2020-10-18
Proverbs 12:5 NKJV
Your mind can work for you or against you. When it works for you, it helps you to stay positive, reach your goals, and enjoy each day. But when it works against you, it can make you negative and discouraged, hold you back, and cause you to think thoughts that result in self-sabotage. So teach your mind to work for you instead of against you.
An important way to do this is to make an intentional decision that you’ll begin to think positively – in terms of faith and not fear.
Now, your brain won’t be able to fulfill this new role overnight. You may be asking it to undergo a radical transformation, and that takes time. But determine that with your diligence and God’s help, instead of working against you, your brain will go to work for you and become a positive force in your life.
Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, points out that the brain takes eighteen years to grow, and a lifetime to mature. Don’t miss this point! While every organ in your body was fully formed when you were born and got bigger as your body grew, your brain actually takes a full eighteen years to grow. And once it’s fully formed, it continues to mature until the day you die. That means no matter how old you are, your brain is still growing. This is great news, because it means you don’t have to stay stuck in old or wrong thought patterns. Your brain is still maturing, which means you can still improve in your thinking.
As the Bible says, “The thoughts of the righteous are right.”
Soul food: Matt 21:18-22; Matt 8:5-13; Mark 6:1-6
2020-10-17
Psalm 126:2 NLT
God created every human emotion you feel. He designed you to cry when you are sad and laugh when you are happy: “For everything there is a season…A time to cry and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NLT). Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11 KJV).
Question: How often do you laugh? Doctors say laughter has incredible healing effects on your body. It also has incredible healing effects on your mind and soul. Stop and think about the days you laughed, even though you really didn’t have anything to laugh about. You were far from God and bound by sinful habits, but He set you free, didn’t He?
In the Old Testament we read: “When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter…sang for joy…And the other nations said, ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them.’ Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” (Psalm 126:1-3 NLT).
If God has set you free, then you truly have something to laugh about. Stop being so “heavy” about everything! Expecting perfection from yourself; your slow growth in God; your deficient prayer life; your failure to memorize more Scripture verses; your fear of sharing your faith with others, etc.
We carry around such heavy burdens. If you’re “laughter impaired” you may have to work at it. It’s easy to find plenty to worry about, but to be happy, you sometimes need to work at it a little. So the word for you today is – laugh more!
Soul food: 2 Sam 14:21-17:13; John 4:27-38; Ps 87; Prov 24:1-4
2020-10-16
Matthew 6:31 NIV
No matter what happens in life, try to keep things in perspective. When you don’t, you end up viewing minor problems as major ones. Or you do the opposite, treating significant situations as “no big deal.” Either tendency – “awfulizing” or “minimizing” – leads to problems. So do your best to see things as they really are and don’t let them get blown out of proportion. Develop the habit of looking at the big picture, instead of dwelling on the one issue that’s upsetting you.
Thinking excessively about your problems makes them appear larger than they really are. When you run up against a situation that upsets you, deal with the panic before you try to deal with the problem. Sit down quietly, calm yourself, and take time to purposely recall the good things you enjoy also.
The truth is, worry never goes away. When you resolve one issue, another one is waiting to take its place. It’s a fact of life; you can’t change it. So what should you do?
Change your perspective! Instead of focusing on your worries, factor God into the equation. Has He ever failed you? No, and He never will! The grace of God that sustained and brought you through the last worrisome situation will be with you in this one – and the next one!
Notice what Jesus said about the things we worry over most: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (vv. 31-33 NKJV).
Soul food: 2 Sam 12:1-14:20; John 4:13-26; Ps 32; Prov 23:29-35
2020-10-15
Matthew 6:26 NLT
You may not like the political party that’s in power, but you’re much better off than the Jewish people Jesus was speaking to here. Their country was occupied by the Romans, and they paid extortionate taxes to keep them in power. They lived as slaves so they worried a lot. Then Jesus came along and said: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant…harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (vv. 26-27 NLT).
In other words, if you worry a lot – try bird watching! Birds don’t know where their next meal is coming from, yet you never see one sitting on a branch having an anxiety attack. So here’s the question: “Aren’t you far more valuable to God than they are?”
A man who was out of work, despondent, and worried about feeding his family noticed some birds eating strawberry shortcake from a dumpster. All at once it dawned on him – “If God can feed the birds strawberry shortcake, surely He can take care of me too!” Even if you suffer from a poor self-image and think you’re not worth taking care of, aren’t you still more valuable than a bird?
So look at how well your heavenly Father takes care of them, and remind yourself that He will take care of you too. If anxiety is robbing you of happiness during the day and sleep at night, make up your mind to live by this Scripture: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).
Soul food: 2 Sam 7:18-11:27; John 4:1-12; Ps 100; Prov 23:22-28
2020-10-14
2 Timothy 4:5 NIV
A woman was sitting in her family room when a small black snake suddenly appeared, slithered across the floor, and made its way under the couch. Being deathly afraid of snakes, she ran to the bathroom to get her husband, who was taking a shower. He came running from the shower with just a towel around his waist, grabbed an old broom handle from the closet, and began poking under the couch. At this point the family dog awakened. Curious to see what was happening, the dog came up behind the husband and touched his cold nose to the back of the man’s heel. The man, thinking the snake had bitten him on the heel, fainted. The wife concluded that her husband had collapsed with a heart attack, so she ran from the house to a hospital just a block away. The ambulance drivers promptly came to her house and placed him on a stretcher. But as they were carrying him out, the snake reappeared from underneath the couch. One of the drivers got so frightened that he dropped his end of the stretcher and broke the man’s leg. Seeing her husband’s twisted leg, the wife collapsed on the spot. Meanwhile, the snake slithered quietly away!
An old African proverb says, “There are forty kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.” Acting impulsively usually means things will get worse before they get better. So before you panic, calm yourself and ask God for wisdom and help, even in the simplest things.
Soul food: 2 Sam 3:22-7:17; John 3:22-36; Ps 89:38-52; Prov 23:19-21
2020-10-13
Galatians 2:21 NASB
Chuck Swindoll says as believers we’re often intolerant “of those who don’t fit our mold – an attitude that reveals itself in the stoic stare or caustic comment. Such reactions will thin the church ranks faster than fire in the basement or flu in the pew.
Paul rebuked the Galatians for ‘deserting Christ’ (See 1:6), ‘nullifying the grace of God’ (See 2:21), and becoming ‘bewitched by legalism’ (See 3:1)…Sure, there are limits to freedom. Grace does not condone license…The opposite of legalism isn’t ‘do as you please.’ But the limitations are broader than most of us realize.
I can’t believe, for example, the only music God smiles on is highbrow or hymns…Nor do I believe the necessary garment for entering the Veil is a suit and tie…Let’s remember who gets wrought up over outward appearances. It’s not God! He ‘looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7 NAS)…
Jesus reserved His strongest and longest sermon…for…legalists – present-day Pharisees. When it came to self-righteous showing off, Jesus pulled no punches. He found it was the only way to deal with those who hung around places of worship distaining and despising others. No less than seven times He pronounced ‘Woe to you,’ because that’s the only language a Pharisee understands…
Two final comments: (1) If you tend toward Phariseeism in any form, stop it! If you’re the type who bullies and looks down on others…you’re a twentieth century Pharisee. (2) When modern-day Pharisees try to control your life, stop them. Remind those religious phonies that the splinter in your eye is between you and God, and they should pay attention to the tree trunk in their own eye.”
Soul food: 2 Sam 1:1-3:21; John 3:1-21; Ps 89:15-37; Prov 23:15-18
