The Futility of Worse Case Scenarios

Painful incidences teach us to be wary of life and to fear the future. We imagine situations that may never occur. These are called “worse case scenarios.”

In order to feel powerful over life, we rehearse these invented circumstances in our imagination, trying to come up with coping skills to deal with any event, which may possibly attempt to blindside us.

This habit causes us to squander our human assets in time, money and energy on an event, which may never happen.

This pattern may also cause a negative attitude toward life and may even result in depression or addictions to provide us with an illusory defense from future pain.

Sometimes, unnecessary and malicious punishment cause us to grow up taking our self too seriously, never learning to laugh at our self or trust anyone in life.

We cannot even trust God, because we harbor the false belief that He allows bad things to happen to us; when actually sin in the world is the real culprit here.

Some people make no decisions at all for fear of making a mistake. If we do make the wrong choice, we overreact and berate our self over our lapse in judgment.

We worry endlessly over things we have said or done, fearing that others will reject us. We rehash past and future conversations in our mind, which does not help at all.

These emotions then fuel negative and addictive habits that we use to cope with our buried feelings. We use them to prevent ourselves from feeling our fears, or to silence the negative thoughts playing over and over in our mind.

These thoughts may be attached to some past experience or connected to some fear regarding the future.

When we put our worries to rest, we will find a whole new world of creativity and expression without the fear of failure and judgment from our self or others. We have God's pervading, abiding peace.

Even if someone disagrees with our opinion, or if we make a mistake, we have no need to fear disapproval. Christ died to take away our fear, insecurities and condemnation (Romans 8:1-2)

Prayer:

Father God, as long as we do our best, that is all You require of us. You liberate us from the crippling effects of fear and condemnation. We enjoy new mental and physical health, restful sleep and peace-filled days without dread of the future (Proverbs 3:24).

As we seek You and focus on Your Kingdom on the earth, You provide all of our needs from Your glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). Thank You for healing us of our need to engage in worse case scenarios to feel the false security they provide. We give You all the praise, glory and honor for our freedom in Christ (Colossians 1:27).

Thought for the Day:

Serenity comes when we ask God to give us wisdom as we make a list of the things, which we can deal with our self; make another list of things we need to ask other people for help to deal with; and lastly make a list of the things we need to leave in God’s capable hands.

Living in God's Rest

 

As afflicted and needy people, we are generously offered rest for our weary soul by the Lord of Hosts. His mercy and grace provide us with His eternal rest at the moment we admit that we are a sinner and surrender our all to God in prayer (Hebrews 4:16). At the same time that we enter the early stages of our Christ-centered life, Christ moves into our spirit (Matthew 11:29). So often, however, we do not take advantage of God’s abiding peace (Isaiah 28:12; 29:19). We fail to completely trust in, rely on and believe in His Word of Truth (Jeremiah 6:16).

We struggle in our meager existence. Our soul – our mind, will and emotions - is tormented with stress, anxiety, temptations, negative emotions, complicated choices and fleshly desires. We are not living from a place of rest in Christ. We are trusting in our self rather than in God. However, as we put our faith in Him, He sanctifies our thoughts, choices and emotions. He bountifully provides us with His rest (Psalm 116:7). He fills us with the fruit of His Spirit, which is the divine nature of God operating in our life (Galatians 5:22-23).

We only escape the rat race of life when we realize that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ (Romans 6:11; Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20). Our human understanding is minimal at best; however, our union with Christ gives us His wisdom and spiritual insight (1 Corinthians 2:14-15). Once we learn to live from a place of rest, we can return to His rest instantly, whenever life shakes us from His presence. When we view our trials through the eyes of Christ in us, they are no longer a trial, but a spiritual awakening and a blessing in disguise.

Rest for our soul includes ceasing from our own self-effort to please God or to earn His pleasure. We allow Christ to live through us instead of trying to work for Him (Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 4:1-11). As we progressively enter our rest in the Lord, our thoughts, choices and emotions rest as well. We listen to the Spirit’s prompting and step aside so that the living Lord Jesus can function through us to rescue those still living in this lost and dying world without Him.

Prayer:

Father God, we want to enter Your eternal rest and to live our life from the perspective of Your wisdom and strength. We submit our thoughts, choices and emotions to You on a daily basis and live by Your Spirit’s direction each moment of the day. We want to relinquish our desires and goals to You, so that we will be in the right place at the right time to do Your will. We feed upon Your Word and our sustenance comes from living in Your will.

Thought for the Day:

We cease from our efforts of performing religious activities for God and rest in the sufficiency of His grace, as Jesus Christ within us lives His life through us.

Abiding Peace

Read: Hebrews 4: 1-11

“A relaxed attitude lengthens life.” - Proverbs 14:30a (TLB)

As a young adult, my daily focus centered on the events of my day. I worried about what others thought of me and about how well I performed. Anxiety and anger broiled within me, and I often over-reacted to perceived slights and a lack of recognition. I breathed with shallow breaths and had a very intense personality.

Over the years, I learned to relax, to breathe deeply, to notice God's blessings throughout the day and to look to Him for my affirmation. I walk in peace now, by focusing on the way God meets all of my needs. He not only saved me from eternal damnation, He also puts joy in my heart regardless of life’s circumstances, keeps me from falling into temptation, gives me air to breathe, nature to enjoy and my daily bread.

I feel so much joy and abiding peace now, found only from focusing on God (Isaiah 26:3). As I serve my family and work in my church and community, God provides for me and dwells in me, keeping me serene and sheltered under the shadow of His wings (Psalm 91:4). Peace comes only when we abide in Christ.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to hold fast to Your promises and to maintain a positive attitude throughout my day. I want to be glad and rejoice in You forevermore. Amen.

Thought for the Day:

Relax in the Spirit and enjoy the crisis. – James 1:2






Thank you, Jessica Greek, for the use of your photo.