My wonderful husband surprised me the other day with a brand new TV! It's fantastic, a sparkly 37" flat screen. He had been watching the sales for weeks and got it for a steal! So now we are able to watch more channels- the HD ones. We have found ourselves doing a lot of channel surfing lately. In the mornings, after breakfast and after sending the husband off to work with a kiss, I sit down to surf. One morning I stumbled across one of those random "Godly" channels. (You know like TBN or CBN - it was neither because Heaven knows I canNOT stand Pat and Regent and the rest of the BS they stand for....but I digress). It was a broadcast of the Joyce Meyer Ministries (which may be no better than Pat and his gang, but nevertheless I am drawn to it for some reason).
I used to watch Joyce all the time as a teen - I mean we only got 5 channels with the antenna at my parent's house and TBN was one of them. But it was weird, any time I happened across her show, something always spoke to me and related to a current situation. It did not matter if it was 3 o'clock in the morning and I was sick as a dog, I could turn on the TV and there she would be! And now, years later it has happened again. I find myself watching the clock waiting for her show. (I would watch online, but I refuse to download iTunes, they are too big brother for me). After a particularly moving message today, I sat down with my Bible and Strong's Concordance and read up on the passages about my biggest issue: Worry/Anxiety. I even felt compelled to write some passages down in a note book, and then I felt I should share them with others.
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap." Luke 21:34
Headed God's Promises
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7
I am using The Learning Bible : NIV . I have always preferred NIV, I find it easier to understand unlike all the "Thee"s and "Thou"s of the KJV. But I did find it odd that the "he" and "him"s when clearly talking about God were not capitalized. That is how I wrote it down but decided to "fix" it while typing.
Finally, I would like to share the verse I found most powerful. It comes from a section of Luke 12 verses 22-34 headed:
Do Not Worry
"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour of life?" v.25
Then I decided I should think about what I had read and pray about it. But I got to thinking, perhaps I might pray "wrong." Not that I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to pray, for we are all individuals who each have our own unique relationship with God. Also, I tend to suffer from the current mentality of instant gratification and self-centeredness, and I do not want my prayer requests being unduly selfish. I seem to remember the Bible has some guidelines of how to present prayers, concerns, requests to God based on various occasions and topics. So next I shall turn to Strong's and see what I can find on guideline for prayer.
Thanks for reading! I welcome your thought and comments.
Take care,
Loren
image via Google image search found on http://randomthoughtsonlifeblog.com/2011/07/20/worry-is-a-time-buster/
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