Hi ,

Warm greetings.

Hope you are going OK and enjoying some of the welcome sunshine.

Can I encourage you, that if you are finding the going hard and need any assistance or prayer, please do contact me at holts@bigpond.com or 0419 248 724.

This week's inclusions for your encouragement follow on from last Sunday morning's Message on Psalm 42 : ' Desperate for God...responding to Discouragement! ' 

In particular, the Articles ( Help for Anxiety & Depression (2)...used with permission from Vision Christian Media : Word for Today) and the longer very helpful article attached for you to download ('6 Ways to Stop Thinking Fearful Thoughts' used with permission from christianleader.com) focus on the important matter of learning to challenge our thoughts/thinking. Lastly, a uplifting devotion from Max Lucado ('God's Resume' used with permission from Max Lucado).

God’s Resume

After a few moments of flailing in the water, Peter turned back to Jesus Christ and cried, “‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (Matthew 14:30-32 NIV).

Now Jesus could have stilled this storm hours earlier, but he did not. He wanted to teach the followers a lesson: storms are not an option, but fear is.

God has hung his diplomas in the universe. Rainbows, sunsets, horizons. His résumé includes Red Sea openings. Lions’ mouths closings. Goliath topplings. Lazarus raisings. And his lesson is clear: he is the commander of every storm. Are you scared in yours? Then stare at him.

Help for Anxiety and Depression

My anxious thoughts multiply within me…’ Psalm 94:19 NAS

Your thought-life can be the incubator for anxiety and depression, so understand this:

(1) Your thoughts are yours! ‘My anxious thoughts multiply within me.’ You conceive, interpret, assign meaning to, accept or reject them. So be decisive about which thoughts are, or aren’t, helpful.

(2) You become what your thought-life makes you (Proverbs 23:7). It’s not your circumstances, it’s your thoughts about your circumstances that produce your emotions. Your thoughts trigger biochemistry that determines your feelings, their duration and their intensity. When you begin to think differently you’ll feel differently.

(3) Your thoughts are prolific. The Psalmist said they ‘multiply’ within you. Random thoughts may be temporarily upsetting, but they don’t produce lasting anxiety or depression. That is the work of persistent thought patterns – negative thoughts that multiply, repeating themselves within you. You must ‘take them captive’ and ‘bring [them] into obedience’ to Christ-like thinking in order to control your feelings (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

(4) You must ‘Let the Spirit renew your (individual) thoughts and attitudes (habitual mind-set).’ (Ephesians 4:23 NLT) Submit your thoughts to God’s Spirit, allowing Him to approve or renew (replace) them with His thoughts. Anxiety and depression cannot continue to control you when you give God control of your mind. (5) People can contribute to your anxiety and depression. They can make you want to live – or die! (Proverbs 18:21) They can reduce or increase your anxiety and depression. Avoid those who speak discouraging words, and spend time with those who speak ‘…a good word [that] makes [your heart] glad.’ (Proverbs 12:25 NAS)

SoulFood: 1 Kings 6-7, Matt 15:29-39, Ps 36, Pro 5:21-23

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2014

Further Reading:

6 Ways to Stop Thinking Fearful Thoughts

Silent...Written...Spoken Witness!  Psalm 19 - Glenda de Jager

Desperate for God!!? Psalm 42 with Ken Holt at 10:00 am

Hi,

Trust you're doing OK with our latest extended lockdown.

Can I encourage you to continue using this time praying for our Nation and those struggling during these challenging times, the World we see on our screens and the widespread COVID impact, and countries like Afghanistan. Prayer has POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

If you are doing it tough or in need of any assistance or prayer, please do contact me at holts@bigpond.com or 0419 248 724.

This week's Articles ( printed with permission from Max Lucado.com) for your encouragement are both focussed on STORMS and stormy times in our lives : The Storm Walker and Where to Stare in the Storm.

Many blessings

Ken

The Storm Walker

A wall of water eclipsed Peter’s view. A wind gust snapped the mast with a crack. Peter shifted his attention away from Jesus and toward the storm, and when he did, he sank like a brick in a pond. Give the storm more attention than the Storm Walker and get ready to do the same. Whether or not storms come, we cannot choose. But where we stare during a storm, we can.

God’s call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We are to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments. The scripture says, “We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1 NASB). Today do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

Where to stare in the storm

“‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29).

Peter never would have made this request on a calm sea. I doubt Peter would have ever stepped out of the boat. Storms prompt us to take unprecedented journeys. For a few heart-stilling moments, Peter did the impossible. He defied every law of gravity and nature.

Matthew moves us quickly to the major message of the event, and that is where to stare in a storm. “But when [Peter] saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!'” (v. 30). Focus on Christ, you can do the impossible. Focus on the storm, you begin to sink.

Overconfident...Overwhelmed...Overjoyed -..Psalm 30 - Ken Holt