Peace In Troubling Times

Written By Judy Smith

We can have peace and contentment in the midst of troubling times. We think this is impossible when everything is caving in on us, and in the natural this is true. If this rings true then we are forgetting the One and only wise and powerful God we serve. In my forty-four years of loving and serving Jesus, He has not let me down. In every circumstance, He worked it out in His time as I prayed, trusted, and drew nearer to Him.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength me. We face an unknown future because we do not know everything that the days ahead contain. Even so we can prepare for whatever lies ahead. We must view life as a learning opportunity. We can ask God what He wants us to learn from any situation that we face. Daily bible reading and prayer prepare us to receive instruction and direction from God when we set aside specific time to listen. He encourages us with His presence and promises. We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us spiritual eyes to see the lessons learned.

Thee situations we face today can build a greater confidence in God and give us the  assurance that in Christ we can tackle what lies ahead. Incident after incident, lesson after lesson,  and year after year, as we experience God’s great faithfulness, grace, and power we will gain the confidence to say, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

In tough times Paul was stretched, beaten, and left for dead. Paul did not ask why me Lord. He asked Lord what do you want me to do? What do you want me to understand from this situation? Paul learned through everything he experienced that we should not rely on ourselves, we should rely on God.

He pulls us out of our circumstances.

2 Samuel 22:17, 20 HCSB He reached down from heaven and took hold of me; He pulled me out of deep waters. He brought me out to a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.

Difficult days come unexpectedly like a flood. You cannot plan for them, neither can you prepare for how they affect you. Though outside and unexpected forces may be the cause, they mainly come through the common aspects of life. It is the abundance of small, daily problems that can overwhelm us.

Even as adversity rages, remember that Jesus is your great lifeguard and that He is able to deliver you. Turn each problem and each overwhelming difficulty to Him. Surely He will lift you out of the deep waters and bring you out to the spacious place where you can breathe and have peace.

Psalm 31:23-24 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.  Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.  

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Rejoice and be thankful! As you walk with Jesus through each day, practice trusting and thanking Him all along the way. Trust is the channel through which His peace flows to you. Thankfulness lifts you up above your troubles.

He does His greatest works through people with grateful trusting hearts. Rather than fretting and evaluating, practice trusting and thanking Him regularly. This will revolutionize your life.

In closing, here are three scriptures to encourage your heart.

• Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
• Psalm 95:1-2 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
• Psalm 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Worry is Worthless

Written By: Judy Smith

I was the champion of worry. I was raised by my grandparents on a very poor farm and I didn’t that know I was poor until I started school. When that realization hit me, it produced many negative feelings in my life. I was already very insecure and afraid of what was going to happen to me. Fear came flowing into me and I began to worry about everything. This continued throughout my adult life.

 After being saved the Lord did a great work of healing and deliverance in my life. Fear went, and the pattern of worry slowly left as my faith in God grew. Faith came in and worry went out.

 Philippians 4:5-9 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.” If we do this, there won’t be room for worry.

 FACTS ABOUT WORRY

40% of the things people worry about never happen.

30% of our worries are related to past maters, which Are now beyond our control.

12% of our worries have to do with our health, even when we are not actually ill.

10% of our worries are about friends and neighbors, and are not based on evidence or fact.

Only 8% of our worries have basis in reality, which means that more than 90% of the things we worry about never may never occur.

 There are three areas of a Christian prayer life. 1) The prayer area in which “nothing” is written because the Bible says be anxious for nothing. 2) The prayer area with the word “everything” because the Bible says, in everything let your requests be made known to God. And 3) is the thanksgiving area where we are thankful to God. When we live within those three areas, we overcome worry. Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you drink; not about your body; what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

 Worry is worthless! Live in God’s peace. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 Once we realize that we are struggling with something and we feel upset, we need to start praying and immediately turn the situation over to God, thankful that He will provide according to His will and offer us peace. You and I are not called to a life of frustration and struggle. Jesus came so we could have righteousness, joy, and peace!

 Seek His face. Let Him displace worry from the center of your being. Let Him shower peace into the pool of your mind. His nature is to bless, so we must receive with thanksgiving. It is not His will that we function alone. Include Him in all your moments.  Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

“Sometimes the Lord calms the storm; sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.” Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. I used to sing of praise that went like this: If I know the Lord is taking care of me, what do I have to worry about? And if I know the Lord is going to see me through, why don’t I sing and shout! Glory Hallelujah Praise His Name. Jesus you are forever taking care of me, what do I have to worry about hmmmmmm? What do I have to worry about!

Character Assassination

When some people are at their worst, God is at His best

Written by Remaliah Evans

I hired a new administrative assistant named “Linda” who soon decided that she wanted to work for a client. Working for our clients is expressly forbidden by our client contracts. At 6pm on a Friday I received an email from Linda stating that I was not a personable supervisor, I did not provide the tools that she needed to succeed, and therefore she was forced to quit without notice. On Monday, another administrative assistant informed me and my Regional Manager that Linda was working for our client. Per the client contract our Operations Director promptly sent the client an invoice totaling 6 months of Linda’s salary.

Linda proceeded to accuse me of not training her, not paying her overtime, and not following up with her harassment claim involving another admin. She continued accusing me for two months and then threatened to sue my company unless we rescinded the invoice to our client. Fortunately I had a plethora of documentation to prove that Linda was not telling the truth. However I spent two months tormented with the fear that my professional reputation might be destroyed and concerned that I might lose my job.

It seemed that all I could do was dwell on the accusations. I found myself bursting into tears whenever I was alone because I felt betrayed. No one had ever tried to assassinate my character and have me fired before, and when it happened my heart broke in a way that I never knew it could break. I had invested a great deal of time into training Linda because she had great potential and I wanted to create a team environment and eventually promote her.

During this time family and friends prayed with me constantly and I was led to these verses:

Psalms 103:1-4 Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit.

Psalms 37:5-6 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

Every time I would worry and get emotional, I would thank the Lord for redeeming my life from the pit and I would thank the Him for vindicating me. It was a very long two months, however in the end, the Lord did just what He promised. He completely protected and redeemed my reputation!

Dwelling on a negative situation is torment. When I started to dwell on the Father’s promises, I found hope. And then I saw that even though it all worked out in the end, I had to forgive. Not just say I forgave her, but really forgive her in my heart. I thought I had forgiven Linda but then God gave me a dream. In the dream, Linda came to ask me for forgiveness and I did not forgive her. I love God’s persistence speaks, if I am not listening during the day, He’ll talk to me through dreams! So God had me pray for her and bless her and her son daily; which was not easy. Through God’s grace and mercy, I was finally able to completely forgive her. These were hard lessons, however I thank God for teaching me, loving me, and sending me people to pray with me and speak truth. Oh! And after Linda left, God blessed with an admin who is reliable, incredibly easy to work with, and overqualified!