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Got Troubles?
In Matthew 6:34b Yeshua says that “Today has enough trouble of its own.” We see trouble in our own lives, in the lives of family and friends, or our nation. In Matt 6:34a, Yeshua tells us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, wear. This includes the many other troubles we encounter as well. So, what’s the solution?
The solution is found in the verse before, Matt 6:33: “Seek the Kingdom of God* and His righteousness.**” But, how do we do that? By just being a good person? No, it’s more than that. First, it’s accepting Yeshua as Savior. It’s allowing Him to be the ruler (Lord) of your life. It is in following His commands—living according to them, making Him the focus of our life above everything else.
Does this mean that you and I will never have any problems? No, Yeshua never promised that. He said that we would have tribulations (trials, distress, frustration) in this world. (John 16:33; Acts 14:22) However, He will see us through them (John 16:33; Rom 8:35; Rom 12:12) and will use them to help us grow in our knowledge and faith in Him if we allow Him to do so.
Life’s troubles can also be called “life’s storms”. The Stepping Stones devotion for 2/20-21/2021, “Be Careful and Don’t Be a Storm-Chaser?” talks about life’s storms. I think you will find it enlightening and encouraging. I will post it on this blog on 2/23/2021 at which time this link will become active.
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
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*The Kingdom of God is the coming time when Messiah Yeshua rules and to which all His followers belong.
**Righteousness is living a life of obedience to God (Gen 6:22). God makes the rules that define morality. Sin is breaking God’s rules. Righteousness is the opposite of sin.
Super Bowling?
Are You “Super Bowling” Everyday Life?
Feb 5, 2021 Stepping Stones devotion from Lighthouse Network.org. Shared with permission.
Transformational Thought
Super Bowl Sunday has basically become a national holiday. With 120+ million viewers, it’s the most-watched TV show, charging $5 million for a 30-second commercial. It is second to Thanksgiving as the day the most food is eaten. On this day record numbers of employees “call-out-sick.” One billion wings are eaten, the most pizzas are ordered and guacamole is eaten, and it’s one of the heaviest beer, soda, and chip consumption days. Tragically, Super Bowl Sunday is also the worst day of the year for gambling, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.
The Super Bowl itself is an unbelievable event … so much emotion, buildup, and expectations. The winner is remembered and worshipped forever, and the loser is branded a choker … forever, unless they get back to the Super Bowl again and win. The commercials, halftime mega-shows, plays, players, and personalities are seared in our minds or become societal icons.
One Super Bowl a year is enough, just ask my wife. Can you imagine if we had 4 a year, one per month, or heaven forbid, weekly Super Bowls? We would be overwhelmed, on edge, emotionally spent, fed up, bankrupt, hung-over, and paralyzed on a regular basis.
But you see, life can be viewed the same way. We have “Super Bowl” events … meeting God, getting married, birth of a child, losing a close loved one, starting day 1 on our dream job, taking grand vacations, starting school, helping a child leave for college, learning a child has a disability, having an affair, experiencing divorce, getting fired, coping with a natural disaster, 9/11. You get the idea … they don’t happen every week (for anybody). Then we have some “playoff game” events whose immediate and long-term impact are important but smaller than the Super Bowl events. Some other life events rank on the very-important-regular-season-game level. And most other events have the importance and impact of a preseason game
Brace yourself for a reality check, 98% of your day, your life, is either a regular season game or even a preseason game in level of importance and impact. The problem: we react to many of our daily events as if they had the importance and impact of a Super Bowl or playoff game. Need some proof? Just look at how intense your reactions are to small things in your day that you won’t even remember a couple days later. They aren’t that important? Unlike Super Bowl big plays, we forget most issues in our life within 1-15 days.
We can’t handle the emotional rollercoaster of 6 Super Bowls a year, let alone 3 Super Bowls a day. But for many, the emotional reaction to several events in a day is fairly extreme. We tend to elevate that event to major impact level when it really isn’t, especially when we don’t get our way or our planned agenda isn’t happening. While few people are “drama queens,” most people fall into the Super Bowl mentality trap. We erroneously feel many things in life are all-important and react to them as life-changing, when they actually aren’t.
Patients, both male and female, tell me they’ve been impacted by one question I’ve asked, namely, “Does that event really rate the ‘Super Bowl’ level of importance you are giving it?” That question really helps people gain a more eternal, realistic, and Godly perspective about everyday events.
Today, remember that Super Bowl-magnitude events usually occur once, twice, or maybe three times a year. So look at how you react to minor daily disruptions and ask yourself, “Is this situation really a Super Bowl event in magnitude and long term impact, or am I having an exaggerated response?” If you are inappropriately “Super Bowling” it, ask yourself “Why?” and “How often do I do this?” and “Am I becoming dependent on something that, when taken away, seems like a Super Bowl level loss to me?” Parents, you’ll probably be amazed as you contemplate your reactions to your kid’s behavior. Whether you see each day’s events from a Godly, realistic perspective or you over-react and Super Bowl the minor events of your day is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Father God, thanks for being sovereign over all things. This truth, and my faith in Your sovereignty gives me such peace in most situations. I confess though, that sometimes I over-react to the spiritual warfare and minutiae of the day and give them a Super Bowl level of importance. Give me discernment and the Mind of Christ to realize what really is important and what isn’t. I pray this in the name of the greatest “Super Bowl” event of all time, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection; And all God’s children say – AMEN!
The Truth
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Luke 12:25,26
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:15-17
The post Are You “Super Bowling” Everyday Life? appeared first on Lighthouse Network.
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Launch Out Into the Deep!
The following is a guest post by my wife, Sue…
Launching out is scary and it is risky. You don’t know what is waiting for you or whether you will be able to handle the unknown. You could be risking your life, your comfort, your security—many things. However, Jesus wants us to launch out when He calls us. If we want to know experientially who Jesus is and our destiny in Him, we must cast off our fears, leave our comfort zone, and launch out into the deep with Him. In doing so, we will learn more about Jesus and dive deeper into our intimacy with Him.
In Matt 14, Peter was told by Jesus to come and walk on the water. Peter risked stepping out of the boat but as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the waves, he cried out in fear. Immediately, Jesus was there to reach out His hand to Peter. Jesus said, “Come,” but Peter doubted that he would reach the boat.
In this life we face many trials. We invite Jesus into those trials but as soon as we are confronted with overwhelming circumstances, we cry out to Him for deliverance. The Lord wants to do more than deliver us; He wants to develop us! As with Job, satan has permission from God to bring trials into our lives in order to develop our character. In Luke 22, Jesus states that He had prayed for Peter. Jesus is our intercessor as well. He is sitting at the right hand of Father God, interceding for us! The Father always hears and answers the prayers of His Son.
In Luke 22:32, Jesus’ prayer for Peter was that Peter’s faith would not fail and that after the trial, Peter would strengthen his brethren. Our tests are also to test our commitment to the Lord. He wants us to realize the depths of His love, His power, His faithfulness, and His trustworthiness. Through these trials we can develop a deeper relationship with Him with a deeper faith at deeper levels than we have ever known.
We will never grow spiritually continually remaining on the mountaintops. In the valleys is where we find who we are and who Jesus is to us. The joy of intimacy is found in the risks of our journey with Jesus. He prepares us for service and to reach our destiny as we discover that He is there with us in the hardships of life. Our faith will grow under pressure. Our experiences will develop sensitivity and sympathy for others who are facing hardships. They will know that they can overcome life because they see that we have overcome!
In conclusion, the two benefits of testing are: spiritual growth and development, and sensitivity and sympathy to help others.
Launch out into the deep with Jesus!
Until next time…”May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
Clickety-Clack Life
Clickety-clack, clickety-clack goes the train down the track. Places to be, stations to see, switches to choose, choices to make.
Ok, so I’m not a poet, but you get the idea. We are on a journey just like a train, just like the Israelites were during the 40 years in the wilderness. Traveling here, staying there. Making stops and then continuing on clickety-clack down the track, making many choices like a train when it encounters a switch enabling it to change tracks.
We all start life the same—we are born. Then there are enumerable stops or stations along the way such as learning to walk, school, rites of passage, careers, marriage, spirituality… and on and on. Our train may stop briefly at some stations and then move quickly on. It may pass some by, not stopping at all as the platform whizzes by. Or, it may stop and stay awhile, like a train on a siding.
In reality, the train analogy breaks down a little because, while a train can follow only one track at a time, our lives can follow several concurrent tracks. We have the track of marriage and family, the track of career, the track of interests/hobbies, etc. We also have the track of our spiritual life, which can be likened to the center rail on some model trains. Our spiritual life, or lack thereof, is the center track of every other track we follow.
But where is our train (my train, your train) headed? Throughout the years, it follows many different tracks, taking many switches, making many choices. Just as switches are the mechanism by which a train changes tracks, our choices determine which track of life we follow and where we end up. Sometimes, we get to choose which track we follow, sometimes the choice is made for us. We all hope that our train is never switched to the wrong track by choice or circumstance. But unfortunately, or fortunately, some do end up on the wrong track. I say unfortunately because we all make wrong choices that we have to live with. I say fortunately because, though the track may seem to be the wrong one at the time, it often proves to be the best one when we reach the next station.
Sometimes, the switch takes us down a sidetrack. These sidings can be good or bad. Some are for rest and rejuvenation, some are for growth, and some are mostly of our choosing and represent fleeting temptations and desires that can damage us spiritually and physically. Some of these sidetracks have a dead end, just like some train sidings. In that case, we have to back up to the switch to resume our travel. But they all work together to make us who we are and to prepare us for the rest of the journey (Rom. 8:28).
When we all reach the end-of-the-line, our train will have one more switch to traverse. That switch is pre-set by one important, life-changing, choice you make during your life – whether to employ Yeshua, the Son of God, as your train engineer (director, manager, Lord). If you chose Him, your switch will be pre-set to take you on the final correct track. If it is not…
With Him as your train engineer, your train may still go down some tracks that you’d prefer not to travel, but He is always taking you through life to a higher calling (Heb. 11:1-16; 13:14-21; 1 Pet. 2:11; 1 Jn. 21:15-17) and He will always ensure that you still end up at the correct destination station.
If you have never accepted Him as your Lord, or need to recommit to following Him, do so now, today, this very moment. Just talk to Him, tell Him that you are sorry for the wrong actions and attitudes in your life (called repentance) and that you want to make Him your train engineer for the rest of your life. Then, get a Bible, start reading, and learn how He wants to direct your train.
Until the next time…May the LORD bless and protect you…May He give you Shalom. (Numbers 6:24-26)
Bill
WJB's Turn 