FAITH VS. FEAR (2)

A 3 PART SERIES ON ANXIETY BEGAN NOV 1st.  I THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SHARING IT WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

          These One A Days are added to daily.  There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog began Nov. 24, 2009.  It is added to daily.

        IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND COPY and paste THE FOLLOWING URL

http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

              AND THEN PASTE IN AN EMAIL.

              Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. (STARTING NOV 1 "HOW MUCH DOES A PRAYER WEIGH)

       To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly acclaimed One Man Dramas click on the below

                   http://www.speakerneil.com/

        Below this blog read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's highly accalimed 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN

                +++++++++++

Phillipians 4:6-7

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

There is an old Swedish proverb that reads, “Worry gives small things a big shadow.”  One thing is for sure, it can make the skin itch, the heart miss a beat and make us feel like we are carrying an emotional elephant.  Fear is no fun. 

It promotes sleepless nights and miserable days.  It kills confidence.  It takes the words “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” and says, sounds good but it doesn’t work for me.

       And why doesn’t it work? 

       Is there a thing called proper preparation?

        A proper diet promotes good health.  A poor diet promotes poor health.  That is hardly a conclusion that requires an intellectual discussion. 

       Take the Alaska bull moose as an example.  Every fall all the bull moose have an antler fight that determines who will rule.  Yes, it is a matter of courage but it is also a matter of preparation so that courage is more easily found.

       You see, all summer long the Bull Moose who seeks out the proper diet ends up in the fall with the biggest strongest antlers. 

            How big a difference does it make if we feed ourselves a proper spiritual diet? 

        It has been a long long while but I still remember over 40 years ago when they took out my right kidney.  I remember asking the nurse how my pulse was and she telling me it was registering perfectly normal.

        It was a very serious operation in those days but I was not afraid and I was not surprised that I was not afraid. 

        This lack of fear, when I should have been afraid, had happened before and it has happened many times since.  The peace that passeth understanding is not just a beautiful phrase.  It has been a living reality in my life and in the lives of many others.

       In some anxious moments as a pilot I have courted death (aerobatics) (engine failure on takeoff, etc.) but remained calm.  And in other events where I have pushed the envelope. Praise me to the Lord...not so much my courage but His presence.

       Why did this happen?  Why have I in other moments been relatively calm when anxiety had muscles and was trying to take charge?

       Keep the lighthouse always in view.  "I am the light of the world" is the way Jesus put it.  Lighthouses shine their brightest when it is darkest...concentrate on that fact...see Christ in the light of that perception...know that he who made the stars and the sun and all light that shatters darkness is awake to and aware of your needs. 

       You and I are ships sailing sometimes on stormy seas.  Picture it that way and picture that lighthouse.  The visual image will give great comfort.

       If we started the storm usually we can stop it...did we open our mouth in anger rather than our mouth in patience...then give forgiveness...find patience...and turn to the lighthouse for guidance.

       To be in a storm is a lonely experience...so do not be ashamed or a friend to seek out the advice or just this presence of a friend.

       I love the way James 12-13 puts it "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

       A crown of life for turning to and giving in to the power of the Holy Spirit rather than a dunce cap for trying to go it alone.

       Christ and chaos.  That's one heading that fits what I'm talking about.  This presence that can do so much.

       Calm, cool and collected as a Child of God.

       And with that in your heart and head.

       Beware of making a problem bigger than it is.  Avoid describing every moment of frustration with the word "always."

       Take charge of your surroundings.  If you tend to start coming apart easier when it is too noisy or too quiet...then control your surroundings. 

       You don't have to go to that party...you can search out a quiet or a gentle flowing stream or the   Holy quiet of a Bible held in hand.

       Do something as sensible as getting enough sleep. 

       It is amazing how many people live on the ragged edge because they just have to see that late night program or turn weekend into marathons of wakefulness.

++++++++++++++

QUOTES ON LIVING COURAGEOUSLY

       Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher

          One man with courage makes a majority. ~Andrew Jackson

          Courage is fear that has said its prayers. ~Dorothy Bernard

                     ==========                                            

                    A new quote  (posted nov 12) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN (read the rave reviews below the quote)

Was Lincoln, before he died, overly proud that he had so much to do with the preserving of the Union? 

       It is more likely that he quoted once again words of one of his favorite poets, William Knox, “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?”

        As he walked the streets of Richmond, Virginia in an unannounced visit after that city had fallen to the North, it was said that he was the man of the people among the people. 

       When an elderly Negro had run toward him shouting praise, Lincoln lifted his hat and bowed, and wiped away a tear or two.

++++++++++++++

       "Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

       Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

       "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

       William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

       "Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

              Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

       Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard