Chocolate Castles as wel

Am writing something a little different today, but has been on my heart lately. Last week I heard a preacher on the radio talk about the things we hear day in and day out. Instead of us hearing, “we have a 70% chance of sunshine” we hear, “there is a 30% chance of cloudiness”.

Instead of hearing, “we have 85% of teens who make good grades and do well in school” we hear, “we have 15% drop out rate of troubled teens.”

We are not use to hearing that 90% of preachers keep the faith and serve, congregations for 30 plus years, we hear about the 10% of the ones that walk away from their calling. Why is this? Because the negative news gets our attention. Then we wonder why 65% of adults in our country are taking anti-depressants. We are losing our joy and we are living with a underlying fear of what all is going on around us in the world.

This morning at church, the sermon was on Joy and how we can have true joy and peace even when things are falling apart all around us.

He used the example of when Paul was in prison writing from his jail cell that “the joy of the Lord was his strength.”

During the day what are we filling our minds with? If we are continually listening to the news, we are being bombarded with negative news. I know that we need to keep up with what is going on around us, but how many hours are we sitting and listening to the same news, over and over.

What if we used some of that time on our knees before the God of the Universe?

Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worth of praise, think about these things.”

Phil 4: 4-6 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God.

When we are tempted to worry or anxious about anything, take those worries to the Lord in prayer.

Mark Twain once said that as an old man, he had seen many troubles, troubles of which most of them never materialized.

Psa 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Rest, Reflect and Rejoice in the Lord, who is our strength and joy. We don’t have to live our lives in fear. We just need to ‘take it to the Lord in prayer” and trust Him for “He is our light and our salvation.”  He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.