Good MorningChild-like Followers of THE Way! Amen! Jesus is THE Way and His ways are our guide and examples.Help us to have child-like faith as we follow You and Your good waysand always. Help us to stand firm in You and on Your Word and have active and alive faith of a child. Thanks Daddy! Amen!
Many things have been rattling around in this head of mine the past few weeks and many chaotic situations have been thrown at me. BUT GOD! He is my peace, my joy, my help in times of trouble, my guide and example. Where was His focus when He walked the earth? On His Abba--our Daddy in Heaven. The Holy Spirit filled and guided Jesus to God's plans and even brought all those miracles alive.at dinner huddle we discussed Holy Spirit and His ways and purposes. He is in us and has gifted and activated us for such a time as this. He leads us and uses us to spur each other on and to build the Kingdom. He is our seal of faith, assurance, protection, guide, comforter, helper, and advocate and so much more. Turn off the noise and listen to the still small voice of God whispering to your soul through Holy Spirit. He brings salvation, activates our faith and restores our souls if we allow and invite Him to. Allow Holy Spirit to focus you, lead you and work through you. He will if you still yourself, focus on Him and ask for help.Thanks Holy Spirit! Come have Your way with me and restore my sole and pinpoint my focus on Abba Daddy and His plans. Thanks! Amen!
Are you casting all your anxiety onto God and are you walking in childlike faith? Be still and know and receive and go. Turn off the noise. Be still as you abide in Christand prepare for the day ahead and God's good plans for you. Meditate on the devos and posts below. God spoke to my heart through them. What's He saying to you. Who are you going to process and pray with? What will you do in response. Forget the world around you and all the craziness and distractions and focus and then go with child-like faith as you live and love like Jesus. I already prayed for you and will as I am stirred by the Spirit throughout the day. Stand firm and be focused. Shine bright refreshed and ready child of God! And bring and know His peace beyond understanding. Amen! Shalom shalom and much joy in the Lord to you!
In his 1985 book Generation to Generation, family therapist and Rabbi Edwin Friedman introduced the phrase “a nonanxious presence.” Friedman’s thesis, later articulated in A Failure of Nerve, is that “the climate of contemporary America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression that is toxic to well-defined leadership.” Friedman focused on how chronic anxiety spreads within a system—a family, a workplace, a congregation. Yet in the same way, a leader can offer a nonanxious presence that will spread through a system, becoming a person of peace in the middle of a storm.
Psalm 4 is a psalm of David, written in the middle of one of life’s storms. David was in the grip of anxiety. So he cried out to God, “Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer” (v. 1). While he was fearful for his life, he was also aware that his followers were fearful too: “Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?’” (v. 6).
David’s decision to trust God created a nonanxious presence in the presence of anxiety! “In peace I will lie down and sleep,” he said. David could rest because “you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (v. 8).
We too can rest in the nonanxious presence God provides. We can spread His peace wherever we go.
By John Blase
REFLECT & PRAY
What’s a current situation causing you anxiety? What would it look like to lead with a nonanxious presence?
You alone, God of peace, are my safety. May my trust in You encourage others to do the same.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Psalm 4 expresses David’s quiet confidence in God amid distressing circumstances and slanderous attacks (vv. 1-2, 8). Affirming that God had set him apart to live a life that honored Him (v. 3) and acknowledging his propensity to seek revenge on those who’d attacked him, the psalmist reminded himself, “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent” (v. 4 nlt). Instead of angry retribution, he chose silent reflection on God’s goodness and faithfulness (vv. 4-8). In another psalm, David similarly wrote, “Be still before the Lord . . . . Do not fret—it leads only to evil” (37:7-8)., when we’re anxious, we can ask God to help us and to remind us of His presence and faithfulness.
In God is my salvation and my glory. - Psalm 62:7 (KJV)
In our church’s praise book there is a song entitled “Tiap Langkahku diatur oleh Tuhan.” This song is a translation of the song “Each Step I Take.” Usually I interpret the words this way: “Every step I take is governed by God, and his loving hand leads me.” I recall God’s guidance at important times in my life. I thank God for my work, my family, and all that we experience together.
But as my husband and I get older, and our physical strength is no longer what it used to be, I interpret the words every step I take as truly physical. When my husband and I walk together, I pray for God’s strength so that we will be safe and secure without falling.
Now I feel that without God’s guidance our lives feel quite fragile. So every night when I get ready to sleep, I offer gratitude to God: gratitude forand for the salvation that Jesus gave through his sacrifice on the cross. It is that great love that gives strength to me and my family.
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's Prayer
O God, the Source of our life, guide us through this journey until we arrive at your house in heaven. In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Prayer Starters
Prayer Points
Praise God, the one who rescues and saves (Dan. 4:27).
Give thanks for specific ways he is caring for you right now.
Confess any areas in which you are worrying instead of praying and accepting his loving care (Phil. 4:6-7).
Commit a concern to God, thanking him for his care for you.
Ask him to help you believe in his willingness to handle it.
Pray that your family and friends may be rooted and established in love and may have “power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [they] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19).
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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