Devotions from John Ortberg’s book The Me I Want to Be
We are always in the hand of our Father. Jesus knew that no earthly situation has the power to put you outside God’s care. The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The Spirit is a non-anxious presence! God does not want us to live in worry or fear. He wants us to live with bold confidence in His power. Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake with no storms but having Jesus in the boat. “The Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.” It is in God’s presence- not comfortable circumstances- that we will be free of worry and fear. All things are in His hands. Two ways to grow out of timidity is to let love cast our fear and to Face our fear with action.
Perfect love casts out fear. Often God uses other people to help love cast our fear. As we disclose worry to a friend, it seems to break the power of the worrisome thoughts. We can ask for God’s help and instead of worry pray. As we do this we will find His peace to stand guard over our minds.
The Spirit can help us grow in peace by leading us in circumstances we would be tempted to avoid in fear. Even though we may have some anxious thoughts we can move forward, embracing the challenges. This means stepping out in trust. Take the risk even if we don’t know the outcome. “There is no way to get the peace of God from our head to the rest of our body besides trusting God enough to directly confront our greatest fear.” .
Today each time we are worried about something give it to God in prayer. We can go through life worried or we can go through it at peace.
“Life is too short,
Joy is too precious,
God is too good,
Our soul is too valuable
We matter too much
to throw away a single moment of our one and only life on
anxious striving.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid.”
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