Hard decisions seem to always present themselves in life. You and I are put in between a rock and a hard spot. No matter what we decide we feel something is lost. The Lord offers this rock-solid promise for these moments.
8. The Lord will help with those tough decisions.
Scripture promises…
Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
Proverbs 16:9 remarks, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
When tough decisions come, remember, the Lord will help you decide. This is a rock-solid promise we can carry through 2024 and beyond.
You and I don’t have to turn far to find situations that can cause fear in our lives. Headlines are filled with events inducing fear, and our daily lives may have situations causing our hearts to race. When fear shows up, we can remember the 6th rock-solid promise of Scripture.
6. We can take our fears to the Lord.
There are always events happening around us invoking the natural reaction of fear, and when we are feeling afraid, the Lord promises he will help us.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise- in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4).
The Lord says in Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
When fearful moments creep into 2024, the Bible suggests we look to our trust in the Lord for strength. If you’re feeling afraid today, look to your trust in the Lord for strength.
Perhaps one of the major contributors to our anxiety is concern about having enough. Enough money to pay this month’s rent; enough time to get everything done. Enough resources to meet our needs. Start looking at the bank statement and our schedules, and our anxiety level raises. The Lord has a rock-solid promise for these moments.
5. The Lord will ensure our needs are met.
“I will ensure your needs are met,” the Lord assures us.
In Matthew 6, Jesus points to the birds, and reminds us they do not worry about having enough food, yet they always have plenty. He points to the flowers and reminds us they do not worry about their appearance, yet they are always beautiful. Verse 33 reminds us as we seek after the Lord, he ensures all of our needs are met as well. The Lord promises we do not have to worry about having enough; he will make sure we do.
So, as you begin to ask, “Will there be enough,” remember, the Lord says he has our back.
Here is the 4th of 10 rock-solid promises we can carry with us in 2024 and beyond.
4. We can cast our anxieties upon the Lord.
There’s little doubt 2024 will bring its share of anxieties, but the Lord promises we can cast those cares upon him and he will help us find peace.
We are reminded in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Amid the anxious moments of the year, remember this rock-solid promise, and cast your anxieties upon the Lord.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll have promise 5 tomorrow at 6 a.m.
There are a lot of things that can entangle our minds. The stack of bills on our desk, the never-ending to-do list, and today’s headlines are enough to make us want to hide. Keeping our focus on everything around us creates much stress and anxiety in our lives; however, the Bible suggests we place our focus elsewhere.
Hebrews 12:2 encourages more focus to be placed on our faith and less on the world. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
Focusing on Jesus in today’s world can certainly be challenging, so here are a few tips to help adjust focus today.
Start the day by spending time with the Lord. Spend some time reading Scripture and praying. This will help start the day in the right way.
Follow the advice of Philippians 4. Think about whatever is pure, admirable, lovely, and excellent. All these adjectives point to Jesus.
Try equalizing the time spent on today’s worries with time thinking about the promises of the Lord. Equalize the worry about finances with a reminder of the Lord’s promise to provide.
Remember to focus on the Lord today as so much tries to grab your attention.
The mail brings an unexpected invoice. Where are we going to find the money to pay it?
My wife is delayed in responding to my text. Did something happen to her?
My boss is acting differently today. Did I do something to upset her?
Worry seems to find its way into our lives, and left uncontrolled, worry can cause significant harm. It can affect our physical health. The APA and Mayo Clinic list digestive issues, trouble sleeping, and migraines as some of worry’s implications. The Association also mentions worry negatively impacts our relationships by creating a number of unnecessary conflicts. This is why it is so important for you and I to handle worry in an appropriate way.
Thankfully, Scripture gives guidance on controlling and combatting worry. The Bible offers several suggestions for handling worry. Here are a few examples:
Pray and seek God’s guidance: Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This verse encourages us to pray to God with a grateful heart, presenting our requests to Him and trusting Him to provide peace in our hearts.
Trust in God’s provision: Matthew 6:25-34 encourages us to trust in God’s provision for our needs. Verse 33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This verse reminds us to prioritize our relationship with God and trust Him to take care of our needs.
Cast our anxieties on God: 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” This verse reminds us that we can trust God to care for us and to take our worries from us.
Focus on positive and uplifting thoughts: Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” This verse encourages us to focus on positive and uplifting thoughts, which can help to alleviate worry.
If you are struggling with worry, there are steps you can take to find relief and peace. The Bible offers powerful guidance and reassurance for those who are feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Remember to pray and seek God’s guidance, trust in His provision, cast your anxieties on Him, and focus on positive and uplifting thoughts. By implementing these strategies, you can begin to reduce worry and find comfort in the knowledge that God cares for you. Don’t let worry hold you back – take action today to find the peace and serenity that you deserve.
The old saying goes, “We can be our own worst enemy,” and there are times it is completely true. Have you ever allowed thoughts about yourself to rob you of peace?
A project didn’t turn out the way you desired, so you criticize every mistake.
You were late for work because you were stuck in traffic, so you blame yourself for not having enough time.
You compare yourself to the appearance of others, and beat yourself up because you do not have the life you believe they do.
It can be a struggle to not strip ourselves of peace when we’re having a bad day. Scripture gives some advice for these days.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, present your requests to God. And, the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Philippians 4:6-7).
“Cast your anxieties upon the Lord because he cares for you deeply” (1 Peter 5:7).
Take those unpeaceful moments to the Lord. Allow him to carry those burdens and hand you, his peace.
You’re probably judging the project more critically than others will.
The Lord may have an encouraging message for you during that traffic jam.
Social media doesn’t tell the full story, so others may be having the same thoughts when they compare themselves to us.
Leon was the innkeeper. He was so excited to have finally landed the part, and he practiced for weeks. He had his lines – well, line – perfect.
“There’s no room in the inn,” is all Leon had to say, but Leon became so emotionally involved in the part and the Christmas story that he added a few lines.
There’s no room in the inn,” he said, “but Jesus you can have my room. Jesus, you can have it all!”
Leon may have messed up a little, but his extra lines inspire a question. How well do we allow Jesus to have everything?
From the worries surrounding our finances to the burden of guilt for yesterday’s mistakes, do we allow Jesus to have it all?
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light,” (Matthew 11:28-30(.
A family who had twin boys wanted to teach them a lesson about attitude. They took each boy and placed him in a room by himself. The room was full of horse manure. They told the boys they had to stay in their rooms for an hour, then they would come get them. When the family returned to the first boy’s room, he was sitting in the corner of the room just watching the clock, but when they returned to the second boy’s room, he was shoveling the manure out the window. “why are you doing that?” they asked. He replied, “With all this manure in here, there has to be a pony at the bottom of the pile.” The boys were in similar situations but took completely different approaches.
Attitude determines how we approach life. Our attitude determines the approach we take to life. Paul, the writer of Philippians, gives three keys to help us take the right approach.
The first key is not to worry.
Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not worry about anything….” A scholar did a word study on “anything,” and discovered it really means, “anything.” Don’t worry, that sounds an awful lot like what Jesus says, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”
Jesus uses birds for an example; they do not go out and sow seed in the spring, and water the seed all summer so they can reap a harvest in the fall. They don’t do that, yet they still have food to eat. God provides for them, and if he will provide for birds, why wouldn’t he also provide for us?
When we worry, we are putting God into a box and slamming a lid on it. This problem is too big for me to handle, so it must be too big for God. We can’t go there; we can’t raise that much money. In all honesty, that is what we think sometimes. Yet, Ephesians 3:20 says God can do immeasurably more than we can imagine.
Think about that for just a moment. Immeasurably more than we can imagine; you can’t measure something that is immeasurable – it is impossible, and we can imagine some pretty big things. That means God can do immeasurably more than we can comprehend. When things come up that are too big for us, we should be asking, “How big is God?” The answer is, he can do immeasurably more than we can imagine. Jesus says if we seek after the Kingdom first, all our other needs will be met.
Stop and think. There is not anyone who has added time to their life by worrying about it. Jesus says we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow, because today has enough troubles of its own. Not worrying is the first key.
The second key is to pray about everything.
Instead of spending time worrying about tomorrow, Scripture suggests that time would be more wisely spent praying about it. Paul says the result of carrying everything to God in prayer is that his peace will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. A peace that we know no matter what comes our way, we’ll be able to get through it with the help of Jesus. We may not understand it or comprehend how this is possible, but we know that it is true. We should not worry about anything but carry everything to God in prayer through Christ. Praying about everything is the second key.
The third key is to have a positive outlook.
We should have a positive outlook. We are encouraged to dwell in the following territory: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.
Every adjective in this list points to something good, something positive. The opposite of things that are good and positive are bad and negative. The question is, which one are we going to concentrate on – the negative or the positive?
Two men attended the same church service on the same Sunday morning. The first man noticed the organist missed a note during the prelude, the music was too loud, and the preacher had a slip of the tongue six times. The second man enjoyed the prelude because it was one of his favorite hymns, was deeply moved by the music, and listened intently to the sermon because it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. The difference between these two men is what they concentrated on. The first man took a negative outlook, while the second man took a positive outlook. Which outlook in life are you taking?
The past year or so has served as a great reminder there will always be trouble in life. Lost jobs, economic hardships, and uncertainty will always be a part of our lives. And, I’m not saying if we get up in the morning and think it is going to be a beautiful day, that it will automatically become a beautiful day. We will experience trouble from time to time. We will face trials of many kinds, but how we respond to these trials is up to us. We can either sit around dwelling on the negative, or we can concentrate on the positive.
We all have something to thank God for. Here are some stats.
If you were able to get up this morning in good health, you are better off than 2 million people around the world.
If you are not persecuted, you are better off than 3 billion others in the world.
Attitude determines a lot in life. Put yourself in the story of the twins. Which boy are you? Are you the one sitting in the corner absorbed by the smell and watching the clock? If so, consider putting these three keys into practice.
The people of Israel found themselves in the desert where there are not a lot of food choices. Walking through the desert day after day is bound to strike up a hunger, so they had to eat something. They did not know what they were going to eat so the people grumbled. They had been pulled out of the fertile lands of Egypt and placed in the dry, parched desert. How on earth were they going to survive? Anxiety levels elevated; the Israelites quickly forgot how the Lord brought them out of Egypt.
But the Lord had a plan. Exodus 16 reveals the Lord sent manna each day for the Israelites. Verses 21-22 record, “Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much, two omers, for each person, and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.” For the entirety of their trip, the Israelites were provided manna. The Lord met their needs.
The Israelites were taught a valuable lesson. The Lord can provide for our needs. What seemed impossible to them, was easy for the Lord. They saw a dry and parched land, but the Lord saw a bread basket. The Lord had provisions to meet the need. All the Israelites had to do was trust him.
Later, Moses recalled, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). The people spent 40 years in the desert, yet they had food, water, clothes that stayed wearable, and feet that were not swollen. The Lord continually met their needs.
The Bible teaches the Lord is still in the need meeting business today. John 6:35 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Like the Israelites, our anxiety levels may be high. We may not understand how the Lord could possibly meet the needs in a situation or circumstance we are facing, but he put manna on the ground. What needs do you need to trust the Lord to meet today? Like the Israelites, he desires for us to trust him with our needs.
Get Encouraged 