A Christ Follower: The Journey

Philippians 4:8-9 8 Finally...whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable:  If the thoughts you have are something about which you can praise God...focus the locus of your focus on these beliefs, opinions, assumptions (Thoughts.) 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.   Okay... let's complete this series where God's Word gives us tools for overcoming anxiety and even more.  First we know Jesus got anxious, and we know he used these very spiritual tools to cope and overcome at least one extreme anxiety provoking panic attack.  So feeling anxious is NOT a sin.   We then talked about praying, petitioning and praising, which results in God placing a guard  of peace around our hearts so as to guard our hearts from being anxious... Or "The peace of God that transcends anything you can understand will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus;...

Please understand it really is okay to be anxious, and it really is not a sin...(See previous posts on coping with anxiety.)  Next to cope God gives us hope by inviting us to pray and petition Him.  The next part is critical....   Overcoming Anxiety Attacks through spirituality requires we pray, petition and do so "With Thanksgiving."  Thank God He is in control.  Thank God He is the Wonderful Counselor who listens.  Thank God that He is NOT surprised by the anxiety provoking event.  Thank God that He knew how it started and how the event will end. Praise God for the fact you are never alone.  Thank Him that in your weakness He cares about your anxieties.  Thank Him that it is indeed at the point of your weakness that He will make you strong.  Thank God that He indeed understands the anxiety you are facing.  And as you praise Him,  He will come to inhabit your praise and balance your emotions, while you Pra...

To Be Like Jesus: A Prayer By: Chaplain Al McGowen, BA, M.Div., BCPC Lord, Jesus, I come to you in my brokenness and in my pain. I come to you in hopefulness, as one you call “born again.” I come to You for freedom so as to live a life that is free and true. I come in prayer to You, O Lord, that I might be (today) like You. Please make me like you in my viewpoint: How I see, hear, smell, touch and taste… that facts that would come to me would come as they do to You, In my heart’s space. Make me like You, in my beliefs, opinions, assumptions and my thoughts too… Make me like You in my emotions to feel as you feel through and through. Make me like You in my wants, that Your will and my will would be intertwined. Transform me in my being to be like You in every way, as I hold Your hand… and You hold mine. That in my doing, I would do as You would do… walking in life’s journey as You would have me to. I pray all this; in Your Holy Name… Believin...

Being along is a challenging experience , but when you know you are deliberately making a difference, the being alone becomes a part of the journey where you contribute those hidden contributions that change other's lives in ways that cannot be imagined... neither by the one who is alone or by those blessed to receive the contributions. A seed dies alone in the ground, but because it gives itself up to the Creator, (Just as did Jesus, when He lay in the grave) a significant harvest benefits unimaginable others who have no idea whatsoever what happened during the lonesome journey of the seed... except when one reads about that journey on a Kindle or views the journey on a virtual video. So, when there is a real/genuine purpose to this singlaturistic journey... well... there is really no loneliness at all, even when alone. There is, however, and abundance of life being created!!! When this happens, the loneliness becomes--in reality-- solitude.   SoJourner

Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayers and petitions , with praise, present your request to God, and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.    Paul Okay, so here we go again... I feel anxious and so what do I do? I see that it is okay to get anxious because Jesus demonstrated this in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Next I pray.  Now what? I petition God.  Say WHAT?  I petition God.  What does that mean "Petition God?"  Good question.  And the most simple answer is tell God what you want.  That's what you do when you petition congress or the President of your Governor or your legislature.  You get a group of people who tell what they want.  You tell God, therefore, what you want. One problem many have is they have never been allowed to express what they want.  And when they do so as a child, they may have gotten in trouble.  ...

Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayers and petitions, with praise, present your request to God, and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Paul Hear are how God's promises work:  He gives us a promise that will work.  We decide to believe it or receive it, and then we decided to act on it.  When we do act on it, our lives are impacted in a powerful grace filled way. In the last blog, we noticed that experiencing anxiety is not a sin.  Jesus became blood sweatily anxious, and we know that Jesus never sinned.  Now we get right down to the real nitty gritty.  We see how to cope with this painful emotion and get to the other side of it. When we do so,  God promises to put a guard of peace to stand guard over our heart.  And we see this guard provides us with peace that is far transcendent to anything we can understand. Check out the scripture abo...

Jesus was in a garden about to face a horrible, terrible, traumatic day of nothing but pure intense pain.    What was to follow?? ANXIETY ATTACK!   Luke 22:39-44 39  Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40  On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41  He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44  And being in anguish , he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.   There is one about which I know that can cause blood sweating:  Microscopic capillaries that hold, only one red blood cell, have to be under such intense pressure from anxiety that there is a somatic (body) response:...