Joy for my sadness

 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:4-6

These times can truly be so sad. Every day it seems that all we are confronted with are sad stories that dominate the news. Whether it is another group of children taken hostage by terrorists, the shooting in Colorado, the spring break incidents in Miami, the violence we see and hear in our own communities, the more still being infected and dying from COVID, political upheaval here and around the world. Or, the friends I know who seem to be stuck in sorrow. My heart like yours I would guess is heavy hurting for those who hurt and for my own ongoing challenges of living in this present season of life. One thing that has been my continual help is steadily leaning into the Lord’s love that lifts us up through joyful trust. Christ’s love and comfort moves us from sadness to gladness when we lean into Him.

The apostle Paul knew sad circumstances first hand: chronic physical limitations (his thorn in the flesh), rejection from political and religious authorities, and time in prison. Yet, drawing on his own experiences, he reminds other followers of Jesus who are sad in spirit: focus your hope in the Lord, He is coming soon. Paul continues, release your worries, and instead pray about everything. How? Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done. The Lord God has a track record of faithfulness that is 100% trustworthy. His love converts sadness to gladness.

When we humble ourselves and confess our desperate need for Christ’s love and the love of His followers we move from staying sad, stewing in our self-pity to a revival of joy in our Lord Jesus. He saved us and gave us His abundant life full of hope and joy overflowing. A humble heart accesses heaven’s resources. In his book, "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis clarifies the relationship of humility to being cheerful: "Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue: it is the high-minded unbeliever desperately trying in the teeth of repeated disillusions to retain his “faith in human nature” who is really sad. Sadness loses its grip when we go to God in humble dependence. His love gladdens our heart!"

How do you move from staying sad to being glad? Recognize the reality of grief. God made you to grieve. Without a healthy process of mourning loss, we will miss the comfort of Christ and His followers, sadly, ever stuck in a cycle of pain, anger and discomfort. Humble yourself before the Lord and use words to describe your broken heart: Lord I am mad, I miss her/him, I am ashamed, I hurt, I feel alone, help me to have hope in You. Restore the joy of my salvation. And, once you have been generously loved by the Lord's perfect love, make sure to be empathetic toward those struggling to smile. Love them as God loves you. Mourn together, so you can rejoice together.

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; 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 makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights” (Habakkuk 3:17-19, 

Moral failure

 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1

 

With the recent events with Kirk Franklin, I got to thinking on the following: What happens when someone we really respect fails morally in our eyes? They fall hard because they were perceived as super spiritual, having walked with the Lord for a long time. We may feel betrayed, angry, saddened and surely we grieve. Private sins exposed by the confession of a public figure jolts our faith. However, it's the Lord’s reminder that we look to Him, not man, as our standard of behavior. 

By God’s grace we pray healing and restoration for our fallen brother or sister in the faith. We who are spiritual are to repent of any latent sin, lest it bring us down in public shame. We pick them up, hold them up, and build them up. Restoration is a long process that requires patience, forgiveness and accountability. Yes, the friend who has failed morally must want help for healing to happen. A humble and contrite heart is what the Holy Spirit uses to bring about spiritual and emotional wholeness. Like the place of protection provided by the city of refuge in the Old Testament (Numbers 35:25), those in moral recovery need a safe environment. Bad habits created over the years by secret sins take time to change. Let the Spirit rebuild their soul.

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

What if we are the one who has been caught in a sin or sins? Our texts, posts on social media, or being caught on camera are found out to be inappropriate. Our moral and financial compromises are discovered after months or years of business travel. The attention of our girlfriend or boyfriend gets the attention of our spouse. We are ensnared by the trap and illusion of pornography and our prayers don’t seem to help. No one is beyond the restoring grace of God. But, the Lord’s discipline may very well precede working through the pain, guilt and shame. Since He loves us so much, He keeps us honest and accountable.

If the Lord can restore and use the imperfect lives of Abraham, David,  Mary Magdalene, and the rest of imperfect people in the Bible for His glory, He can do the same work of grace in us. We are all a work in process and we will stumble, fall, make mistakes, and even fail along the way of life. It's the righteous response to failure that leads us to success. We learn to say I was wrong, I was foolish and I need loving accountability in my life. Humiliation that leads to healing is a trophy of God’s grace. Lift up the fallen, hold up the hurting, build up the broken.

“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes” (Proverbs 24:16).

Make today a day of influence for the Kingdom

Self Love

 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

We are reminded in the church regularly to Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself. With these two commands, Jesus offers a complete vision for the life of the believer. The whole of life oriented towards God in worship and praise, and sleeves that are daily rolled up and ready to serve a world in need. Daily as we breathe in the life of God, we then exhale His love towards others.

We have likely heard these words many times over the years, yet as I reflect upon them today, I’m struck by the small but significant qualifier Jesus gives when telling us to love our neighbor. How are we meant to love them? As we love ourselves.

What does it mean to love yourself? Increasingly, we live in a society that is drunk on celebration of self and on self-love. Virtually every decision we make, or are encouraged to make, is in some way directed towards the betterment of our own lives, whether that is our personal health, social standing, or financial position. We don’t have to be convinced of the merit of this way of life. No one has to sit you down and tell you self-love and self-preservation is worthy of your time or passion. No, it’s hardwired into your nature.  Simply we do it instinctively. Yet what if we took every ounce of that desire for affluence, adoration, comfort, and pleasure, and turned it outward in love for someone other than our self? I believe that would be nothing short of an act of God.

Jesus loves to make the impossible possible in our life, and I believe this begins with the ability to truly love your neighbor as yourself. Notice He does not simply say serve your neighbor, or volunteer an hour of your time and then go back to a self-consumed life. No, here’s the real kicker: Jesus expects us to be just as concerned with our neighbor’s well-being as our own. If our life were in disarray and falling apart, we would spend every waking moment trying to steady the ship and secure a future for our self. Yet how easily we dismiss a neighbor in this situation, offering a passing thought of sympathy while quickly moving on with our own concerns?

To love your neighbor is to be entangled in the messiness of their lives. It will cost us time, convenience, money, and emotional capacity. It is not easy, but it is essential to our obedience to Christ, and is the only path to freedom and true healing.

Fruitful

 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4 

When Jesus speaks of abiding, He means dwelling with Him but also dwelling in the company of those you love. This is very much in line with this extended entry Webster’s dictionary once offered for the word abide: abide by signifies to adhere to, maintain, defend, or stand to, as to abide by a promise, or by a friend; or to suffer the consequences, as to abide by the event, that is, to be fixed or permanent in a particular condition. How well those definitions capture the many meanings of abiding. It means to stay close, to stay loyal, and to stay true.

In his book Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray reminds his readers that the work of God’s grace places believers in a position of abiding in Christ and remaining in Christ. He writes:

“Oh, that you would come and begin simply to listen to His Word and to ask the one question: Does He really mean that I should abide in Him? The answer His Word gives is so simple and so sure: By His almighty grace you now are in Him; that same almighty grace will indeed enable you to abide in Him. By faith you became partakers of the initial grace; by that same faith you can enjoy the continuous grace of abiding in Him. To have a flourishing spiritual life is not to merely ascribe to a set of doctrines and beliefs but to experience the indwelling power of abiding in Christ. Just as fruit won’t grow if removed from the tree that gives it life, so we gain strength by remaining attached to Christ.”

In John 15:4, Jesus told His disciples, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

What does it mean to “remain” in Jesus? For starters, it means you should keep pace with Him, not run ahead of Him or lag behind. Unbridled zeal can send us sideways with what the Spirit wants to accomplish in our life. On the other hand, an unwillingness to make our relationship with Him a priority will cause us to be out of step with His plans for us. We need to abide with Him and remain in Him. God’s presence is pregnant with possibilities for the focused and unhurried heart.

To abide is to be present in His presence, or as the great spiritual writer Brother Lawrence spoke of, to “practice the presence of God.” Learning to practice the presence of God will make all the difference in our spiritual lives, giving us a source of strength, power, and wisdom for our spiritual journeys. In humility, we stand in awe of the One who gave us His all. When we remain at the feet of Jesus, we position ourselves to listen and learn from Him. And through abiding, through practicing His presence, we are changed. We become more like the One we’re inviting to be present in every moment of our lives. Abide in God and He will abide in you.

As 1 John 2:24 instructs us, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.”

Renewed thinking

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29

The Lord wants to strengthen our thinking. In the book of Isaiah, we find these beautiful and poetic lines that are known and loved by every generation. Yet rarely, if ever, do we think of them as applying to the life of our minds. We know our bodies need strength, and even understand the necessity of overcoming difficulty in life, however we all too easily miss the ways in which our minds must be fortified and strengthened by the life of the Spirit of God.

The renewal of our thinking is not the absence of thought, as is commonly believed by some, when we speak of meditation or similar disciplines. No, mindfulness needs a direction. We must have clarity on where we are headed, and then take on practices that bring our minds and thoughts into greater alignment with that goal. Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night.”

The commands, laws, and instructions of God are and should be the object of our meditation. We turn our hearts and minds towards the Lord so we can learn to think His thoughts as our own. As we do, we are confronted with the inescapable reality that God wants to renew within us our love for Him, and our love for our neighbor (Greatest commandment). the Apostle Paul emphatically drives this home, saying, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal 5:14).

If our mindfulness and meditation, even meditation on the Word of God, does not result in a greater love for our neighbor, we have failed to hear the Lord’s word spoken to us.

We may have heard a part or portion of His truth, but if we hear His love and mercy and grace simply in reference to ourselves and personal peace and fulfillment, instead of setting our minds on the Lord and His kingdom, we in a sense are asking the Lord to set His thoughts on the kingdoms of self that we are building.

Isaiah promises that those who wait on the Lord, those who pay attention to His ways and set their thoughts on His kingdom, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. This strength that He gives is not for ourselves, but is given so we can be His hands and feet in love to our neighbor. We run in self-giving love and service, and we do not grow weary in doing good. We walk with those who need us to slow down and come alongside them, and we will not faint, for the Lord gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Simple life

 Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:6

Gift is the word spoken over creation by the very breath of God. Life is given and sustained as a precious gift given by the Father, from whom and for whom all things exist. We are invited to receive this gift from God, and then through our words and deeds offer it back to God in heartfelt devotion, praise, worship, service and righteous living (doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord).

Every breath that we take is an invitation to live our lives in full alignment with the rhythms, steps, and path of the life of God. We have a daily choice to live on accord with the Lord and respect and cherish this gift, or to exploit it and distort its intended use. This my beloved friends is the reality of freedom. We are free to receive this gift and speak the same words of hope and peace into the world, or we can reject the gift and speak our own words into being as life and death is in the power of our tongue and choices.

The Lord speaks life, yet we often speak death. He speaks freedom, and we instead choose bondage. He speaks simplicity, and we live lives of excess. He calls us to generosity, and we instead speak scarcity or greed.

Today, we are invited to look at the small and often unnoticed parts of our life and reflect on the ways they honor the gift of life, or the ways they reject it through distorted habits of living, buying, consuming, and relating to others.

One of the most helpful ways to cultivate a lifestyle of gift-receiving and gift-giving is to intentionally choose a life of simplicity. We spend far too much time consumed by our consumption. The way we spend our time, money, and resources can either set us free or deepen our bondage. One simply cannot be overrun by our own passions and pursuits and retain the margin to care for those we love and are meant to serve. Let's simplify our relationship to our stuff, not as an end in and of itself, but so we can be free to love our neighbor and share the gift of life that we have been given by the Lord to enjoy and live to the full.

Isolation pain

 A man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed. Mark 1:40-41

Jesus encounters the sad site of a precious man, inflicted with incurable leprosy, and quarantined for a lifetime of isolation. Saddled with the shameful task of daily declaring himself unclean to anyone and everyone who might venture too close, can you imagine the pain of not just his body, but his spirit? as if seeing his wretched condition was not warning enough. But his desperate situation caused his tortured soul to seek out the only One who could free his mind and body from this isolation prison of pain. A life of solitary confinement as a result of disease, not a crime against society. Hopeful, he implored his the Creator of heaven and earth to make right this wrong, and He did. Jesus, as He does so often, was moved with compassion to touch the untouchable, the vaccine of compassion cleansed Him. The inoculation to isolation’s pain is to first totally trust the loving touch of Jesus.

“Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him For the help of His presence, my God” (Psalm 42:5, NASB).

Are you weary? Exhausted from the emotional fatigue of hearing of another one whose life is being quietly swept away? Anonymous to most, isolated, maybe with loved ones around, grateful for the courageous medical staff to ease the pain during their last days. It seems like the Lord is absent, if not, why doesn’t He do something to make things better? When our global community writhes in pain, matters seem worse, more pronounced, no doubt a pandemic compounds the pain. This overwhelming plague shouts out for relief, a touch from the Divine’s healing love.

I have to remind myself daily of my need for a touch from Christ’s compassion to heal my heart and soul. Otherwise, I can read the negative newsfeeds and all they do is reinforce and create fear. Maybe, instead of venting my frustrations over social media, like tossing hot grease on a scolded dog, I’m better off to bear my soul with my Savior. Have a little talk with Jesus, and invite His love and mercy to mend my grieving heart. When I isolate my pain, I feed my judgmental self to incite angry reactions. But when I verbalize hurt, Lord I feel alone, insignificant and unsure. It’s here in my vulnerable confession of uncleanliness, that Jesus’ generous compassion cleanses me.

“Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2)

Thank you

 God loves to hear us say thanks.

 According to Psalm 107:2-3, the people who could testify of God’s goodness are those He had “redeemed from the hand of the adversary, and gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.” They were to come together and tell of His redemption. That, my friends, is worship.

 

You’ve probably taught your children to say, “thank you.” But do you teach them to only say it once a week or once a year? Or do you want them to learn to say “thank you” as a way of life, so that it’s the exception when they don’t express thanks? Parents often say to their kids when they are young and receive something, “I didn’t hear you say thank you. What do you say?”

 

Far too often, God has to say to us, “What do you say? I can’t hear you. I don’t hear thanksgiving.” One day, a Puritan was sitting down to a meal of bread and water. Most of us would say, “God, I only have bread and water.” But this Puritan looked down at his plate and said, “Bread and water and Jesus Christ too! What more can a man ask?”

 

Praise is not complete until it has been expressed. The goodness of God gives us ample opportunities to be thankful.

Our refuge

 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:8 (NRSV)

God is a safe place of security to find refuge for our weary soul. He can be trusted with our deepest fears and most painful wounds, every success, up, down, and moment of confusion and chaos. He does not abuse or manipulate but speaks softly and tenderly, like a loving parent towards their beloved child.

In life, we often find ourselves searching for such places of safety. Due to the brokenness of our human condition, trustworthy places of refuge can be elusive and easily lost. A moment of passion or outburst of anger can sow seeds of discord and distrust. We long for refuge, yet find ourselves regularly hurt and betrayed by those we love the most.

We must not misplace our hope. Are earthly relationships a potential means of grace and taste of the perfect refuge of God? Absolutely. Many of us have known, and know today, the joy that comes from living life in a relationship defined by mutual vulnerability, honor, respect, and trust. Few things in life bring greater joy or comfort. Yet we must remember, even the most trustworthy friend is a fallen and broken creature, capable of great good, yet also someone who will fail to love as they ought.

The failure of others is not a cause for distress In many ways, a correct view of the human condition should prepare us for these moments. Every person is sick and in need of the healing touch of God. As James reminds us, from the same mouth we are able to both speak blessing and worship God, yet at the same time speak curses over our brother or sister (James 3:10).

Every time we encounter the brokenness of someone we love, it is an invitation to remember our own need of healing. Furthermore, it should create in us a longing for perfect love, the safety and refuge that comes from God alone. As the psalmist exhorts us, “Trust in God at all times” (Psalm 62:8). There is never a moment or situation in which God cannot be trusted. Turn to him today and find refuge for your weary soul.

Fire and desire

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 84:1-2 (NRSV)

As humans, we are made to desire. The longings we feel are not to be discounted or easily ignored. In fact, they are windows into the state of our soul and health of our heart. So often, the problem is not with desire but is found with the nature of our desire. In short, we love the wrong things.

When our hearts are captured by disordered desires, the solution is not to stop desiring. A failure to desire is a failure to be human and who and how God has uniquely created you to be. God gave you desires as a gift, as a means by which we are made aware of his goodness, grace, mercy, and love.

The Psalms the hymn book of the bible are filled with language of desire and intimate prayers of longing. We see this in Psalm 84: “My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord.” This psalm is an unapologetic embrace of rightly ordered desire and passion. Our problem in life is not that we burn with passion but that we burn with passion for something or someone other than God.

What is it that you desire the most in this life? Fame? Success? Marriage? Children? Power? Whatever it may be for you, the problem often is not with the thing itself, but the fact that it replaces and takes away from your ultimate call to desire the Lord above all things. You and I therefore must choose today to actively and intentionally cultivate holy desires.

The things you desire do not simply happen to you in a passive way. No, we make choices and decisions that lead to the deepening and expansion of our loves. So today, by the power of the Spirit at work in you, choose to pursue God through virtuous habits of faith that deepen your longing for him.

Believe and be baptized

 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mark 1:9-11, KJV

Do you remember the excitement the day that you made your decision to receive Christ and being baptized  I remember when it was for me at the young age of 8 when I was able to grasp and believe in God intellectually and be baptized, but even with that I must admit that even with my confession of belief it was some time and years before I learned  to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Until I encountered Christ in a more personal relationship in my latter teens, I had only loved the Lord with my mind in my youth, but my heart was far from Him and led to a number of mistakes in my youth. However, once I took personal responsibility for my sins, repented and trusted Jesus, He forgave and purposed me. 

You know Jesus was baptized, not because He was in need of a public display that His sins had been washed away (He was sinless). Jesus humbled Himself to be baptized as an example to all who wished to follow Him to do the same in repentance and faith. Even John, who was the baptizer during this sacred moment, first resisted his role and insisted on Jesus baptizing Him. Jesus’ baptism was not only a lesson in obedience, but also a commission from His heavenly Father that He was well pleased with His beloved Son whom He empowered with the Holy Spirit’s favor.

“When you came to Christ, he set you free from your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of your souls. For in baptism you see how your old, evil nature died with him and was buried with him; and then you came up out of death with him into a new life because you trusted the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins” (Colossians 2:11-13, TLB).

Have you experienced believer’s baptism? Maybe you were dedicated to the Lord as a child, but now as a teenager, young adult or adult have you personally placed your 100% trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And, has the sequence of your baptism followed your faith? If not, now is the time to drive a stake of faith in the ground, be born again from above and celebrate your formal conversion with the public declaration of baptism. Going public with your faith solidifies your private commitment with inherent accountability from your faith community and empowers you with your heavenly Father’s favor. You are His beloved child in whom He is well pleased.

Here is a prayer of faith you can pray, and/or help another express their heartfelt trust in Jesus:

Loving Lord Jesus Christ, I place my total trust in you as my Savior who forgives me fully and forever and who loves me with unfailing love. I turn from my sin of pride, fear and unbelief and turn toward you in humility, love and faith. I receive you into my life: the son who died for me, the Spirit who gives me life and the Father who loves me. Give me courage to love and obey you all my life—especially in the first step of public baptism. I thank you and praise you—in your name, I pray, amen. Let someone you love and respect know of your fresh encounter with God.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:16-18).

Getting Aligned

 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 (NIV)

I do not consider myself a handyman in any sense of the word. While homeownership has forced me to confront this shortcoming and learn my way around a home improvement store, I don’t think it will ever come naturally to me. In fact, it’s often the smallest and simplest repairs that prove to be the most frustrating. Case in point, my son has a bicycle with a misaligned back wheel and a chain that has no intention of staying on, and I have very little hope of providing a lasting solution. At some point in the near future, I am going to have to humble myself and take the bike to someone who is able to restore it to its former glory.

At some point in the past year, your life with Christ may have felt a bit like a bike that can’t keep its chain on. At times your faith may have gone off the rails and you aren’t quite sure how to get it back on track! In moments like these, you and I are faced with a decision. Do we throw up our hands in defeat, or do we press in and search for a lasting and permanent solution? Or, to speak with greater precision, do we recognize our inadequacies and look to the only one who can truly heal us and set us back on track?

The first step to healing is identifying the places in your life that need repair. Though the Lord alone is our source of freedom and life, he invites us to regularly and intentionally examine our way of living and identify places of misalignment or disrepair. As Christians, we turn to the Lord and invite him to begin his work of renovation in our hearts and lives. As the Psalmist says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).

As we invite the Lord to lead us in his paths, we must also faithfully and diligently tend to our response to his invitation. We must have a regular habit of self-examination, testing our way of life, and when misaligned and bent out of shape, return to the Lord for our healing and our hope. This is the only way to stay on track.

Prince of peace

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

This passage of scripture is a reminder that true peace isn’t an arbitrary emotion that comes and goes based on circumstances. It’s not an intangible concept. It’s not just a feeling. Peace comes from a person because peace is a person. Peace is Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace. To be a prince means He is Ruler and Steward. He is the Ruler over peace, and He is the Steward of peace. This is good news because it means that where He rules, peace reigns.

But how can you experience the peace Christ offers? How can you know His peace when your life feels anything but peaceful? Allow Him to rule where you need peace.

In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Jesus is saying, “Choosing to receive my gift of peace and the peace I am is a choice. When you allow me rule over your troubled heart, when you allow me to rule over your fears, when you give me your troubles, I will give you my peace in exchange.” This is good news! Because, maybe Christmas is usually anything but peaceful for you. Perhaps the holiday season always feels like a struggle.

There can be family struggles. Perhaps instead of unity and togetherness, your family is always bickering and arguing. There can be struggles with loneliness. Those you want to be with can’t be with you and that hurts. There can be struggles with unemployment, diminishing finances, or ongoing illness. What a beautiful truth: He alone is the Prince of Peace—and where He reigns, peace rules.

During those times when you are grieved by family relationships, focus on Jesus and ask Him to rule and reign over your interactions with loved ones. Surrender control and let Him comfort you. Ask Him to teach you His way of peace. Allow Him to be your Prince of Peace.

If you struggle with loneliness, let Him comfort you. Invite Him into your quiet moments and allow Him to rule and reign over the times when you feel isolated. Choose not to let your heart be troubled or afraid. Allow Him to be your Prince of Peace.

If you are afraid for the future and are concerned about finances, employment, ongoing illness or something else that is out of your control, surrender your cares to Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Ask Him to be your Prince of Peace. He will meet you in your trouble.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” John 16:33.

God > Money

 No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

How do you know if you love God or money more? Ask, do you worry more about missing your prayer time or missing your paycheck? Are you more anxious about what the Lord thinks or do you obsess over the opinion of others? Are you driven to seek God’s Kingdom first, or to blindly build your kingdom? Devotion to the eternal or the temporal cannot be a both/and, but a choice of which one really captures your worship and priorities.

Money makes promises it cannot keep, like security, peace and prosperity. The Lord on the other hand makes you promises He does keep, like grace, forgiveness, joy and contentment. When the commands of these two contradict who will you follow, Christ or cash? Decide now, so when you are in the emotion of the moment you do not give in to glittering gold.

What keeps you up at night? Is it how to make more money or how to look and serve more like Jesus? Set your affections above and you will be more effective below. The Lord is looking for His children with whom He can entrust more of His blessings. He longs for the faithful who use their finances to draw lost souls to salvation, hurting people to healing and who boldly pray, “your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.

Perhaps you take your family on a mission trip, and see how the masses live with little money, but with a lot of the Lord. It is revolutionary for a soul that has been seduced by the mistress of money to see how believers without stuff affectionately embrace their Lord and Savior Jesus. Expose your faith to the poor, so you are liberated from wealth.

It is a heart issue. Who captures your affections, your Savior or your stuff? Money makes a poor master, but a useful servant. While indeed, Jesus is the trustworthy Master with whom you can place your faith and devotion. Money tries to maneuver itself into a place of priority, but by faith you can relegate it to serve righteous causes. Love Him not it.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Prayer the ultimate timesaver

 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him… Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Acts 12: 5, 17

Prayer is a timesaver. It saves the ambassador of Jesus from unnecessary seasons of anxiety. It saves an employer from a wrong hire and the valuable investment of time, money and training in someone who does not stay around for very long. It saves a dating couple from a naïve emotional engagement to marriage without counting the cost of a lifetime commitment to love, to respect, to honor and serve each other. Prayer leads us and empowers us to wait for God’s best.

The flesh forces issues when prayer is void in the relational process. A person who is self-motivated but not Spirit led exerts a lot of energy, but can waste a lot of time. A prayerless approach to life and work can easily end up in a focus on the urgent to the neglect of what really matters. Prayer protects you from the clenches of another’s crisis.

“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer” (Ezra 8:22-23).

Is prayer the primary focus in your decision making process? Do you rest in the realization that He can be trusted to reveal the way you should go? Do you realize that His truth, though at times counterintuitive, saves you time in the long run? What the Lord is saying may not make sense right now, but later as you look back it becomes clearer and beneficial.

It is not a copout to first pray before you commit, it is a wisest filter for our decision-making process. Our Lord  smiles when we take the time to save time through prayer, and by waiting on His understanding in prayer. The prayerless crazy cycle of overreacting in fear and anger only prolongs the pain, while patient prayer applies heaven’s healing process.

So the Lord’s wisdom reminds us: Are you considering a career transition? Then ask God, in what role in my work can I bring you the most glory? Are you facing a difficult financial decision? Then ask Christ, how should I manage Your resources as a wise steward? Are you estranged from a friend or relative? Pray, what can I do to love them in Jesus’ name? Time is a gift from God that requires prayerful use, not fleshly abuse. So, pray well.

“While I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding” (Daniel 9:21-22).