Rehearsing Troubles

Each morning I read Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. On January 16 it says, "Rehearsing your troubles results in experiencing them many times, whereas you are meant to go through them only when they actually occur. "

That seems to be the problem with worry. It multiplies our suffering because we rehearse the problem over and over again, long before we ever deal with it. God does not give us grace ahead of our trials. God gives grace in the actual moment of our trial. Worry, however, causes us to experience the trial over and over again long before it happens and without the grace that God will give when the trial actually occurs! Worry causes us to step outside the presence of God which is our protection from fear.

So, how do we stay in the presence of God when I have work and responsibilities that require focus? We stay in the presence by disciplining our minds. Work when the Spirit says, "Work". Yet, when we have a free moment, rest in the presence instead of running back to worry. Giving thanks for five things that are going right or for five loved ones who bring us joy or for five friends who delight us can quickly bring us back into the presence. Gratitude rapidly ushers us into the presence of the generous and living God.

What is the alternative? We can worry about five things that are going wrong or we can we can worry about five loved ones who are in trouble or we can be angry at five people that have wronged us. Worry tortures the moment because there is no grace present. Patience and rest in Jesus Christ are meant to bring solace to the moment. That is where grace abounds. It is our choice.

"Rehearsing your troubles results in experiencing them many times, whereas you are meant to go through them only when they actually occur. "

Blessings, Father Scott

The Ventriloquist

Have you ever had a conversation in your head where you told someone off? Recently, this happened to a friend while skiing in Colorado. This friend saw a man who had "done him dirty" in a business deal several years ago. Immediately the friend heard this scathing conversation in his head where he was telling this man off and letting him have it.

After a few minutes, however, the friend realized that this was not what he wanted to be doing with his time while on vacation. He was a Christian and truly believed in forgiving those who had wronged him. So why was he having this acrid conversation in his mind? He realized that it was the enemy using his own voice to get him started down the slippery slopes of hatred, bitterness, and anger.

After realizing that satan was the one picking the fight in his mind and not himself, this friend turned on the real perpetrator and told satan to get behind him! He then began to wash his mind with the cleansing water of the Word.

How many times have we been minding our own business when we see a former enemy and retaliatory conversation begins in our own voice, saying something judgemental or condemning about that person. Husbands might hear a thought in their own voice that causes them to condemn their wives. Wives hear words that remind them of painful events and begin to judge their husbands. Church members find themselves responding to themselves about one of their brothers or sisters in Christ that they are not happy with at the moment. Once the dart goes in, it must be extracted quickly or else.....or else we begin to succumb to its poison.

Satan is a ventriloquist. He throws his voice and makes it sound like us. He tempts us with thoughts that have just enough of the truth to cause us to believe the we are justified in our sin. Once we begin to dialogue "with ourselves", we then take on the duties of judge and jury.

But Satan is a ventriloquist. The voice you hear in your head that sounds like your own may not actually be your own. II Corinthians 10: 4,5 tells us to take captive every thought or feeling to Christ. Ask yourself, "Is this really who I am?" "Is this where my heart is to accuse and condemn others?" Or is my heart to love in the Name of Christ? Instead, is my heart's desire to pray for my enemies and to see God heal them?

St. Paul states that he was not unaware of the enemy's schemes. I believe this is one of his most effective schemes--to sound like us so that we begin a dialogue with ourselves whose purpose is to lead us away from the Kingdom instead of towards it.

Blessings,
Father Scott +

Your Future

Sarah Young writes in Jesus Calling, p. 174, "Since I (the Lord) went to such extreme measures to save you from your sins, you can be assured that I will graciously give you all you need."

The logic behind that sentence is so simple! If Jesus went to such extreme measures such as becoming a human being, giving His back over to be beaten, and finally dying shamefully on a cross so that we might be save then why would He allow us to waste away after that?

Of course the Lord is going to provide for us after going to such great extremes. We have so much more worth to Him than we realize. It is elementary yet how easy we forget! Satan spins his lies telling us that the Father will not or cannot provide all we need. Our circumstances echo the same untruths until we forget our value to God. Why would He waste the cross on us to simply let us perish?

Once we have this truth down, we can begin to draw strength from its reality. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The focus is on the present tense. It reminds us to take one day at a time. It calls to our remembrance the manna in the wilderness that came each day but would spoil by the next. God's bread from Heaven was daily and one day only. Jesus tells His disciples to ask for today's sustenance and then to keep blinders on our eyes re tomorrow which holds enough trouble all its own.

Jesus Calling is a devotional. However, what is written there is a truth that has its roots in Scripture. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I found my faith strengthened as I realized its validity and I hope you do to. So let's remember, "Since I went to such extreme measures to save you from your sins, you can be assured that I will graciously give you all you need."