God Will Lift You Up

“This medicine doesn’t help me, and besides, it makes my mouth so dry that no matter how much water I drink, it’s not enough. I’ve taken it for a couple of weeks now, and it hasn’t made any difference.”

That’s what I thought about the medicine which the doctor at the mental health clinic had prescribed. I continued going to the clinic for counseling but didn’t mention that I had quit taking the meds.

The counseling alone wasn’t enough to take care of the problems I had, and I quit going.

My husband thought a daily walk outside was what I needed. We walked together once a day—I was afraid to walk alone.

That was before I landed in the hospital with depression. Those are all helpful things, just not enough individually.

In the hospital, I didn’t have a choice about taking the medicine. We also received group and individual counseling, and we walked each day, although not outside.

I wonder if I would have gotten well without the hospital stay if I would have seen and heeded 1 Peter 4:6 which says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (NIV).

Even if f I had remembered that verse, would I have recognized the medicine as God’s hand?

Maybe so, but the reality is that I was hospitalized, and that God used that for His purposes.

Is there anything in your life that needs to be submitted to God?

All wise Father, please help me recognize when You are calling me to humble myself under Your mighty hand. Amen.

A Ray of Hope

“I have a doctor appointment at 9:00, and I’m supposed to drive to my husband’s workplace to pick him up so he can go with me. Day and night this unreasonable fear has tormented me for some time now. My thoughts tumble in a hamster wheel of wondering what is wrong with me and fears that I might faint and no one could help me. Chest pains started early last week. My body feels so weak! I can’t make my feet step out the door. I’ll have to call my husband and tell him I can’t drive this morning, and he will need to come and get me.”

That happened on a Monday morning about 35 years ago. I still remember the panic, uncontrollable crying, body weakness, sweaty palms, and trembling of the months leading up to that day. When the panic attacks (as I later learned they were called) first started, they came only occasionally. Then they started happening more and more frequently. Finally, by that August when the chest pains started, they had become constant.

At the appointment that morning, the doctor recommended a hospital stay and referred me to a psychiatrist who prescribed an antidepressant and an “as needed” sedative. The antidepressant helped, and I didn’t need the sedative often. After a few days, a Christian couple I knew visited me in the hospital and prayed for me. The next morning, I felt like God slipped a ray of hope into my heart where I had felt hopeless and helpless. Maybe I could get well after all.

And I did get well. It took some time, and I still need an antidepressant, but I got free of panic attacks and depression.

Do you need a ray of hope today? Let’s call on our compassionate God who shines His love where it’s needed.

Compassionate Father, please shine your love into the parts of our hearts which feel hopeless and helpless today. Thank You for Your love and Mercy. Amen.

Palm 42:11 “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” NIV

Choose Love

I felt irritated at my friends because they weren’t doing what I thought they ought to do. Then my frustration mounted when their choices interfered with what I chose to do. God may have been pleased with my choice of activity, but definitely not with my attitude.

The next morning, I read 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable….” (New Living Translation)

Oops! In my mind, I was demanding my own way. Then surely pride prompted my choice of irritability over friendship when their plans interfered with mine.

So I humble myself and ask for God’s forgiveness and help.

Oh, Lord God, please forgive my sins of pride and an unloving attitude. Holy Spirit, I ask you to pour Your love into my heart again so it overflows into my attitudes and out to others! Amen.

Burning Like a Furnace

Malachi 4:1 talks about the arrogant and evildoers being burned up completely and turned to ashes. I think of the people who want to uproot everything good in our nation and of wicked tyrants around the world. Then I want to cheer Malachi 4:1, but Proverbs 24:17-18 warns against being glad when my enemy stumbles. Also, we who follow Christ are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). How can I not want the “arrogant and evildoers” to be destroyed?

Maybe I could think of them as people for whom Christ died but who have been taken captive by the devil and are listening to him. Then I can pray for their repentance so they won’t have to be destroyed on Judgment Day (2 Timothy 2:26).

“Surely, the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays….’”—Malachi 4:1-2 NIV

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him”—Proverbs 24:17-18 NIV

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:44-45 NIV

“And that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”—2 Timothy 2:26 NIV

“The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” Psalm 145:20 NIV

Clean Out the Old

Colossians 3:8-10 says, “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ….” (NIV)

Get rid of anger…how? Is that really possible? I think of a recent situation and wonder why I felt so angry at a couple of the women involved.

One reason—My old self wants to be in control and make them do what I think is right and possibly even get back at them in some way. But the “new self” me wants to obey Christ and forgive and remember that vengeance is God’s job, not mine.

Second, maybe I’m not trusting God to make everything work out for good. Perhaps I need to remind myself that Almighty God is still on His throne and that He is accomplishing His plans and purposes in ways I can’t imagine.

I can grow from this situation which is beyond my control if I will humble myself and submit to Christ’s Lordship and allow God to renew my thinking (Romans 12:2).

God-Honoring Life

Even though I’m getting old, Jesus, maybe it’s not too late to learn from You things that would have helped me live a more God-honoring life through the years.

Yesterday at my job, I learned a little more of what it means to work “as for the Lord.” I work on the team that deals with clients and does the background paperwork. Near the end of the day, we received papers to file which we couldn’t finish before time to leave. I often stay late anyway to take care of things that can’t be done while serving clients.

Nevertheless, I resented the extra filing when most of the others were leaving. Then I remembered that I was working for Jesus, not for the people at the job site. I thought of what a privilege it was to serve Jesus by doing that extra filing. My attitude changed, and I worked at the job gladly.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for teaching this “golden oldie” something new.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
(Colossians 3:23-24 NIV)

Help Me Say No

In one joke I read, three priests confess to each other their worst sins. One says, “I get angry and explode over small things,” and he gives an example of a recent failure. The next confesses his struggle with lust and mentions his latest difficulty. The third then says, “Well, my big sin is gossip, and I can’t wait to go talk to some of my friends!”

Seriously, I can’t tell you my most serious struggles lest someone be tempted to gossip. But maybe I can share a couple of things that often help me when I want to take the wrong path.

One possibility: I confess my sinful thoughts to God, receive His forgiveness and thank Him for it. (1 John 1:9)

A second avenue of help: Remember Jesus’ presence. He is here. He will help me say no to temptation.

Thank You for being near me today, Lord! I need You every minute. Without Your help, I would go my own way, which leads to destruction. But I will trust You to help me do what is good—which pleases You.

Psalm 145:17-18 “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (NIV)

God’s Treasure Chest

“My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.”

Father, thank You for a new day to listen to what You say. I want to do better at listening than I have done.
I will treasure and value and obey Your commands. Again, may I do better than I have in the past.

“Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.”

Dear Father, please help me as I tune my heart to hear Your wisdom. I want to concentrate on wisdom. Grant me insight and understanding. I need to seek these as the treasures that they are. Please show me what this means in my life today. Help me put Your Word into practice.

(Proverbs 2:1-4 NLT)

Psalm 19:9-11

“…The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.
They are …a great reward for those who obey them.” (NLT – New Living Translation)

(Picture from Pinterest)

We Can Make Better Choices

Adam and Eve made a tragic choice with global consequences. They didn’t do it because they were bad people. God declared them very good from the beginning. That “very good” included their power to choose to believe and trust God or to believe and trust the liar and his lies.

But God’s love didn’t give up on Adam and Eve. He told them the consequences of their sin, yet included His promise of the One who would come to “crush Satan’s head.” He also provided the animal skins to cover their now-exposed nakedness, making the first animal sacrifice Himself.

We sometimes choose hurtful rather than helpful actions too, but making bad choices doesn’t make us bad people. God doesn’t give up on us either. He allows consequences so we will learn. He keeps loving us. And just because we made wrong choices or even if we have developed a habit of those ways doesn’t mean we can’t choose a better way today.

God provided forgiveness through Jesus Christ His Son by His sacrificial death on the cross. Each time I fall short, I will choose to receive forgiveness again by confessing my sin and believing God’s promise to forgive.

It’s never too late to make better choices. God gives us grace to get back on the right path.

(Picture courtesy of Pinterest)

Do What It Says

A friend and I discussed how to pray for a mutual friend who reads Scripture every day. She said, “We could pray that they can and will apply their Bible reading to their life.”

“Oh yes,” I thought. “That will really help.”

Then the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart, “How are you doing in that department?”

Uh-oh! How many times have I read, for example, Proverbs 3:5 (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding”) and went on trusting in what I thought was best? And how about Philippians 4:8 (“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, …noble, …right, …pure, …lovely, …admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things”)? Do I think about those things or about how irritated I am about seemingly unsolvable yard problems? I almost know Ephesians 4:29 by heart (“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen). So why do I hear complaining and criticism coming out of my mouth?

Image from Pinterest.

Oh Jesus, I’m struggling to practice what I read too! I need to obey James 1:22 (“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”). Please let Your Holy Spirit help me as I turn from my own foolish way onto Your right paths. Thank You for Philippians 1:6 (“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”). Amen.

Bible Verses from the NIV.