I would love to teach Baxter to do this but I don’t think he has the patience!
Category Archives: Craziness
I remember learning about how the verses in the bible were created long after the text itself. I have been returning to a certain text lately in my struggles as a mom, worrying about my children. (Look around this post for examples of things I might tend to worry about…though this is surely one of the least!) As I went to really meditate on this verse after thinking I had memorized it, I discovered that the verse number actually cuts off a sentence. The sentence is:
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The Lord is at hand! I had memorized Philipians 4:6-7 beginning with “do not” but without the REASON! The Lord is at hand. He is on his way here physically, and in the mean time he is near and available to me by his spirit! This is why I need not be anxious.
Then I looked at what to do instead of being anxious: prayer and supplication. Aren’t these the same things? Well yes and no. Other places in scripture they are used together, showing that there is a difference. If you look it up you will find that supplication is an attitude of prayer marked by humility, earnestness, and repentance. Earnestly making your requests known, yet with thanksgiving and an attitude of repentance & humility is the recipe for supernatural, protective peace. If only I could just whip it up in my kitchen! I am so often helpless to even pray accordingly.
“Prayer cannot truly be taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, “I ought to pray,” I will soon run out of motivation and quit; the flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray.” So says Jim Cymbala and I agree! Here’s another one where I live: “I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him. So I begin with simply, “help me.” Lord please keep your promise to send that peace-guard to my heart and mind! Thank you for being “at hand.”
