Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 157). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here is a good word for the last day of February 2017.   Here is a good word for those who are fearful of what is happening in our world today.   Here is a very good word of challenge and encouragement. Max says, “Yes, life stinks. But it won’t forever. As one of my friends likes to say, ‘Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not working out, it’s not the end.’” Max goes on, “Though the church is winnowed down like Gideon’s army, though God’s earth is buffeted by climate changes and bloodied by misfortune, though creation itself seems stranded on the Arctic seas, don’t overreact. ‘Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes’ (Ps. 37: 7 NLT).” He continue...

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 144). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is what happens so many times when we are going through bad times, times that maybe cause us to doubt what we believe.   We quit going to church, we stay away from those Christian people, we go into hiding. Now there are times that we need to get away to collect our thoughts and to calm our emotions but there is also danger in staying there, there is danger in hiding. Max says, “Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries . . . When we mix, mingle, confess, and pray, C...

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 131). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Maybe this is what you needed to hear today so stay with me. Max says, “God treats you the way one mother treated her young son, Timmy. She didn’t like the thought of Timmy walking to his first-grade class unaccompanied. But he was too grown-up to be seen with his mother. ‘Besides,’ he explained, ‘I can walk with a friend.’ So, she did her best to stay calm, quoting the Twenty-third Psalm to him every morning: ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ...’ “One day she came up with an idea. She asked a neighbor to follow Timmy to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, lest he notice her. The neighbor was happy to oblige. She took her toddler on morning walks anyway. After several days, Timmy’s little friend noticed the lady and the child. ‘Do you kno...

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 87-88). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Oh, these fears that we have really do trap us, don't they?  But they don't have to. Max says, “I have a friend who was dreading a letter from the IRS. According to their early calculation, he owed them money, money he did not have. He was told to expect a letter detailing the amount. When the letter arrived, his courage failed him. He couldn’t bear to open it, so the envelope sat on his desk for five days while he writhed in dread. How much could it be? Where would he get the funds? For how long would he be sent to prison? Finally, he summoned the gumption to open the envelope. He found, not a bill to be paid, but a check to be cashed. The IRS, as it turned out, owed him money! He had wasted five days on needless fear. There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have...