Dr D. James Kennedy wrote: ‘A proper epitaph for most people…today would be “Hurried, worried, buried”…Many times we wish we could wash our hands of all our responsibilities and worries. The executive of one small company decided he would. Even though his company was headed for bankruptcy, he decided to quit worrying about it. So [he] called in his first vice-president and said, “I have had it with worrying about this company. If you’ll take over and handle all my worrying for me, I’ll add $50,000 to your salary.” Startled and perplexed by this generous offer (and knowing the financial condition of the company), the vice-president asked, “But where are you going to get an extra $50,000?” The boss replied, “That’s your first worry!” William Gladstone, [one of the UK’s] greatest prime minister[s], was a fine Christian man who served the Lord. On the wall of his bedroom hung a plaque embroidered with this text: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” It was the first thing Gladstone saw when he awoke in the morning and the last thing he saw before retiring at night. There is the secret of peace! We can have this peace because we know that the One upon whom we’ve stayed our minds is the One who works all things together for our good. Is the frantic pace of modern life robbing you of peace today? If so, slow down and refocus on the Lord. Realise He’s with you and He’s in control no matter what comes your way. Stay your mind on Him and let Him grant you, His peace.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

One Christian author writes: ‘I once went through a period…when I was plagued by anxiety. I was filled with fear and dread for no particular reason. I kept feeling something terrible was going to happen. Finally I went to the Lord and asked Him what was troubling me. He told me it was “evil forebodings”. At the time I didn’t even know what that phrase meant or where it came from. Sometime later I came across Proverbs 15:15: “All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]” (AMPC)…I was like so many other people. I was looking for some “monster problem” that was keeping me from enjoying life. I was so intense about everything; I was creating problems for myself where none really existed. Once in a meeting, the Lord told me to speak out something. Apparently, someone needed to hear this: “Stop making a big deal out of nothing.” I used to be the type of person who needed to hear directions like that. I could make mountains out of molehills. I had to learn to just let some things go – forget them and go on. Some of us become upset over things that are just not worth becoming upset over – those “little foxes, that spoil the vines” (Song of Songs 2:15 KJV). If our lives consist of becoming upset over one little thing after another…we won’t have much peace or joy.’ So, the word for today is – cultivate a happy heart and start enjoying the life God has given you!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the nation. That was never part of God’s plan. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are…burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’ (NIV). When oxen work side by side in the fields, they are yoked together and share the workload. That’s what Jesus wants you to do: work in harness with Him. Can you think of anyone better to share your load? It makes you wonder why we wait so long to take Him up on His offer! He then goes on to say, ‘Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried…your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you’ (Luke 12:29, 30-31 ESV). Jesus gives us the perfect perspective on life. You can’t add one day to your life span by worrying, but you can certainly shorten it through stress and anxiety. Think about it: the birds don’t sit around in the trees and worry about what they will eat tomorrow. No, they sing without a care in the world. And the lilies don’t sweat about how they will grow or if they will get enough rain to survive. All of God’s creation except man does not have a care in the world. And since your heavenly Father cares even more for His people, you can be sure He will take care of you.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Anxiety is the curse of the modern era, but it’s not a new trend. Throughout Scripture, Jesus talked a lot about anxiety, stress, and fear. In fact, He mentioned them repeatedly in His teachings. In Matthew 6:25-27, He said, ‘Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or…what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?’ (NIV). Now, Jesus didn’t say these words just to relieve our fears and worries. What He was doing was commanding us not to be anxious because it demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s faithfulness to us. Paul writes: ‘Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition…with thanksgiving…make your wants known to God. And God’s peace…which transcends all understanding shall garrison…your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:6-7 AMPC). Instead of letting fear and anxiety control you, you can have peace by bringing your worries to God in prayer, thanking Him by faith for the answer, and trusting Him to work things out as only He can. So, what are you going to do? Worry and fret, or pray and have peace? The choice is yours.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The largest bulldozer in the world is the Komatsu D575A. It’s 16 feet long, 25 feet wide, 41 feet high, and weighs 225,000 pounds. It was once used in a country where there was a surplus of rubbish that was polluting the environment. The bulldozer was brought in to dig a hole big enough to gather all that rubbish, bury it, and remove it from the lives of the residents. At the cross, God dug a hole so big that He could gather the sins of the entire world, in the past, present, and future. He gathered and placed them upon His Son. Now He takes all of His Son’s sinless perfection and righteousness and places it on you the moment you put your trust in Him. ‘For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV). You say, ‘But I have failed so badly.’ A dirty diamond is still a diamond; it just requires cleaning. And that’s what the blood of Jesus does for us (see 1 John 1:7). The wonderful thing about an electronic calculator is that if you press a wrong button, everything isn’t lost. You don’t have to untangle or figure out the problem. Simply pressing ‘clear’ restarts the calculation. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV). God is ready to pardon, restore, and give you a fresh start.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

C.S. Lewis said, ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ It was in the furnace of affliction that the psalmist David said, ‘Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good’ (Psalm 119:66-68 NIV). But you don’t get to that place of submission easily or overnight. It takes time, some kicking and screaming, and a few skid marks on the pavement where you dug in your heels and resisted! God told Isaiah to prophesy, ‘I have refined you…I have tested you in the furnace of affliction…for my own sake’ (Isaiah 48:10-11 NIV). Suffering is a lonely experience; it’s not something you would choose. The poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox reminds us, ‘There is room in the halls of pleasure for a large and lordly train, but one by one we must all file on through the narrow aisles of pain.’ Nevertheless, the Bible says, ‘To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps’ (1 Peter 2:21 NIV). There is no easy way to become like Jesus; it involves discomfort and pain. But the good news is, you’re not in the fire alone. God’s hand is controlling the thermostat. And He knows exactly how much heat it will take to bring you to the place where you can say, ‘You are good, and what you do is good.’ You may not be there yet, but you’re getting closer.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The psalmist wrote, ‘Your path led through…mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen’ (v. 19 NIV). When you can’t see God’s ‘footprints’, He is calling you to walk by faith, not by sight (see 2 Corinthians 5:7). Joni Eareckson Tada wrote: ‘A few months from now, I’ll mark an anniversary that is a heart-breaking story of loss and an incomparable testimony of God’s faithfulness…I will have been in a wheelchair for 47 years…barely a heartbeat in history, and as nothing compared with eternity. But for a flesh-and-blood, earth-dwelling human being, 47 years is a long time. Anyone who suffers…[wants] assurance that somehow, someway, things will work out in the end. We want to know that God is at the centre of our suffering. In Romans 8 we have…that assurance: “For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (v. 28 ESV) …[God] is so supremely in charge of the world that everything touching our lives…is ordered in such a way that it serves our good. This is true whether we face cancer, broken relationships, job loss, bankruptcy…or even a broken neck at age 17. The strong hope of the believer is not that we will escape “bad things”…but that God will transform our hardships into an instrument of his mercy to do us good…Romans 8:29 reveals [our] sufferings are small and short…compared with the weight of glory they are accruing for [us] in heaven. So bear with heartbreak and hardship a bit longer. These things are expanding your soul’s capacity for joy, worship, and service in heaven.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Author Sherry Surratt notes that when Jesus promised to build His church, ‘[he] wasn’t just talking about the bricks or wood that form a…building, but he was talking about building his church of…ordinary, human people who are imperfect…broken and [who] bring their messy lives…with them every time they walk through the door. This is what Christ died for…He died for people – for his church…a group of people, led by people, and not a single one of us is perfect. We’re a broken bunch who hopefully recognises our brokenness and acknowledges that Jesus is the only fix…No matter how long we’ve been in the church, we never reach perfection…we’ll have to work at it every day. We’ll come face-to-face with our human side every morning when we wake up, and…when we do, we’ll bump up against each other and we’ll get hurt. Our natural tendency is to steer clear of what hurts us…So when we encounter gossip aimed at us or witness hatred or hypocrisy in our fellow churchgoers or even our pastors, it’s natural to think about walking away. But to do this is to separate ourselves from something that God built for us to use for our good…The Bible never says other people aren’t going to wound [us]…What [it] does teach…is that it doesn’t help to just sit in hurt and feel sorry for [ourselves] (see Matthew 5:24). God’s Word warns [us] not to let bitterness set in (see Hebrews 12:15). This has nothing to do with pretending something didn’t happen. It has everything to do with being honest…admitting when our spirit is crushed and leaving revenge in the hands of God.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Being hurt by another Christian can be devastating, but the church is filled with imperfect people who do things they shouldn’t. As C.S. Lewis said, ‘God works on us in all sorts of ways…above all he works on us through each other.’ So before you give up and walk away, consider these suggestions: 1) Admit how much it hurt, and start to cope with it. Running away doesn’t achieve this. Humbly approach the person who hurt you, motivated to reconcile. Discuss your pain with the purpose of releasing it and moving on. 2) Ask, ‘What’s my role in this?’ If it had nothing to do with you, as in the case of a trusted leader who has fallen morally or legally, ask yourself if you put idealistic expectations on their humanness. Did you think they were perfect? Now that you realise they’re not, can you forgive them? 3) Ask God what to do next. He knows the motives in the hearts of the people involved. Give Him time to answer. 4) ‘Guard your heart…for it determines the course of your life’ (Proverbs 4:23 NLT). Choose to follow God, even when your heart breaks. He alone can decide motives and intents, and He is just and reasonable. But many times, our faithfulness must come first before His blessings flow. 5) If you still feel you must leave, promise yourself and God that you will leave well. Refuse to say anything bad. Don’t leave mad, and admit the good, no matter how small. Most important of all, don’t give up. God is good, His church is good, and people are flawed. Locate another house of worship, and commit to it with an open heart.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

At times it’s impossible to be at peace with certain people. Recognising this reality, the apostle Paul, in essence, said, ‘Do all that you can to try and make it happen.’ Besides the covenant relationship you have with your husband or wife and your responsibility for your children, if you’re wise, you will prayerfully evaluate your other relationships and know how much time you should invest in them. For example: if you have a close relative who is always argumentative or negative, don’t put yourself in a position where you have to interact with them on a regular basis. Only holidays together may be enough! The same is true for friends. Those who gossip, condemn others, compete with you, or engage in cutting remarks should rarely find you available – unless the Lord impresses you to spend some time with them to impart His Word. You are not commanded to spend time with people who disturb your peace. Solomon said, ‘Don’t…associate with hot-tempered people’ (Proverbs 22:24 NLT). Paul warned, ‘Watch out for people who cause divisions…Stay away from them’ (Romans 16:17 NLT). When you’re in the company of a stress-producing person, ask yourself these questions: ‘Will this situation grow patience within me if I endure it rather than leave? Why do this person’s actions stress me out? Is it because they are reflecting my own behaviour? Why am I continuing to interact with them?’ Prayer: ‘Father, I need you to help me discern when and how to be with stress-producing people so that your love continually shines through me.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.