The Holy Spirit reminded me again yesterday; the second time in a few months, that too often I get lost living for the completion of my schedule instead of the care of my soul. The difference in the two is one of panic versus peace, calm versus chaos and rush versus rest. As I am practicing this myself, my prayer for you today, friend, is that you may take some time to LIVE, not from a planner but from a place; a place that makes your heart sing. You are loved.
What am I going to do? How am I going to handle this? Several times over the last two weeks I have caught myself asking these questions. I didn’t realize there is a niche of narcissism hidden in my heart until exposed by my thought pattern.
Every time my mind defaulted to one of those questions, I received a question back. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness! The responses to my questions were a unified theme-ME. “What are YOU going to do?” “How are YOU going to handle this?”
Do you see my problem here? I was exalting myself and excluding God.
Also, in those moments of fear, my first line of defense was panic instead of prayer. When I am under pressure, I easily forget the Source of my security. Control, micromanagement, and self-reliance are such insidious impostures that lead me down a path planned by my flesh instead of a passage paved by my Father.
I am grateful for the reminder that it was time for a self-demotion in exchange for a Savior promotion.
Life is so much lighter when I settle into my designed role as a child of a Father, who knows and controls all things. My planning hands rarely prosper, and life becomes futile; it is when I leave room for God to mold my purpose that living becomes fruitful.
Father, remind all your children who need to remember when we are prone to fighting for ourselves that Jesus’ victory belongs to us. In all the ways, we deceive ourselves into believing we are in control, whisper that peaceful word that is too elusive in our hearts and minds-rest. May we lay down all our plans, schemes and weapons intended to forge our plans for life and remember that You have already written our entire story with Your Sovereign Hands. Father, I confess, I get overwhelmed by demanding days; tempting me to maximize myself and minimize you. When I do this, chaos becomes my company, fear becomes my friend and anxiety becomes my advisor. Quickly convict my heart and direct me back to Your promises, the only resivor of rest for riddled ragamuffins like me. Amen.
Father when things do not go according to plan as they often do not, I am prone to a default reaction of panic rather than a posture of prayer. Panic leads me to fear and worry sending me spiraling away from You. The further I become from you, the more responsible I feel to make life work on my own. In my busyness to “manage” life, I become so distracted with misguided priorities that I neglect my time with you. As your word recounts in Luke, call me “out of the kitchen” as you did Martha. Place within me the heart of Mary that desires to sit fully surrendered at your feet and bask in your presence. Amen.
The way we are wired is an indicator of how we react, but it does not have to be a dictator. Being in touch with our tendencies is very helpful in maintaining stability.
This morning as people are defaulting to our natural fear mode about a “possible” Ebola patient at UAB, why don’t we take a moment and consider prayer before panic. Pray for the patient, the family and all health care workers involved in this persons care. So many times our fears never become a reality.
The media feeds fear. Be aware of what is going on to an extent, but fix your thoughts on a God, who is over ALL things, knows ALL things and is faithful through ALL things.
Whatever situation you are facing today, possible Ebola, a dreaded diagnosis, broken relationships, God is not surprised. He wrote the story, and He knows how it will end. Do you trust Him?
The biggest battle we all face is the one in our minds. Sometimes we become hostages to our thoughts but we are not helpless against them. Consider prayer before panic in all situations. It makes all the difference. I know this because it is a discipline I had to learn, too!
Philippians 4:8 ~And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Anyone need to stand still and and stay calm today? We need not have a spirit of exhausting panic, just earnest prayer. Lay it all down today.
Don’t be afraid, just stand still…” The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. ~Exodus 14:13-14