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The Real Enemy!

There all kinds of different things that come into our lives to do battle against us and try to rob us of all the good things we were created to benefit from and experience the blessings of. And out of all of those things, I believe one of the most destructive is worry. I think worry is is such a destructive enemy, because we underestimate it’s ability and power to do damage and often when we realize the damage it’s done, it’s too late to do much about it.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” -John 10:10

Worry Is The Real Enemy!

Worry is one of our greatest enemies, but it does not get to call the shots in our life, unless we empower it to do so. To defeat worry, we have to decide to not allow it any power in our lives. To overcome worry, we have to choose to trust something or someone else above worry. I would suggest that the One to trust is the One, Who created us, loves us and has a plan to bless us with an abundant life.

Worry Is Sneaky!

Worry sneaks into our life and begins to steal, kill and destroy! It steals our happiness, kills our joy and destroys our life. Often it is in, doing damage and wreaking havoc, before we know what has hit us. It often starts out as a legitimate concern, but then turns into a hideous and ugly monster that wants more and more real-estate in our life and living, Before you know it concern has turned into worry and worry is calling the shots.

Worry Is Only Interested In Itself!

If we are not careful, worry will actually take our life away from us! For worry to survive, it has to feed and it get’s it’s nourishment from the negatives in our life. The great tragedy is that often worry starts out as a very small thing, but before we know it, worry has morphed into something that takes control of our thoughts, influences our decisions in negative ways and causes us to actually lose seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months = life.

The Dangerous Game Of Worry!

Worry starts out making you think that it’s looking out for you, but then some where along the way, it slips into self preservation mode and our process become more about the survival of worry and less about looking our for ourselves. The result is that “our best life” had now drifted even farther away from us. We think that worry is harmless, but we know better! In a lot of ways, worry is like a drug that we get hooked on. Before you know it, you don’t think you can do life without it, but that is one of the greatest lies of the enemy, because the truth is: Most of the time worry is nothing, but a BIG DISTRACTION.

The time we waste worrying is time we lose trusting. Every minute spent in worry is a minute taken away from growing our faith and living a life that gives God glory. God has blessed us with this amazing gift called life. God has given us everything we need to enjoy His blessings that will flow to and through us, but worry causes us to miss out on this grand plan of God.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in it. If you are worried about something, then here are a few ideas to shake yourself free:

1.) Have A Conversation God! Remember that a good conversation involves talking and listening.

2.) Make A Plan! Do what you can and then let go of the rest and believe, have faith and trust in God. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it, if you will love and trust Him. Do your part, trust God and I promise you, He will do His…

3.) Live And Learn! Looking back on my life, I have discovered that so many of the things that I wasted time worrying about never happened. Out of the things that did happen, most of them were not near as bad as I convinced myself that they were going to be. And from everything bad that flowed my way, as I lived through it, I grew from it. I am a better person and I am enjoying life better today, because of everything I have been through.

One of the most simple and great reminders that keeps me on a good path is simply this: God’s Got A Plan And It’s To Bless Me!

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What We Feed Grows!

We have been given an amazing gift – the gift of choice. Each one of us get to choose what will be the focus of our life and living. We have the power of choice and make no mistake about it, the choices we make have the power to determine the life we will live.

I love stories and one of my favorite stories is: The Story Of The Two Wolves!

The story goes that there was an old Cherokee Indian chief, who was was teaching his grandson about life. The old Chief told his young Grandson: “A fight is going on inside me, a fight between two wolves – a dark wolf and a light wolf.”

The Dark one is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The Light Wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The old Chief told his young Grandson: “The same fight is going on inside you grandson…and inside of every other person on the face of this earth.”

The young Grandson ponders this for a moment and then asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee Chief smiled and simply said, “The one you feed”.

This is true in our lives as well. The attitude, emotion or feeling that we feed will grow and take up leadership in our life and help determine it’s direction. Feed the positive and the positive will grow. Feed the negative and the negative will grow. The choice is yours and you do have the power. The real question is: Will you use it wisely?

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Another way to think about it is like growing a muscle. My Grandmother used to say: “If you don’t use it, you will lose it!” If we don’t exercise our muscles, they will atrophy and die, but if we use them, they will grow and become stronger. To grow a muscle, we have to exercise it!

To overcome anxiousness and worry, we have to exercise our faith muscle by trusting that God loves us and has an amazing plan for our life. We have to believe that God uses even the bad for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes.

Make sure that you are feeding the right wolf and growing the right attitudes, actions, thoughts and responses in your life. You will be amazed at the difference it makes in your everyday living and the blessings that flow to you and through you!

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Sunday Evening Rewind!

I live for everyday – Sunday through Saturday, but I prepare all week for Sundays! Sunday is game day for the Pastor and all the prep work we have been doing all week finally gets to play on Sunday. I love every thing about Sundays and I love them even more now a days, because of what I get to do in sharing the encouraging Word of God.

When I was a little boy, I loved Sunday, because we went to church and I loved our church and all the folks that made it special for me. I love to stand with the Pastor and greet folks as they we leaving. I loved going to Grandma and Pa’s for a big ole family lunch of fried chicken, mac & cheese, green beans and homemade biscuits. I loved taking walks with my Pa around his property and riding to Jr. Campbell’s old store to get a chocolate solider and a pack of crackers.

I love Sunday’s now a days, because I really do believe that the Word is our hope and I so want people to get it and the difference it can make in our lives. I want people to see that is so much more than just going through the motions. I want people to grow in their spirit, so they can experience victory in their flesh and over come all the mental challenges that this old world try’s to beat us down with.

Today at Eureka, We talked about Devoted Discipleship and the fact that we all have a cross to bear. God did not promise this life would be easy, but He did promise that we would never have to walk alone. We talked about counting the cost by realizing that there is nothing more important than our relationship with God, because if it is right, then all the other pieces of our life will fall into place. We talked about the importance of making a plan to grow in our relationship with God and not just waiting for it to happen by chance. We need to let go of everything else and grab onto God with all we’ve got and He will do a work in us, to us and through us that only He can do.

After church this morning we had lunch with family and enjoyed some sweet encouragement and our fair share of laughter. This afternoon, I ran over to the Mineral Spring Park to watch my nephew Will Cantrell perform at his drum recital and then this evening, we headed back to Eureka to wrap up the evening with a little inspiration time in Bible study.

It has been another great Sunday at Eureka and I am ready to hit the bed and catch some Z’s, so we can get ramped up to do it all over again next Sunday. I love you all! God Bless & Press On! -Pastor MJH