anxiety

Winning Over Anxiety

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

I confess that in spite of my faith and many decades of experience that my biggest battle has been against anxiety. But I give thanks – though not at all for the stress – that during my lowest points I have put down my roots the deepest into my relationship with Jesus. I readily identify with Peter stepping out of the boat onto the waves. It seems that getting closer to Jesus always involves facing the storm. He is close by but to walk by His side requires trusting in practical terms His care in what appears to be impossible circumstance.

I have found that the secret is not just knowing about trusting Him at those moments but to truly and totally trust in His care. That is when His hand takes hold of mine and together we walk over the wave tops and back into the boat! Maybe that is why it was Peter who gives us the promise that in the very middle of our battle we can know the most that God really cares for us.

Today’s Service

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

In my quiet time this morning it was as if God held up a mirror to show me how little I valued those moments compared to Him. Yes I lingered for a brief prayer and spent time in His word; but all the while the wheels of my mind were sprinting ahead towards my future plans. Yet as the apostle Peter points out to us –

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

We all too often lose the value and purpose of the moment of prayer and quiet because the hurry within our hearts drowns out the still small voice of God. We demean the intimate contentment with the Lord Jesus as if something later in the day or tomorrow or next year has more value in His eyes.

20180306_051610.jpg

But God delights in the moment. He rests in it as Jesus rested by the well. He has no sense of hurry or fearful anxiety of urgency.

He is never forced into action in a crisis. He rests in the moment like a butterfly who happily enjoys each flower without wishing He could hurry on to the next. He is not only the way and the truth – He is also like the clock of life itself and all time stands still in His presence. There is neither tomorrow nor yesterday with Him. He is the Great I Am! Whatever humble word, shy smile or simple sacrifice Jesus gives us for today is more precious to Him than any act of service we are planning for the future. The God who knows the beginning from the end also knows our hearts. If we will simply walk with Him by faith in this moment, His promise is that He will walk with us all down through the corridors of eternity!

 

 

When will we get home?

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8

“When are we getting home?” the kids used to pester their mother and I from the back seat of our car many years ago. Whether it was one hour or one day, no matter how many times we explained,  they never seemed to be able to just relax. In much the same way the disciples of Jesus who had just finished a three and a half year apprenticeship and a forty day journey of stress, sorrow and then joy wanted to know when they would  get to the end of their journey. They could have picked up a lesson from the prophet Jeremiah who looking at all the disasters around him in Jerusalem probably wondered the same thing himself. How gracious of our God to come to us, and not to just yell into the back seat, “Just sit down and be quiet!”. God knows the depths of our anxious thoughts and He comes to give us the blessed and healing assurance. that He knows not only the end of the journey but also all the stops along the way! Some days I really need to remind myself of the words of this song – “Now I’m riding in the back seat, and I find that that’s the very place to be. Now I’m riding in the back seat. And I’m leaving all the driving to the chief!”