FORGET FRET

Worry is something you learn to do.

There is no such thing as a “born worrier.” It is a learned response to life.

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6–7 MSG)

You learned to worry from two sources:

1. You learned to worry from experience. After years of mistakes, failures, and unfulfilled expectations, you’ve discovered that things don’t always turn out right. Out of these experiences you formed the habit of worrying.

2. You learned to worry from examples. There are many models around you. Studies show that children usually pick up their parent’s worries. Anxious parents raise anxious kids.

Since worry is a learned response to life, it can be unlearned!

The starting point for overcoming worry is to realize it is useless. It does you no good to worry. It is “stewing without doing.” Worry has never changed anything. Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot control the future. Worry only makes you miserable today.

Worry has never solved a problem, never paid a bill, and never cured an illness. It only paralyzes you so you can’t work on the solution. Worry is like racing a car when its engine is in neutral; it doesn’t get you anywhere, it just uses up gas.

The Bible teaches, “An anxious heart weighs a man down” (Proverbs 12:25 NIV).

On top of that, worry exaggerates the problem. It plays on your imagination. Have you ever noticed that when you worry about a problem it gets bigger? Every time you repeat if over and over in your mind you tend to add details, amplifying it so you feel worse.

What’s the solution? Instead of worrying, talk to God about what’s worrying you. He is someone who can do something about it.

I LOVE MY CHURCH

This is Why… I Love Sundays!

Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

I love Sundays! Going to church is one of my favourite things to do in this great life of mine! I know its hard to believe… but I start getting hyper on Friday afternoon, then all day Saturday… especially on Saturday night: I anticipate all the possibilities and all the people who might get a new start in life from 10:00-11:30 Sunday morning!

There is no gathering in all the earth as glorious as the Sunday gatherings of God’s people. I love to sing and worship Father God with the kind of Christian I’m privileged to hang out with and do life together with. You see, the citizens of Bethel Church are unique kind of Christians… for some reason; we have always attracted seekers of God… the kind of people who are hungry and thirsty for more and more God in their lives. It’s always been this way!

I usually rise early on Sundays… And in the wee hours of each Sunday morning… I turn to God and pray, synchronizing my heart with Gods heart… so that every time I speak to Gods sons and daughters, I speak as if God himself were speaking to them!

I know this may sound old school… but God is good! I love him beyond words! I love to watch him warm a heart for the very first time!

When new people come through the front doors and they are greeted with smiling faces and caring handshakes… as they stream into the sanctuary and read through their ‘Bethel This Week’… and some people walk around saying hi to each other… then, suddenly 10:00am is here: Someone takes the microphone to welcome us… and the music flies… we pray and everyone sings: together we tell about Gods endless majesty… lyrics of faith awaken our passionate hearts… loving people smile big at one another… and transformation begins! There is really nothing like this!

My Goodness, are you guys feeling this!

This coming Sunday, I will share a message about overcoming called “Into The Battle”

It’s gonna be good… so if you’re nearby this weekend or if you don’t have a church family: come in person and take a few minutes to consider the beauty of God… and have a better day for it!

www.bethelalive.ca

Love you all!

WHAT IS YOUR SELF LIFE?

Self-consciousness can kill faith and rob us of our God-given destiny. It is a manifestation of what the Bible calls living in the ‘old self’, because it concentrates more on me and my weaknesses, strengths or needs, than it does on the Lord. Self-consciousness can take on a number of faces. For some people it takes the form of egoism. Whatever our purpose in life, we need big hearts not big heads. I’ve come across people — I’m sure you have, too — who, because of their talent, think they’re God’s gift to planet earth. I feel like packing them off marked ‘return to sender’. Talented people have a responsibility to use their gift for service. When God gives you a lot, he expects a lot… Luke 12:48

For other people, self-consciousness expresses itself in a strong inferiority complex. One of Satan’s favourite ploys is to accuse us of hypocrisy. ‘You’re not qualified to do anything for God,’ he riles. We must remember that success in God’s eyes is not measured by our talent, our qualifications or even our self-esteem. It is measured by our obedience. As we simply obey God, doing all that he tells us to do, we can shrug off the enemy’s jibes, stand tall in faith, and overcome any crippling self-consciousness.

Colossians 3:9-10 ‘…you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.’(NIV)

Prayer: Father, I humble myself again before you today. I thank you that my worth as a person doesn’t come from my own achievements; it comes from the fact that you love me, that Jesus died for me, and that I can walk in obedience to your purpose for my life.’

GIVE GOD YOUR HURTS AND YOUR HEARTS

In your life, you will be hurt by others; sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. How you handle that hurt determines your happiness. When you bottle up hurt in your life and hold onto it, that is called resentment. If somebody hurt you years ago and you’re still holding onto it, it will poison your life. For your own health and happiness, you must learn to forgive.

The Bible says forgive and be forgiven. In fact, Jesus says, “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done” (Matthew 6:15 TEV). They’re inter-related.

For your own sake, let go of the past. If somebody hurt you, let go of it, release them. That’s one of the values of prayer. It helps you unload. Forgiveness is the only way to get rid of the past. Forgive them and let it go. Get on with life. Forgiveness erases the videotape of that hurt memory that keeps playing over and over in your mind.

Today, my wife Sonja and I are celebrating our 7^th anniversary. In my own marriage, the times I’ve felt closest to my wife, the times of most intimacy and oneness, have been times after an upset or blow up. We’ve worked the thing through, we’ve both confessed to each other and asked forgiveness, and we give our hearts to each other anew. The oneness that comes out of that kind of experience just can’t be explained.

When we let go of our hurts and release our hearts in forgiveness to others, we are reflecting the grace of our heavenly Father who forgave us and continues to forgive us. It means we’ve given God our love; we’ve given God our lives, and, in doing that, we reflect God and truly worship God.

‘TA DA’

Everybody likes surprises, we all love it when something happens beyond our expectations. Frustration sets in when you expect one thing but get something less. Frustration is where your expectation exceeds your experience. Faith, on the other hand, is where your experience goes beyond your expectation! God loves to do things that go way beyond our thoughts, hopes or desires (Ephesians 3:20). He loves to show up in the middle of problem or battle in our lives, and shout with theatrical flair, ‘Ta Da! I’m here!’

Isaiah 64:1, 3-5 ‘Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down… For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways…’ (NIV)

Isaiah says he comes down and does awesome things that we weren’t even looking for! His presence, when it is suddenly revealed in a situation, causes mountains to shake. When Jesus spoke of casting mountains into the sea through what we say by faith, he didn’t mean that our words move mountains. No, it’s the presence of God who comes to back up our words of faith – that’s what works wonders. As in times of old, God is still able to exceed our expectation, he is still a wonderful God, a God filled with wonders!

The world, says Isaiah, has never seen a God like him, one who actually ‘acts on behalf of those who wait for him’. He’s a God who shows up in visible and often dramatic ways, coming to our rescue. Do you need for God to ‘come down’ and meet with you in your problem; to show up and make some noise? He will; all you need to do is wait with expectation, keep gladly doing what is right, and remember how he works, how he likes to do things.

Prayer: ‘Jesus, I really need God to turn up in a major way right now, and produce some wonders in my situation. I promise to wait for him and to keep doing right, in faith.’

GREATER THINGS ARE YET TO COME

GREATER THINGS ARE YET TO COME
Some people think that the age of miracles is long gone. Others say that miracles do happen, but only for certain specially gifted Christians. Actually, every Christian can be the agent of a miracle. One man who has seen more miracles than most in his lifetime is renowned German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. One of his most significant miracles took place long before he became well-known. Reinhard, then an unknown missionary, invited an internationally renowned evangelist to come to a city in Lesotho, Africa for a series of miracle healing sessions, which were heavily advertised throughout the region. On the very first day of the meetings, the guest preacher told Reinhard that God was sending him home, and he left. Bonnke was at a loss – it was too late to turn people away, but there was nobody else to fill in as a guest speaker. So, with nothing but faith to go on, Bonnke told the people that he was going to speak and then God was going to work miracles. During his preaching, he felt God tell him to call for people who were totally blind. He did so and half a dozen people stood to their feet. Reinhard drew a deep breath and shouted, ‘In the name of Jesus, blind eyes open!’ Suddenly a woman screamed at the top of her voice: ‘I can see, I can see, I can see!’ She had been blind for four years. That was the beginning of a long miracle ministry that has touched whole nations. And it all started with one simple step of obedience. Sometimes, that’s all God is waiting for, a simple step of daring obedience. With courageous faith, even the least of us can experience great things!

In John 14:12-13 Jesus clearly says; ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.’ (NIV)

Prayer: ‘Lord, thank you for showing the world the power of God’s love through the miracles you worked. Thank you that the age of miracles isn’t dead. Help me to take bold obedient steps of faith, to unlock the power of the miraculous in my life.’

IS YOUR FAITH PRACTICAL OR FANATICAL?

G.K. Chesterton is thought by many to have been one of the most gifted Christian writers of the twentieth century. He was once asked, ‘If you were trapped on an island, what book would you most want to have with you?’ The book he chose was not the Bible, it was called ‘Thomas’ Guide to Practical Ship-Building.’ Chesterton’s response reveals his sense of humour, and his sense of the practical. It also, I think, accurately portrays something of the nature of God himself. Many people think of the Christian God as someone who wants to give you exactly what you don’t need. He wants to tie up your life with all kinds of useless activities and obligations. Those people couldn’t be more wrong. Jesus taught that God is eager to give us what we need, what we ask for. Our God is a practical Person.

You don’t need to be afraid, said Jesus, that if you trust your future to God he will lead you off in a direction you hate. If you seek his will in some decision he won’t send you off in directions that frustrate you or create more problems than they solve. God is interested not just in the big issues of our lives, but in the small details. The small things add up to become big things, after all. If you were alone on a desert island, I think God would definitely want you to have the resources to build a boat!

Matthew 7:9-11 ‘Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!’ (NIV)

Prayer: ‘Father, thank you for your interest in every practical detail of my life. Please lead me to the right people, opportunities and resources today so that I can achieve something good and overcome the challenges thrown in my path.’

THERE IS PURPOSE IN YOUR EXISTENCE

You are not an accident of birth. God doesn’t have accidents! The fact that you are here at all is the result of divine providence, God’s hand guiding history. The fact that you are called to be a Christian and set apart for God’s great plan, proves again that he is very deliberate with you. Now that you’re living for him, the Lord wants to declare, even to people that come from afar, that he formed you and set you apart.

God gave you a name before you were born. That means that he was involved in shaping your nature, your destiny and your calling, before you were born.

In fact Isaiah 49:1-2 says it clearly. ‘… Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.’

He’s fitted you with the nature you need to fulfil the purpose he has for your life. You were born for the work he has you doing now and the work you will grow into over time. There’s nothing accidental about your life at all. There is purpose in your existence. Even when it seems that nothing much is happening for you, there’s a purpose in it. There are times when he will hide you in the shadow of his hand. He will put you his quiver, like a sharpened arrow awaiting its appointed task and time. Yet even then, when you’re itching to go and wondering why God is working so slowly, you can remember that he’s keeping you close to himself. You’re not in some storeroom somewhere, momentarily forgotten while God attends to more important matters, or helps more important people. No, you’re in his quiver; you’re on his person and carried by him at all times.

Prayer: ‘Father, I know that you have a very deliberate purpose for my future. Shape the nature that you’ve given me into something that really hits the mark for you. And help me to remember that, even in the slow times, you don’t forget me.’

THE DEPTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU

“The Lord reached down from above and took hold of me; He pulled me out of the deep waters” (Psalm 18:16 TEV).

There are times when we all think, “I’m going under for the last time! I’m about to sink!” No matter how deep you are, God’s love is there; He can pull you out of the deepest waters.

No matter what problem you have, God’s love is deeper than your problem. You may be in deep despair, deep trouble, under deep stress. You may have deep problems – emotional problems, physical problems, financial problems.

Yet, God’s love is deeper still.

Corrie ten Boom and Betsy ten Boom were Christians who lived in the Netherlands during World War II. They hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. When they were discovered, not only were the Jews taken to the concentration camp but Corrie and Betsy were taken as well, and they spent the rest of the war there.

After watching one atrocity after another, Corrie told Betsy, “This place is the pit of hell!” Betsy replied, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.”

Maybe in the last little while, you may have hit bottom. Perhaps you’re at the bottom financially and you think, “I am going broke!” Or you’ve hit bottom emotionally, or your marriage has hit bottom, or you’re having health problems. You’re frustrated and you think, “I’m going under.”

Where is God when you hit bottom? He’s right there underneath you. He is “your refuge, and His everlasting arms are under you” (Deuteronomy 33:27 NLT).

Drop into the Heavenly Father’s arms of love. Let Him catch you and support you when you have nowhere else to go.

IS YOUR LIFE LIKE A MOVIE?

[This weeks blog is dedicated to Corey Haim]

Marc, a friend of mine works as a producer, making films, animation shorts and directs a TV series for one of the Canada’s largest TV broadcasters. Not long after he first became a Christian, he noticed something staggering in the Old Testament story. ‘I was re-reading the story of the exodus from Egypt,’ he recounts this story one day to me as we were grabbing a cup of coffee downtown Toronto. ‘I’d been trying to work out how a filmmaker like me could use his gift for the Lord. Then I noticed that there were several distinct stages in the deliverance of God’s people: slavery in Egypt, then the Red Sea, then the wilderness and finally the promised land. Suddenly, it dawned on me: that’s the way movies are made!’ It’s true.

Why do people go to the movies? Because in the darkened cinema they find stories with which they can connect, narratives that offer them a chance to identify their own struggles and a chance to see a bright, redeeming outcome. In a sense, the life of every Christian is a kind of movie, a story played out not just for its own sake, but for the benefit of many others who need to see how God works. Each one of us has had his or her own Egypt, a place of bondage and powerlessness. We’ve also been through a Red Sea deliverance that’s nothing short of miraculous. And we’ve certainly had our share of wilderness experiences. But what keeps us going is the sense that somewhere out there is our promised land, the great destiny for which we were born. That hope drives us forward every day in faith. You may be in a wilderness experience right now. It may seem that you’ve been waiting forever for God’s deliverance, but it will come. Why? For two reasons. First, because God looks favourably on those who are feeling broken in spirit and contrite, humbled by the experiences of life. He lifts them from that place, to a new height of favour and blessing. And second, because in lifting you up he shows his nature to others who, though you may not be aware of it, are watching the movie of your life unfold. God will show them, through you, the power of hope in the promised land.

Prayer: ‘Lord, I know that others are watching my life. Please help me to keep a hope-filled attitude, even in my wilderness times I want others to see that you are with me and that you are the director & producer of my life.’