Best Form of Stress Management...

There is plenty of pressure and stress in days like these. Not enough time, not enough money, and not enough people to help are just a few of the stressors that are common to man. How do you handle these stresses when they begin to a boil in you? Here is an interesting insight...

"As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands." ~Psalm 119:143

Have you ever thought about using joy to deal with stress? Joy is quite different than happiness. Happiness is a by-product of favorable 'happenings', thus 'happiness'. But joy is something that flows into the human spirit from the Divine Himself. When we tune our ear toward Christ's daily plans and engage in those plans, something wonderful occurs. Pure undefiled joy begins to pour into our souls and literally overwhelms stress and pressure. I don't know about you, but I find Christ's daily plans for me and His daily infusions of joy to be my BEST FORM OF STRESS MANAGEMENT! ~Verlon

Pondering The Love Of God...

Following the leadership of the Lord can be hard at times. Especially when we feel He is saying 'no' to something we really want, or advising us to engage in something when we really don't want to engage in. These are the times when we most want to wrestle the control of our lives away from Him. So, how do we strengthen our resolve to follow Him no-matter-what?

"I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord; therefore, I obey your instructions". ~Psalm 119:55

This was David's secret of followership. He meditated upon God's trustworthiness in the evenings when he was falling asleep, so he would be more prone to follow the still small voice of God during the days. This is brilliant! The loud voice of self-will is going to show up in all of us - in the heat of the moment. If we haven't filled up our awareness of God's deep and abiding love for us in the night, it will overwhelm us. Is it possible that we can overwhelm the voice of self-will before it overwhelms our desire to hear and follow our Lord? When I take time to reflect on my Lord it doesn't take long before I am thinking about His great love for me and the purity of His motivations for my life. He is worthy of our trust in His leadership! Perhaps it is the wisest use of our evenings - PONDERING THE LOVE OF GOD! ~Verlon

Spirit Of Courage...

Most of us do not realize how much the Lord wants us to live our lives with boldness and courage. One of the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel, once had a vision in which he saw God's dream temple. In this vision he walked through the temple while an angel pointed out the different parts. When he got to the inner room there were carvings on the walls of cherubim with two faces looking in opposite directions. This is what they looked like...

"One face - that of a man. The other face - that of a young lion." ~Ezekiel 41:19

Interesting imagery. What do you think that meant? My sense is that God has long desired for all of his children to have the lion-like nature of His Spirit infused into us. We have invited the Spirit of Christ to live in us, and in so doing we have invited the 'Lion of Judah'. Simply stated, we have a lion-like nature stirring within us. Each one of us can express a boldness and courage that is far greater than our personalities when we need to. Somewhere in our souls God has welded us to His SPIRIT OF COURAGE! ~Verlon

The Unshakable Kingdom...

It is common to feel uncertain and unstable...like we are walking on thin ice. Money shortfalls, relational conflicts, job uncertainties, and many other disruptions create these kinds of anxieties in us. This is why scripture often referred to mankind as sheep, because nervousness is a sheep's most common trait. But we have been invited into something this is quite different than the nervous world we are accustomed to...

"Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful..." ~Hebrews 12:28

Christ's world is not like our world. His strong soul is quite different than our tentative soul. Some people have a hard time making the shift. They receive Christ into their life, but they maintain their nervous soul. Truly you and I have have been granted the opportunity to leave our fickle and uncertain and unstable emotions behind. We have been invited into THE UNSHAKABLE KINGDOM! ~Verlon

The Ways Of Wisdom...

We live in a place and time where most people assume the path to wisdom is through teaching. It is interesting to me how scripture seems to perceive it differently.

"All who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom." ~Psalm 111:10

Wisdom is the result of following the leadership and counsel of our Lord. While scripture clearly values teaching as perhaps a way to gain knowledge, it is not the same thing as gaining wisdom. Wisdom is deeper! Wisdom is more than the by-product of our reasoning. Wisdom is the actual thoughts of God literally pouring into us and through us into our situations. That wonderful ability is only learned by putting our feet in the footsteps of Christ, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. In this way we observe the ways of our Lord over and over again. In this manner of walking we learn THE WAYS OF WISDOM! ~verlon