I recently heard someone say that it seems like everyone is just meaner\u00a0these days. I think I know what this person meant. We live in anxious\u00a0times. The 2016 presidential race has a good many people wound up.\u00a0There has been another act of gun violence and terrorism in Orlando. This\u00a0weekend, our denomination\u2019s General Assembly finished another biennial\u00a0meeting. Close to home, there has been unexpected tumult among leaders\u00a0in Jefferson County. Even in our own church, various issues have created\u00a0anxiety among many of us.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite verses about anxiety is in Philippians:<\/p>\n
Philippians 4:4-7 <\/strong><\/p>\n Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,\u00a0rejoice. \u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at\u00a0hand; 6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and\u00a0supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to\u00a0God. \u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard\u00a0your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n In this verse, to combat those nervous moments in life, Paul gives us an\u00a0attitude and two actions. The attitude is to rejoice. Rejoicing in the Lord\u00a0means to look at the good things God is doing instead of focusing only on\u00a0the negative. Sometimes that is really, really hard. It might seem like everything that can go wrong is going wrong, but I am certain that in those\u00a0moments there is something for which to rejoice in the Lord.<\/p>\n The two actions are to be reasonable and to pray. To be reasonable is to\u00a0choose to be calm even when you feel like standing on a high point and\u00a0screaming! It\u2019s very hard to be reasonable when you want to everything\u00a0else but. However, our reasonableness is only possible by relying on God.\u00a0He gives us the strength and we are able to point people in God\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n Prayer is something that should not be foreign to us. When we pray, we\u00a0move the focus from what we are unable to control to the One who is able\u00a0to control all things. And the result of seeking God in prayer is that God\u00a0will bestow upon us his unfathomable and ever-comforting peace.<\/p>\n I know things get crazy sometimes, and we don\u2019t know what to do. That is\u00a0when we must rejoice, be reasonable, and pray.<\/p>\n Blessings,<\/p>\n Pastor John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know things get crazy sometimes, and we don\u2019t know what to do. That is when we must rejoice, be reasonable, and pray Continue reading