Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:8
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February 8, 2021 – 1 John 4:8
Tag: anchorforthesoul
Resolving – Living Life on Purpose
Could resolving to live life on purpose reduce anxiety? Could it reduce the fear of the mountains we face? Who isn’t experiencing anxiety these days? We are all experiencing it on different levels at different times. From making simple decisions as to what will I wear today to what’s our world gonna look like in six months?
What’s causing anxiety and stress for you today? Do you feel like you have no choices? Too many choices? Last week we saw Daniel resolving or choosing not to eat the choice foods from the king’s table. Where do you think he was experiencing anxiety? Was it being true to God or in refusing to eat the king’s food? There were consequences to either choice. What or who do you think he was more anxious about?
God had a purpose for Daniel and Daniel chose to live that life on purpose for God. Daniel feared God more than King Nebuchadnezzer. Daniel knew the consequences of not continuing to remain faithful to God. Resolving or choosing to remain faithful to God eliminated the fear and consequences of that choice. What did Daniel have to fear if he knew he was remaining faithful to God?
King Nebuchadnezzer couldn’t deny Daniel and his three friends were in better health after the ten day trial – Daniel 1:17-21. Daniel resolved not to defile himself, to remain true to God- Daniel 1:8. So what if we applied resolving to how we do things, how we live life? Would that help reduce anxiety in your life. What helps you remain faithful, what have you resolved to do in your walk with God?
From resolving how we handle ourselves in situations to how we choose to remain faithful to God can help us live lives of integrity and amidst anxiety and in chaos. Taking a test causes anxiety for many students. But the student who is diligent in their studies and in some cases seeks a tutor for those difficult subjects will have more confidence in passing a test. The student has resolved or planned to pass by choosing to take the steps needed to pass. The same can be applied to our walk with God. What do you need to do to ensure you are being anchored in God’s Word? Does an app help you, joining a small group at church or an accountability partner? What helps you keep on track with any New Year resolution, fitness trackers, a workout partner, joining gym? What keeps you on track with how you live life, controlling anger and emotions, behaviors, how you share and live out your faith?
There will be challenges this year that will threaten your resolutions. Your walk with God will be challenged. There will situations that will arise and cause you anxiety. What can you do to help limit or eliminate the anxiety and set you up for a victory? What will you resolve to do this year to anchor in Hope, anchor in God’s Word and share your faith? Will you choose resolve and live a life of integrity?
New Year and Resolutions
Resolutions. Every year we all set new goals to eat better, to exercise more, to read more, to learn more, to give more, etc. And by the time March comes around we find ourselves derailed and so far off course we tend to throw in the towel and give up. Some people are more disciplined and they just pick up where they left off and continue on like nothing happened and I applaud them. They are the kind of folks that are resolute; they have integrity and motivation.
Depending on what it is that I have set my mind to, I can become derailed and then pick up where I left off. Like being organized. I can start out strong and before you know life happens, I get busy and anything that was once organized now looks like a war zone. But if I want to continue to locate items and make cleaning up easier, I can jump back on the wagon and clean up like nothing ever happened. Working out, well that’s one area in which I can easily fail. My workouts become sporadic at best. Consistency, HA! Out the window!
But, Daniel and his friends in the Bible is a great example of resolution, integrity, and consistency. Daniel was kidnapped, taken from his home, from his family, from all that he ever knew, and taken to Babylon by the order of King Nebuchadnezzer to serve in the the king’s palace. There at the palace they would be trained for three years. During this training Daniel was given choice food from the king’s table. This food was rich, fatty food that was not a part of Daniel’s Jewish heritage.
But in Daniel 1:8, “Daniel resolved not to defile himself” by not eating the food from the king’s table. Instead he asked to eat what he had been eating and then after ten days Daniel and his friends would be compared to the others who had eaten from the king’s table. It was proven that Daniel and his friends were in better condition than the others who had eaten the king’s food. In Daniel 6:10 – “Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God.” Daniel was consistent.
You may know the rest of the story where Daniel ends up in the lion’s den for not bowing down to King Darius. Daniel was found guilty of not obeying the law and the penalty was to be thrown into the lion’s den. But, God recognized Daniel’s integrity and devotion to Him. in Verse 21 we see where God shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel’s life was spared. This caused Kind Darius to recognize who the God of this universe is and issued a decree that everyone was to worship Daniel’s God – verse 25. I encourage you to read the first six chapters of Daniel if you’re not familiar with the book of Daniel.
2020 has passed and we are all hoping for a better 2021. I can’t predict what the future holds, but I know this, our faith will be challenged and the resolutions we’ve made will be challenged. How will you resolve to get back on track when you are derailed, when you are tempted to cheat on your diet or workout? Or how will you resolve when your faith is tested? I know the God I serve, the God we serve as Christians, will deliver us from whatever challenge we face – Daniel 3:17. We can resolve and have integrity as Daniel did and trust God.
When Worry Becomes Consuming
Waiting on the Lord when you need an answer from Him, or direction, or a healing can be difficult. It’s those difficult times it seems like we are walking in a wilderness, or in still waters and we need to do some kedging (see the About page). We can’t see the light, we don’t know in what direction to turn, we search for answers to the point we become consumed with the problem. We need to consume ourselves with THE problem solver. Jesus.
So often we hear people tell us to “just give it to God”, “hand your problems to Him”, and, I like this one, “Try not to worry about it.” All given with good intent and probably for a lack of not knowing what to say. Even the Bible does tell us not to worry – Matthew 6:25 -34, but God also gives us some instruction in verse 33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness“. So when we read or hear those words, “Give it to God”, what does that look like? I believe that handing it over to God is going to vary slightly for everyone. But I do believe there are two important practices with which we can start. First, we need to pray and read God’s Word. (Those two go hand in hand) Obvious I know, but it’s how we pray; pray specifically. God knows our situation, after all He is in control and nothing surprises Him, – Hebrews 4:13, but He still waits and wants to hear from His children. So perhaps we can pray specifically for putting the right people in our paths to encourage, speak truth to us, and that our eyes and hearts are open to them. There’s a quote in a book by Ruth Chou Simons titled Gracelaced, an awesome devotional, beautifully illustrated in watercolors and photographs that takes you through the truths from God’s Word as you transition through seasons of life. There is one quote that really stood out to me. “God is more interested in your desperate need for His lamp-lit direction than your path-paving skills.” By praying and reading God’s Word, getting to know Him more, and growing closer to Him, we will begin to focus less on our current situation and more on Him and what He has to say to us. We also begin to see the light on His path, just enough for the next step. That’s all we need. Any more would overwhelm us and if we knew more than we needed, we would be relying on that knowledge and not trusting God and “His lamp-lit direction”. Besides we only have today, not yesterday, and tomorrow is history. Focus on scripture, write out a scripture verse for the day, carry it with you, memorize it, draw it, paint it, sing it, whatever is going to help you remember it. This needs to be a daily practice. And when we come out of this wilderness, hopefully we are still practicing this important step.
The second thing we can do is serve. Text a friend ask them “how can I pray for you today?” and pray for them. A handwritten note is always encouraging and who doesn’t like to get a nice surprise in the mail? Ask to serve at church, a local non-profit, look to your neighbors, ask a friend if you can babysit so they can have a date night, mow a lawn, etc. I know serving may look different in this current state of lockdown and limited mobility. But there are ways to get creative. It may be just serving your family at home. Serving others helps get our minds off ourselves and our problems.
“God is more interested in your desperate need for His lamp-lit direction than your path-paving skills.”
Ruth Chou Simons
This is not to say that worry isn’t going to creep in. If you’re like me, “ok God, not going to worry about this, this is yours to handle, Amen.” LOL right? Ten seconds later, I’m back where I started. That’s ok. We. Are. Human. And once again, God isn’t surprised. So we need to recognize our worry and hand it back over to God with a prayer of asking for forgiveness and moving forward. Pick up the verse you wrote down and read it again, this time from memory, if you can. This is also not to say we can’t do anything at all. If it’s a financial struggle, a health issue, a relationship issue, a spiritual battle, whatever it is we are trying to navigate, we can still do a part. For example, if it’s a health issue, we can research healthy ways to combat it or search for a doctor that specializes in the health issue, but what we can’t do is obsess over it. And we will, from time to time, find ourselves obsessing. That’s when we need to repent and release it back to God. Walk away from it, regain our focus. As it was said in Hope for the Future Part 2, “While it’s good to plan and prepare responsibly, it’s bad to dwell and worry about all the ways our planning could go wrong.”
So when we feel like we are wandering or sailing in uncharted waters, seeking God’s “lamp-lit direction” by “kedging” (spiritual kedging) or pulling closer to Him, seeking Him in His Word daily, we allow God to show us the light and lead us in the right direction.
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