I feel victorious today…and thankful. Thursday a nice lady at the library got me all the tax forms I needed—being in business I have a lot of schedules. Friday, after I got back from my early morning Dr. appointment at the VA (I love the VA, seeing all the fellow vets and the good doctors), I was able to finish my taxes and get them sent off (three days early)—again with some help from a person at the library. Then that afternoon I had a job. I was planning to repair some kitchen cabinet doors, but when I got there I found that all that was needed was to tighten a screw. I told the lady that it was a freebee; but she insisted on giving me some money for the trip over and for visiting her—she gets lonely living alone.
This morning, Saturday, I am enjoying a bowl of oatmeal with strawberries at Panera Bread—a great place. Well anyway, here I sit, feeling victorious and thankful for all the nice people around me to help me through life; people that the Lord has sent me. I feel especially thankful for His love and forgiveness. His blood has cleansed me from all my sins, and I am resting in His grace.
Here is a passage I read this morning from Psalm 59:9-10 (NLT).
I called my daughter yesterday in North Carolina. I asked how the kids were doing—she home schools three of them. She seems to like it but said that her oldest is kind of slow at reading and maybe has some dyslexia. I told her that sounds like me. I never was a good reader, and I’m still slow, but I like to read things that interest me.
Later that evening I got out one of my college text books: A History of Philosophy. Good grief! It was and still is incomprehensive to me! I can’t read one sentence without stopping and rereading it. And even in High School they tried to get you reading all the classical stuff. That was hard for me, and still is. I feel bad that I couldn’t do it. And I really tried. Come to think of it, I struggled with reading all through High School and felt bad because of it. I went to a Christian college, and that was better because I could pick and choose my courses. And I developed a strong desire to write research papers; and so, I could pick and choose the books I wanted to use.
I encouraged my daughter to let her oldest child read at her own pace and read only what interests her. I think that is so important—important for me too, so that I don’t get discouraged. I read a book on Lewis and Clark. I read it slow (and twice), and I really enjoyed it. What an adventure. In the last few months I’ve been reading a series on the Heroes of the Faith, by different authors. All the books are very readable—I suppose by design. I’m reading about George Muller now. Before that I read about Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Finney, and others. I’m loving it. It’s too bad my High School teachers didn’t give me more readable choices. Why were they pushing the classics so hard? Books (text books) I had no interest in. I think schools should figure out how to teach kids at their own pace—and their own level of learning. I know that some kids are really good readers and brilliant. But others are slower (for one reason or another). And we can’t just ignore them and fail them; or in some cases find a way to pass them on to the next grade without helping them.
I have been asking myself why it is so hard to wait. And I have been feeling it especially now that I am getting some of my books re-published. I have to wait on the printers and wait on approvals. … Continue reading →
If you are going through difficulties in your life that are causing worry and fear—as I sometimes do, here are three points to follow in order to keep you in God’s peace.
1. Ask God to help you overcome your troubles and fears and He who is the God of peace will keep your heart and mind in His peace.
Philippians 4:6-7
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.
2.Know that He is the God of love and power and since we have the mind of Christ, we have this same love and power. And so, with this mind we will be able to cast out, in Jesus name, any spirit of fear; it is of the devil.
1 Corinthians 2:16
For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
3.I noticed that if my mind thinks of good and Godly things my mind is more at peace and less fearful. God and His peace are with me.
Philippians 4:8-9
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
I walk around this small lake quite often, maybe once a week. This day was quite warm and I saw a few ducks and geese and even a turtle. As I rounded the lake I saw these two rather large white what looked like rocks–or could it be swans! Yes, it was a pare of swans with their heads tucked under. Then finely their heads popped up to see me. I have never before seen swans in this lake. I am thankful to God for their visit.
A while ago I blogged on the distress I go through in my self-publishing. Now I’m calling it “My fears of what will be”—my fear of possibly finding out that my book cover will not look very good, or as good as it should be. And in every project, that is my fear. But I did my best on it, so why do I fear?
As I look at some old people that are facing the end of life, I think they have the same fears (as I sometimes do). It is the fear of finding out that our eternal rewards will be small.
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 34:4: “I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” In this context, David was fearing for his life being in the camp of the Philistines; and so, he pretended to be crazy so that they would not think that he would be a problem. And it worked; they dismissed him and put him out (1 Sam. 21:10-15). Hence, God saved him. Apparently, David sought the Lord in what to do, and he thought God was telling him to pretend to be crazy (so God has a sense of humor!).
Now, as for whether we should have fears for our eternal rewards; if we do all that God leads us to do, all that we think He wants us to do, what else can we do? If we take each day at a time and obey Him, what else can we do? Remember what Paul said at the end of his life? “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tm. 4:7-8). Hence, if you also have done your best in fighting the good fight, there is no more you can do. Ask Him to deliver you from all fears. I think it is marvelous that it says all fears. I think fear tends to multiply itself and grow in our heart if we let it. And it need not be. Read further on in Psalm 34. God is telling us to focus on the Lord and praise Him and see that He is good; and then to fear Him. Verse 9 says, “O fear the LORD, you His saints: for to those who fear Him there is no want.”
I think that if we have a healthy fear of God (to trust Him and pray about everything), He will keep us from all the bad fears, the fears we find in this evil world.
These are the best words I can think of. Here’s my story. I am in the process of republishing a few of my books. I’m not the best at it, but I insist on doing everything myself (I’m a self-publisher). I am mostly redoing the book covers. Well, I won’t go into all the details, but it is a little tricky getting everything to line up and looking good. Then next, I have to submit it and buy a copy of the book. And when I get it back in the mail (in print form), I have to inspect it for its approval. If it looks good to me I will mark it as approved and then it is put on the market. However, if it is not right—for instance if the title and authors name on the edge of the book are not centered—I have to fix it and send it back again and go through the whole process again, which takes at least another two or three weeks. Well, sometimes it is Lulu’s (the publisher) fault and sometimes my fault. But regardless, it’s a headache and I get a feeling of regret over the loss of time and money. Sometimes I have to go through the approval process three or four times. I hate the waiting! I regret the waiting.
Or maybe it’s not entirely regret. Maybe it’s partly just grumbling and complaining and worry—and all distress.
Last night I had a good sleep and God allowed me to dream. I was in another world. I woke up refreshed. But then two seconds after I woke up I remembered my publishing problem and I said to myself, “Oh no, I am here again in this real world of distress.” I thanked the Lord for allowing me to escape for the night in my dreams, and I also prayed He would somehow take away my regret and distress—my feeling of loss, or whatever this bad feeling is.
You know, I think this feeling is what hell will be like—an eternity of regret over loss, and over my mistakes. And not being able to do anything about it.
But as time passes I am hopeful that God will give me more positive, peaceful, hopeful thoughts. Just to read and meditate on Scripture and anything more positive helps. And praying over it helps. God will help. Scripture tells us that praying about our problems will cause the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7). Here, I take it that because of our union with Christ when we pray, Jesus will give us a supernatural inner peace and will guard and protect our being. Sounds wonderful. Just thinking about it is giving me hope.
More thoughts. I regret mistakes I make at my painting, but that’s different because I can fix it the next day. In the publishing world you have to wait and wait and wait.
And there are many other losses people have to deal with, like their house burning down and having to rebuild. Some people deal with theses things well, others don’t.
I’m reading about Jonathan Edwards. He had some real distresses to deal with. After serving as head Pastor in a church for over twenty years, because of a controversy over communion, a few leaders in the church expelled him. I’m sure he and his large family suffered a great loss. But was Janathan overcome with regret and sorrow? No. He remained strong in faith. He said, “The Lord has not forsaken us, nor suffered us to sink under our trials. He has in many respects exercised a fatherly care of us in our distresses.”
And God did have another mission for him as he began a mission to a group of Indians located about 100 miles west in the deep wilderness. It was a calling he was prepared for since he already had a prayer burden for them.
Stephen Nielsen 