Today’s scripture is going to be talking about fear. This fear is something a lot of you may be feeling today. There’s fear in going back to school for our kids and what that will look like this year. We are still dealing with fear; that has lasted much longer than expected for some of us. Yet, Jesus sees our fear.
Jesus sees our fear and comforts us. He tells all these storms to silence. Jesus tells all of our racing thoughts to be quiet. He tells us to hush and pause. It’s hard to decide what to do in the future when we can barely focus on the present, right? I have a 4-month calendar in my office that I’m looking at as I’m writing this, and the amount of stuff scheduled more than a month in advance is slim to none. I can’t prep for the future because of the fear of what the future will hold. And yet, I’m reminded. Jesus tells the storm to silence. That peace lasts even for a second that can help change our mindset, or at the least, pause our mindset. Over my vacation and even today, I’ve been doing much meditation. It’s been a way to let my brain feel that hush. It’s been a way that Jesus silences all my storms, even for a minute.
Many of us have fears for the future, and I have a challenge for you. I have a secret pocket in my backpack where I will put my written down fears. This pocket is my portal to God. God is going to receive these fears and silence them. Since I’ve given it to God, it’s now not my problem to worry about it. If I want to worry about it, I have to fish it out of there and tell God, “Nah. I’ll take care of this one.” It’s a gutsy thing to say. This exercise came out of a book I read called “Winning the War in Your Mind” by Pastor Craig Groeschel, and I was stunned by the simplicity of this exercise. Just put my fears and prayer in this pocket? That’s it? Yep, that was it. If we want to calm the storm, we take it out and handle it ourselves. If we want God to calm the storm, then we put it in, let God handle it, and have faith that God will overcome this storm. Let us give it over to God as I close with a prayer that I know we’ve all heard:
”God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Amen
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