All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
the peace plan
how to achieve the peace plan . . . in your mind. Christmas, 2019
A well-ordered mind, a mind at peace ~ is it possible to maintain such a thing, even right now in the hustle and bustle of the holidays? Even right now when companies are looking to finish the business year strong? Even right now when you or a loved one has a seemingly impossible diagnosis? Even now when 'all' seems lost?
The writer of Proverbs often has a sage word on right living:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4.23
Guarding our heart takes intentionality. Augustine suggested that to have a well ordered heart is to love the right thing, to the right degree, in the right way, with the right kind of love, to which I might add at the right time. Could it be that Augustine was commenting on what King Solomon had written a thousand years before him? "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."1
Intentionality will call for an action plan on our parts, with the seminal thought that without daily connecting with God - in his Word and in personal communication with him (prayer) - our hearts and minds go into the world unguarded.
Here's my holiday challenge: give God the first fifteen minutes of your day. Meditate on his Word and pray. I'm thinking of my cousin, an attorney in Northern California - father of three young children, demanding law practice - and how he might respond: 'But, but ...'I'm so busy I do not have time to pray!' Consider this: the more you have to do, the more you need to pray. The less time you think you have, the more time you need to spend with God.
If you'll first take time to pray, you'll actually have more time for everything else - it's not a matter of time, but a matter of priorities and a matter of trust.
When you put God first and rely upon the strength of God's grace to get things done, you become more effective and more efficient.2
Most importantly, you realize it's not all up to you - if you ask him, God will be up ahead, clearing the path and guiding the way.
I have often wondered if it is possible for me to live a life without regret. I think it is - but I will have to intentionally choose to be in the presence of God, to think his thoughts after him, to speak what he gives me to say, to listen in the way he listens, to do what he gives me to do. Without a doubt, the only way to do any of these things - the only way to live a life without regret - is starting each morning with a set apart time with God.
Here's how I set my mind on God and conversely endeavor to get his mind in me every morning. With my Bible and a simple lined notebook, I go to my regular meeting place with coffee in hand and work a plan that helps order my thinking and guard against distraction.
Set Apart time with God
>Scripture Meditation:
Choose a verse or verses, ask God to help you understand, apply
>Adoration: Our Father who art in Heaven . . . hallowed be
Thy name.
Appreciate God in your own words:
>Confession: Forgive me of my sins
>Asking: Pray for others' needs, specifically
Pray for yourself; be sure to ask God for wisdom, for favor
>Thanksgiving: I thank you, God, for __________ , ___________,
>Listening: Speak to me, Lord. I'm listening . . .
Give God some quiet in which to speak. Write down what you sense he is telling you:
Paul said that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12.2); friends, this is it. This is how we renew our minds - with a set apart time to start the day.
Then - no matter what phone call comes, we are ready.
No matter the duress, we can know and walk in the peace of God.
A Set Apart daily time with God leads to a well-ordered heart and yes,
living a life without regret.
because it is possible,
Christine
PastorWoman.net
1 - another take of Prov. 4.23
2 - Inspired by Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels.
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Comment
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Comment by Carla on December 7, 2019 at 5:29am
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Thank you for this Christine,
This is mine this morning:
2 Corinthians 4
1 "Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. 2We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.3If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.5You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.7We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.8We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.11Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.13But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."
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