I'm doing a series called Eight Principles. These are things God has taught me since coming to Christ 31 years ago. These are familiar principles, but it's good to remind ourselves of truth.
So far we've looked at Principle #1 (Fall in love with Jesus) and Principle #2 (We become more like Christ in proportion to how much time we spend with God in His Word).
Principle #3 is:
Let God change you from the inside out by replacing old thought patterns with biblical truth.
Prior to my conversion to Christ, I saw myself as dumb and ugly. After God saved me, He began changing that. One of the first verses I learned was Philippians 1:6 which says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
That was a critical verse for me because I felt overwhelmed at the thought of so much in me that needed to be changed. I had made a total mess of my life before Christ. So, every time I had thoughts like, "You're so dumb," I started quoting Philippians 1:6 to myself and thanking God for the good work He began in me and for His promise to keep doing it. It was no longer me trying to change myself (impossible!) but God doing it in me. After a few months of doing that, I no longer had thoughts about being dumb and ugly.
Romans 12:2 says,
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.
For years I had tried the way of the world to change myself. I worked for a positive thinking company; I tried careers that put me in the spotlight; I tried secular counseling. Nothing worked!
Only God can change us from the inside out when we trust Christ as our Savior. He does that through our relationship with Him in His Word, prayer, and through His Spirit.
I love Psalm 119:73 which says,
Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your commands.
And also Psalm 139:13-14:
For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
As God changes us from the inside out, He changes our motivations, our desires, and our view of life. We become authentic followers of Christ rather than those who do things to gain attention. Jesus said in Matthew 23:27, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean."
As a new Christian, I looked good on the outside, but inside I still had a lot of junk like selfishness, bitterness, and pride. Slowly God began to heal hurts, reveal sin, and clean me up from the inside out. It's a lifelong process where He keeps peeling back layers to get to things that need to be changed.
Let me pray for us:
Father, we praise You for never giving up on us, even when change looks hopeless in our eyes. Help us remember Your promise in Philippians 1:6. Thank you for being patient, loving, and gentle with us. We pray that as you make us more like Christ that You will increase our fruitfulness in Your kingdom.
In Jesus' precious Name,
Amen
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Eight Principles for a Joyful Life - #2
The first principle was Fall in Love with Jesus. Here's another obvious principle:
We become more like Christ in proportion to how much time we spend with God in his Word.
For too many years I viewed my Bible time as something to get through rather than focusing on my relationship with God. Too often (though we won't admit it) we view the Bible as boring, hard to read, or not relevant to our lives. But it's not! The Bible is full of exciting stories that relate to our lives. We learn what to do and not do from people in the Bible. God encourages us with verses that comfort, teach, and give us hope. The Bible discerns our heart and our motives and corrects us when we need it.
Here are some suggestions on how to make the Bible come alive for you.
a. Come to the Bible with expectancy. You're meeting with God. Ask him to reveal truth and give you understanding of the passage.
b. Put yourself in the story. Imagine the sounds, smells, sights, and feel of what's going on. Think about Jesus and the triumphal entry. Can you hear the crowds cheering Jesus, feel the breeze of the palm branches, feel the press of the crowds, smell the donkeys? What are you wearing? What are you thinking?
c. Substitute your name in verses like Philippians 1:6. being confident of this, that he who began a good work in Connie will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
d. When I was a student at Dallas Seminary, I took Howard Hendricks' Bible Study Methods. During the course we received "Prof. Hendricks' 9 Questions to Help Apply Any Scripture Passage to Your Life." This invaluable tool has helped me zero in on what God is wanting me to learn from the passage I'm studying. Prof says to:
Ask Yourself, Is There. . .
1. An example for me to follow?
2. A sin to avoid?
3. A promise to claim?
A prayer to repeat?
5. A command to obey?
6. A condition to meet? (Ex: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." (Jn 15:7)
7. A verse to memorize?
8. An error, heresy, or danger to expose?
9. A challenge to face something in your life?
e. Read the passage out loud. There's something about doing this that focuses your mind on what you're reading. Try dramatizing the stories. I love the story of the man born blind that Jesus healed in Matthew 9:1-41. As you read it, put yourself in the different roles (blind man, Pharisees, disciples, man's parents) and read it with the voice and tone that you think each one would have used.
f. There are many good books to help you with Bible study. They include:
Living by the Book (Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks)
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods (Rick Warren)
How to Read the Bible as Literature & Get More Out It (Leland Ryken)
The Joy of Discovery in Bible Study (Oletta Wald)
g. Another thing I do is write out the passage and break it down into main thoughts. (I learned this also in Prof's class at DTS). Doing this helps me grasp the intent of the passage. Let's look at Romans 5:3-5.
Not only so,
but we rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character;
and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out
his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.
When I look at the passage this way, I can better understand why we rejoice in our sufferings and also what I can expect God to do through my sufferings. It helps me to meditate on this passage when tough times come.
We will never comprehend all that God's Word contains, but God is faithful in opening our eyes to truth if we approach the Bible with humility, a teachable spirit, and a desire to obey what God shows us.
I pray that as we spend time with God in his Word that we will do so with excitement,anticipating the things God will teach us as he makes us more like Christ and increases our fruitfulness!
We become more like Christ in proportion to how much time we spend with God in his Word.
For too many years I viewed my Bible time as something to get through rather than focusing on my relationship with God. Too often (though we won't admit it) we view the Bible as boring, hard to read, or not relevant to our lives. But it's not! The Bible is full of exciting stories that relate to our lives. We learn what to do and not do from people in the Bible. God encourages us with verses that comfort, teach, and give us hope. The Bible discerns our heart and our motives and corrects us when we need it.
Here are some suggestions on how to make the Bible come alive for you.
a. Come to the Bible with expectancy. You're meeting with God. Ask him to reveal truth and give you understanding of the passage.
b. Put yourself in the story. Imagine the sounds, smells, sights, and feel of what's going on. Think about Jesus and the triumphal entry. Can you hear the crowds cheering Jesus, feel the breeze of the palm branches, feel the press of the crowds, smell the donkeys? What are you wearing? What are you thinking?
c. Substitute your name in verses like Philippians 1:6. being confident of this, that he who began a good work in Connie will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
d. When I was a student at Dallas Seminary, I took Howard Hendricks' Bible Study Methods. During the course we received "Prof. Hendricks' 9 Questions to Help Apply Any Scripture Passage to Your Life." This invaluable tool has helped me zero in on what God is wanting me to learn from the passage I'm studying. Prof says to:
Ask Yourself, Is There. . .
1. An example for me to follow?
2. A sin to avoid?
3. A promise to claim?
A prayer to repeat?
5. A command to obey?
6. A condition to meet? (Ex: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." (Jn 15:7)
7. A verse to memorize?
8. An error, heresy, or danger to expose?
9. A challenge to face something in your life?
e. Read the passage out loud. There's something about doing this that focuses your mind on what you're reading. Try dramatizing the stories. I love the story of the man born blind that Jesus healed in Matthew 9:1-41. As you read it, put yourself in the different roles (blind man, Pharisees, disciples, man's parents) and read it with the voice and tone that you think each one would have used.
f. There are many good books to help you with Bible study. They include:
Living by the Book (Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks)
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods (Rick Warren)
How to Read the Bible as Literature & Get More Out It (Leland Ryken)
The Joy of Discovery in Bible Study (Oletta Wald)
g. Another thing I do is write out the passage and break it down into main thoughts. (I learned this also in Prof's class at DTS). Doing this helps me grasp the intent of the passage. Let's look at Romans 5:3-5.
Not only so,
but we rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character;
and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out
his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.
When I look at the passage this way, I can better understand why we rejoice in our sufferings and also what I can expect God to do through my sufferings. It helps me to meditate on this passage when tough times come.
We will never comprehend all that God's Word contains, but God is faithful in opening our eyes to truth if we approach the Bible with humility, a teachable spirit, and a desire to obey what God shows us.
I pray that as we spend time with God in his Word that we will do so with excitement,anticipating the things God will teach us as he makes us more like Christ and increases our fruitfulness!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Eight Principles for a Joyful LIfe - #1
This is the first in a series called Eight Principles. These are things God has taught me over the last 31 years as his child. I trust these truths will benefit you as much as they do me as I revisit them.
Principle #1 - Understanding God’s Love for You will Change your Life!
Ding dong! I wiped my wet eyes and answered the door.
“Do you need help? Is there anything I can do?” The man standing there looked at me sympathetically. Embarrassed, I managed to whisper no.
After he left, I went back to bed and let the silent sobs shake my body. I didn’t want him to hear me crying again. “He doesn’t really care,” I told myself. “Nobody cares. Nobody loves me.”
Pain tore at my heart as I made a desperate decision. I got out of bed, pulled out the pills I had been saving up, and got a big glass of water. As I swallowed pill after pill, I felt relief that the pain would end soon.
But I didn’t count on God saving me from myself. When I didn’t show up at work the next day, someone called my dad who was listed as my emergency contact. I woke up in the hospital three days later and was told that I had been in a coma. If my dad had not found me, I would have died. The 80 pills I ingested would have done their work.
I lost count of the number of times I attempted to take my life, somewhere around four or five. Hopelessness and despair weighed me down like a cement coat. Counseling, careers, men, and positive thinking had done nothing to relieve the feeling that no one loved me or cared about me.
Fast forward three years. Through a series of events, I met a pastor who told me that God loved me and that Jesus could change my life. He talked to me about the sin in my life, and asked if I would like to trust Christ as my Savior. I was a 32 year old mess, and I recognized that my efforts to make life work had failed miserably. I prayed and asked God to forgive me and asked Jesus to be my Savior.
My life took a 180 degree turn, and I stopped drinking and running around with the wild crowd at work. Although I was a new person in Christ, feelings of love and joy did not immediately descend on me.
As a new Christian, I experienced a crisis in my life that drove me into God’s Word. I devoured the Bible, marking it up and going “wow.” Over and over I read about God’s love and about Jesus dying for me because He loves me. I came to see God as my Father. The Creator of the universe – my Father! Slowly it sunk in that God really did love me, and it changed my life. One day I felt something that I had never felt before. It turned out to be joy.
Joy is characterized by delight, pleasure, peace, contentment, cheerfulness. None of that described me before I met Jesus. It would take years for God to heal the hurts, the emotional devastation, and the pain of my early life. But little by little, as I continued to grow in my relationship with Jesus, joy began to replace the pain. Now joy overwhelms me as God continues to shower me with His great love. First John 4:10 says,
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God is the initiator in our salvation, our faith, and our continuing relationship with Him. When we fail to stay close to Him, He is constantly wooing us back. God desires to have an intimate relationship with His children. He is always there. We are the ones who pull away.
Relationships suffer in our busy, bustling, beckoning world and none more so than our relationship with our heavenly Father. We get so busy doing for God that we forfeit intimacy with Him. But our doing means nothing without a close relationship with Him that flows into relationships with others. You would think because of my background that I would understand the necessity of never straying far from God. Not so!
Several years ago I was asked to teach a session for women during an in-church retreat. I knew I should have turned it down because I struggled at that time with not just my health, but with spending time with God. I stopped journaling and reading my Bible every day. I had nothing to offer the women. Yet I said yes out of pride. What a mistake! It was a disaster, although some of the women were gracious enough to say they enjoyed it. I learned through this humiliating experience the truth of Jesus’ words in John 15:5.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.
That experience taught me that nothing is worth giving up my time with the Lord. I flounder, fail, and fall on my face when I'm far from God.
Our love for God will grow in proportion to how much time we spend with Him in His Word and in prayer. Because I often have a foggy brain from living with fibromyalgia, writing a letter to God every day helps me focus. My daily time with God consists of the following:
1. Reading a portion of Scripture, and then asking God to teach me, discipline me, or show me what he wants me to learn from that passage.
2. Writing out the passage.
3. Writing a short commentary on the passage.
4. Asking God how to put that passage into practice.
5. Confessing sin and asking for forgiveness.
6. Praying for those on my prayer list and others God puts on my heart.
7. Telling God about my hurts, worries, and desires.
8. Praising Him, often with a passage from Psalms.
9. Expressing my love for Him.
10. I end my letter with "Maranatha!" which means, "Come quickly, Lord!"
I don't believe in formulas when it comes to our relationship with God. Each person has to develop their own way of growing in Christ through spending time in the Bible and prayer. We can learn from others, but ultimately it's about making the commitment to spend time on a daily basis with our Father. He will grow us when we do that. I pray that we will view time with our heavenly Father in His Word and in prayer as a time of abundant delight, not one of duty. This is the greatest definition of joy - basking in the glow of God’s love as we sit at His feet.
Think about a human relationship that brings you intense joy. That joy grows pale in comparison to the bright joy found in Christ. The joy in Christ cheers, comforts, and gladdens even in difficult times. . .especially in difficult times.
God is love. Let's be people whom God can pour His love into and then watch as His love pours out of us to others. What a great privilege God has given us!
Principle #1 - Understanding God’s Love for You will Change your Life!
Ding dong! I wiped my wet eyes and answered the door.
“Do you need help? Is there anything I can do?” The man standing there looked at me sympathetically. Embarrassed, I managed to whisper no.
After he left, I went back to bed and let the silent sobs shake my body. I didn’t want him to hear me crying again. “He doesn’t really care,” I told myself. “Nobody cares. Nobody loves me.”
Pain tore at my heart as I made a desperate decision. I got out of bed, pulled out the pills I had been saving up, and got a big glass of water. As I swallowed pill after pill, I felt relief that the pain would end soon.
But I didn’t count on God saving me from myself. When I didn’t show up at work the next day, someone called my dad who was listed as my emergency contact. I woke up in the hospital three days later and was told that I had been in a coma. If my dad had not found me, I would have died. The 80 pills I ingested would have done their work.
I lost count of the number of times I attempted to take my life, somewhere around four or five. Hopelessness and despair weighed me down like a cement coat. Counseling, careers, men, and positive thinking had done nothing to relieve the feeling that no one loved me or cared about me.
Fast forward three years. Through a series of events, I met a pastor who told me that God loved me and that Jesus could change my life. He talked to me about the sin in my life, and asked if I would like to trust Christ as my Savior. I was a 32 year old mess, and I recognized that my efforts to make life work had failed miserably. I prayed and asked God to forgive me and asked Jesus to be my Savior.
My life took a 180 degree turn, and I stopped drinking and running around with the wild crowd at work. Although I was a new person in Christ, feelings of love and joy did not immediately descend on me.
As a new Christian, I experienced a crisis in my life that drove me into God’s Word. I devoured the Bible, marking it up and going “wow.” Over and over I read about God’s love and about Jesus dying for me because He loves me. I came to see God as my Father. The Creator of the universe – my Father! Slowly it sunk in that God really did love me, and it changed my life. One day I felt something that I had never felt before. It turned out to be joy.
Joy is characterized by delight, pleasure, peace, contentment, cheerfulness. None of that described me before I met Jesus. It would take years for God to heal the hurts, the emotional devastation, and the pain of my early life. But little by little, as I continued to grow in my relationship with Jesus, joy began to replace the pain. Now joy overwhelms me as God continues to shower me with His great love. First John 4:10 says,
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God is the initiator in our salvation, our faith, and our continuing relationship with Him. When we fail to stay close to Him, He is constantly wooing us back. God desires to have an intimate relationship with His children. He is always there. We are the ones who pull away.
Relationships suffer in our busy, bustling, beckoning world and none more so than our relationship with our heavenly Father. We get so busy doing for God that we forfeit intimacy with Him. But our doing means nothing without a close relationship with Him that flows into relationships with others. You would think because of my background that I would understand the necessity of never straying far from God. Not so!
Several years ago I was asked to teach a session for women during an in-church retreat. I knew I should have turned it down because I struggled at that time with not just my health, but with spending time with God. I stopped journaling and reading my Bible every day. I had nothing to offer the women. Yet I said yes out of pride. What a mistake! It was a disaster, although some of the women were gracious enough to say they enjoyed it. I learned through this humiliating experience the truth of Jesus’ words in John 15:5.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.
That experience taught me that nothing is worth giving up my time with the Lord. I flounder, fail, and fall on my face when I'm far from God.
Our love for God will grow in proportion to how much time we spend with Him in His Word and in prayer. Because I often have a foggy brain from living with fibromyalgia, writing a letter to God every day helps me focus. My daily time with God consists of the following:
1. Reading a portion of Scripture, and then asking God to teach me, discipline me, or show me what he wants me to learn from that passage.
2. Writing out the passage.
3. Writing a short commentary on the passage.
4. Asking God how to put that passage into practice.
5. Confessing sin and asking for forgiveness.
6. Praying for those on my prayer list and others God puts on my heart.
7. Telling God about my hurts, worries, and desires.
8. Praising Him, often with a passage from Psalms.
9. Expressing my love for Him.
10. I end my letter with "Maranatha!" which means, "Come quickly, Lord!"
I don't believe in formulas when it comes to our relationship with God. Each person has to develop their own way of growing in Christ through spending time in the Bible and prayer. We can learn from others, but ultimately it's about making the commitment to spend time on a daily basis with our Father. He will grow us when we do that. I pray that we will view time with our heavenly Father in His Word and in prayer as a time of abundant delight, not one of duty. This is the greatest definition of joy - basking in the glow of God’s love as we sit at His feet.
Think about a human relationship that brings you intense joy. That joy grows pale in comparison to the bright joy found in Christ. The joy in Christ cheers, comforts, and gladdens even in difficult times. . .especially in difficult times.
God is love. Let's be people whom God can pour His love into and then watch as His love pours out of us to others. What a great privilege God has given us!
Eight Principles
As I read my Bible, I'm often amazed at how often people through the ages just didn't get it. I shouldn't be surprised,though, because repeatedly in my Christian life I didn't get what God was trying to teach me. Thankfully he doesn't give up on us!
This morning I read Acts 1:6 which says, So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
This is right after Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift (the Holy Spirit) the Father had promised. Rather than being excited about the Holy Spirit, the disciples focused on the kingdom being restored to Israel.
Jesus had just spent three years teaching them about the kingdom of God which included suffering, spreading the gospel, and his second coming. In addition, after his resurrection, Jesus told Peter what kind of death he would experience in order to glorify God. The disciples seemed to forget all they had been taught.
In my next post I'm starting a series called Eight Principles for a Joyful Life. These are things God has taught me during the 31 years I've been his child. This is for my benefit as much as everyone else's. Like the disciples, I find myself sometimes focusing on earthly things rather than "going about my Father's business." Most likely the Lord has taught you these things too. But it's always good to remind ourselves of truth!
So join me next time when we'll get started on Eight Principles for a Joyful Life!
This morning I read Acts 1:6 which says, So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
This is right after Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift (the Holy Spirit) the Father had promised. Rather than being excited about the Holy Spirit, the disciples focused on the kingdom being restored to Israel.
Jesus had just spent three years teaching them about the kingdom of God which included suffering, spreading the gospel, and his second coming. In addition, after his resurrection, Jesus told Peter what kind of death he would experience in order to glorify God. The disciples seemed to forget all they had been taught.
In my next post I'm starting a series called Eight Principles for a Joyful Life. These are things God has taught me during the 31 years I've been his child. This is for my benefit as much as everyone else's. Like the disciples, I find myself sometimes focusing on earthly things rather than "going about my Father's business." Most likely the Lord has taught you these things too. But it's always good to remind ourselves of truth!
So join me next time when we'll get started on Eight Principles for a Joyful Life!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Discouragement Antidotes
The endless night dragged on. I turned for the umpteenth time and wished for morning. My comfortable bed felt like a prison. What brought on this sleeplessness? I wish I could blame it on pain from the fibromyalgia I live with; that's easier to deal with. But this came from getting my eyes off Jesus and believing the enemy's lies about certain circumstances in the past. I was discouraged.
Some of the synonyms for discouragement are dejection, lack of spirit, gloom, despondency, loss of confidence, fearfulness, melancholy. Just reading the description of discouragement is discouraging! Can't you just see drooping shoulders, worry lines etched across a face, feet dragging?
We all deal with discouragement every now and then; some more than others. Since I wasn't sleeping, I began praying (why did it take me so long?) and asking God for an antidote to discouragement.
The first thing that came to mind was Romans 8:1: "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Thoughts that condemn us are not from God. God convicts us of sin, but He doesn't condemn us. Condemn means to berate, accuse, denounce, scold, attack. Does that sound like our loving God? No way! Who is the accuser? Satan. As I recognized where my thoughts were coming from, some of the discouragement lifted.
Second, the Lord put someone on my mind to pray for. This person recently lost her husband and is going through an illness. Then he brought another person to mind, a precious teen who is battling a frightening illness. As I began praying, I got my focus off myself and a little more of the discouragement dissipated.
Third, I focused on God's love for me. Romans 8:35-39 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus - not trouble, hardship, death, any powers, demons. That includes thoughts planted by our enemy. Discouragement was losing its grip.
Fourth, God's faithfulness is the story of my Chrsitian life. He has never let me down! I thought about times past when He comforted me and lifted me out of other pits of discouragement. The discouragement vanished. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
If sleeplessness hits again, I plan to crawl out of my warm bed and run to my Bible. When discouragement bowls us over, we need God's truth to pull us out of it.
Hebrews 12: 2 says,
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
And Romans 12:2 says,
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to do what my blog address says: live "above the circumstances"!
Some of the synonyms for discouragement are dejection, lack of spirit, gloom, despondency, loss of confidence, fearfulness, melancholy. Just reading the description of discouragement is discouraging! Can't you just see drooping shoulders, worry lines etched across a face, feet dragging?
We all deal with discouragement every now and then; some more than others. Since I wasn't sleeping, I began praying (why did it take me so long?) and asking God for an antidote to discouragement.
The first thing that came to mind was Romans 8:1: "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Thoughts that condemn us are not from God. God convicts us of sin, but He doesn't condemn us. Condemn means to berate, accuse, denounce, scold, attack. Does that sound like our loving God? No way! Who is the accuser? Satan. As I recognized where my thoughts were coming from, some of the discouragement lifted.
Second, the Lord put someone on my mind to pray for. This person recently lost her husband and is going through an illness. Then he brought another person to mind, a precious teen who is battling a frightening illness. As I began praying, I got my focus off myself and a little more of the discouragement dissipated.
Third, I focused on God's love for me. Romans 8:35-39 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus - not trouble, hardship, death, any powers, demons. That includes thoughts planted by our enemy. Discouragement was losing its grip.
Fourth, God's faithfulness is the story of my Chrsitian life. He has never let me down! I thought about times past when He comforted me and lifted me out of other pits of discouragement. The discouragement vanished. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
If sleeplessness hits again, I plan to crawl out of my warm bed and run to my Bible. When discouragement bowls us over, we need God's truth to pull us out of it.
Hebrews 12: 2 says,
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
And Romans 12:2 says,
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to do what my blog address says: live "above the circumstances"!
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