I think most of us have been there before or still revisit this scenario where worries bug you all the time & make you feel so tried. We go to church on Sunday, feel recharged and amped up in the Word, then we go back to daily life and feel as if things are falling apart- the kids are testing your patience, you have a stupid argument with your husband over some silly misunderstanding, work and deadlines are looming but your brain just doesn’t work or the com breaks down, bills to pay and a depleting bank account… Etcetera.
Worries cause myopia. Fear causes you to be paralysed. You just want to throw up your hands in the air & hide under the blanket and never come out again.
I know I wrote that this next verse is the remedy to the above scenarios on my little note to my eldest kid, (see pic) but as I blog, I realise it is actually the vaccine to it. (Hello, liquid paper my old friend…)
Seek Ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and ALL these things will be ADDED into you.
If you refuse to give first place priority to entertaining those unwelcome thoughts & first flood yourself with what the Word says about the situation, you stop the anxieties in their tracks. If you feel the first negative word creeping in and you stop it in its track by breaking out in praise and worship OR praying in tongues, you give it no chance to waiver your speaking and believing.
I will be the first to raise my hands and admit I can’t quite quote scripture and verse along with where to find them. I can’t do it when I am at rest, so don’t expect me to be able to when I am like a runaway train of emotions.
What I do do is to praise and worship my way out of a funk. Lyrics I kinda can memories a little better.
One of the songs I love to break out into when I feel overwhelmed is the chorus of “Still” by Hillsong.
“When the oceans rise and thunders roar. I will soar with You above the storms. Father, You are king over the flood. I will be still know You are God.”
When I get stuck in a traffic jam and I am in a rush, for some reason I start singing the Psalm 91 song by New Creation Church. I know it sounds funny but what happened was I realised after a few times, whenever I broke into that song and meditated on the lyrics in a car on a highway that’s badly jammed, I would stop panicking and for some divine reason, the traffic would suddenly clear and I would experience smooth passage all the way to my end destination.
And the chorus of the revised Amazing Grace is precious to me too.
“My chains are gone. I’ve been set free. My LORD and saviour has ransomed me. And like a flood, His mercy reigns. Amazing love. Amazing grace.”
It never fails to remind me of how far I have come in Christ & that whatever glitch I am encountering at that moment, is just a temporary setback because there is a glorious comeback just ahead.
The Word seems to be unfruitful when we allow the things of this world to choke it. Those unhappy and negative thoughts are like parasitic plants that rob the fruit tree of its nutrients and flourish whilst the fruit tree stops hearing fruit. We need to pluck these negative thoughts out by the root and refuse to give away even a second of Sonlight to them.
There is a song that our pastor loves to sing called “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” & I felt so much comfort in its lovely melody and simple reminder when I first heard it. Whenever I start to forget to take my thoughts captive in Christ, the song starts to play in my heart-
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
May your mountains crumble and your valleys rise as you remember that His plans for you are for GOOD, and not evil.