Bobbie just sent me this: Thank you all so much for your prayers…..Gracin is home and doing well….only meltdown occurred when the anesthesiologist insisted that she take out her princess earrings…. :)
Meltdown or not, I tell you she is a beautiful little princess! May she grow in favor with God and man and very early become the ‘Bride of Christ’ giving Him glory all the days of her life! Amen and amen!
Ya’ll have a glorious day praising JESUS and don’t forget to PRAY AT NOON!
Holy hugs, Kat…
We all know we are not suppose to worry, right? Right. While I was reading Matthew 6: 25 -33 this morning, I wondered what is worry anyway. I mean what does worry really mean. And do I really do it. (Sounds like I was beginning to worry over worry, huh?) So I consulted my on-line dictionary and I found an interesting synonym for worry. Brood. And I must tell you I think I like the word brood. Because I don’t think I brood. Much. Here’s what it means: To focus attention on a subject persistently and moodily. To be depressed. To be deep in thought. Meditate. To hover. Enveloping. See what I mean? Now lets read the passage. Matthew 6:25 – 33
25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Now how do you feel about the passage? Have you often read this passage and felt condemned? Have you read this passage and believed that your concerns about food, clothing, water bills, mortgage, etc. etc. was worry? And it could be; but perhaps it’s not. If we go back to verse 24, we will read that Jesus told His disciples (and us) that we cannot serve God and wealth (or money) simultaneously– we trust (focus on) one or the other, but not both. And taking our definition for worry – brood – lets ask ourselves are we persistently and moodily focusing on MONEY? Do we see MONEY as the source that feeds us? Do we see MONEY as the source that clothes us? If our answers are yes, well, then we are not only brooding, worrying, we are ‘serving and bowing’ to money rather than GOD. BUT, on the other hand, if we hold a responsible concern (not depressed, not moody, not ill tempered, not grumbling and complaining, but rather) praying and believing that our Father GOD is either going to ‘rain manna from Heaven’ or somehow enable us to work and receive what we need — I’d say we are not guilty of worrying. What you say?
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
ABBA, it’s written. I pray I’m not way off here and that it will encourage and stir us to trust You rather than worry and brood over anything. We called each name, we pray for Your will for each one of them. We pray for each IDOK Soldier that You will keep each of them safe and bring them all safely home. We pray for LeGrand that You will continue to restore him. We pray for the others who are home, making adjustments, that they will find their place again. We pray too for those waiting to go, that Your Will be done. Thank You for loving us. Please bless and comfort all our IDOKS, give rest and peace, comfort, grace and a hunger for You and this I ask in Jesus Strong and Mighty Name. Amen and amen.
I am hoping to give ya’ll a little break today and be brief. I’ve been way long-winded lately with heavy stuff – can’t promise won’t be heavy though.
Hebrews 10:35Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
If you have tuned in to Wednesdays With Beth in recent weeks you have heard her minister this verse and oh did she do it well. I’ve referred back to it a few times lately. Don’t throw away our confidence – most certainly our Savior is worthy of our confidence and most certainly in Him we find confidence – the confidence that we are foolish indeed if we let anything or anyone take away from us.
And that being true a few days ago, I found a secondary message in verse 35. Let me clean up my journal a little bit and share it with you.
Do NOT throw away my confidence not only and first and foremost in Christ Jesus, my Savior, but also those mortals I love too.
Don’t start, don’t allow, and if today we wake up and see it already growing — get rid of that foothold of doubt before it becomes a stronghold of disgust or despair. What happens when the ‘new’ wears off a relationship? Often not good. And in some, the relationship – fellowship comes to a parting of ways. (That may not be all bad depending on whether or not the relationship was built on Christ Jesus — but that’s another devotion.)
I am particularly thinking of close family and friends – people that we know love us, people we have a history with – good times and tough times. Let us not entertain doubts about them — e.g. ‘And just what did she mean by that?’ ‘Did he really mean that the way it sounded?’ These fiery thoughts, if not extinguished with love and truth, will grow and fester. Soon we will question their motives, their sincerity, their ‘goodness’ in just about everything they say or do. And when that happens, we will be smack dab in the middle of disgust or despair. Disgust – I am so sick of her, I cannot stand the sight of her. Despair – he will NEVER change!
Let us not throw away our confidence in the people we love, keep on believing in them. Keep on believing their love for us is true; keep on believing they would not maliciously hurt us; keep on holding onto our confidence in them until the Holy Spirit of God SHOWS us our confidence in them is misplaced.
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
DADDY GOD, even this turned out longer than I thought, I pray You will anoint it and use it to help, to encourage and even shore up, restore and make better some relationships and fellowships.
We’ve read all the names, we’ve remembered the exact request of many, and those we have not, You know for sure and again today we entrust their well being to You. Again today we ask for peace and safety for our IDOK Troops and their families. And again we remember the cares and causes on our hearts and we bring them all in one accord in Your Name LORD JESUS. Amen and amen.
