PRAYER, MEDITATION & WORRY

PRAYER, MEDITATION & WORRY   “WORTH CONSIDERING: 8/10/20

Today’s Scripture                   (Across my desk this morning from a church in Texas.)
“…My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises…”
(Psalm 119:148, NIV)

You Control the Doorway
Studies show that we talk to ourselves up to thirty thousand times a day. There is always something playing in our minds. The Scripture tells us to meditate on God’s promises. The word meditate means “to think about over and over.” We need to pay attention to what we’re meditating on.

Meditating is the same principle as worrying. When you worry, you’re just meditating on the wrong thing. You’re using your faith in reverse. If you go through the day worried about your finances, worried about your family, and worried about your future because you’re allowing the wrong thoughts to play, it’s going to cause you to be anxious, fearful, negative, and discouraged. The whole problem is what you’re choosing to meditate on. You control the doorway to your mind. When those negative thoughts come knocking, you don’t have to answer the door. You can say, “No, thanks. I’m going to choose to meditate on what God says about me.”

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You for giving me Your promises to meditate upon. Thank You that Your Word instructs me to think on things that are true, right, wholesome, pure, and of good report. I declare that my trust is in You alone and not in anything else. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Ken’s Comments,
Never been much into the official concept of prayer with hurting knees, hands folded and bowed head.   Not that it is not OK with God and some folks.  I have always been a little too active for that.  But what works for me is short intense prayers, out loud (when alone) in my bedroom, study or truck. Sometime get a ringing in my ears or a headache and a solid faithful prayer in rebuking the enemy gets rid of it.  Now learning about other aches and pains in my old body that need fixing. Stuff due to being almost 88.   And as things come to mind I am learning to quickly take it to an open prayer with heart faith.  We all need to learn to grow in faith.  And the growth is not a straight line it is more like 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. 

The thoughts of the world today are mostly Junk in, Junk out.  If I spend time in God’s Word learning about the spiritual world I tend to have more faith.   If I get wrapped up in the worlds stuff then I look more like the world.  Faith and Fear are the opposite of each other.  Much of what the world serves to us is fear based.  Lust is used to get our attention and then fear is used to get us to buy.  Actually fear is faith going backwards.  Some films suck us dry of faith and some films even help our faith.  When I was a kid the guy on the white horse or Billy who said Shazam won, The guy on the black horse always lost…  Now you have no idea who is the good guy until the end sometime.  It is like our elections.  Use to be we could vote for the Good Guy, Now we vote for the better of the two and some times get stuck due to the lies that are hidden so deep.  Like socialism is actually slavery but to hear the press it is the best thing going.  But like a bad habit, much easier to acquire than to get rid of.  So if you insist on filling your head space with fear that is what will grow in your garden.
The Word of God shares a lot about the “PRECIOUS PROMISES OF GOD” The Word Promise is used about 40 times in the Amplified Bible, Go to:

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=PROMISES&version=AMP  

And have fun finding out what GOD has promised you.  Here are a few scriptures that I like: “I say to you that many [Gentiles] will come from east and west, and will sit down [to feast at the table, and enjoy God’s promises] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven [because they accepted Me as Savior],” Matt 8:11,    “For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [ of  inexpressible value ], so that by them you may escape from the immoral freedom that is in the world because of disreputable desire, and become sharers of the divine nature.  2 Peter 1:4.”     “If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].  1 John 1:9.”    But we need to remember that God’s promises are contingent upon us finding and keeping HIS commandments.  Faith, Love, Humility and Obedience are par for the course in being qualified in securing HIS promises.  The way we have faith is to center it in our heart and allow for no contradictions. And we may have to go over a Truth many many times before our heart sets that truth in our heart library as a permanent thought.  Like some truths are taught over and over in the New Testament and then we will know how important the truth really is.  The Bible is a collection of writings and letters on how to find the Kingdom of God and be able to go there.  So if interested in living in God’s presence upon your graduation from Earth you should spend some time getting your directions in order.   The world has no clear maps at all.    In fact,  for most of the world there is no God, Heaven or Hell,  like they have been there and know for sure there is nothing there.