10-24-2015

 Good Morning All!!

       Philippians 4:6; “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

     I don’t remember much about the journalism lessons that I took while in high school.  I do remember the “5 w’s and the h;” Who, what, where, when, why and how are the questions that a good journalist answers when writing a story.  Anything less than this and the story is incomplete; anything more than this and it becomes an editorial or commentary.  As I watch the news and read the news stories, I wonder if they still teach this concept.  Yet these questions are still a good premise for the way that life occurs.  Sometimes asking these questions helps us see where our struggles in life.

   For many the answers to these questions are: who? ME.  What? Dissatisfied life.  Where? At every turn of life.  When? All the time  Why? Because life is so unfair.  How? How do I fix it? No idea.  For many, even many who claim to be Christians, they feel lost.  They believe in God but they don’t really believe in prayer.  This can lead to living an anxious life, a life filled with worry and fear.  This is the kind of life that Jesus came to free us from.  He gave us faith to trust his Word and his Spirit to remind us of this promise and he gives us prayer to help keep us connected to this promise. 

  So if we have the “me” mindset; we tend to carry the burdens and cares of this world that Jesus has already defeated.  We tend to focus the short term troubles.  We tend to see that everything is against us, in an unfair battle where we are always the losers.

   Jesus turned the world over so that we could be called the children of God and we can turn from the deceit of the devil and look to God for our needs.  So our answers to our questions can be: Who? GOD!!  What? Eternal life with him  Where? At every turn of  life  When? From our Baptism forward.  Why?  Because of God’s love for you.  How? By the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

    By changing our focus, by changing the answers to the questions, we find peace.  Prayer focuses our energy on the source of our power and that is God.  Prayer lifts our eyes upon the short term to see the long term and eternal term.  Prayer lets us know that God is in control and that his promise to always care for us and to deliver us will never fail.  Prayer works when we have faith that it works; not because of who we are but because of who God is.  His love never fails.

Father of all mercy, lift my eyes to see you and you alone.  Keep me going forward on your path of righteousness.  Give me the wisdom to call upon you with all my fears.  Give me the wisdom to let go of what you have already cured.  You have redeemed me from the devil; strengthen me so I may focus on your mercies in my life.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret