4 Ways to 'Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled' & What This Bible Verse Really Means

• Tamara Chamberlain
• “We are living in troubled times.” This is a phrase I hear often. It is usually followed by “Lord, come quickly.”
  These statements are not false. But I’m not sure if our desire for the Lord to take us out of these difficult times is what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1).
  As believers, we can look to the return of Christ with great expectation and anticipation. But a sense of peace isn’t only a future promise. Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27).
  He didn’t say, “My peace I will give to you.” He’s promising peace here and now.
  When I’m filled with angst over something like whether or not bills will get paid, or how to respond to family relationships falling apart, or what to do when there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day and some of the most important things slip between my fingers—it’s hard to think of Christ’s return as a present comfort.
  Did Jesus really mean for us to look at our present troubles and long for his return so we could be removed from these situations? Is this the peace he gives us to withstand the troubles we endure every day?
  Trouble seems to just be part of life. We are troubled by the big things and the little things, but Jesus tells us not to let our hearts be troubled. How do we find true peace in the midst of trouble?

Here are four ways to “let not your heart be troubled”:

1. Rely on the Holy Spirit to teach you peace when your heart feels troubled.

In John 14, Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them. And they were frantically trying to figure out who, what, where, when, and why. The idea of Jesus leaving and them not being able to go with him was enough to wreck them.

But Jesus said, “My peace I give you.” The peace he is referring to is the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who would teach them and remind them of the things Jesus said to them.

This is the same promise we have. The Holy Spirit will work in our lives to bring peace in the midst of trouble. We need him to teach us peace.

We often desire an ‘action step’ that we can physically enact. But finding peace is not our own doing. We need the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and minds to teach us peace.

Relying on the Holy Spirit can be more challenging than actively doing something to create peace in our hearts. But the peace Jesus is talking about comes outside of us and our ability to create.

2. Actively remind yourself to not be troubled.

In light of the understanding that we can’t fabricate peace in our own lives, we should be intentional about reminding ourselves that we need peace in place of our angst.

I’ve found myself sitting at the table staring at my bank account and the many bills that need to be paid. Instantly my heart begins to race and worry seems to suffocate me. It’s in this moment that I need to be reminded that my heart should not be troubled. I have literally told myself out loud, “Let not your heart be troubled. God will care for you.”

In these moments, we need the truth of Jesus to interject and break through the fear and trouble. We can actively remind ourselves of this truth by speaking it in our minds or out loud.

3. Stop and pray immediately and consistently.

One of the healthiest ways we can ease our troubled hearts is to pray.

Prayer is a time to pour out your craziest fears to Jesus. You don’t have to hold back about the things worrying you, even though you know they shouldn’t. It’s not a time to clean yourself up and get your act together. You can freely fall apart and share the things you would never dare to utter out loud.

Yes, he already knows what you’re thinking, but he wants you to lay your burdens at his feet. And to lay them at his feet you have to actually share them.

You might find yourself going back to prayer again and again for the same worry. That’s a good thing. I always love the idea of praying about something and letting it stay there, at the feet of Jesus. But it normally pops back up in my mind and goes on a rampage. Pray as often as you need to wherever you are.

I have found myself lying wide awake at night concerned about some minor thing that I need to take care of tomorrow. At 2 a.m., there’s nothing I can do about it. So I just pray for God to help me set it aside for now and remember tomorrow.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your worry is. Give it to him in prayer. And when you pray, truly pray. For me, it means stopping. Yes, I can say a prayer while I’m driving on the freeway or while I’m sending out an email, but my whole self is not focused on that prayer. I’ve learned that I need to actually stop when I’m able. Allow yourself to truly be in the moment and surrender your trouble to Jesus.

4. Use Scripture to remind your hear of God's promises.

If we believe the Bible is the revealed Word of God given to show us how to be like Christ, then we should use it often. We shouldn’t know only the general truths of Scripture, such as “God will care and provide for you.” We should actually know how he promises to care for us and provide for us.

The greatest defense against worries that bubble up daily is Scripture. It’s through the Word of God that our minds are renewed. We begin to wash our thoughts with his truth and rid them of the falsehoods we concoct in our own minds or what others tell us to believe.

That’s why God called his people to put his Word in their hearts and to write it on their minds (Deuteronomy 11:18).

The word of God has power. For that power to be active in our lives, we have to actually know the Word. Try memorizing a few verses and speaking them aloud. In those moments of trouble and worry, you’ll be ready to renew your heart by speaking Scripture to yourself.

Jesus never intended for our hearts to be worried and troubled. Is it part of life? Yes. But it’s not a place we have to live. You and I can look to Jesus for a present peace in the midst of trouble.

One day, when Jesus returns, we will be free of all trouble. But we don’t have to wait until that day to rest in his peace.

Godly Living in an Ungodly Age

Godly Living in an Ungodly Age

Dr. Charles Stanley

Titus 1

Our Founding Fathers created a governing framework based upon biblical principles. Slowly, we have changed from “one nation under God” to a group of people who no longer want Him to be involved.

Tragically, we’ve become, in numerous ways, an ungodly nation: many are driven by materialism and power; immorality and rebellion are prevalent; empty philosophy and false doctrine are widely acceptable. Underlying it all is a vocal decision to take God out of the nation’s “official business.”

Yet even in an unbelieving society, people can, as individuals, follow Jesus. But the world will continually disseminate faulty teachings, so believers must be discerning. Otherwise, erroneous messages can lead Christians to compromise their convictions. Then affections and priorities may change. Don’t let the world’s clamor make the Spirit’s voice less audible. Without His guidance, our minds become vulnerable to lies.

The Word of God is a compass that keeps us headed in the right direction—even in the midst of confusing messages all around. We need to be consistently filled with truth by reading, believing, meditating upon, and applying Scripture. God also tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). If our minds are focused upon Him, unholy beliefs will not be able to take root.

The Word is our guidebook. We will still face difficulty as we live in this imperfect world—it is a confusing, dark place that entices us but never fulfills our true longings. Yet God’s truth will bring confidence and boldness, and His Spirit will direct and strengthen, enabling us to live victoriously.

Video Bible Lesson - We Have a Trustworthy Guide by Dr. Charles Stanley

We Have a Trustworthy Guide 

by Dr. Charles Stanley

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

1/14/2020

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

What God Really Thinks About You as a Woman

What God Really Thinks About You as a Woman
SHARON JAYNES

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

She was beautiful.

She was bright.

And she was mad at God.

I sat across the lunch table picking at a salad and trying to digest Jan’s words. Her teal eyes were tinted with frustration at God, primarily because of how she perceived He felt about women.

“I don’t understand God. It seems like He is against women. All through the Bible, I see how God used men in mighty ways.

“Abraham, Moses, David, you name it; it’s always the men. And polygamy. How could God allow that? Today, there’s so much abuse toward women. Where’s God in all that? There are so many inequalities and injustices between how men are treated and how women are treated. I think the bottom line is God just doesn’t like women.”

We had a long chat, and I shared what I had discovered on my journey to answer some of those very same questions.

I told her as I had studied, I was struck by Jesus’ radical relationship with the women whose lives intersected with His during those 33 years He walked on this earth. He crossed man-made social, political, racial and gender boundaries and addressed women with the respect due co-image bearers of God. The God-made man, Jesus, broke the man-made rules in order to set women free. Every time Jesus encountered a woman, He broke one of the societal rules of His day.

God created women as co-image bearers of Himself (Genesis 1:27). But a lot changed between the Garden of Eden and Garden of Gethsemane. By the time Jesus made His first infant cry in Bethlehem, women lived in the shadows. Women weren’t counted as people (as exhibited by the Bible describing feeding 5,000 men in Matthew 14:21). They couldn’t speak to men in public or eat with them at social gatherings; they weren’t allowed to worship with men nor sit under a rabbi’s teaching. They couldn't testify in court. Women who were divorced for any reason at all had no legal rights.

But Jesus came to change all that. He didn’t speak out about the injustices; He simply went about His ministry ignoring the man-made rules.

He taught in places where women were present: on a hillside, along the streets, in the marketplace, by a river, beside a well and in the women’s area of the temple.

• Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. It was the longest recorded conversation He had with any one person. She was the first person He told that He was the Messiah (John 4:1-30).
• Jesus welcomed Mary of Bethany to sit at His feet to learn (Luke 10:38-42).
• Jesus invited Mary Magdalene to join His ministry team (Luke 8:1-3).
• Jesus recognized a woman’s faith and healed her from 12 years of bleeding, and she testified publicly (Luke 8:42-48).
• Jesus welcomed the sinful woman into a room full of men as she anointed His feet with perfume (Luke 7:36-50).
• Jesus entrusted the most important message in all of history to Mary Magdalene and told her to go and tell the disciples He had risen from the dead (John 20:11-18).

Jesus was willing to risk His reputation to save theirs. He delivered women from diseases and set them free from spiritual darkness. He took the fearful and forgotten and transformed them into the resolute and remembered. “Truly I tell you,” He said of the woman who anointed His head with expensive perfume, “wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13, NIV).

That brings us to you and me. Never, dear one, doubt your value as a woman. You were God’s grand finale of all creation. Once He’d fashioned woman, He was done!

The Apostle Paul wrote: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). You are never less-than as a woman. And Jesus was willing to break cultural rules to prove it.

Heavenly Father, I am so grateful You value me as a woman. Thank You for all Jesus did to show honor and respect to women during a very dark time in history. Help me to never doubt You have fashioned me with a purpose and a plan — to be Your image bearer. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (NIV)

For Such a Time as This

For Such a Time as This
By Debbie McDaniel

“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" - Esther 4:14

God is the only One, who has the power to turn trials into blessings. Don’t ever doubt that He is Able. Nothing is impossible with Him.

He’s always at work even when we can’t see the whole story, even when things look uncertain.

And that sets the stage for great things to happen, “…for such a time as this.” - Esther 4:14

Queen Esther had a choice. When Mordecai sent word to her about the great danger their people were facing, she could have simply tried to save herself. She could have kept quiet. Just hoped for the best, or turned the other way. But she and Mordecai both knew that God had given her great purpose in her position. She was wise, she made a plan, she didn’t stay stuck in fear or worry, she prayed and fasted, and asked for their people to do the same. She was willing to act, to follow God’s lead, to save the lives of her people, even if it meant she might lose hers. (Read the whole story in the book of Esther)

Though our current situations may look different than what Esther faced, we might still be struggling with great fear or uncertainty. The future may look dark. A hard diagnosis or recent loss may have sent us spiraling. Yet often God places us in positions of influence, or in strategic locations, with great purpose in mind. Many times, the places where we find ourselves is not really “all about us.” It’s about Him. It’s about His bigger plan.

May God help us to follow His lead, believing that His timing is perfect, remembering that He’s always faithful.

If you find yourself facing times of trouble or testing right now, be assured that God is at work in your situation. He’s working within you, and on your behalf in all the events that surround you, no matter how difficult. In whatever we face, God is still on the throne. He is powerful, nothing is too difficult for Him.

Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord, He will not fail you, or leave you to struggle through on your own. Not ever.

And He is faithful to turn our pain into greater purpose, in our own lives, and for those around us.

Intersecting Faith & Life: If you’re facing uncertainty over the future, or have a big problem that’s troubling you today, give it to God. Again. Be willing to pray, fast, wait for His direction, then act on the wisdom He provides. Know that He is for you, and will never fail. Believe that He is at work, and setting the stage for great things to happen.

God Uses Pain to Help Us Grow

God Uses Pain to Help Us GrowBy John D. Barry

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” -Psalm 23

Watching the day-old calf frolic across the field—full of life and hope—I am filled with joy. I then see its mother, nudging it forward. I am reminded of the way God cares for us. He knows the difficult life ahead, just like this mother cow, but he wants us to enjoy our time in the green pasture nonetheless (Psalm 23). He nudges us along. 

“Every age has its turn. Every branch of the tree has to learn. Learn to grow, finds its way, Make the best of this short-lived stay.” —José Gonzaleź, “Every Age” 

We all have to learn to find our way. We all have to grow. And we cannot do so when we are stagnant. We must move along. We must stand up and walk, even run, like that day-old calf. We must embrace the uncertain ground, knowing that in this field and in the next, and in the one after that, we will grow and learn. If God says it is in his will to move along—if he nudges our heart—we should do so (Luke 9:62). Yet the uncertainty of life often overwhelms us.

A GOD WHO LURKS IN THE UNCERTAINTY

If you look back at the lives of the prophets—from Moses to Elijah to Jonah—it is clear that their lives were often lived in the uncertainty. God nudged them to unknown places—from wildernesses, to mountain tops, to foreign cities—but he was there each step along the way. God gave the prophets the words to say and the provision they needed (e.g., 1 Kings 17; Jonah 4:6–7; Exodus 16). 

The prophets had to learn and grow. And in the uncertainty, God made that happen.

Knowing the future sounds wonderful, but it would ruin the present. The future is only God’s to behold (compare Ecclesiastes 8:7).

THE GROWTH WE DESIRE

Growth often means pain. And growth without pain is an oxymoron. Suffering is often how God shows us himself. Suffering is part of the call to serve Jesus. 

“If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 LEB). 

It may be hard to hear these words, and I know from experience, that they are even harder to live. But when lived, these words will transform us.

Think of your growing pains as a child—that summer when your legs hurt so bad that you couldn’t seem to drink enough milk. Your body was transforming. Without that pain, you wouldn’t be who you are today. This is how faith is; it is often like growing pains. 

“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2–4 LEB).

We know why suffering should be counted as joy, because it will change us for the better. It will draw us closer to God. 

If the mother cow didn’t nudge her calf along, it would never see the green pasture outside the barn. It would live a life that was boring, sad, and stagnant. If God didn’t nudge us along into the unknown, we would never experience the joy of others coming to Christ, of our relationships with him growing. We wouldn’t see the pierced hands of Christ for what they really are—redemption, relationship, and the freedom to know God.

A Prayer for Those in Ministry....( A very interesting incite )

A Prayer for Those in MinistryBy: Philip Nation

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42

In 1979, John Cardinal Dearden recited the following prayer. It came from a homily he gave at a Mass for deceased priests. Those words were words drafted for Dearden by Bishop Ken Untener. Though there is a significant difference in my view of doctrine from those serving in the Roman Catholic Church, I nevertheless see a great wisdom in this prayer.

A Prayer for Those in Ministry by Ken Untener

It helps, now and then, to step back, and take the long view.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
That the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We will plant the seeds that one day will grow,
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but everything is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are the workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future of our own.
May that future be filled with grace, peace, and hope. Amen.

How to Maximize Your Kingdom Impact This Year

How to Maximize Your Kingdom Impact This Year

Jack Graham

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.          

1 Corinthians 12:18-20

Several years ago, I got suckered into buying one of those pocket knives that has everything on it you could imagine. It has a can opener, about five different sized blades, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, and screwdriver heads. If there was something you could use a pocket knife for, this one claimed it could do the job.

But here was the problem: none of the tools on the knife worked very well. The blades were dull, the tweezers and toothpick fell out and got lost, and the screwdriver heads were so small that I couldn’t use them to turn a screw.

The tool was so versatile, but didn’t do anything well. And as I look at a lot of Christians today, they’re a lot like that knife. So many are multi-talented and well-rounded, but they rarely commit to doing one thing really well. They’re spread so thin that their impact is minimized.

As you step into a new year, put your focus on one thing you want to do well in the coming year. Resolve to make a deep impact in one place. Do what you do well, and you’ll make a tremendous difference for the Kingdom in the coming year!