“Today I will be very careful about rejecting someone simply because they do not serve the Lord the same way I do. Lord, help me to be humble in dealing with believers who see things differently than I.”
Promise #265
I will give you a peaceful sleep surrounded by safety.
Psalm 4:8 (WEB)
In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep,
for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.
There are many things in this world that cause us to be afraid and to not feel at peace. As a result, many people struggle with sleep at night because of the numerous anxious thoughts that they have circulating in their minds.
Jesus was able to sleep on boats in the midst of storms. He is the Prince of Peace and has promised to give His peace to us. In John 14:27 Jesus says… Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (NIV)
His encouragement to us today is to not be afraid. He will make us to lie down in peace and have a restful sleep surrounded by His abiding sense of safety. For all those who struggle with getting a good night’s sleep, I pray that this promise would become a tangible reality for you today.
May you go to sleep tonight not dreading a night of tossing and turning. May the tangible presence of the Prince of Peace surround you and envelope you with His love so that you can feel truly safe so that you can have the best sleep of your life!
FINDING REST
Resisting Stress
I’m Sorry
Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! (Romans 12:16 NLT)
Most relationships have been restored to complete health or completely severed by the use, or not, of two small but powerful words: I’m sorry. When what we have said or done has been the reason for a break in the relationship and pride has kept us from having a repentant heart, we begin to give birth to a hardened heart. Pride can be dangerous. Let’s look at some reasons why:
Merriam-Webster defines pride as “the quality or state of being proud: such as inordinate self-esteem: conceit.”
Wikipedia defines pride as “a negative connotation referring to a foolishly and irrationally corrupt sense of one’s personal value, status, or accomplishment.”
Pride by its own definition hampers one’s own ability to be able to accurately view one’s own value without being overly conceited and judgmental toward one another. In turn, this can be destructive to building a healthy relationship and makes it more difficult to admit wrong. In Scripture, we find Paul encouraging the church of Colossae, even while in prison, to show compassion and forgiveness toward one another.
In Colossians 3:13-14 (NASB) he writes, “Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” We can begin a language such as Paul admonished through his teachings and writings by the use of just two words… I’m sorry… and these words cannot be said if pride is present.
Tangible Takeaway:
Only one question, but you have to process it and spend time with God for the answer: Is pride keeping you from saying I’m sorry?
This is an excerpt from We’re Still in This by Susan Goss. If you are enjoying this series, consider purchasing a copy of this new book to bless someone that could use practical words of encouragement. Shop all DaySpring Books and Devotionals.
An Autumn Blessing for Your Family
Life, like nature, unfolds in seasons. Springtime mirrors childhood, full of new beginnings, and fresh hope, a time of innocence and discovery. Summer, like our teen years, simmers with white-hot passion and the illusion of invincibility. Autumn speaks of maturity, with its rich kaleidoscope of brilliant colors and settled calm. Finally, winter sneaks up and covers the ground with a blanket of white just as age brings a covering of settled rest and quiet contemplation.
As this fall season approaches, I find myself delighting in the autumn of my life – old enough to appreciate my blessings and young enough to engage them wholeheartedly. I find that I’ve come to a place of prominence just as my mother and grandmother did before me. I relish my new place and the responsibility that comes with it to set the tone for my family, celebrate our differences and speak blessing over each beloved family member.
I also appreciate my role in fostering our family bond. Let’s face it, family gatherings can be stressful due to differences of opinion, opposing political views, an unending to-do list, and all the traveling our modern families have to do to see each other. Therefore, I’m happy to prayerfully serve as peacemaker.
So before this busy fall season begins, I ask that you join me as we lift up our families (in all their messiness) to our heavenly Father, who loves us all and is the author of our peace. Won’t you pray with me now?
Dear Father, in Your beautiful book of Psalms, chapter 103 and verse 17, You give us this wonderful promise, “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” What better promise could we receive from You in the autumn of our lives than to see our children and children’s children blessed with Your love and righteousness? We ask for Your hand of blessing on us as well. Bless us with strength to be there for those we love, and wisdom to know what to say to bring comfort, encouragement, and sometimes difficult truth. We will need Your patience as we wait for Your perfect will and way in each of our loved one’s lives. We are so grateful, Lord God. Amen.
Would you like to read more about being in the “autumn” of your life or moving into your next season? Check out DaySpring’s entire selection of inspirational Fall articles. And, be sure to send a free, inspirational “Welcome to Fall” Ecard to a friend our loved one today. It might be just the encouragement they need to hear.
Dear Lord, bless us with the strength and words to be there for those we love.
6 Ways to Make Sure It’s Worship, Not Performance
- Candice LuceyCrosswalk.com Contributing Writer
David danced up the hill with the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel. Angels sang about their glorious King in Luke 2 and will sing when Jesus’ returns according to Revelation 5.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.– 1 Chronicles 16:23
We are not only permitted but commanded to sing, dance, and generally exalt the name of God. Artists, however, will tell you – it’s easy to cross the line where worship becomes performance.
What is worship?
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia online defines worship thus: “Honor, reverence, homage, in thought, feeling, or act, paid to men, angels, or other “spiritual” beings, and figuratively to other entities, ideas, powers or qualities, but specifically and supremely to Deity.”
How can we demonstrate “acceptable worship with reverence and awe?” (Hebrews 12:28)
Worship is our gift to the Lord, and like an earthly father receiving a lopsided clay pot from his kindergarten child on Father’s Day, God graciously accepts what we offer as long as we give it as an act of gratitude and a demonstration of love.
What does it take to put together a worship session that glorifies Jesus? There should be an element of sacrifice. Take time to carefully select songs so they support the pastor’s message. Take time to rehearse and prepare. Pray for yourselves and those listening; to give thanks to God. And finally, lead worship on Sunday morning.
When musicians lead worship on stage, all attention is redirected upwards and inwards; to Jesus and to His Spirit in us. The words we sing, the way we dress, and our movements are thoughtful and devotional.
What is performance?
Dictionary definitions of performance are not nuanced enough to convey the influence of pride and vanity. Performance directs attention to a singer’s acrobatics and range, the guitarist’s nimble fingers, trendy clothes, or a dazzling light show.
Performers want applause and recognition for themselves. Chosen songs may highlight the leader’s musical preferences and might not support the pastor’s message or encourage congregational singing.
So, when you’re preparing to lead worship that serves the Lord’s purposes, here are six facets to consider:
1. Plan for the congregation’s sake.
Tunes with catchy, memorable melodies are easiest to follow and remember. It’s helpful for worship teams to sing in a key comfortable for the majority of singers. Our worship teams make mistakes and we hear about them from the pastor or from a member of the congregation who found the songs hard to follow, the drums too loud, or the key too high.
On a good day, however, I cannot hear my own voice because the congregation is making a joyful sound.
A multi-generational audience represents assorted musical preferences, so consider adding at least one hymn to the set out of respect and kindness towards your older members. If you want to select a modern arrangement which follows the rules above, sometimes this helps worshipers to hear excellent lyrics with fresh ears while the words remain familiar.
2. Remember your job.
The job of a singer or musician on Sunday morning is to engage, not to entertain. Sing clearly and loudly enough so that, if a song is new, the building isn’t filled with uncomfortable silence. Practice and prepare to set a joyful, enthusiastic example.
Maybe someone in the congregation needs to see that it’s okay not to stand like a statue in church. Show some energy, but nothing ostentatious like spontaneous break dancing, vocal gymnastics, or a drum solo.
Worship leaders are communicating with God and helping others do the same as a “demonstration of respect,” but that bland definition misses the fullness of conversation. We don’t just sing into the ether and hope that God picks up the thread of a tune as He passes by on His way to do something more important.
He is everywhere, all the time, eager for us to talk to Him. We can do that in song, with full hearts, praising, asking, confessing directly to Him.
3. Encourage joy.
Here is the mind-blowing part: God talks back. When we worship the Lord in music, swaying, hands-waving, abandoned joyfully to the rhythms of the Holy Spirit, Jesus uses lyrics and music to express His love back to us.
As we sing, He reminds us of some truth we might need that week, or encourages us when we are suffering. He connects with us individually and corporately.
Music adds a visceral component to the voice of God for ears which often fail to truly hear Him through the week. Scripture set to song is more memorable, replaying itself in one’s mind for days. Even the unbeliever will find truth stuck in his or head throughout the week.
It’s okay to dance on stage; in fact, many people are moved to bounce on the spot by the activity of musicians and singers. This should be a time of joy. James asked “Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.” (5:13)
A background vocalist raises her hands, gets excited, can’t hold it in. The truth about Jesus really is exciting, moving, and a reason for joy. How can one sing lyrics full of truth and beauty, yet not be moved to…move?
4. Support the message.
Our worship pastor has created a checklist for song choices. Lyrics must be supported biblically, not just enjoyable or popular. As noted above, setting words to songs makes them easier to remember, so we want the congregation to remember truth.
The words to songs we choose on a Sunday connect listeners to the message, helping them to recall what the pastor said more easily as they reflect during the rest of the week.
5. Honor modesty.
Even when the music points believers to Jesus, showing too much flesh or wearing a tight outfit causes competition between worship and gawking. In fact, if the job is done right, musicians become invisible.
True, God accepts us as we are, regardless of the clothes we wear, and praise the Lord every time someone enters church half-naked or unwashed. Churches are to open their arms to prostitutes and the homeless. Leaders on stage, however, are ambassadors of redemption. Carelessness in dress or visuals suggests a careless attitude towards the Messiah, the Gospel, and those we are serving.
A multi-colored light show isn’t necessary to promote praise, but good lighting helps musicians to see what they are doing. It enables the congregation to witness expressions of delight during worship, and also helps shy musicians focus on music and prayer, rather than an audience, by casting the congregation into shadow.
6. Lose yourself in worship.
When will you know that performance gave way to worship? Like discerning whether or not you are wise or humble: if you know you are, then you aren’t. You might be unaware until someone tells you.
I often close my eyes and the people in front of me disappear. Jesus descends over the whole place physically. I might be crying, or smiling like an idiot, and I am definitely dancing. I’ve seen this emotional response from other singers. If my mind was wandering, their emotion has jolted me back to the words.
What Christ did for us on the cross should overwhelm, even take us by surprise. No one is immune, and sometimes getting choked up is the eye-opener someone out there needs to understand that the Bible isn’t just words. Church is indeed more than a way to fill up Sunday morning. We worship a living God every day.
Don’t be afraid that this sense of abandon will happen to you; it will. It’s a reward of praising God authentically. He comes so close you can feel His breath. Zephaniah 3:17 says “The Lord your God is in your midst” and He will “rejoice over you with gladness.”
Worship in response to this promise, for the congregation and for yourself, but mostly to glorify the Father who taught us how to sing.
Candice Lucey is a writer who loves Jesus. She lives in one of the most beautiful parts of British Columbia, Canada, with her family.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/CarlosCastilla
15 Bible Verses that Talk about Pain
- Meg Bucher
Pain is a persistent part of human life. Stories like the suffering of Job, David fleeing from Saul, the death of Lazarus and of course the passion of Christ provide examples of maintaining strong faith throughout painful circumstances. The New Testament also gives us a picture of the kind of pain the first believers in Christ faced through persecution. Today, through prophesies yet to be fulfilled, Scripture tells of the “labor pains” we are undergoing here on earth as the world turns a step closer each day toward Jesus’ return.
The following verses are a glimpse of the pain we read about in God’s Word. By meditating on these verses, we can find solidarity, inspiration, a healthy fear (reverence) for God, and a Savior who endured an insurmountable amount of it on our account. May these Bible verses about pain motivate, inspire, spark curiosity, and encourage.
We are never alone in our pain. God is Healer, and through He may not always will it, can miraculously heal us from pain. We learn and grow wiser through our painful moments, and will wear crowns in heaven for what we’ve suffered in His honor.
15 Bible Verses that Talk about Pain
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Revelation 21:4 NIV
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” – 1 Chronicles 4:10 NIV
“But as for me, afflicted and in pain- may your salvation, God, protect me.” – Psalm 69:29 NIV
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” – Isaiah 53:3-4 NIV
“For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.” – 2 Corinthians 8:21 NIV
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” – Hebrews 12:11 NIV
“For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.” – 1 Peter 2:19 NIV
“Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to?” – Job 6:25 NLT
“At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.” – Job 6:10 NLT
“I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.” – 2 Corinthians 7:8-9 NLT
When people are saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:3 NLT
“Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” – Hebrews 13:3 NLT
“Feel my pain and see my trouble. Forgive all my sins.” – Psalm 25:18 NLT
“Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress. My problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! Feel my pain and see my trouble. Forgive all my sins. See how many enemies I have and how viciously they hate me! Protect me! Rescue my life from them! Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge. May integrity and honest protect me, for I put my hope in you.” – Psalm 25:16-21 NLT
“A joyful heart makes the face cheerful, but by a painful heart the spirit it broken.” – Proverbs 15:13 NET
A Prayer for Painful Times:
Father,
Jesus is no stranger to pain, and you weep alongside us when our hearts are crushed. You are omnipotent, in complete control of the world and our lives, yet you allow us to choose and walk through painful moments in this life. We don’t always understand. Pain is not always fair. We pray to see and understand pain through your eyes, your heavenly purpose, and through the filter of your unchanging character. You are mighty to save! You are Healer, Savior, Creator, and our compassionate Father. Grow our hearts to know you more each day. Comfort us when the pain is so great that we can barely breathe. Be it physical or mental pain, sickness or weakness, we trust our lives to your capable hands. We know you’ll be with us through it all, and we offer our lives up to you at all times.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Quotes about Pain and Faith:
“God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
“If Jesus gives us a task or assigns us to a difficult season, every ounce of our experience is meant for our instruction and completion if only we’ll let Him finish the work. I fear, however, that we are so attention-deficit that we settle for bearable when beauty is just around the corner.” – Beth Moore
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis
“Pain is never pleasant, but nothing can compare to the pain of eternity without God. And so my pain today is a small glimpse of what I have been saved from. How much more can we grasp the beautiful and glorious promise of eternity with our Savior, free from pain, when we have a daily reminder of what we have been saved from? This truth of the gospel gives us a reason, purpose and hope to endure.” – Kristen Wetherell
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” – C.S. Lewis
The most important thing I can tell you, however, is that God loves you, and even if pain almost overwhelms you at times, God is still with you and wants to help you. By faith, invite Christ to come into your life, and then thank Him every day that nothing — not even your pain — “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). And someday you’ll go to be with Him in Heaven, where pain will be no more. – Billy Graham
Image Credit: ©Unsplash/SoragritWongsa
Meg Bucher writes about everyday life within the love of Christ. She stepped out of her comfort zone, and her Marketing career, to obey God’s call to stay home and be “Mom” in 2011. From that step of obedience her blog, Sunny&80, was born, a way to retain the funny everyday moments of motherhood. Meg is also a freelance writer and author of “Friends with Everyone.” She loves teaching God’s Word and leading Bible study, being a mom, distance running, photography, and the Cleveland Browns. Meg resides in Northern Ohio with her husband, two daughters, and Golden-Doodle.
What Is Surrender Anyway?
by Laura Story, from session one of the new Bible study I Give Up
Dear Friends, I don’t know what you are going through right now, but I know what it’s like to face circumstances that are out of your control. Life can be swirling around us, it can be overwhelming and hard. We long for peace over a situation, but we try to hold on tightly for control because we feel we need to take action… that we need to do something!
But what if what we really need to do is surrender it to God?
After my husband’s brain surgery, it became very clear to us that every plan we had made and so carefully crafted was wrecked. And every blueprint we had created for our happy, healthy, normal life together was thrown out the window. We felt lost. We felt out of control. And there was no choice to make but to surrender.
In that painful process of letting go, what we found was something quite different than what we expected. We found that through letting go, we actually gained something. Through releasing control, we began to acknowledge that the control we thought we had over our lives, over our future, our security, our health, all of it had actually been a facade.
And all of a sudden, this word surrender wasn’t as bad as it seemed…
I hope you enjoy this first session of my new I Give Upstudy and consider joining me and the communities at FaithGateway & StudyGateway for all five-weeks of the study, starting October 7 – November 10! Sign up here to get started with us soon!
Watch Session One of I Give Up: What is Surrender Anyway?
…Continue to our blog to watch the full first session video, and read the remaining content and questions for this first session.
Laura Story’s I Give Up
Join Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and Bible teacher Laura Story in a journey to discover the peace and joy that can be found in living a surrendered life.
Receive great free resources to get started!
+FREE Printable Journaling Pages
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Dose of Devotion 