female judge likes her which really astounds Susan. The world is enthralled with her.

Have you ever walked in Susan’s shoes even just a little bit? Have people made fun of you and so you already have your mind made up beforehand how it’s all going to turn out? You’ve bombed before--okay, God, I think you’re telling me to do this, and so for you I will do it. But then I’m coming back home and licking my wounds. I’ll go do it for you, but then that’s it. You know, sometimes life is just hard like that.

God’s ways are higher than ours. How He gets us to the point of being blessed may not look like the best way to get there. And by the time we get there, if we have truly stayed on the path He’s laid out before us, we will have been so humbled by life’s trials that who really cares about being exalted?

But wait! Isn’t that the best way to be? When Susan got to the top, she remained humble. HUMBLE. She’d been trained by the trials and tribulations that bring humility. That’s the big deal. It’s when we get to thinking more of ourselves than we ought that we blow it with our pride. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

The big deal is in learning God’s ways. It’s by staying on that path that is not always the most enjoyable. Sometimes that path just downright stinks in our estimation. But if we stick to it, if we keep following even when we don’t like it and even when it gets really hard, then we will have our reward in the end. And when that reward comes we will be able to stay around and enjoy it.

It’s that fast road to the top that has a slippery slope down the other side – sort of like Chutes and Ladders. But if we stay on the path God has for us and if we allow Him to teach us His ways, then we will be standing on a firm foundation, and we will be able to mount up with wings like eagle’s and soar.

Father, what You ask of us sometimes is really hard. Help us to remember that You never leave us, You never forsake us or abandon us. Help us to learn and to know how much You love us and cherish us, how much You want the very best for us. Allow us to feel Your loving arms holding us tight in Your embrace. Let us smell the sweet fragrance of Your presence. Send encouragement when we get so down that we don’t think we can take another step. Oh, Father, thank You so much for loving us. Thank You so much for that while we were yet sinners you sent Your only begotten Son to die for us on that awful cross so that someday we can sit in Your lap and then know a joy unspeakable that is full of Your glory. Thank You, Abba. In Your precious Son’s name, Jesus. Amen.

Application:
If you are not going through something hard right now, you will. And when you do, remember it is in those difficult times that we are more likely to press into the love of Jesus. It is in those times that we are more apt to learn more of God’s ways. We are more apt to listen to His heartbeat because we have our heads pressed up against His chest waiting, listening for what to do next. Oh, how deeply Jesus wants us to know His love for us. How much He wants us to see His tender mercies He gives us like manna each morning.

Power Verses:
2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (NKJV)
Hebrews 12: 11, "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."(NKJV)
Jeremiah 31:3, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you."(NKJV)
Psalm 23: 4, "Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me."(AMP)
Habakkuk 3:19, "The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills."

Upside Down Kingdom: Trials

by Missy Milbourn

This Week's Verse: James 1:2, "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy." (NIV)

Devotion:
So many times as I read the Bible, which explains and describes and teaches the things of the Kingdom of God, I think what an upside down kingdom. God looks at things so differently than the way the world teaches us to view things.

The longer I’m a Christian, the more I realize how important it is that we go through the process of the “renewing of the mind”. We need to let go of how the world looks at things, and grab hold of how the Lord looks at things. Take this week’s scripture for example:

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.”

WHAT!?! Are you out of your mind?!?!

I don’t know about you, but when troubles come my way, I am anything but joyful about it. Seriously.

Depending on what trouble comes my way, my response to it--instead of being joyful--typically falls under one of these categories:

Fearful

Angered

or

Offended

Let’s pick one of those and examine it a bit. Let’s say that I get angry easily, and I find that various situations keep happening that cause me to become angry. As a result, I think, why does trouble continually come into my life causing me to be upset?!

A wise Christian friend once told me that God, in his mercy, often brings us to the same mountain because He wants us to learn how to get over that mountain.

I believe that’s a huge part of what James 1 is teaching. Let’s looks at it in The Message: "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way" (James 1:2-4).

If anger is our issue, I can assure you that God wants to help us deal with that, because we’ll be a lot happier if we’re not honked off all the time.

If being offended is our issue, I can assure you that God wants to help us with that, because we’ll be a lot happier if our feelings aren’t hurt all the time.

If fear is our issue, I can assure you that God wants to help us with that because we’ll have a happier life if we learn to trust God instead of living in a state of worry all the time.

Oftentimes when we find ourselves mad or offended or fearful, our first inclination is to flee the situation. But God is saying “don’t”. Don’t leave prematurely, but let this trial do its work in you so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

John Bevere, in his book The Bait of Satan, speaks of how Christians often leave their church over an offense. And often, when they do that, they run into the same problem at their next church. Because, guess what, God wants to work something out in that person, and as long as we’re in relationship with Him, He’s going to keep bringing the issue up. He wants to help us through it, because we belong to Him, and He’s molding us into His image for our benefit, and for the benefit of His Kingdom. He is guiding us into full maturity.

Let’s not run from what He has for us. But instead, let’s ask Him what it is He wants us to learn from the trial. Knowing that we can trust Him to make us mature, not deficient in any way…and that, my friend, is reason for joy.

Father, it is so hard when trouble comes our way. Typically our reaction is a “not so good” emotional one. But Lord, help us to trust you when trouble comes our way. Help us to know You more. To lean on You more. To learn from You, allowing the trial to grow us up in whatever manner you see fit.

Application:
Think about how you respond when troubles come your way. Or maybe you are in the midst of a trial right now. Take a moment to think about what God may want to teach you through that particular trial.

Power Verses:
2 Corinthians 4:17-18, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (NIV)
2 Corinthians 12:10, "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." (NIV)

Increase My Faith

by Missy Milbourn

This Week's Verse: Habakkuk 2:4, “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith.”

Devotion:
Increase my faith, Father. I want the faith of Habakkuk who even in having the knowledge of the impending destruction that his people were going to face, he was able to say, “You know what Lord? Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as sure footed as a deer, and bring me safely over the mountains.”

That kind of faith doesn’t come from just knowing about God. That kind of faith comes from knowing God, knowing His character, knowing His nature, knowing that God is love. Having a relationship with Him where you speak one on one. I believe the reason why Habakkuk could have that kind of faith was because he knew and trusted his heavenly Father. He knew that in all of the “destruction” that ultimately what God was doing was calling his people back, turning their hearts back to Him, saving them.

I believe that’s what we see Habakkuk recalling in chapter 3:8 when he says “Was it in anger, Lord, that you struck the rivers and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them? NO, you were sending your chariots of salvation.”

I don’t know what kind of “destruction” you’re currently living through, but I know that there’s a God who loves you. I know that there’s a God who is calling you into a deeper relationship with Himself. And I believe with all my heart, that as you trust in Him, as you surrender to Him, that He, as Habakkuk said, “will make you a sure footed as a deer, and bring you safely over the mountains.”

Father, help me to believe in you and to trust in you even when times get tough. Even when the “real life” picture isn’t how I might want it, help me to trust you to bring me safely over the mountain.

Application:
As we start a new year, now is a perfect time to commit to meeting with God daily, to get to know Him better, so that you too can know his character, know his nature, and know his love. One simple way to do that is by signing up for Tim Wood’s Daily Bible Reading. He will lead you on a guided journey through God’s word by sending you, via e-mail, daily Bible readings with commentaries. You can sign up for that by sending Tim an e-mail at twood@marshallfcc.org

Power Verses:
Romans 1:17, “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “it is through faith that a righteous person has life.”(NLT)
Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”(NIV)
John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (NLT)