God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!…Be still, and know that I am God! Psalms 46:1-3,10

Life can easily become overwhelming. Just turn on the news and watch for a few minutes. By the sounds of things, the world may not be here by the end of the week. And not just globally but personally too. We all have stuff. Pressures at work. Bills to pay. Projects to finish and deadlines to meet. We may relationship struggles, and we all have insecurities. The list can go on and on.

It is natural to let our fears and our stuff start to define the boundaries of our life. But it’s not right.

If you want a safe, mediocre life, the let your fears win. If you want to not live up to your potential and your calling, let stay inside your comfort zone and let your fear win. But I believe we are called for more. We are more than conquerors. We are able. We are not on this journey alone.

Whatever your battle may be right now, just remember who is really in control. (hint: it’s not you!)

God is.

He wants us to cast our cares on Him. He wants to journey with us and take the burden off our shoulders. Put your faith and trust in Him today. He is always there to help us. That is a promise and He will not break that. He will never leave you. Let Him lead. Give up the control you don’t actually have to begin with. He is always ready to help. Always.

Now, be still and let Him fight for you.

“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.”

I know at times in my life I don’t acknowledge my whole life story, and I only want to show my best qualities. This is most especially true for me when I approach God. I know that this is natural but it is not best for us.

It is easy for us to fall into the trap of being fake in front of God even when we are along with him. We can deceive ourselves to actually believe we can fool him. We may think that if I pray a certain way, or use certain words, or act a certain way in front of him, that He somehow can’t see who we really are. Adam and Eve did this too…I know I have done this many times myself. But the truth is, by acknowledging the shadow side and running to his feet and being real before Him, we can activate grace in our lives. This is only way to truly understand the weight of grace. We are given 100% more grace than we deserve.

I need to remind myself often to be real and authentic in front of Christ. To truly acknowledge my shadow side in front of Christ. Regardless of what I do, His feelings and love for me will not change. He can and will not love me any more or less because of what I do. His grace and love are a constant.

Do you need to be work on acknowledging your shadow side in front of Christ as well?

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.    2 Cor 12:9 NLT

“…And then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” 2 Cor 12:9-10 The Message

A few days ago, I talked about worry. It is a big subject so I thought I should do a follow-up post and add to it. As it would happen, my pastor’s message this week was about worry, so let’s dive right in.

We all worry from time to time, and some to a much higher degree than others. And the truth about worry is that it paralyzes you. It keeps you stuck where you are and clouds your judgment moving forward. The moment is all that we have, and unfortunately worry keeps you from living in the present and in the moment. Ultimately worry robs you from living life to the fullest.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? ² My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. ³ He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.⁵ The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:1-8

This set of verses has some great depth to it and touches on worry, so let’s explore the passage deeper.

…My help comes from the Lord.

Notice our help comes, not from ourselves, but from the Lord. Usually when we worry, it is out of a desire to control, and control our circumstances. {Take a moment and think about how much time you spend worrying about things that are honestly completely out of your control?} Remember God, not you, is in control. Worrying will get you nowhere.

…the maker of the heavens and the earth.

Again, God, not you, is the author. He writes the story of our lives.

…He will not let your foot slip.

I hope this verse by now is resonating with you. It is put simply, He will not let us slip. God is always watching over us. It says in Matthew that if God watches over and provides for the birds, how much more would he provide and watch over us? This verse alone is enough to put our trust and faith in God. God is always watching. His full attention is on us at all times. He will take care of us.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Phil 4:6

I’m sure most of you have read this verse. There is a lot of truth in it. Instead of worrying, pray. I love how this verse is presented in the Message translation.

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.

This particular translation touches on a profound truth that I think is important to understand in order to start to not let worry control your life.

Worry will not go away on its own.

It will not go away just because you try harder to not worry. In order to start to live a life not ruled by worry, you need to replace it.

Replace your worry with praise.

Whenever you start to get overwhelmed and feel like you are worrying about something…lay it down. Immediately start to pray. Turn on some worship music and begin to praise God. Quote Scripture to yourself over and over and over again until it sinks in. The only way to get rid of worry, is to replace it.

Do you need to replace your worry?

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22

It is easy to worry. Life gets hectic and stressful, problems arise, and we start to worry. Fear and doubt consume us and we let them run our lives. Let’s not go down that path any longer.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1

Honestly we are not built to handle the weight of the world on our shoulders. We need to be more open to casting our burdens on Jesus and laying them down at his feet. This does not mean that we no longer give thought and attention to our troubles; but it does mean that we are no longer going at it alone. It does mean that we admit that we can not do it by our own strength, and it does mean that we are not going to be defeated and dictated by our circumstance.

Too often we hold worry so tight and close to ourselves…but it’s not healthy. We need to give God our trust. And the truth is, when has our worrying really ever solved any problem? Usually it keeps us stuck and paralyzes us from making a good decision. Worrying simply doesn’t do us any good.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

Our own logic will fail us. It is easy to get caught up emotionally in a situation and make a poor decision, usually based on fear. Let’s not do that. Let’s trust, believe, and have faith that He will come through for us in his timing, and that we are be led down the correct path.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

Is there anything you are worrying about that you need to let go of?

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.” Dallas Willard

Grace is quite an amazing thing. It is something that I still don’t fully understand. God’s grace is everything. It is simply enough.

No matter what you do or what you have done, God will never love you less than He does right in this moment…pretty cool thought.

His grace is enough.

I came across this quote the other day and I could not help but agree.

“The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes- a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.” - Dallas Willard

I agree…I think that the greatest agent for change is through the church.

This is our time to rise up with the power of the gospel. With the living power of Christ within us, and change this world.

It’s time to dream the biggest.

pray the impossible.

and believe the incomprehensible.

Now is the time.

We live in a fast-paced, quick, impatient, microwave culture. Through our advancements in technology and such, we have become a people with extremely short attention spans and without an ability to focus.

We have lost our patience. We want thing now because anything else is just inconvenient. We are a culture of instant gratification. There are many problems with this. This type of mentality will spill over into our spiritual lives and when it does, it can wreak havoc.

We tend to want spiritual growth and transformation to happen overnight, but it doesn’t work like that. When building a relationship with Christ, there are no shortcuts, tricks, or cheats.

“You can’t microwave spiritual formation.” Pete Wilson

The way to transformation and a deep relationship with Jesus is to allow His presence, grace, and love to truly shape us. We can’t change ourselves. It needs to be more of Him and less of us. We can’t just change by trying harder, you need to train. A person who is out of shape, can’t just decide to run a 4 minute mile by trying harder…they will need to train and train in order to get in shape enough to attempt that time. I can’t just bench press 200 pounds cause I decide to try harder…I have to train in order to lift that weight.

The same goes in our spiritual lives. We can’t expect huge transformation and change just because we want it more, or try harder…we have to train.

We have to build our ‘spiritual muscles.’

Just as it will take an athlete years to train to becoming the best at something, it too will take time to becoming the man or woman God has called us to be. The Christian walk, our spiritual lives and transformations is not a sprint, it is a marathon. It take time and patience…and at the same time urgency.

“In America slow and urgent are not compatible, they cancel each other out. In the Kingdom, patience and urgent are yoked together. The consumer religious culture wants to get things done and they are looking for short cuts to the person God builds over a long time.” Bill Hull

Don’t settle in your relationship with Christ…it is a life-long journey and it deserves your best. Train, don’t just try.

Formulaic faith does not work!

At one point or another, we all fall into the trap of having a formulaic faith. As humans, we like formulas. We like knowing that A + B = C; we prefer to do things that have formulas…if I do this and this, I’ll get that. It’s especially easy for the long-time Christian to fall into this trap of thinking that they have God figured out.

But faith does not work like that.

Sometimes phrases like, You just need to believe more, or have more faith, bother me. I mean, what do those even really mean? A lot of times the answers to our questions and our problems are a lot more complicated than simply “believing” more.

God is God. He is omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign, creator of the Heavens and the earth. He will not be put into a box. And He certainly will not be distilled down to an easy, simple formula.

I have seen that sometimes we tend to take certain principles in Scripture or trends in the church and create formulas to follow and live by…but this is dangerous. Just as it is dangerous to build your theology off of one single verse, the same goes for creating formulas. You are setting yourself up for disappointment when God doesn’t come through for you the way you though He should.

Do miracles occur on the other side of obedience? Yes. But if we are obedient, are we guaranteed a miracle? No we aren’t.

Does prayer work? Does it heal the sick and mend emotional wounds and scares? Yes. But when you pray, you are not guaranteed to be healed or mended.

With a formulaic faith, you can begin to shape your faith based off of the benefits you could receive…this is another fine line to walk.

• Maybe you tithe just to receive God’s increase.
• Maybe you worship only when you feel the tingles.
• Maybe you seek God only for what you think He will give you.

But none of those things are enough to build a solid foundation.

We need to worship God for who He is, simply because He is God, and not for what we thing He should give us. We should tithe because the money is His to begin with. We should pray to build our relationship and create dialog with Him, and not use Him as some cosmic vending machine.

Avoid having a formulaic faith. Are spiritual rhythms and disciplines important? Absolutely. But don’t confuse those with creating formulas for your faith. Focus on worship God for who He is, seek His face and not just His hand.

Because at the end of the day, His grace is simply enough.

“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’” 2 Cor 12:9

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 [emphasis mine]

Recently, I’ve been in a season of life where I have to choose joy. It is easy to forget that joy is a choice. Since joy is not based on circumstance, it becomes our choice whether or not we are going to have it. The verse above says to give thank in all circumstances. It doesn’t say for all circumstances but in. So even in tough, unexpected, and bad circumstances, we can choose to give thanks or choose joy.

Times have been somewhat bittersweet for me lately and it would be very easy for me to become overwhelmed by my circumstances and let them dictate my outlook. But that is not what I’m choosing to do.

I’m choosing joy.

Being recently engaged after over a year of long-distance dating and will be long-distance for the entire engagement. Being away from your fiancée and planning a wedding together while being 1200 miles apart is not easy. Most days it is so easy to become overwhelmed by all of that, but I’m choosing joy. I focusing on that fact that in less than 3 months, I will be married. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Also, the job that I have requires lots of my time and energy and has crazy hours. Therefore, I have less and less time to actually talk and communicate with family and fiancée and that is not easy. For example, the other day I worked a 12 hour day that started at 4:30pm…Then had to be back at work at 9am!

But I’ll choose joy.

The truth is, I’m blessed to have a job in a tough economy. I’m blessed to be have a nice place to live in and drive a reliable car. I’m blessed to be in great health and not worry about where my next meal will come from.

Crises tend to turn our focus inward and our thinking becomes more selfish…in those moments it is always good to take a step back and add in a little perspective and realize just how blessed we are. Perspective can straighten us out and help us realize the need and importance of choosing joy.

 ”The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” Psalm 28:7

Whatever you are going through right now, remember you can choose joy and find the good in every situation.

Are there situations in which you need to choose joy?

Silence it seems is rare today. There is almost always a constant noise happening around us. We have grown so accustom to this, that usually any type of “quiet” in our lives seems to be awkward.

We have forgotten how important it is to be quiet and to practice silence. Part of practicing silence is to grow in our ability to focus, shut out the distractions, and hear God’s voice. If God’s speaks in a “still, soft” voice, then we better be extra quiet so we can hear him.

But why is it so hard to have silence these days? Why can’t we drive in the car without music on, or be in a house without a TV on? We have started to equate silence and quiet with being unproductive, and that’s simply not true. But really, I think when we get down to it, silence scares us. Thoughts and feelings that are deep in our being begin to surface when there is silence. This quote from Dallas Willard brilliantly shares some insight on this topic:

Silence goes beyond solitude, and without it solitude has little effect…But silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life. It reminds us of death, which will cut us off from this world and leave only us and God. And in that quiet, what if there turns out to be very little to “just us and God”?

I know personally, I need to do a better job at this. I went to school for music, currently I work in the music industry, and I’m on the worship (music) team at my church. My life is saturated with music. Most plazas and sidewalks in Nashville have speakers built-into them which play music. It seems it’s harder and harder to find times and places to have some quiet…but we need to find those times and places.

If we want to hear from God more, then we need to put effort into cultivating an atmosphere in which God can speak, or more importantly, in which we can listen. The truth is, God is talking to us a lot more than we think, we just aren’t listening for it.

Here’s to practicing more silence in my life.

“I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet. That’s the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.” Psalm 27:4-5 (MSG)

How can you practice more silence in your life?