DON’T WORRY!

Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

A friend sent me this photo of a seat she noticed while out and about which says, “I have had many troubles, most of which never happened!” Isn’t that so true! We worry about what might happen and when we look back a lot of the time things didn’t happen the way we worried they would after all!

We all know it’s one thing to read ‘Don’t worry about anything’, but it’s another thing altogether to obey it! But it must be possible or God would be unjust to ask us to do something He knew we wouldn’t be able to do! Sometimes we still find ourselves listening to the negative voice of the enemy trying to undermine our faith, instead of the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of faith that says God will provide, because God is for us not against us!😊

Our faith is a major part of our armour and when we let it slip we find the fiery darts have a nasty habit of burning us! Romans 10:17 tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, and it also comes when we hear our own voices declaring His promises over our lives. It comes when we hear the testimonies of others, and faith grows when we put it into practice.😊

Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

So this is just a word of encouragement to us all to not lose our confidence in all God’s  promises, to stop worrying about things that will probably never happen anyway, and even if they do we have God inside us to help us overcome. (I’m speaking to myself first!!) 

Instead let’s keep praying and declaring the Lord will provide all we need when we need it, because He says we really don’t need to worry at all!😊 Amen.

Photo courtesy of  Y. Willis.

LISTENING TO THE RIGHT VOICE

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.’

Occasionally we talk to someone and we just know they’re not listening, either that, or we’re the ones only half listening!😊 But we’re all listening to voices throughout our day, whether it’s the voice of the media on screens, or on the radio, or the voices of friends and family members but are we listening to the right voices?

The priests and elders had forbidden Peter and John to speak at all, or teach, in the name of Jesus. They even threatened them. Now the disciples had a decision to make, would they bow to pressure and keep themselves and their families safe, or carry on anyway?

In v.20 they said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” They made their choice, they carried on doing it, and as a result you and I can hear the gospel and be saved, thank God!

Which brings us back to who we are listening to. Are we listening to God speak through His word and believing it, believing the promises, or are we listening to the voice of reason, the voice of experience, the voice of the culture around us which is liberally minded? 

God is very clear and specific about many things in His Word and gives us no room for grey areas whether it’s to do with sex before marriage, gender orientation, our finances, loving our neighbours and much more. His Word is our manual for doing life.😊

So really it affects all of us and we all have to decide, whether it’s right in the sight of God to listen to the culture more than to God. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to rescue it, so the Holy Spirit is reminding us to encourage one another to decide to stand up for the truth of the Gospel, to only listen to God, and to obey His word.😊 Amen.

Photo: Mohammad Metri on Unsplash