From:
Date: February 19, 2019
Subject: It's February 19; Good Morning Union
“You will keep him in perfect peace…” Isaiah 26:3,4
Perfect peace would be a really cool thing to have. Any kind of peace would be a cool thing to have!! The opposite of peace, as I see it, is anxiety, worry, or fear. Any of those negative qualities can be emotionally crippling so to find the antidote for them I search for peace.
Isaiah describes the attainment of this perfect peace with two qualifiers. If I want “perfect peace” I need to:
The reason to do those two things, according to the prophet, is because “the Lord is the Rock eternal.” It is apparently the distractions of the world that create the negative opposites of perfect peace, so the more my attention is drawn to them, the more likely I will struggle with the consequences.
But if I focus on keeping my mind steadfastly on God and the more I trust HIM for the direction in my life the better chance I will have to attain “perfect peace.” I have found the process of attaining that peace come from intentionally NOT looking at the world for my direction, and intentionally spending time every day with God developing the habit of “steadfastness.” An occasional glance at the Savior, or reading a Bible verse now and then is good but it will not build steadfastness with God. It may even cause distraction from God for lack of tangible self-evidence of its positive effect.
Focusing on the world is almost by default because the bombardment is constant, and the result is too often anxiety. I need to practice streadfastness in my focus toward Jesus so I can experience “perfect peace.”
Have a great day practicing the presence of Jesus streadfastly,
Pastor Rich
Quote for the day: “We don’t legislate spirituality, we facilitate it.”
PS Chapel- ASB Convocation- It’s election time so come pick your leaders for next year! See you in Woods @ 10:30
PPS YOU are invited to our second presentation entitled The Other Six Days: Work as Worship. This presentation is part 2 in our Young Adult Life Series entitled Seasons. It begins tonight, and continues on February 26 and March 12 at 8pm at the CVC YA Room.
We spend a great deal of time working but we might not realize how our work intersects with our faith. We compartmentalize and restrict faith experience and obligation to Friday nights and Sabbath day and see the rest of our week as having little to do with our walk with God.
We are going to consider why God may have you in your current position and encourage you to look beyond how your job makes you feel and see purpose and significance in your work.
PPPS Christ on Demand, 7:30 in Rees Hall Chapel. Join Amber and friends as we continue looking at prayer.
Today's Challenge is writing a note or giving a small gift to a staff member. They work super hard every day and have blessed our school greatly. Here are some ideas!
Plus many more!
Submit your photo to the link for your point!
https://goo.gl/forms/