Can we be real here? I certainly hope so.

I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. A lot of stress.

As in feeling like an elephant is about to crush me under foot.

The feeling is awful.

Dreadful.

Exhausting.

If you deal with anxiety and depression,I think you can relate to these feelings.

But, here’s the thing: feelings lie. Emotions cloud the truth. When we follow the fear, believe the worrisome, take the bait of anxiety, our feelings have handed the enemy a win.

Instead of letting our negative thoughts and feelings rule over our lives, we need to remember to abide in Jesus.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. – John 15:1-11 (ESV)

To abide in Jesus is to live connected to Him.

Constantly.

It is following the Lord’s teachings.

Constantly.

Most of all, to abide in Jesus is to surrender everything – yes, everything – to God and trust in Him fully and completely, 100%.

Abiding in Jesus is how we, as the branches, are nourished by the vine (Jesus), whose source is The Father (the Vinedresser). It is through our connection to the LORD that we are fed, supplied, cared for. Through the vine we produce fruit. Apart from the vine – when we are disconnected from Jesus – we can do nothing.

So, how do we maintain our connection to God? Here are a few things that will help:

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Lay aside all worry and anxiety and trust God in all things.

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7, ESV). We were never meant to carry our burdens alone. It takes humility to die to self, and trust to cast your cares on God.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing,¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV). We can be full of joy despite our circumstances because God is sovereign, God is love, and we can stay connected with Him through prayer. Constant God consciousness. When we realize Who God is, who we are as He defines us (and, yes, we are defined by the LORD, not our sins, our pasts, our jobs, our successes, our failures, our bank balances, our prestige, our failures…), gratitude io God is our appropriate and heart felt reaction.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸ It will be healing to your flesh
    and refreshment to your bones. – Proverbs 3:5-8 (ESV)

Truly realize God is in control, and daily – yes, first thing every morning – give your day to the LORD. Let go of the control side of your thoughts and trust God to handle everything.

I’ve heard it said that we don’t want God to be our co-pilot. We want Him in full control of the aircraft! To abide in the LORD is to trust Him fully, staying connected through constant prayer and seeking Him and His ways first and foremost. Rest in Jesus. Abide in Him and find His great peace that passes understanding.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.⁵ Let your reasonableness^[d] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ What you have learned^[e] and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:4-9 (ESV)

When I see the insanity swirling around us – the chaos, the absurdity, the violence, the bad news, the societal troubles, the political dysfunction, the hatred and division… I stop and remind myself:

(Jesus said), “6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” – Matthew 24:6-8 (ESV)

Solomon wrote: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 (ESV)

And, while he is no theologian by any stretch of the imagination, Bob Dylan once sang, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”). While Dylan’s lyrics doesn’t quite carry the weight of Scripture (sarcastic understatement) I think this line is particularly apropos today, just as it was when he penned it in 1965.

(Dylan also wrote some nonsense about God and Abraham having a discussion as He sent the patriarch marching down Highway 61. Again, no theologian…)

Tonight I’ve been marinating in 1 John 4. And, I have to tell you, verses 18 and 19 – words I have read many times over the years – hit me with a fresh wave of peace.

¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

We have a choice. We can live life in fear and anxiety – worrying about the future or the past or the present or our retirement or our jobs or the person who is displeased with us or whether Minnesota will be able to hold their own against Green Bay (hey, football season is only three months away)…

Or, we can live rooted in the perfect love of Jesus. We can put our full faith in Him, opting to yield to God, recognizing His love and sovereignty, praying, praising, spending time in His Word…

When we realize the depth of God’s love – not as some abstract religious concept but His personal love for you – and when we live to seek Him first over everything, we see the folly of fear.

God is sovereign over everything. Nothing we face is beyond Him. And we trust in the Lord for He is love and He never changes. When we embrace His perfect love and fully trust in Him, His perfect love casts away the fear. After all, the two cannot coexist.

So we have a choice to make. We can choose to worry about our troubles (real and imagined) and live a life of turmoil. Or we can faithfully follow God through Jesus Christ, trusting Him, casting our cares on Him, seeking His will first and foremost, understanding our circumstances do not define us.

Which will you choose?

⁹ Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. – Mark 16:9-11 (ESV)

Shattered.

The disciples had to be absolutely shattered.

Try to imagine how the disciples felt on that Saturday.

They had spent the past three years with Jesus. They had listened to His teachings. They had witnessed so many miracles from His hands: the blind receiving sight; the lame healed and able to walk; healing the woman with the issue of blood; healing the Roman centurion’s son from a long distance away; pulling a coin from a fish’s mouth to pay their tax; feeding thousands of people to full with fives small barley loaves and two fish – with leftovers; calming the storm on the sea; walking on water; raising Lazarus from the dead.

Etc.

They walked into Jerusalem with Jesus riding a donkey, the people cheering Him and laying palm fronds before Him.

The people thought Jesus had come to overthrow the powers that be in Israel and take over.

Within days it all appeared to come crumbling down.

One of their own – Judas Iscariot – betrayed Jesus. His disloyalty was so great that, after that when anyone who shared his name in Scripture is referred to as “Judas (not Iscariot)”. Indeed, 2000 years later, betrayers are called Judases.

Jesus was arrested. After seeing Him slip away from the Pharisees and Sadducees so many times before, they saw Jesus put up no fight. In fact, when Peter acted to protect The Lord, drawing his sword and cutting off the ear of the Roman servant, Jesus responded with a strong rebuke, healing the servant’s ear.

There was Peter’s foretold thrice denial of knowing Jesus that came to pass as Jesus was in the midst of His horrific night of beating, scourging, kangaroo trials, humiliation, conviction, and crucifixion band death.

How could things have gone so wrong?

Mark tells us the disciples, overcome with grief and, probably confusion and fear as well. They had lost hope. They could not believe Mary when she told them Jesus was alive, and she had seen Him.

They couldn’t see the Truth for the “facts” around them.

Seeing the situation through their eyes, all hope evaporated.

But the real truth – the reality to be made obvious when Jesus appears to His disciples – would soon be revealed. The Holy Spirit would indwell them as promised. They would see Jesus ascend into heaven. These men who were, on this Saturday between Jesus’ death and resurrection, experiencing the lowest, most painful, most anxious time in their lives, would go out into the world, boldly sharing the message of Jesus Christ – all but one giving their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

On this Saturday, the disciples couldn’t see it. They couldn’t wrap their minds around all that had happened in such a short amount of time.

Their inability to comprehend the events of Friday had no effect on the glory of God coming to fruition in that sealed tomb early Sunday morning.

¹³ Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self^[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 (ESV)

Rejoice! He is risen!

Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass. You know his faults, now let his foibles pass. – Sir Frank Crisp.

Judge not, lest ye be judged. – Jesus Christ.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. – Newton’s Third Law of Motion.

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail. – Proverbs 22:8

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. – Galatians 6:7-8

What am I reaping in my life? Better look at what I’m sowing.

Sow live, reap love.

Sow judgement, reap judgement.

I need to remember, before I speak, before a thought even develops in my head: I don’t know what I don’t know. And what I do “know” is highly suspect. Only God is Truth.

Love one another. Do not judge. We never know the whole story.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:15-17 (ESV)

Can I let you in on a little secret? Ok… it’s not really a secret . Let’s just call it insight – something God is still working on me about. I’m very stubborn and thick, so it takes me a little longer than the average bear to get a hint.

Thankfully the Lord isn’t going to give up on me.

Here’s my insight – and it’s very simple and obvious yet profoundly true.

Here it is: if we want to live a life of true, deep, lasting peace, the peace that passes all human understanding, we have to trust in Jesus fully and completely and live by the precepts found in God’s Word.

God says love our enemies and pray for them, so we have to love and pray for them.

God says seek His kingdom first, so we need to set aside our own agendas and seek the Lord”s will first.

God says trust in Him with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, so we need to stop trying to figure everything out and trust in His absolute sovereignty.

God says don’t worry about anything, so we must set those anxious thoughts and, instead,focus on the Lord and what He has to say about life and our situations, for that is Truth.

God says forgive, so we must forgive.

God says love Him above all else and love others, so love.

God says be generous of spirit, so give yourself with much love and joy.

God says pray, so pray.

God says follow Jesus, so follow Jesus.

It only makes sense that, if we want the peace only Jesus gives, then we need to follow Him in faith and let Him form our thoughts and opinions, light our path, and make us salt and light.

You are so loved, dear friend. Rest in the Lord and sleep well.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” – John 14:1 (ESV)

We have choices.

Multiple times a day we are faced with opportunities to make choices. Most are fairly inconsequential.

Should we have pizza or tacos for supper?

Should I watch an old rerun of Gilligan’s Island or that video on YouTube about the history of dental floss?

Should I buy a Mounds bar or an Almond Joy? Do I feel like a nut or not?

However there is one choice that should always be obvious to believers in Jesus:

¹⁴ “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV)

Choosing to follow the LORD seems obvious, but isn’t necessarily easy. It requires us to set aside our cares and plans and doubts and make a conscious effort to relinquish control and trust in God’s plan for our lives.

Even when it makes no sense.

Even when we’re scared to let go.

Even when we’re trying to work our way through life’s challenges on our own.

In John 14:1 Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in Me.” I love the words “let not”. That means we need to choose to not give in to fear, anxiety, worry and doubt. Rather, we need to chooses to believe in God.

Rest in His mercy and peace and goodness and strength and love and wisdom and absolute sovereignty over every minute detail of our lives.

Instead of believing in the worst possible outcome, or dreading what lies ahead, or fearing anyone or anything, we need to recognize Who God is (our Father) and put our full trust in Him.

Regardless of circumstances.

At all times.

Tonight, if anxious worrisome thoughts begin swirling around in your head, make the decision to trust in the Lord instead listening to the fear. It may take some effort. But it’s well worth it to trust in Jesus and simply take Him at His Word.

Rejoice in the LORD, and again I say rejoice!

This is the beginning of one of my go-to passages of Scripture when I’m feeling stressed, or anxious, or low, or worried, or troubled, or any combination of these wonderful emotional roller coaster rides .

I never liked roller coasters. I rode one once.

Once.

It took my left kidney a week to dislodge from behind my tonsils and settle back where it belonged.

And yet, I find myself riding a roller coaster of sorts far more often than I care to admit.

Oh! That awful feeling. The clickity clack of the track beneath as your emotions slowly rise. Tension builds. Stomach knots. Nerves get shaky.

Then, finally, you crest the top of the ride and find yourself plunging into what feels like an out of control free fall. The clickity clacking gets louder and faster. You hear someone screaming like a 13 year old girl on helium at a Taylor Swift concert.

And you realize you are the one screaming.

Ok, maybe not actually screaming . But you feel like it.

When you’re on the emotional roller coaster, the last thing you feel like doing is rejoicing. But, therein lies the rub. You see, feelings can often be dishonest. They aren’t a very accurate gauge of reality.

For believers in Jesus, here is our reality: God is sovereign over everything.

Every situation.

Time and again God”s Word reminds us to fear not, to not worry, to not be anxious. Rather, are called to trust in our Heavenly Father, who works all things for good for those who love Him and follow His Word.

This is why Paul says with great emphasis to rejoice in the Lord always. God is the source of our joy and peace and supply. Always.

So we need to rejoice in the Lord always! Not just when we feel like it. Because, feel it or not, you are in God’s grip.

Embrace that reality. Seek Him first. And quit listening to the clickity clack beneath you.

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” – Matthew 8:23-27 [ESV]

As a child, I was afraid of thunderstorms.

I mean, really afraid.

One clap of thunder in the middle of the night, one flash of lightning, and I would shoot out of bed, straight to Mom and Dad’s room. (They were young back then. They didn’t need the sleep.)

The thunder was like a starter’s pistol at the Kentucky Derby:

BANG! “And he’s off! Here comes Stormy Terror racing into the straightaway, arriving at his parents’ bedside in record time!”

One evening a storm came through. Just your basic Indiana summer storm. No sign of Jim Cantore or any storm chasers around. My dad, no doubt hoping for a peaceful night’s slumber without being awakened by his terrified preschooler staring at from the side of his bed, decided now was the time to face this problem head-on.

He took me out on the front porch, thunder rumbling and rain pouring around us. “Son”, he’s said. “It’s just a storm. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Jesus faced a similar situation. He’s in the back of a fishing boat, trying to get some shut eye. Up rolls a big rainstorm, sea swells slapping over the sides of the craft, filling the hull with water.

“Jesus!”, they cried. “Wake up! We’re going to die!”

These were grown men – fishermen for Pete’s sake! They should have known better! But… in fairness, without God, they had every logical reason to panic. At its deepest, the Sea of Galilee around 150 feet deep.

Not a pleasant way to go.

Jesus rebukes His disciples with a gentle, “O ye of little faith.”

Then He calms the storm, leaving the apostles in gob-smacked wonder.

This is point where my analogy falls apart a bit. You see, Jesus had the ability to stop the wind and the rain and the waves immediately. My dad… well, had a tornado dropped from that storm, we may well have ended up swirling around the edge of the vortex like the cow in The Wizard of Oz.

Here’s the points: I trusted my parents. They weren’t omniscient, omnipotent or omnipresent. But they protected me.

How much more can we protect our loving, sovereign Father God in all things, at all times? No matter the magnitude (real or imagined) of our situation, the LORD is always with His children. He will never leave us, never abandon us, never forget us. In the LORD we find our strength, our guidance, our supply, our wisdom, our protection, our direction…. After all, if is God is for us, who could possibly stand against us?

As for my early childhood years, I wish I could report to you that my fear of storms was instantly erased that night on the front porch. Alas there would be more mad dashes to my parents’ bedroom over the next few years.

But, just like the younger me of 50+ years ago, we need to remember to run to our Father when things go sideways, when life gets rough, when we just don’t know what to do. Stay connected with God through Jesus in both good times and bad, and remember to seek him first always.