Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2017

When Anxiety Lingers . . .


Stomach's tingling,
Head's fogging,
Energies are dwindling,

Why?

Anxiety just knocked on the door, again.

Anxiety is an unwelcome visitor,
like the one who comes and doesn't want to leave . . .
The visitor that comes up with a variety of creative and logical 
reasons why they must stay a little while longer.
A little while longer can add up to weeks, months, even years ~
All we did was open the door, a little, and Anxiety was home.

Anxiety invades our space and situations,
It insists on controlling our decision making,
It reminds us of all the things that can go wrong,
It tries to define us, to tell us who we are.
And, persuades us to believe the worse.

"You can't do this!"
"You don't have the skills!"
"You already failed."
"The worse is going to happen!"
"It's all over."

Anxiety's boss is FEAR.
Fear's job is to keep us in our corner.
Paralyzed.
And, as long as we comply, 
FEAR leaves us alone.

The moment we decide to
move, or imagine, or consider a way out,
FEAR sends its minion, Anxiety,
to keep us in our place.

Philippians 4:6-8 
is one of my life verses. Recently, I was inspired to take a look at it again, 
consider the message and grab onto it for dear life.

Here's what it's saying to me, 
and hopefully to you:

Is anything impossible for God?
Is anxiety's arm longer than His?
Our Father is a good One!
And, He has not forgotten His promises!

Even while we're in Fear's corner,
Even while paralyzed,
Even when nothing is changing,
He whispers, 
"I AM going to get you out of this!"
 And, when I do, you will be able to say, 
'Look what the Lord has done!'"

Even then,
He begins to deposit a NEW PLAN!
His plan, in all probability,  
may look differently than what we imagined,
but it will be far better because He planned it, 
not us.

When do the words of a book change the author's purpose, 
or the lyrics of a song change the songwriter's vision?
God is the author and the finisher!


This is what the LORD says!

EARNESTLY,
for everything.

and the 
OF GOD
which 
cannot be explained or understood 
or even reasoned away,
will come to the
RESCUE!

It will also GUARD 
our hearts and our minds
from Anxiety's and Fear's influence and persuasion.

GOD IS OUR SUPER HERO!
in the name of 
JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD!


Anxiety doesn't have the last word, God does.
God's an expert at building highways 
even in places where there is no way.
God's got this.
 Even when we don't see anything happening, 
or hear anything, He's still working.  

This is a FAITH walk, and the good news is, we don't need much.  All we need is faith the size of a mustard seed to move God's plan into action.  
Before we see changes in our circumstances, there must be a transformation in our hearts. We must return to those times when God was first before anything and everything ~

. . . return to the time when we sought Him with all of our hearts and asked Him to invade our lives, our circumstances, our wills, 
we kept knocking on the door of His heart,  relentlessly,
until God moved!  


And, if by His sovereignty, our circumstances don't change,
Anxiety will finally be evicted and Peace will be home.


Thursday, January 5, 2017

P-R-A-Y in 2017


Prayer is a struggle.


Not the drive through prayer,
or the 911 "I Need This Right Now" kind.  
These happen almost instinctively.

Or the "Pity Party Prayer",
(no description necessary). . .

Or, my favorite, and almost intuitive kind,
"The Instructional Manual",
where we tell God what He needs to do!
(Hmm, Hmm)


No, I'm talking about the "Daily Deap" kind!!
I'm talking about "deap" conversations with God.


The kind where He speaks and I listen!


The kind where His presence and His Word
cleans the atmosphere and attitudes.


The kind where there's a sweet and easy transfer of power.
My will diminishes; His takes center stage,
mending , transforming and renewing.


The kind where His Word builds a dwelling place in the core of me, removing all the dross, clutter and debris left behind by disappointments, failures and regrets . . .  


. . . replacing those places with joy, peace and His presence.  
Hope is restored, and LOVE is sealed.  


And, when I rise, I am no longer the same person who knelt.   


"DEAP' prayer requires two things that are almost impossible to muster up these days:  time and intention.


In spite of the struggle, in this new year, it is my hope that the Spirit of the Lord enable me to find more time for the "deap" kind.





A Little Encouragement ~

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