Overcoming Worry!

Overcoming Worry

Luke 12:22-23

“Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”

 That sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Well, it isn’t easy to not worry and Jesus knew we were human and had emotions that could easily get out of control.  If you say you don’t worry then you are either lying or deceiving yourself.  Here are a few signs that tell you if you are anxious about something.

Number 1 – You feel calm, but when you get in bed, you can’t fall asleep, or if you do, you are constantly tossing and turning.

Number 2 – Your blood pressure climbs higher than usual.

Number 3 - You find yourself going over and over again about a situation or problem with you or your loved ones.

Number 4 – You find yourself getting ill thinking about something and maybe getting headaches, or sick stomachs.

Number 5 – You can’t see any way out of a situation and feel hopeless about it.

I’m sure you get the picture; worry affects a person far more than we know.  I’ve heard people say, “I just can’t get any peace about this situation.”  Then you are anxious about it and worrying.  So what can we do to relieve this worry from us?

The first thing Jesus says Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) is “Come to me”.  How do we come to him; by prayer, of course? Then he says he wants to give us rest; rest from all this worry.  “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Here is the answer he gives us, but underlying that fact is this - worry is ‘lack of faith’.

Jesus gives us a good example of this in Matthew 17:20.  “So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  I think that most of us don’t have that kind of faith, but if we did we would never worry again. 

In Mark 9:21-24, Jesus was about to pray for the healing of a child who had seizures and Jesus told the father that if he had faith anything was possible.  The father understood what Jesus was saying and knew his faith was small so he cried to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

How often we need to cry out to the Lord, “Help my unbelief”.  God knows our every weakness and wants to strengthen us to do his will.  In Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT), he tells us so simply, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

When you go to bed tonight, pray about the situation and tell the Lord to help your ‘unbelief’.  Pray that he gives you peace in whatever situation it is.  Help is there for each one of us.  He knows what you are going through, but we need to turn to him and not try to handle it by yourself.  The answer is there for you, just call on Jesus, he will give you rest.

Once I Was Young and Now I am Old

Once I Was Young and Now I am Old

“I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his descendants begging bread.”   Psalm 37:25

 

It doesn’t matter if you are 20, 50, or 80+ years old, there will be a time you look in the mirror and ask yourself how you got to be this age.  You may age gracefully or very hard; it depends on a lot of things, but you are going to age.   

I remember some years ago of hearing my 80-year old mother look at me and say, “How did I ever get this old?”  Her body had greatly aged, but her mind was still sharp and swift to think.  I remember thinking that was a strange thing to say because I was very active, working a full time job and running an antique store with my younger sister. I was busy in my church and looking forward to so many things. 

Today, I look in the mirror and hear myself saying, “How did I get this old?” Then I begin thinking of all the things I did in my life.  I had 4 children and now have 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.  I produced a TV show, had my own radio program, spoke at many, many churches, was a minister of music, wrote and directed musicals, played piano for many years, taught Bible classes for 27 years and now write this weekly Blog.  There were so many more things I did, but don’t have room to mention.   

On top of that, I have had many physical things such as a hip replacement, knee surgery, spinal fusion, 3 foot surgeries, cancer, not to mention a broken shoulder and that is just part of the list.  Wow!  Now I’m wondering how I did so much in those years and still keep going.  I think I may be like the Every-ready battery bunny; I just keep going and going and going. 

Most of you at any age have things you once did, but can’t do now.  Did you know that we start aging at 20 to 25 years old?  Our bones, muscles and even our brains begin to age; knees lose cartilage and grows thinner.  At first you don’t notice the changes; they are so gradual, but time moves on and suddenly it’s there. 

God has his hand on you no matter the age and he hasn’t told you to stop doing this or that; he may redirect your life’s pathway.  It’s hard to recognize when you are young that God doesn’t care as much about your looks as you do; he has a greater plan in mind.  That plan is to share the Gospel with as many people as you can.  His plan is for you to follow Jesus to the best of your ability and be an example for others so they will want to follow Jesus. 

Even if we are old and crippled up, we can still be a witness to others.  Psalm 92:14 tells us, “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”  ‘Bearing fruit’ does not mean having babies, but it means we should be sharing the Gospel and leading others to Jesus.  I want to give you an example. 

There was a man, Bill Hawkins, witnessed to everyone he could.  He got cancer really bad and was in the hospital for very serious and dangerous surgery.  My husband and I were there to pray with him before he was taken to surgery.  A nurse came into his room and he didn’t waste any time asking her if she knew Jesus and gave her the whole salvation message.  Then the doctor walked in and Bill again asked him if he knew Jesus and the doctor said yes, so Bill invited him to pray for him, which he did.  The presence of God filled that hospital room. 

There was another man, Art Knapp, who was in a hospice home.  Up until the very last he was sharing Jesus with every visitor.  He was so excited about going to be with Jesus, he couldn’t wait.  There was such a glow on his face, I will never forget it.  He was still ‘bearing fruit’ on his death bed. 

I pray that God will keep my mind and at the end of my life, I too, will be sharing the love and mighty works of Almighty God.  Don’t give thought to what you used to do, but on what you can still do. “But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:62]  You see, if you are longing for what is in your past, you can’t keep your mind on God and what is waiting in your future. 

God loves you at any age you are and he wants you to be one of his warriors that stand up and face the battles of life and continue on to the end.  Won’t you listen to him and become like the disciples of old and follow Jesus’ Great Commission to go out and preach the Gospel to everyone you can?

 

 

 

SIGNS AND WONDERS

SIGNS AND WONDERS

“These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name,    and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”  Mark 16:17-18 (NLT)

Not all churches agree that ‘signs and wonders’ exist in the church today.  Many believe they were only in use with the disciples and after they were gone nothing happened again.  However, nowhere in the Bible does it say it will end.  In fact we can read in many places where miracles took place and if everyone wrote down their healings, their deliverance and other spiritual things that have happened, there wouldn’t be enough books to hold it all.

The same people who deny signs and wonders, but believe with all their heart the first part of Jesus words.  Verse 15 says, “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.  Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”  All of these words are part of Jesus’ Great Commission and every ‘born again’ Christian believes that.

I have personally seen people who have had demons, or spirits, controlling their lives and when they have been prayed for, their entire life changed.  I also know the controversy over whether people can speak in other languages.  I also believe that Jesus said that for a reason and He knew it would be a choice for Christians to either want to or not.  The Holy Spirit works in many ways that you might not understand or agree with.

Others have trouble with the, “handling snakes with safety”. Right away some began to think about those people who have churches that handle snakes to prove their faith.  That is testing God too far and some of those people have died from snake bites.  What it really means is that if you accidentally get bitten by a poisonous snake, God can heal you.  Look at Acts 28:3-5 when Paul was shipwrecked and was on the island of Melita, he was bitten by a snake and suffered no effects from its deadly poison. 

If you are traveling in other countries and become ill from food or drink, God can and will raise you up.  Then the last of this verse tells us we can lay hands on people and pray that they will be healed.  Many are healed today, but some are not.  Perhaps they don’t have enough faith and yet there are those who have no faith and God heals them. Healing only comes from God and no person can heal another in the spiritual realm.

God will use certain people to administer the gift of healing. “Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, and those who speak in unknown languages.” 1 Corinthians 12:28 (NLT)  Our pastor has the ‘gift of healing’; God uses him many times, but it is God who does the healing and our pastor will tell you this himself.

When people get into big discussions or arguments about signs and wonders, or talking in tongues (other languages), they get side tracked from the real goal of the Great Commission.  The Gospel is to be spread for one reason only; to get others to become believers and be saved by asking Jesus into their hearts.  This should be the goal for every preacher, evangelist, missionaries, and every Believer.  If other gifts are used to help people believe, then ‘Praise the Lord’. 

Whatever it takes to save the lost – do it.  In Jude 1:23 the Bible goes so far as to say, “Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”  Some may be on their death bed, but they can still accept Jesus as their Savior. 

Remember when Jesus hung on the cross, a thief hung on either side of him and one of them asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom.   And Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  This man was saved at the last minute.  Jesus used this to show the importance of several things here:  1) The man was lost, 2) Jesus saved him, and 3) he could only enter the kingdom of God with Jesus, if he repented. 

Jesus died on that cross to save the whole world if the world received him as King of King and Lord of Lords!  It is up to us as Christians to continue the work that the Savior commanded us to do in Mark 16:15-16, “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”  Jesus said it and I believe it; if this part is true, the rest of this scripture must also be true.  If it takes signs and wonders to accomplish this, so be it.

 

 

Second Chances

Second Chances

“But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house,        dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.        Acts 8:3 (NLT)

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt worthless?  Perhaps you once knew what it meant to live a good, moral life, but circumstances made you turn away and follow a different road.  Have you ever felt God calling you to a better life and you shut it out and kept going away from Him?  Today, do you feel like it’s too late to change because you had your chance and flubbed it?

There is such a thing as “Second Chances” and it can happen this very minute.  If you think you’re bad, let’s go to the Bible and take a look at Paul (Saul).  In the book of Acts, we read where Saul, as he was called then, was set to persecute the Christians.  Stephen, a man of great faith, was accused of blasphemy against God because he preached about Jesus.  So the leaders chose to stone Stephen to death and Paul stood there agreeing as he watched him die.

He set out to kill and destroy all Christians, as they called themselves, after Jesus’ death on the cross.  The Jewish leaders did not believe Jesus was the Son of God.  Paul had studied the scriptures and was taught by a famous teacher, Gamaliel.  Paul knew the law backwards and forwards.  He was totaling set on following God, so he went about murdering the disciples of Jesus.  He had his chance to understand the truth, but was bound up by the law; he saw nothing wrong in killing innocent people.

As bad as Paul was, Jesus loved him and saw Godly potential in him; he was given a second chance to serve the Almighty God.  On his way to Damascus to do more destruction to followers of Jesus, Jesus, himself appeared to Paul and spoke to him, telling him to stop persecuting Christians and to follow Him. Paul was struck blind and those who were traveling with him led him to the place Jesus had given direction to go to.  

Paul was healed, forgiven and converted; he became an apostle for Jesus Christ and an untold number of people became Christians as he traveled around the known world spreading the Gospel. Paul wrote a great part of the New Testament in the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and has been the inspiration of many to follow Christ.

This same Jesus who gave Paul a ‘second chance’, is waiting for you.  You probably won’t have the dramatic conversion that Paul did, but God does have a plan for your life.  He had a plan for you before you were even born and this is what He wants you to know.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

Remember this; just as God was with Paul thousands of years ago, He is there with you now.  He wants you to come to Him, tell him the sin in your life and ask His Son, Jesus to forgive you of those sins; to come into your heart and change you.  It’s probably your second chance to redeem yourself to Him, but make sure it isn’t your last chance.

As for myself, I had heard the Gospel all of my life, but never received it into my heart.  Then one day I saw the truth and as I knelt on the floor in my bedroom, something in my heart said, “This is your last chance.  If you don’t ask me into your heart today, you never will.”  I knelt there and with many tears asked Him into my heart.  I promised Him that I would serve him the rest of my life.  That was 40 years ago and I have never regretted making that decision, not even one time.  Just like the scripture, His plans for me were good and I still have a future and a hope.  Don’t miss this chance.

It may be that the decision you make today will show your future in eternity, and that is either Heaven or Hell.  What’s it going to be, your plans or God’s plans?