"We often find ourselves in a dip because one area got out of order."

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book, Don't Quit in the Dip (p. 76). Worthy. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

And that can be a too easy thing to do.

Shaun says, "I spoke to a guy who claimed he was feeling far from God and didn’t know why. So I inquired about a few things. 'Are you praying?' He responded with his head down, 'No.' 'Are you reading the Bible?' 'No.' 'Are you in a small group of other believers where you encourage each other on a regular basis?' 'No.'

"... I encouraged him: 'You’ve forgotten the basics and allowed things to get out of order, which brings confusion and the feeling like God is distant. But God didn’t move. You did.'"

Shaun goes on, "It’s so easy for aspects of our lives to get out of order. We may start off focused and deliberate on doing first things first, but pretty soon Instagram invades the spot where we used to pray. Checking email goes in the spot where we used to read the Bible. And we stay home to binge-watch TV shows instead of getting in relationship with other believers in a small group. Or we stop attending church because we feel too tired on the weekend. We end up going through our entire day without acknowledging God and then wonder how things got so out of order."

I know the pandemic has messed up some of these, but you know what he means.

He continues, "In Psalm 37:23, God instructs us: 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD' (NKJV). Okay, if they really are ordered, then we need to find the order, because the order matters.

"Are you in a dip because things have gotten out of order? Are your priorities out of whack? Has God slipped out of the picture? God fits only in first place, and when He’s not, it affects everything else in our lives. Order matters. Jesus emphasizes this in Matthew 6:33 when he said, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you' (NKJV)."

Shaun then says, "We always expect everything to fall into place and then we’ll put God first. It doesn’t happen like that. God blesses where He’s first. I want God to bless my day. So the very first thing I do when I wake up, with the temptation to go on my phone and check social media or email, is read the Bible for about fifteen minutes and then spend time talking with God. He blesses where He’s first. Before an important meeting, I stop and pray under my breath, God, I acknowledge you in this meeting. Please, give me wisdom and favor. He blesses where He’s first. My wife and I stop to pray when we’re in an argument, which isn’t easy to do if you’re not used to this because you’re more interested in being heard than understanding where your spouse is coming from. He blesses where He’s first.

"We expect to put God in third place or last and for us to still be blessed as if He were first. God knows that what you allow, you encourage. If God operated from disordered priorities, encouraging us to continue in destructive patterns, we would then think, Oh, He blessed me over here and He’s in eighth place. I guess He’s good with that. He’s not. Let’s not forget what’s priority."

Let's not forget. So will you live or continue to live by God's priorities? Will you?

Yes, yes!

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

"To put it simply, worry isn’t just a bad habit."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry (p. 1). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Ok, that is interesting. Louie says, "Worry is an Enemy tactic—a strategy built on lies that are designed to rob you of peace and tear your mind to pieces. "That’s why it’s crucial that you are able to spot the lies worry tells." He goes on, "Not long ago while on safari in South Africa, Shelley and I were really wanting to see a leopard in the wild. Early and late on our game drives our eyes were set on every tree limb, bush, grassy hill, and river path in hopes of finding one of several leopards that were known to frequent this particular area. But here’s the thing: leopards aren’t bright orange with tall, sparkly antennae on their backs. They are designed to blend into the surroundings, like the bark of a baobab tree where they might be lounging on one of its mighty branches. "In the same way, ...

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