Bible Riches Newsletter Archives God's cure for the deadly disease
of negative thoughts |
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It is a proven fact: One negative thought gives birth to another,
and another, and another, until your life spirals out of control. Think with me about this for a moment. Have you
noticed how uptight you feel as a result of entertaining negative thoughts?
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And then what will the result be? Look at God's promise in verse 9... | |
...and the God of peace will be with you. |
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“The God of peace will be with you.” What does this mean? It simply
means that the God who is known for His peace, will make Himself known to you personally by giving you His peace
(v. 7). Isn’t it much better to live your life in peace? Not simply at peace with others, but at peace with yourself as well? We tend to become so upset with ourselves because we’re not like someone else that we compared ourselves too. Don’t do that. You have your own race to run, therefore YOU run it. Don’t do something unorthodox and run someone else’s race. You’ll fail and feel even worse about it. Your thoughts are an important part of what feeds your emotions and drives your will. But if you take the time -- as often as you must do along life's way -- to stop yourself from thinking negatively and replace bad thoughts with positive thoughts, you will demonstrate to others as well as to yourself, that having the presence of the God of peace is much more important than your schedule of things to do. |
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"I am willing; be cleansed" --Mark 1:41 In the beginning, God spoke: “Let there be. . .and there was.” What is it about the spoken Word of our Lord that reveals His good Will? If something wasn’t, it was spoken into existence. If something was wrong, it was spoken and made right. Words, not just mere words, but the very words of Jesus have such a profound impact on its intended target. Isn’t a sinner more miserable than a leper? Yet Jesus spoke the words, “My son, your sins are forgiven” and it was so. What then was the outcome? Was it not to exercise what little trust he had and “Arise, take with you your pallet and start walking?” Every time Jesus speaks, something, or someone, somewhere is being restored, cleansed, or made into a new creation. At one time God declared: “My Word which goes forth from My Mouth, it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:11-12). If the spoken Word of Jesus can bring so much good and blessing, then the most miserable existence imaginable is to be the recipient of the “silence of Jesus.” I cannot possibly imagine what must have been in store for Herod who questioned Jesus at some length, only to hear NOTHING (Luke 23:9). All who come to Jesus are made better in some way. It may not be the way we want or expect, but if God speaks, it will be something better than we could possibly imagine. The leper didn’t command Jesus, nor try to remind Him of some promise He made in order to corner Him and twist His arm into doing what he wanted done. He simply and humbly said, “If you’re willing, You can make me clean.” Notice that before the actual words were spoken which sealed the leper’s healing, came first the “touch” of Jesus. Why did Jesus touch him? Because the leper had touch Jesus with his humility and simplistic request. It was a touch that moved Jesus with compassion. It is as if Jesus said: “Because you have reached out and touched Me, I will reach forth and touch you.” How we so crave for the touch of Jesus; and how He too must crave for our touch as well. We touch His heart when we are humble and simplistic before Him in prayer. He is willing, but are we? Blessings, Rich |
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