EmmDev 2021-06-23 [God's help in Tough Times] Pride makes worry worse#2

Pride makes worry worse#2

Yesterday we looked at how anxiety takes on a life of its own and becomes an escalating loop. We saw that humility was needed: It's not my life and we need to trust God's mighty hand of providence.

Today we come to the third aspect of humility in the face of worry and this is the humility to "let go and let God." The verb that Peter uses for "cast" is a past participle which implies an ongoing process that has almost become a background activity - it implies a lifetime and lifestyle of entrusting our burdens to God. 

There's the well-loved poem by Loretta P Burns that reads:

As little children bring their broken toys in tears for us to mend

I took my broken dreams to God because He was my friend

But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried, "How could You be so slow"-

"My child," He said, "What could I do? You never did let go."

The other time the New Testament uses this verb in this form is when the disciples "cast" their cloaks onto the colt that Jesus rides into Jerusalem for the Triumphal Entry. Think about the significance of that moment - it was the start of Jesus' journey to the cross. And He did not falter until he could say: "It is finished." When we "cast" our burdens on to Him we can know that He will see it through.

We have a replica of a Good News Bible picture by Annie Valotton at the front of our sanctuary. It's a picture of people leaving their burdens at the foot of the cross and walking away renewed, restored and healed.

It's a helpful picture:
The cross is our reminder that He cares for us.
But it also reminds us not to circle back and pick our burdens up again...

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter5:6-7)

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EmmDev 2021-06-22 [God's help in Tough Times] Pride makes worry worse#1

Pride makes worry worse#1

Sometimes our anxiety takes on a life of its own and can become even greater than the thing we are worrying about. 

This is what happens when someone has a panic-attack: It is the sound of their own beating heart, the shortened breath and the increased blood pressure that dumps a load of adrenaline into the system triggering a flight or fight response that is even greater than the initial triggering event.

It's like that high pitched whine one sometimes gets when someone is using a microphone. The microphone picks up a sound from the loudspeakers, the sound system amplifies it, the microphone picks it up again, a little louder this time, and it becomes an escalating loop. A sharp tap on the microphone will stop it, but ultimately the microphone must be pointed away from the loudspeakers, or the volume must be lowered.

Sometimes we get an escalating loop in our heads... 
This happens all too often when we are trying to face our challenges on our own.

The scattered congregations in Asia-Minor were experiencing escalating levels of persecution. It was a tense and unpredictable time. Before he advises them to cast all their anxieties on God, Peter urges them to be humble...

This humility has two facets:
Firstly, I need to recognise that I am not the "sole-proprietor" of my life. Bon Jovi sang "It's my life" but it's not true. I belong to God - and while it takes some humility to accept that, it is also a relief. I am "soul-response-able" but I don't have "sole-responsibility"!

The second facet of humility is that we are under God's mighty hand of Providence. This means that God may allow things to happen that I may not like, and that I may find difficult, and my life under Him may take turns that I find difficult, but God is ultimately in control and He is ultimately good. 

I will have to learn to trust Him.

(Tomorrow we'll look at the second part of this passage...)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter5:6-7)

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EmmDev 2021-06-18 [God's help in Tough Times] Timidity and Realism

Timidity and Realism

At times like we are in at the moment, there is a fine balance between fear and realism. Some become paranoid and others irresponsible.

It seems that Timothy was prone to reticence and struggled to assert himself in the sense of fulfilling his calling and duty. 

Paul is remembering when they laid hands on Timothy (probably in some form of ordination). As he did that, Timothy was filled and renewed with the equipping of the Holy Spirit.

There are two important things to say about this:

1. Paul likens the equipping power of the Holy Spirit as a fire: it must be fanned into flame. As a physical fire needs a steady flow of oxygen to burn brightly, so the Holy Spirit's work in our lives needs a different kind of oxygen to thrive. That "oxygen" is spelled a-v-a-i-l-a-b-i-l-i-t-y.

At the end of the day we can be talented and resourced but still useless if we are not available. The Spirit is ready to work powerfully in those who without conditions and without "if's or buts" say: "Here am I Lord, send me."

2. The Spirit's presence in our lives helps us to overcome fear. We can overcome nagging doubts, fear of failure and even outright terror through the equipping and transforming power of the Spirit. His equipping takes three forms:

• Power: (Greek=dunamis from where we get dynamite and dynamo - I prefer the latter as a picture of the Spirit's work.) He gives us the power to transform, the power to become better people and the power to overcome fear and sin.
• Love: Love is the key strategic weapon in our mission to reach and change the world. Our own capacity to love is fairly limited. Continued closeness to God increases our capacity to love.
• Self-Discipline: Our sinful nature is like the law of entropy: we are subject to ongoing personal decay. It is the Spirit who helps us to improve and transform our lives.

As we make ourselves available to God's service, we, like Timothy, can be equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Are you willing to put aside the rush of your own agenda and say "OK Lord, here I am! Use me"?

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2Timothy1:6-7)

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EmmDev 2021-06-17 [God's help in Tough Times] Worry Wart?

Worry Wart?

It is very easy to become a worry wart.

I imagine the term comes from an itchy wart which becomes even more itchy when one scratches and worries it. Paul is addressing this very human tendency to turn our problems over and over in our minds to the extent that they dominate our existence!

Anxiety: That chest-tightening panic-inducing condition which, in the short-term, pushes us to fight or flight and, in the long-term, wears us down and impacts our health. We need to avoid anxiety and Paul gives us a clue as to how to do it...

The secret lies in becoming a person who really talks to and listens to God. The problem with anxiety is that it is a never-ending circle in our heads. Most of the counselling I do is listening while people unpack their problems. When there is someone who listens and asks perspective-giving questions, then the circle is broken and the solutions come. God is the best listener because He knows us best.

When we make real, truthful, sincere dialogue with God a daily part of our lives, and we begin to share our feelings, joys, fears, and dreams with God, then He begins to answer by giving us His wisdom, strength, and perseverance and His PEACE.

It is a bit like photography. God is the light, our hearts are the film, and prayer is the shutter that opens up so that the light can shine in and leave God's image on our hearts.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians4:6-7)

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EmmDev 2021-06-15 [God's help in Tough Times] Thorns, Weakness, Strength

Thorns, Weakness, Strength

Our passage for today comes from a section in 2Corinthians where Paul has been "boasting" about the things that make him seem weak.

In today's passage we get to the very heart of why he's doing this:

Paul knows that it's not about him!

He knows that there is more to life than his own achievements, his own glory and his own ego.

With incredible self-insight and self-awareness, Paul shares a story of weakness - a "thorn in the flesh".

We don't know exactly what this "thorn in the flesh" was - the best suggestion was that he had an ailment with his eyes - a debilitating disease that caused his eyes to fester and impeded his vision. It wasn't nice to look at and meant that Paul needed the help of scribes and it made people feel very sorry for him.

• He could have felt like a victim - like life was unfair - he was serving God wasn't he? So why should he have this "thorn?"
  
  
• But Paul says it so well: "God's grace and strength shines through my weakness."
  
  
• His weakness caused him to trust in God's grace and He has realised that when he is weak - he is strong.

When it is all about us then it always needs to go well.

But when we get beyond ourselves, then there is room for God to work in mysterious and mischievous ways - bringing grace and strength out of weakness and even out of pain.

May we discover that when we are weak - He is strong. 

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Corinthians12:7-10)

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EmmDev 2021-06-11 [God's help in Tough Times] Deeper Peace

Deeper Peace

On the night of the Last Supper it became clear to the disciples that Jesus would not be with them forever. They were devastated. 

Jesus consoles them with the promise of rooms in His Father's house, but He also made it clear that this would not happen immediately. In fact, as we saw yesterday, He warns them that "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world." Then He promises them the help of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Helper, Comforter or Paraclete - the One "called alongside."

But Jesus also promises peace - peace that will sustain them in the waiting and in the hardship. This is not peace as the world gives - that kind of peace is simply the absence of trouble. Jesus promises a deeper peace.

One of the privileges I have is to be with families in times of terminal illness and bereavement. One of the things I convey in words, example and attitude is a simple phrase: "We can be sad, but we're not going to be afraid."

Death, and its henchmen - frailty, sickness and suffering - are bullies. They try to tell us that God isn't there - that our circumstances mean that God has left the building. When we buy their lies and threats, we start waiting for God to arrive. But He never left! He's not only in the building, but He is in our suffering. Jesus carried it on the cross - He is at the epic-centre of all human pain and heartache.

Although we don't always understand why, we sometimes have to drink the Gethsemane Cup.... When we do, we discover that there is another cup we drink: the cup that came to us with the words, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood..."

Our peace is not the peace of "absent trouble", but the peace of a "Present Saviour" who has seen the worst of trouble and overcame.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John14:27)

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EmmDev 2021-06-10 [God's help in Tough Times] Contentment is a super power

Contentment is a super power

I want to continue yesterday's theme... 
For some reason, many Christians, particularly those in the economic middle and upper class, have begun to believe that they are entitled to a pain-free life...

This is not the picture that the Bible paints:

• "In this world you will have trouble" - Jesus
• "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials" - James
• "...though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." - Peter
• "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." - Paul
• "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble. " - Moses

But Paul reminds us that we can find contentment in difficult circumstances. This amazing ability comes to us through our faith and trust in Christ, who is no stranger to hardship. He experienced the ultimate heartache: the God-forsakenness of the cross.

So, what is contentment?
It is knowing that despite our outward circumstances - "It is well with our soul." In his letter to the Corinthians Paul puts it like this: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2Cor.4:16-18)

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Philippians3:12-13)

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EmmDev 2021-06-09 [God's help in Tough Times] When our problems don't disappear...

When our problems don't disappear...

When times are tough, we pray...

But there are times that it seems that God didn't hear us, because our problems are still there.

David has another perspective on this: God doesn't always answer by taking our problems away - Sometimes, oftentimes, He answers by making us bold and stouthearted. 

God is able to fill us with boldness: the ability to see and face the bullies around us.

We can be David saying to Goliath - "You come with spear and sword and javelin, I come in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom (by the way) you have defied." 

We can be Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saying: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

And God makes us stouthearted. (Don't you just love the feeling conveyed by "stouthearted"?) His Spirit strengthens us from within and makes us resolute, determined, faithful, persevering and unshakeable. Paul reminds Timothy: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Sometimes the best way is not around or out of our problems but through them...

When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. (Psalms138:3 )

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EmmDev 2021-06-08 [God's help in Tough Times] Understood...

Understood...

"Nobody understands me!!!"

This cry of angst is often found in the wails of spoilt teenagers who don't understand why their parents won't buy them some overpriced fashion item.

But we should not underestimate the extent to which many people feel really and utterly alone. Alone in betrayal or abandonment. Alone in a tough diagnosis at a really bad time. Alone in a web of toxic relationships. Alone in the soulless grind of an unfulfilling job. Alone in a world that seems to be growing more and more callous and cynical. And I could go on...

The writer to the Hebrews is celebrating Jesus.
Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour. 
Greater than the Angels.
Greater than Moses.

Greater than the Priests of the Old Testament who were too broken to carry anything but their own failures. 

He presents Jesus as the "Great High Priest" who has "gone through the heavens" which means that His sacrifice was accepted. 

But this High Priest, in His perfection, has the capacity to fully understand our brokenness and darkness, and, because He is untainted by it, is more than able to help us.

You are not alone.
                               He understands your pain.
                                                                            Perfectly.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews4:14-16)

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EmmDev 2021-06-02 [God's help in Tough Times] Comfort... now... and then...

Comfort... now... and then...

In troubled times like these we struggle with all that is happening and often our struggle is on two levels... Firstly we struggle on a justice level. We see the weak oppressed by the strong, we see governments not only fail, but abuse the people they are meant to serve, and we struggle with the chaos and heartache that greed and selfishness unleash. Secondly, we wrestle with pain on a personal level, we experience loss, grief and heartache and our manic technological society seems  unable to bring peace to our souls.

King David is the author of this Psalm, and as you read it, you can see how he wrestles with the brokenness of the world, but also how he finds comfort in God.

This is beautifully reflected in verse 9-10 which addresses our pain on the levels we described in the first paragraph...

Firstly, David is convinced that God will balance the scales. Whether in this life of the next, God is at work to bring righteousness and justice. If does feel like chaos at times, but God is at work. It is not always in our time or on our terms, but David believed fervently that "God's got this!"

Secondly, David experienced comfort in the moment. I love the phrases he uses to describe God's care for him: "Refuge", "Stronghold" and "Never Forsaken". And he uses those phrases with regard to the oppressed, to those in trouble and those who trust Him and seek Him.

If you're struggling, these words are for you...
"God's got this..."
"God is with YOU..."

Read these beautiful verses and take comfort in His Love.

The LORD reigns forever;     he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness;     he will govern the peoples with justice. The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,     a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you,     for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. (Psalms9:7-10)

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