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Patience: It is about feeling safe. We want to be dwelling in the Lord and filled with His peace. When we seek to be patient, we push aside the idea of easy promises: Patiently listening and waiting on His guidance is key to a healthy faith and relationship with God.
The world offers false hope. Christians must be smart enough to recognize it. In that moment of recognition is when the peace that passes understanding will be present. Patient people know to rise above the chaos or struggle. Understanding how to have patience is key to stress management and can help keep our relationships from tearing apart. Stop and think about things when you become impatient. Are you late to work and traffic has you stopped? Is someone talking too much and your mind is wandering? Maybe you are hungry? Dehydrated? Look for the solutions to the problem, and if there is no immediate solution ... take a deep breath. Pray. Control your thoughts. You will get through it. Something else that pushes patience farther away: You must remember you cannot control people. If someone is doing something embarrassing or discouraging, are you feeling like it reflects on you? Think from outside of the situation: Are people looking at you? Or is it on that other person? Again, pray it out. Do some deep breathing. Practice mindfulness to force the impatience out of your mind. Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. Be thankful."
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 Photo credit: alexfiles on Flickr Creative Commons Part of John 15 says, "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you."
A branch can't bear fruit on its own ... it needs the vine. God is the vine and we are the branches: Both work together for good. Without one, the other cannot grow. In John 15:16, the Lord says He chose you. You did not choose Him. You have been appointed to bear fruit. Our lives as Christians are His doing, and we are blessed to be chosen. This is a big choice as those who are called are to serve in His name and bring others to Christ. While you choose to accept Christ into your heart, He called you by name. John 15: 5-8 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Ash Wednesday is set for March 6. That marks the beginning of Lent: A time of repentance and fasting. These actions are in preparation for Easter and allow us to go through some self-examination and reflection.
"In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus their relationships on God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves to others," Pastor Dan Clemens writes in the Courier, a newsletter of First Baptist Church Hamilton. Throughout Lenten, Sunday morning worship service sermons will focus on "God's Plan for the Family." On March 3, the lesson is called "Modern Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home." It will be followed by: March 10: 1st Lent: Family is not First March 17: 2nd Lent: Man and Woman at the Cross March 24: 3rd Lent: Reclaiming Sexuality March 31: 4th Lent: The Road to and from Divorce April 7: 5th Lent: Parenting with the End in View April 14: Palm Sunday: Family Tensions and Traumas April 21: Easter: Free to Be Family Pastor Dan writes: "May we commit this time to prepare for Easter, may our fast be to selfishness and giving more of ourselves to our primary relationships." Read February's full "Daniel's Den" article here.  Photo credit: Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division It's an idea put forth by Rachel Hollis, writer of "Girl, Wash Your Face": Pick your boulder. She recently spoke about this to a large group of Christians who are passionate business dreamers, saying:
The boulder is the ONE THING you should focus on for a season. The idea is this: We all do multiple things at the "good" level, but if we put our energy into just one thing, it would be great. Picture yourself throwing a handful of pebbles into a stream. It makes very little impact. But picture throwing a boulder into that stream. There's a ripple effect, and the landscape may even be impacted. It makes much larger movement. Hollis suggests you take one thing you want to do and push all the others aside for one season. Focus only on getting that done. Back up even more and map out how you want to get there: Are you wanting to write a book? Have you been stuck in research phase and never actually started typing? Maybe you are wanting to open a store but don't know where to start. So you just keep the germ of the idea in your head but never move forward. Put aside the other things in your life (learn to say no, even when it's difficult), and focus on the boulder. Make the waves. What's your boulder? What is the biggest project you want to start but because of the other little things in your life, you have not? Maybe you want to go back to school but don't have proper childcare. is it possible to get a better job, that leads to better hours, that leads to easier childcare? How far back in the process do you need to go to set yourself up for throwing that boulder? Write things down. Turn off the devices, get the kids out of the house, put on only music without lyrics and start thinking. Focus. Don't drift: Write it down. Next season, are you able to leave that boulder, and move a new one? Try not to revert to being a pebble thrower unless all the boulders are in the water.
The No. 1 song on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart for the week of Feb. 9, 2019 is "Who You Say I am" by Hillsong Worship. It's a song we've sang together several times while praising in the worship service at First Baptist Church Hamilton.
Why has the song exploded in popularity? Perhaps it's the reminder of a promise of freedom, and our place in Heaven as a reward for being devoted to the Lord while on Earth. Here is a sample of some of the song's lyrics: Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost but He brought me in | Oh His love for me Who the Son sets free, oh is free indeed I’m a child of God, yes I am Free at last, He has ransomed me | His grace runs deep While I was a slave to sin Jesus died for me Yes He died for me Who the Son sets free, oh is free indeed I’m a child of God, yes I am In my Father’s house | There’s a place for me I’m a child of God, yes I am I am chosen — not forsaken, I am who You say I am You are for me — not against me, I am who You say I am
Hillsong Worship has shared the heart behind the song.
It comes from John 8, which states that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. It was Jesus Christ who said, "Who the Son sets free, is free indeed." Hillsong said it's a real declaration of identity and talks about how a salve has no place in the family. Once we're in God's family we all have an identity of freedom. Source: Freeccm.com |
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