Anxiety

The Power of Hope

[408 words] Have you been struggling with some feelings of hopelessness lately? Whenever we have a hard time seeing the end in sight or we face uncertainty or are exposed to fears and anxieties, it can undermine our determination to have hope. Yet, over a hundred times in Scripture, God points us to the hope…

Is Our Savior Sleeping?

[540 words] Have you ever been afraid of your imagination? At times that fear can be so convincing that you truly believe that the worst case scenario is somehow inevitable. Try and make that opening question relevant to your life. Think about a specific event or experience where you were afraid of something that never…

Can Any Good Come From Stress?

[549 words] Samuel was one of the best men in the Bible. We read about his good life of faith and justice in 1 Samuel, but it is a statement made hundreds of years later about him that tells us just how godly a man he was. In Jeremiah’s day the people of Judah were…

The Trouble Tree

  [403 words] A preacher told of hiring a carpenter to restore an old farm house. On the first day when the carpenter was to report for work, he was an hour late. His tardiness, he said, was because he found that his electric saw was not working, and in addition, he had found a…

You Can’t Cross a Bridge Until You Get to It

  [494 words] All my life I have heard the expression, “you can’t cross a bridge until you get to it,” or “l’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” These often-used expressions have to do with worrying about things before they happen. A traveler was stopped and informed of some dangerous bridges ahead.…

Don’t Be So Irrational

We have two dogs at home, both a breed of terrier. To say that they are high strung can, at times, be somewhat of an understatement. For example, the other day, after putting away the groceries. l wadded up the plastic bags and tossed them onto the trash. Notice I said, “onto,” and not “into,“…

They’re Your Buttons

In one of my graduate classes last week my professor made this comment: “Don’t blame others for pushing your buttons. They are your buttons.” If we’re not careful we have a tendency to blame others for our thoughts and actions. “Well _________ just made me so angry that I couldn’t control myself”, we might say.…

Worrying and Precious Time

Time is a precious blessing not to be wasted. With each tick of the clock, the brief span of time we have in this world is passing. This is why Paul exhorts us to use our time wisely: “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). We should “number our days,” making the…

Frantic? Or Faithful?

When Elijah fled from the threats of Jezebel, he was asking God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4). The Lord then led Elijah to Mount Horeb (Sinai), where Elijah confessed to the Lord that he was the only prophet left. All the others had been killed (1 Kings 19:10). Even though Elijah had just…

Live Now To Secure Forever

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…” (Matthew 6:34). A person’s life can be divided up into four chunks of time: the past, the present, the future and eternity. The devil draws attention to the past and the future; God draws attention to the present and eternity. Therefore, the devil wants to take our focus off…