MEET, GREET AND SEAT YOUR ANXIETY

If you were sitting in the county jail with the usual kind of individuals who people such places, would you be anxious or at ease? If it looked as if you might soon be walking down execution row, how do you think you would handle it? To top it all off, suppose you hadn’t been feeling very good. Indeed, were pretty sick and worried about maybe getting sicker.

Well, meet the Apostle Paul, because these were his problems. Things had gone from bad to worse and weren’t getting any better. So what did he do? Well, he did not begin to beat his head against his jail bars in frustration. He did not throw a hissy fit. He just kept repeating over and over and over again, “Rejoice!”

And then sat down and began to write to his largely Gentile congregation in Phillippi a letter filled with exuberant optimism. Unbelievably, not with fear and frustration oozing out of every sentence, but rather with a host of whoopee admonitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul was the Norman Vincent Peale of 20 centuries ago.

Worry about nothing - pray about everything, he admonishes. Read the entire book of Phillippians and it really begins to get down to the nitty-gritty. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits. Hang in there.

Jesus doesn’t hold back. “Watch out,” He says, “I’m going to make you a better, stronger edition than you would ever be without me.”

Perfect? Don’t hold your breath, but better, stronger, definitely. When we take Him at His word and seek a relationship, He offers a joy that is more than toy-joy, rather a lasting joy.

Like everyone else, Christians have problems, but not like everyone else, they have Christ and there is the magnificent difference. Simple in the saying. Difficult in the doing.

It is all there in the book of Phillipians. Some pretty good life lessons.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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. Phillipians 4:6-7

Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”