Confession from a Worrier (Again)

      The last two weeks I have been starting a new job.  I am going from working in mental health to work with foster home families.   It is the same company I have been with for almost five years, but different office.  There is a lot of paperwork and rules and regulations that have to be learned and followed.  I've mentioned on this blog that I am not really great with change.  Never have been.  So, working in a field where my job has changed 5 times in 5 years has been a challenge.  "Every summer we hear rumors and ever fall we change chairs" is one of my sayings. 

      I think I have done fairly well, but my anxiety has been high.  This has had an effect on my blood sugar also.  I noticed the day I was to drive to Fayetteville for training my blood sugar that morning was sky high at 6 am.  Most of that is due to stress.  I have been challenged as I have been reading John Ortberg's book "The Me I Want To Be" to think about how I think.  In other words, to control what I am thinking with more positive thoughts.  That the Bible actually talks a lot about loving God not only in the heart and soul, but with the mind as well (Matthew 22:37).

      To be honest, I need to do a better job at this. It is time to give up some "stinky thinking" and to renew my mind as it says in Romans 12:2.  I don't think it is any accident that Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."  These verses come right after Paul tells us not to be anxious, but to give everything to God in prayer.

      One of my favorite theories so far in counseling is cognitive therapy.  Cognitive therapy looks at how we think about things.  It seeks to stop what is called "automated thinking".  These are thoughts that are automatic for us.  In other words, those first thoughts we have that are more like reflexes that something we are consciously in control of.  Because this tells us a lot about our tendencies towards negative thinking.  Is the glass half full or half empty.  It is both.  Your answer is determined by your perspective.  Thinking positive thoughts is reflected in positive attitudes and actions.  If I am engaged in negative thinking than my first response won't be to have happy attitudes and actions. 

     The Bible can help us a lot in this because it has a lot of positive promises available to the believer.  I think this is why scripture memory becomes important.  It gives us something to reflect on when the Bible is not physically in front of us.  For the believer, we can focus on the world around us or I can  make a conscious effort to refocus my mind on God's promises, that He loves me, cares about me, won't leave me and is in control.  It is my choice what I let my mind dwell on.  I'm going to try and work on doing better in this area and really meditate on those promises.

the character of God

    When I was a pastor in West Virginia, I spent about 8 or 9 weeks preaching about the attributes of God.  Different sermons mentioned things such as that God is infinite, all powerful, all knowing and ever present.  I don't remember now if I fully explained why I spent so much time focused on that subject.  The truth of the matter is, that it is because we all need to be reminded of who God truly is.  We have a tendency as people to think that God is like us.  And in the process of being reminded that He is not like us, our faith is strengthened.  We realize that His ways are much much greater than ours.

    In her book on "God's Guidance", Elisabeth Elliott right this, "Jesus identified himself here  in one of his great I am statements (I am the way, the truth, and the life), and we are reminded of the primary condition of asking for help; the recognition of who God is.  He is everything we are asking for.  He is the Alpha, for nothing would have begun without Him." (Elliott, p.64).

   This is why it is so important for the believer to get into the word of God.  Because we cannot separate the giver and the gift.  Because the first and most important gift that God gives us is Himself.  We come to understand ourselves and also him through the Bible.  This is why our faith is expanded as we read and study the Bible.  Something that I noticed as a pastor that most believers don't do very often is read the word themselves.  They think it is too hard, so they don't even try and as a result their faith is small.  Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

    This is why so many christian today have an immature faith.  They have their eyes on the storm around them instead of in His Word.  They look around and reason to themselves that it is impossible for things to change.  But, the truth is that nothing is too difficult for God.  It is actually pretty easy for things to change.  The problem is we often have our eyes focused on us instead of Him.  If I truly understand how great God is, then I will realize that what look like mountains to me look trivial in God's eyes.  But, I should realize that without faith it is impossible to please God Hebrews 11:6.

    I'm convinced that God wants to do much more in the average believers life than he or she realizes.  That God really does want to answer prayers and move mountains and instill hope and do great things through you.  He is limited though when we chose to limit Him by a lack of faith.  James says of the man without faith "But let him ask in Faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind, For let not that man expect that he will received anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8

    I think this is also why when the Lord prayer starts that it starts with "Our Faith, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name."  Because the prayer does not start out with a list of demands, but it focuses on who God is.  It focuses on the fact that He is our Father.  Then, it focused on the desire to hallow or lift up God's name.  This helps us to properly put things into perspective.

What is your concept of God?  I would challenge you as you read scripture to look for attributes about God and who He is.  I'd like to give you a few scriptures to get you started: Exodus 3:5-22;  John 8:12; John 11:25; 1 John 4:8-11; Revelations 1:8; Isaiah 9:6; Psalm 34:15-18

Isaiah and Ahaz

   In Isaiah chapters 6-9 it tells the story of when Isaiah was confronting Ahaz.  Ahaz had made a alliance with Assyria against enemies around him.  Ahaz isn't a very well known bible character and you may wonder what his experience has to do with you.  Ahaz though wasn't that different from many people today.  We tend to put our faith in what we can see and to respond to our fear instead of faith.  In that case, Ahaz's experience is very much like ours.  Ahaz was scared of a power that he could see on his front door step.  Isaiah came to warn him about putting his faith in people instead of the Lord.  I thought it was interesting that W.Wiersbe noted that the Lord uses four names in these chapters to send a message about what he is going to do. 
   To Ahaz, he told him the name Immanuel which means "God with us".  Ahaz was trusting in man.  In fact, the evidence from the bible was that the people were consulting mediums and spiritists instead of the Lord verse 19.  God warned Isaiah not to be like the people and not to fear the same things they did.  He told him instead to revere and fear Him and he would be a great sanctuary to him Is 8:12-14.  In Isaiah 8:5-10, the Lord accuses them of putting their trust in a torrential flood river instead of a peaceful stream.
   The second name is one of Isaiah's sons Shear-jashub.  The name was a name of hope which meant "A remnant will return".  Soon Assyria would come and lay seige to the people of Israel and there would be famine and starvation and death.  This young man's name, though it sounds strange to us, was a message of hope in a dark time.
    His second son had the name "Maher-shalel-hash-baz, which means "quick to plunder and swift to take the spoil".  This was a word about Assyria, who would soon destroy Israel's nearest neighbors and become a threat themselves.  They would destroy Israel's enemies within 2 years of this passage and destroy all of the kingdoms to the north of Jerusalem.
    The fourth name is Isaiah's name itself.  Isaiah meant "Jehovah is salvation".  It was a constant reminder that the people were not to put their trust in other people or things, but in the Lord. 

Righteousness that surpasses. . . .

   In Matthew 5:13-20, Jesus is talking about, among other things, the importance of letting your light shine before a world that needs to know him.  He ends this part of what is known as the "Sermon on the Mount" by declaring "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." (verse 20).  This was an odd statement to those listening because to them they thought the Pharisees and scribes were the most religious people present. 

    Jesus told another story to contrast God's view of righteousness with man.  In Luke 18:9-14 he tells the story of a Pharisees who went up to the temple to pray and also a tax gatherer went at the same time.  The Pharisees prayed "God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people; swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer, I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get."  Jesus though said of this man that the tax gatherer, who expressed humility went to his home justified rather than this Pharisees.

     Yet, by legalistic standards, the Pharisees appeared to be doing well.  He tithed, which studies show that only about 2-3% of christians do today.  He appeared to live a moral lifestyle and fasted twice a week.  Yet, he was also proud of his accomplishments and thought that he had earned his salvation by his actions.

     The truth is, that we can do a lot of things, but one thing we cannot do is earn our salvation.  The Bible calls it a free gift by God's grace.  A gift is not something earned or deserved.  One of the problems with many christians today is that they act like this Pharisee, proud of what they have accomplished instead of with the humility of the tax-gatherer.

    In Colossians 1:13-14 it says, "For He delivered us from the domain of darkenss, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  You notice in this passage who is doing the delivering and transferring.  It is not an action that we are doing, but something that God is doing for us.  The idea of being "delivered" means that he "rescued" us when we were unable to help ourselves. 

    When Jesus described his ministry in one of his first public times in ministry in his home town he said this in Luke 4:18-19a "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."   Do you see yourself mentioned in that verse?  We should realize that as Jesus talked about those who were captive, blind and downtrodden, he was talking about us as well.  He came to set us free.

see link for more information about the pride of Ahaz
http://www.gcfweb.org/institute/isaiah/week5.php