Worry Wart

Most everyone worries, but that doesn't make it right or smart. Just like our mothers told us, "If all your friends decided to jump off a cliff, would you do it, too? No! You're a smart girl. Too smart to be jumping off cliffs." Come to think of it, worry really isn't all that different from jumping off the cliff. Worse, since with worry, we jump again and again and again.

I used to think that worry was inevitable. Sort of like the involuntary response of coughing when you swallow something the wrong way. (Swallowing... Hmm. There's something to think about.) Anyway, God tells us NOT to worry, and I guess I always took it like I would if a friend were to pat me on the hand and say, "Well, try not to worry," while both of us knew that worry WAS going to happen.

Actually, worry is fear disguised as concern. It is doubt disguised as probability or even inevitability. It is proof that we have meditated more fully on the scenarios our unrenewed imagination has manufactured than on the possibility pictures God's Word has offered us. Worry is meditation in the wrong direction. So, if you can worry--have ever worried--you have what it takes to meditate on God's Word. Worry and meditation are simply the practice of dwelling on and replaying over and over again what COULD happen. One is based on fear and the other on God's Word. Meditation MUST be based on God's Word. That's how to tap into the real power. God's Word has inherent within it the power to cause itself to come to pass. It is seed. Divine seed--which is to say--God-power seed.

How to kick the habit? Replace worry with meditation on God's Word. On purpose. Take your imagination by the ear and make it meditate on God's Word. Now, anything new is usually hard at first. Especially a new way of thinking. New grooves must be formed in the mind, and it is easy to fall into the old ruts of thinking that are well worn and familiar. But in this exercise, you have God's help. Any time you are handling God's Word in expectation, He is there to enable. He is resident in His Word.

So, meditate regularly, on purpose. And everytime you catch yourself worrying--STOP--REPENT--and replace with MEDITATION on God's Word. According to 2 Cor. 10:5&6, we are supposed to take insubordinate thoughts (those thoughts that don't agree with God's Word) captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. If worrying is a way of life for you, then you'll have opportunity to correct yourself many times day and night. But, the more you practice, the easier it will get, and you'll become proficient in agreeing with God. God's Word, when embraced in faith--and that's what meditation accomplishes--brings peace and relief and rest.

Be Constant in Prayer,
Paula J

more meditations on Acts 13:52

Thank you that my husband is continually filled [throughout his soul] with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Here are some more of my insights as a result of meditating this scripture.
Throughout his soul: the soul is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions; to have the mind, will, and emotions continually filled throughout--every nook and cranny--with joy makes for a strong mind since joy is strength(Nehemiah 8:10). We all want to possess a strong, sound mind and desire that for our husbands, too, regardless of age or circumstances.
Since the Holy Spirit is the counselor, teacher, and author of Wisdom, think of the advantage of having a mind continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
The will is our decision maker. To have the will (decision maker) continually filled with the Holy Spirit would guarantee that decisions would be guided and influenced by Wisdom. A will continually filled with joy, would guard against decisions prompted by fear. Fear based decisions always tend toward death (in all its forms.)
One of the purposes of emotions is to give us clues to what is happening around us. They are a little like a thermometer. If our emotions are continually filled with and governed by joy and the Holy Spirit, we can gain an accurate picture of what is really taking place, but we won't be led by emotions or let emotions take over a place of leadership that they were not designed to operate in. We don't want emotions to act like a thermostat and govern what takes place. Being filled continually throughout your soul with joy and the Holy Spirit can diminish or eliminate feelings of superiority, inferiority, low self-confidence, anger, resentment, fear, despair, hopelessness, or any emotions that would lead to lust, greed, or covetousness, etc. To sum it up: be led by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the pressures of the flesh. (Galations 5:16)
Stay Constant in Prayer,
Paula J

Notes on my meditation

Acts 13:52 May my husband be CONTINUALLY FILLED [throughout his soul] with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Here are notes on some of the insights I gained while meditating on our scripture prayer.

CONTINUALLY: to be constant; not up one minute and down the next; no moodiness; no big fluctuations in outlook; responses and reactions are not governed by circumstance but by the fruit of joy (Gal. 5:22)

FILLED: to the full; no room for anything but joy; joy has displaced sorrow, grief, grouchiness, moodiness, touchiness, negativity, pessimism.

There's more, but I'll leave it until next time.

Be constant in prayer,

Paula J

Meditate to Build Faith

When I am praying a scripture prayer, I find it helpful to meditate on the scripture throughout the day or at least, during the particular time that I have set aside for prayer, Bible reading, and meditation on scripture.

Meditation is just rolling the scripture over in your mind and heart--examining it to see how it will affect your situation as it takes place in your life. No sitting cross legged required! It gives you a chance to imagine or visualize how things will be when your life looks like the picture the scripture paints. Some people feel more comfortable with the term "ponder". Both terms are scriptural. God told Joshua to "meditate". David uses the term "meditations of my heart". Mary "pondered" the things she had been told concerning the birth of Jesus.

It gets your mind and heart quiet, so you can hear what God is saying to you, and when we truly hear God, that brings faith. Faith is the catalyst that brings the promise from the unseen into the seen.

Give it a try. Expect the Holy Spirit to teach you how. Till next time,

be Constant in Prayer,
Paula J