2025-10-20
Proverbs 15:15 AMPC
One Christian author writes: “I once went through a period… when I was plagued by anxiety. I was filled with fear and dread for no particular reason. I kept feeling something terrible was going to happen. Finally, I went to the Lord and asked Him what was troubling me. He told me it was ‘evil forebodings.’ At the time I didn’t even know what that phrase meant or where it came from. Sometime later I came across Proverbs 15:15: ‘All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]’ (AMPC)…
I was like so many other people. I was looking for some ‘monster problem’ that was keeping me from enjoying life. I was so intense about everything; I was creating problems for myself where none really existed.
Once in a meeting, the Lord told me to speak out something. Apparently, someone needed to hear this: ‘Stop making a big deal out of nothing.’ I used to be the type of person who needed to hear directions like that. I could make mountains out of molehills. I had to learn to just let some things go – forget them and go on. Some of us become upset over things that are just not worth becoming upset over – those ‘little foxes, that spoil the vines’ (Song of Songs 2:15 KJV). If our lives consist of becoming upset over one little thing after another… we won’t have much peace or joy.”
So, the word for you today is – cultivate a happy heart and start enjoying the life God has given you!
Soul food: Zeph 1-3; John 6:1-24; Ps 85; Prov 24:11-14
2025-10-19
Matthew 11:28 NIV
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the nation. That was never part of God’s plan. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are… burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (NIV).
When oxen work side by side in the fields, they are yoked together and share the workload. That’s what Jesus wants you to do: work in harness with Him. Can you think of anyone better to share your load? It makes you wonder why we wait so long to take Him up on His offer!
He then goes on to say, “Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried… your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you” (Luke 12:29, 30-31 ESV). Jesus gives us the perfect perspective on life. You can’t add one day to your life span by worrying, but you can certainly shorten it through stress and anxiety.
Think about it: The birds don’t sit around in the trees and worry about what they will eat tomorrow. No, they sing without a care in the world. And the lilies don’t sweat about how they will grow or if they will get enough rain to survive. All of God’s creation except man does not have a care in the world. And since your heavenly Father cares even more for His people, you can be sure He will take care of you.
Soul food: Exo 20:1-17; Matt 5:1-12
2025-10-18
Philippians 4:6 AMPC
Anxiety is the curse of the modern era, but it’s not a new trend. Throughout Scripture, Jesus talked a lot about anxiety, stress, and fear. In fact, He mentioned them repeatedly in His teachings. In Matthew 6:25-27, He said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or… what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (NIV).
Now, Jesus didn’t say these words just to relieve our fears and worries. What He was doing was commanding us not to be anxious because it demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s faithfulness to us. Paul writes: “Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition… with thanksgiving… make your wants known to God. And God’s peace… which transcends all understanding shall garrison… your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 AMPC).
Instead of letting fear and anxiety control you, you can have peace by bringing your worries to God in prayer, thanking Him by faith for the answer, and trusting Him to work things out as only He can. So, what are you going to do? Worry and fret, or pray and have peace? The choice is yours.
Soul food: 1 Tim 4-6; John 5:31-47; Ps 126; Prov 24:10
2025-10-17
Isaiah 55:7 NKJV
The largest bulldozer in the world is the D575A. It’s 16 feet long, 25 feet wide, 41 feet high, and weighs 225,000 pounds. It was once used in a country where there was a surplus of garbage that was polluting the environment. The bulldozer was brought in to dig a hole big enough to gather all that garbage, bury it, and remove it from the lives of the residents.
At the cross, God dug a hole so big that He could gather the sins of the entire world, in the past, present, and future. He gathered and placed them upon His Son. Now He takes all of His Son’s sinless perfection and righteousness and places it on you the moment you put your trust in Him. “For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).
You say, “But I have failed so badly.” A dirty diamond is still a diamond; it just requires cleaning. And that’s what the blood of Jesus does for us (See 1 John 1:7). The wonderful thing about an electronic calculator is that if you press a wrong button, everything isn’t lost. You don’t have to untangle or figure out the problem. Simply pressing “clear” restarts the calculation.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV). God is ready to pardon, restore, and give you a fresh start.
Soul food: 1 Tim 1-3; John 5:16-30; Ps 5; Prov 24:8-9
2025-10-16
Isaiah 48:10 NIV
C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” It was in the furnace of affliction that the psalmist David said, “Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good” (Psalm 119:66-68 NIV).
But you don’t get to that place of submission easily or overnight. It takes time, some kicking and screaming, and a few skid marks on the pavement where you dug in your heels and resisted! God told Isaiah to prophesy, “I have refined you… I have tested you in the furnace of affliction… for my own sake” (Isaiah 48:10-11 NIV). Suffering is a lonely experience; it’s not something you would choose.
The poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox reminds us, “There is room in the halls of pleasure for a large and lordly train, but one by one we must all file on through the narrow aisles of pain.” Nevertheless, the Bible says, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 NIV).
There is no easy way to become like Jesus; it involves discomfort and pain. But the good news is, you’re not in the fire alone. God’s hand is controlling the thermostat. And He knows exactly how much heat it will take to bring you to the place where you can say, “You are good, and what you do is good.” You may not be there yet, but you’re getting closer.
Soul food: Hab 1-3; John 5:1-15; Ps 15; Prov 24:7
2025-10-15
Psalm 77:19 NIV
The psalmist wrote, “Your path led through… mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen” (v. 19 NIV). When you can’t see God’s “footprints,” He is calling you to walk by faith, not by sight (See 2 Corinthians 5:7).
Joni Eareckson Tada wrote: “A few months from now, I’ll mark an anniversary that is a heartbreaking story of loss and an incomparable testimony of God’s faithfulness… I will have been in a wheelchair for 47 years… barely a heartbeat in history, and as nothing compared with eternity. But for a flesh-and-blood, earth-dwelling human being, 47 years is a long time. Anyone who suffers… [wants] assurance that somehow, someway, things will work out in the end. We want to know that God is at the centre of our suffering.
In Romans 8 we have… that assurance: ‘For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose’ (v. 28 ESV) … [God] is so supremely in charge of the world that everything touching our lives… is ordered in such a way that it serves our good. This is true whether we face cancer, broken relationships, job loss, bankruptcy… or even a broken neck at age 17.
The strong hope of the believer is not that we will escape ‘bad things’… but that God will transform our hardships into an instrument of his mercy to do us good… Romans 8:29 reveals [our] sufferings are small and short… compared with the weight of glory they are accruing for [us] in heaven. So, bear with heartbreak and hardship a bit longer. These things are expanding your soul’s capacity for joy, worship, and service in heaven.”
Soul food: Nahum 1-3; John 4:39-54; Ps 41; Prov 24:5-6
