Fear Not!

Last Thursday, Ray Hilbert was in town to conduct a seminar entitled Trusting God In This Economy. As you can imagine, fear was one of the primary subjects.

Ray mentioned seven things that fear can do to a leader:
1. Fear replaces faith
2. Fear destroys dreams
3. Fear steals our joy and blessings
4. Fear spoils victories
5. Fear paralyzes us
6. Fear robs us of memories (gives us amnesia)
7. Fear causes us to hesitate because of disbelief

He then shared 12 words to live by that will help eliminate fear:

• Nothing to lose
• Nothing to hide
• Nothing to prove
• Nothing to fear

Nothing to lose - we must remember that everything is God's. If we feel like it’s ours, we will be fearful to lose it.

Nothing to hide - if your local newspaper was to do an expose on you or your company, would they uncover dirt? If your hiding something, that produces fear.

Nothing to prove - If we can live with the knowledge that God’s love is enough, this will eradicate the fear of people finding out we are not good enough.

If we can learn to live with these 12 words at the forefront of our minds, I believe we will have much more peace in our lives!

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.

Philippians 4:6-7

Highs & Lows

Each night when we are able to eat dinner together as a family we try to do our "Highs" and "Lows." We each take turns telling our low point of the day followed by our high point.

Last night, something happened which was a first for us. My daughter Kristin who is in her last year of nursing school said that her high and low were both the same thing.

She had a final exam yesterday morning at 8 AM which she had been studying tirelessly for. For some reason her alarm clock volume was turned way down so she did not hear it yesterday morning. She ended up getting up at 8 AM, the exact time her exam was starting!

She raced around, put her hair in a pony tail and brushed her teeth. Thankfully, my wife Connie was home as she prayed with Kristin before sending her on her way out the door.

Kristin arrived very late and calmly took her exam. She said that though she was 45 minutes late, she finished her exam before many of her classmates. She said she had a very clear mind and was filled with peace and she thinks she did well on her final.

Upon hearing this, two things immediately came to mind:

1. The incredible power of prayer and
2. Our troubles can actually turn out to be victory when we let God enter in.

We may not see that victory immediately, but it will eventually happen if we love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

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.
Philippians 4:6-7

Worry

If you are like many, you may be feeling a little bit of anxiety over the world's financial situation. You may be wondering what you can do, other than worry, during these times.

If you are like me, when times get tough, you will try to "work" your way out of it. I have a tendency to try to take it all on myself and go like crazy, as if everything depends on me. All this does is stress me out and make me less productive (and less kind, less loving...) at the office and at home.

Check this short video out as it shares some great things we can do during times of trouble. Go here and click on the "Watch this movie" link.

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.

Philippians 4:6-7