Philippians 4: 5-6
If we the Church only knew what we know, now that sounds
like a contradiction, it sounds like a total illogical statement, but is it? Shall we begin with a simple statement
of faith, we the Church believe the following; “God
is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his
mind. Has he said, and will he not
do it? Or has he spoken, and will
he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19) I know of no one in the Church who would not be in total agreement
with Numbers 23:19, yes, God is not like us, He never has lied, it is not in
His character, He has never changed His mind, and He always keeps His promises.
How can we stand on those
truths, how can we claim that as our foundation, proclaiming it to the world,
and find ourselves so apprehensive about life?
Living a life of anxiety, is a contradiction of our faith
claims, why would anyone be drawn to a God who is so totally misrepresented by
His Church? Philippians 4: 5-6, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your request be make known to God.”
As I searched my heart this morning, why do I get anxious, often
it happens when I cannot get hold of Jan when she is late or on the road to
somewhere. Sometimes it is when I
listen to Fox news, or hear the latest money expert give his thoughts on inflation
or deflation of the dollar. I also
get anxious about our government, what is their agenda, and guess what I’m not
the only one in the church who is anxious. I wish that was not true, but I see emails from many of you
who I personally look to as mature in Christ, and you are worried about many
things. Do we have so much;
and have the blessing of our God been so bountiful, that we have forgotten the
source of the blessing?
It seems that I always come back to this message; in the
world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world, Jesus told us
that. Has Scripture not said we
are in a war, it’s a cosmic war of spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly
places, and we have been given spiritual weapons to enter into this battle, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but
have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2Corinthaians
10:4-5) Have we forgotten how to
use the weapons our great God has given us, or have we been taken captive, by
the lust of stuff? My prayer for
myself is that I will take every thought captive, and that you will join me in
this great battle. We are more
than conquerors, because of our relationship with Jesus, but is our light being
seen by a world looking for almost anything?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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