Mission Faithwalk

  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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)   This verse has been featured or mentioned a number of times recently, but it came up on Biblegateway.com, so let us return to it from a slightly different perspective. The Koine (Greek) term used for anxious is μεριμνατε, (transliterated merimnate. ) It might be a false cognate, but in my mind, that connects to the concept of marinading something. It’s about stewing in one’s juices, as it were, and I think that describes our general behavior when we are anxious. When I checked the etymology of the English word anxious , I found something interesting. It entered the English language in the 17th century, from the Latin term anxius (which was derived from another Latin term, angere ‘to choke’.) Naturally, ...

        He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)   As I fussed over another passage that I’ve probably written about too often, the song based on this passage came up in my playlist. Today is the one day this week that I can get things done. Every other day, I either have to fit things in around and between, or it’s supposed to be a day of rest. The plan to mow both lawns, weed and prep garden beds has gone awry, thanks to misty, damp, and chilly weather. In other words, it’s just another in the many days since April 1 when I look outside and say, “Hurry up! Not yet!” And like most people, I go through times, like now, when I look at myself in the mirror – whether the mirror in my bathroom or the mirror of Scripture and think, “Ugly!” And while some folks will say, “You shouldn’t say such things about yourself, they...

                Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)   This verse is just made for two of my favorite questions: What does it mean? What does it look like? It also happens to have words that I’ve explored, and for which I’ve developed my own definitions based on material I’ve read. Joy: the firm conviction that one is cared for by someone who can fulfill that caring. Hope: the firm conviction in a positive outcome, condition, or event. Patient: giving up godhood and allowing time for others (including God) to achieve, accomplish, or agree. Affliction: Something that causes pain or suffering. Faithful: Stubbornly, even aggressively refusing to let go, stop doing, or walk away. Prayer: Talking to God.   Putting these together, Paul instructs us to be firmly convinced that God cares for us and will cause all things to work together for good, to give time God to work thing...

               This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (I John 5:14-15 NIV)   In the past, I’ve addressed passages like this on in terms of the “name it and claim it” sorts. Let’s get that out of the way as a prelude. The passage includes the phrase according to His will . We dare not assume that because it is our will, it is His. This isn’t a passage to quote to force God to give us everything we want. Unless, of course, what we want is His will. Quite often, we don’t know His will about some specific thing. I have friends who are facing horrible physical challenges. Shall I pray for their healing, their endurance, or God’s mercy? Or, do I take the escape of claiming that any answer that is given is somehow a “healing”? I think it’d be closer to the m...

                 And without faith it is impossible to please  Him , for he who comes to God must believe that He is and  that  He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)   Let’s turn this idea partway around. Suppose you were hired to a new job in a field with which you’re familiar, and your supervisor proceeds to lecture you on the basics, then stops by every couple of minutes to critique your work. And after you leave, he calls you three times before bedtime, and twice more starting at 6 a.m., to make sure you’re going to be to work on time and dressed appropriately – and offers you a ride. Or, what if he started following you everywhere you went, to make sure didn’t do anything that would reflect badly on the company? I am not suggesting that this is how we treat God, though I suspect that it is, at least sometimes. These are descriptions of what trust is not. Trust, then, would include allowing ...

  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2) like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, (I Peter 2:2)   In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; (Romans 8:26)   There are many more verses that could be included above. The keys to changing course, according to Newton’s Second Law of Motion are to be acted upo...

                I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. (Job 19:25)   “I believed,  until… (name that catastrophe.)” But, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” We sometimes seem to think that a great crisis somehow changes our faith. But when Job lost his family, his wealth, and his health, he maintained his faith. What made him an exception? Was he an exception?   If we go back to Newton’s Second Law, and apply it psychologically, a person’s beliefs will continue in the same direction, at the same speed, and with the same intensity until or unless acted on by a larger force. A crisis should produce such a change. The problem is that we have only considered the force that pushes us off course, or, in the case of a direct hit, breaks us into many pieces. Another force acting on us is gravity: our own internal gravity that is the soul, and the external gravity of an even greater object...