{"id":8573,"date":"2020-04-02T17:34:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T00:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=8573"},"modified":"2020-04-02T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T00:34:11","slug":"chaos-2020","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/chaos-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding CALM in Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Max Lucado \/2020March<\/p>\n

Coronavirus anxiety<\/strong> \u2013<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can’t control the circumstances but here are 4 things to do<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is God sovereign over your circumstances? Is He mightier than your problem? Does He have answers to your questions? According to the Bible the answer is yes, yes, and yes.<\/p>\n

In times like these, it is easy to let fear grip our hearts. Fear of\u00a0sickness.\u00a0Fear of loss. Fear of the unknown.\u00a0But when fear and anxiety try to invade our every thought, there is a C.A.LM.<\/strong>\u00a0that comes only from God.<\/p>\n

If you wonder about your ability to fight fear, remember there is a pathway out of the valley of worry.\u00a0God\u00a0used the pen of Paul to sketch the map with the most underlined verse in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!<\/strong> Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the\u00a0peace\u00a0of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy \u2014 meditate on these things\u00a0(Phil. 4:4\u20138).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A person would be hard-pressed to find a more practical, powerful, and inspirational passage on the topic of anxiety. The passage has four key points that spell out the word CALM<\/strong> to help you remember.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

C = Celebrate God\u2019s goodness<\/strong>. \u201cRejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!\u201d (Phil. 4:4). Turn your attention away from the problem, and for a few minutes celebrate God. It does you no good to obsess yourself with your trouble. The more you stare at it, the bigger it grows. Yet the more you look to God, the quicker the problem is reduced to its proper size. This was the strategy of the psalmist:<\/p>\n

I will lift up my eyes to the hills\u2014<\/em>
\nFrom whence comes my help?
\nMy help comes from the Lord,
\nWho made heaven and earth\u00a0(Ps. 121:1\u20132).<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you see the intentional in those words? \u201cI will lift up my eyes.\u201d Do not meditate on the mess. You gain nothing by setting your eyes on the problem. You gain everything by setting your eyes on the Lord.<\/p>\n

Is God sovereign over your circumstances? Is he mightier than your problem? Does he have answers to your questions? According to the Bible the answer is yes, yes, and yes.<\/p>\n

Rejoice in the Lord. This is step one. Do not hurry past it. Face God before you face your problem. Then, you will be ready.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A = Ask God for help.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet your requests be made known to God\u201d (Phil. 4:6). Fear triggers either despair or prayer. Choose wisely.<\/p>\n

God said, \u201cCall on me in the day of trouble\u201d (Ps. 50:15 ).<\/p>\n

Jesus said, \u201cAsk, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you\u201d (Matt. 7:7). There is no uncertainty in that promise. No \u201cmight,\u201d \u201cperhaps,\u201d or \u201cpossibly will.\u201d Jesus states unflinchingly that when you ask, he listens.<\/p>\n

So ask! When anxiety knocks on the door, say, \u201cJesus, would you mind answering that?\u201d Reduce your request to one statement. Imitate Jesus, who taught us to pray, \u201cGive us this day our daily bread\u201d (Matt. 6:11). Engage in specific prayer. And engage in promise-based prayer. Stand on the firm foundation of God\u2019s covenant. \u201cLet us then approach God\u2019s throne of grace with confidence\u201d (Heb. 4:16 ).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Having done so:<\/p>\n

L = Leave your concerns with God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let him take charge. Let God do what he is so willing to do: \u201cGuard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus\u201d (Phil. 4:7).<\/p>\n

Have you ever left an appliance at the repair shop? You tried to fix it but had no success. So you took it to the specialist. You explained the problem, and then:<\/p>\n

offered to stay and help fix it;<\/p>\n

hovered next to the workbench asking questions about progress;<\/p>\n

threw a sleeping bag on the floor of the workshop so you could watch the repairman work.<\/p>\n

If you did any of these things, you don\u2019t understand the relationship between client and repairman. The arrangement is uncomplicated. Leave it with him to fix it. Our protocol with God is equally simple. Leave your problem with him.<\/p>\n

God does not need our help, counsel, or assistance. (Please repeat this phrase: I hereby resign as ruler of the universe.) When he is ready for us to reengage, he will let us know.<\/p>\n

Until then, replace anxious thoughts with grateful ones. God takes thanksgiving seriously.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why: gratitude keeps us focused on the present.<\/p>\n

We worry about the past \u2014 what we said or did. We worry about the future \u2014 tomorrow\u2019s assignments or the next decade\u2019s developments. Anxiety takes our attention from the right now and directs it \u201cback then\u201d or \u201cout there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when you aren\u2019t focused on your problem, you have a sudden availability of brain space. Use it for good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

M = <\/strong>Meditate on good things.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there
\nis any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy \u2014 meditate on these things\u201d (Phil. 4:8).<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let anxious, negative thoughts take over your mind. You cannot control the circumstances, but you can always control what you think of them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Celebrate. Ask. Leave. Meditate. C.A.L.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Could you use some calm? We could all use a word of comfort and God is ready to give it. It is not God\u2019s will that you lead a life of perpetual anxiety. He has made you for more than this season of breath-stealing angst and mind-splitting worry.<\/p>\n

With His help, you can sleep better tonight. You can re-frame the way you face your fears. By His power, you can \u201cbe anxious for nothing<\/strong>\u201d and discover the \u201cpeace \u2026 which passes all understanding.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear Lord,<\/em><\/p>\n

You spoke to storms. Would you speak to ours? You calmed the hearts of the apostles. Would you calm the chaos within us? You told them to fear not. Say the same to us. We are weary from our worry, battered from the gales of life. Oh Prince of Peace, bequeath to us a spirit of calm. Quench anxiety. Stir courage. Let us know less fret and more faith.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":8577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-8573","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8585,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8573\/revisions\/8585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8573"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=8573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}