Guarding our Hearts

The bible tells us to "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (Jn14:27) These are the words of Jesus, no less. My pastor mentioned this as one of those things that only I can do for myself. No one else can "let not my heart be troubled" for me. Only I can.

Well, how do I let not my own heart be troubled? That is a question I needed an answer for. Sometimes, forcing out the action just doesn't work. You can tell yourself, don't be troubled, don't be troubled, but how do you not be troubled when no one else is fixing what needs to be fixed?

My answer came last week while reading our church daily devotions on Phil 4:6-7. Ah-ha! There is the answer! Be anxious for nothing (No Thing!), but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God (not my own peace forced out of myself) , which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So, here's how I let not my heart be troubled. By not being anxious but praying for and thanking God for every situation I am in to turn out good! The result is the peace of God guards my heart for me, not letting it be troubled. My part is to tell God about the situation, He will guard my heart.

Hallelujah! Thank you Lord that you guard my heart.

As He is, so am I

I start this in a crummy frame of mind. My laptop just refused to boot properly. As an IT professional this sort of thing should not happen to me and I'm certain that its my own fault. So I'm stuck at the moment between needing to get it fixed fast, feeling condemned for not practising the right backup procedures and having no acceptable solution short of a re-install.

This sort of thing happens to anyone and everyone at some point in time. Why should it not happen to an IT professional? Because we are trained to follow those stringent procedures.

Actually, I'm a beloved child of God! I believe that this sort of thing should not happen to me. But so what if it does? I am still the beloved child of God and I choose to believe that God has a reason for this. As Jesus is, so am I in this world (1 Jn 4:17). Therefore, no matter what, I choose to believe that the world and this life treats me as Jesus.

How good would things be if I were Jesus? I think that I will be expecting good all the time. Therefore I choose to believe that something good will come out of re-installing my laptop. I'm getting on to it now. Hallelujah!