Post Sunday April 5 2009

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Some closing thoughts on yesterdays battle with stress and anxiety and I did use the right word, battle. Have no doubt about it, all of these issues that we have touched upon over the past six weeks are battles and we are clearly at war, many of us need to not only accept this fact but stop walking around unarmed. Each one of these characteristics that we’ve talked about, excuses, bitterness, anger, addictions, pride, envy and yesterday stress and anxiety, they all keep us from loving God deeply, they keep us from strengthening our faith and confidence in God and they keep us from God, thus the dire need to leave these things behind. Who do we think wants to keep us from God? Evil looms everywhere and these things aren’t simply “bad habits” they are weapons of evil that are set against us. They are set and aimed at keeping us far from God and thus far from life. God’s Word has not hidden this fact of warfare from us:

Ephesians 6:11-13 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

I’m sorry those verses don’t sound very flowery and peaceful to me. They clearly show that as a believer in Christ I’m fully engaged in battle. If I don’t decide to fully participate in this battle then I will just live a life running from bombardment to bombardment, there is no safe zone, it doesn’t exist. The word trouble in the opening verse of this Post Sunday devotional is also translated as “Badness, depravity or evil.” Not surprising that Jesus would speak about today’s engagements as battles of war. It makes me rethink what one of my former basketball coaches used to scream at us in some of the huddles, if we weren’t playing well, he would yell at us and say, “You guys need to wake the hell up!” Looking back he should have said that we need to “wake the heaven up!” Hell is already wide awake, like it or not. Evil, badness, depravity, trouble and destruction, they live 24/7 for that stuff and excuses, bitterness, anger, addictions, pride, envy, stress and anxiety all are things in us that remove us from God’s battle plan instructions for our lives and put us full into evil’s battle plan for our lives, which is not victory, but destruction.

I know many of us have listened to these messages and internally have said, “oh, yeah all of this is easier said then done.” If those words are echoing through your mind and heart then I ask us ALL a couple of things. First off, who do you think is enjoying you saying those words? God or Evil? Second, no kidding. Of course it is easier said then done. Ask all the men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. Ask all the veterans of Vietnam, Korea and World War II. Wars are won by prayer, preparation, planning, passion and perseverance. How do you think you are going to overcome? By running from bombardment to bombardment? The bombardments are not going to end until either we pass from this earth or Jesus comes back. That is why funerals of Christians are truly celebrations because they have been promoted off the front lines of warfare to the frontlines of glory. Rejoice for the victorious dead! In the meantime you and I who are still hopefully gallantly fighting and living on this earth…God is willing to equip you with the necessary weapons of war. The question is: Are you willing to learn to use them?

So why so angry Eric? Because I’m tired of MYSELF thinking I’m not on the frontlines of the battle and I’m tired of listening to my heart leaning toward hopelessness when I serve the God of hope. Seeing people come to Christ is difficult, extremely difficult and there are so many distractions that try to pull me away from this focus! But the rewards are eternal. Seeing people truly live out the change in their lives is difficult, but the rewards are eternal….Everyone getting the picture! It is a glorious picture!

So what do I do? Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Seeing Jesus said this and taught this He is clearly telling us that we have battles to fight today and they are large enough and vital enough to put aside the worry, stress and anxiety for tomorrow. Evil gains a victory when we are unable to properly wage war today. When we lose the battle today we are more likely to lose tomorrows battles as well. However if we win today, those battles we are seemingly worried about in our “tomorrows” may never even happen!

A huge part of being properly prepared for battle each day is this simple, practical step that numerous authors, pastors and leaders have suggested we do. Before you go to bed each night or before you journey out for the day write down your list of goals that you need to accomplish today. Don’t even say you don’t have time to do this, don’t go there, I’m not in the mood! Wake up 5 to 10 minutes earlier you won’t die doing this! In fact you’ll live better! Keep a notebook handy right next to your bed or at the breakfast table. Write down what you need to accomplish for the day, for school, work, family, friends, home, whatever it may be and then take that list prioritize it. How do you prioritize it? Before you even start the list go to God in prayer. Ask Him to guide you, use you and lead you today. Offer yourself up to Him as a living sacrifice, give your life to Him and you’ll see your daily lists begin to be very powerful lists indeed.

Don’t make your daily goals unrealistic. For example, don’t have one of your goals, write a book. No your goal would be write two pages of chapter one of my book today. Many authors before they became bestselling authors had full time jobs and many of them would wake up one hour early each day and use that hour just to write and over time that one hour combined with the other hours became over 100 hours spent on their book and that prayer, preparation, planning, passion and perseverance became a New York Times bestseller. Don’t believe me? Read the gospels again and see how Jesus changed the course of a nation without TVs, cell phones, email and other forms of modern communication. Each day He spent going from city to city teaching His message. After a few years(again after a few years) the whole country was abuzz with talk of this Jesus. Today we just want to win our cities to Christ with one TV show, one event or one mailer. Sorry that ain’t happening. Remember we are at war, thus we have an adversary who slows progress, but in that slow progress we become more reliant on our God and our characters become more and more like the character and person of Christ! Now that is a warrior I want on my front lines!

Well, my day is moving on and I’ve got other things God has planned for me to serve Him with today, our minivan got sick yesterday afternoon and is now in the shop during one of the busiest weeks of the year for me, which I know is a feeble attempt by the enemy to slow me down, but God has given me another weapon and its name is the Hyundai Accent! So when you see that coming down the road, be careful it is a fully registered weapon of God. Fight the good fight this week, more people are going to be in church this week than any other week this year, do you not think evil is freaking out right now? That means the bullets are going to be flying, no retreat.

Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. Were you aware that you are at war?
2. What does this mean to you?

pastor e