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We
men are afraid of being afraid. We were
taught it is not allowed. Nevertheless,
anyone who says they have never been afraid is either a liar of a fool.
These
words just written are being written by a man who has crashed a hang glider, had
a parachute collapse and open back up and took up aerobatics because straight
and level flight became boring. There is
more...but you get the point.
No matter what our fears are or how they
manifest themselves they influence our lives tremendously.
The Bible talks about fear, the word
"fear" is mentioned 266 times and the word "afraid" is
mentioned 223 times.
The
disciples knew fear...out on that lake...with a storm raging...the Sea of
Galilee can be a mean and surging place...it was dark...and their fear was
changing over into panic...it wasn't that they hadn't been in storms before but
this one but this one was one of the worst...their boat wasn't a big boat...25 feet long at
best...none of them certainly had life vests...and there no more than a few
feet away is an answer to the problem...a sleeping Jesus...so they did what you
would expect...
They
cried out "Lord, save us, we're going to drown."
It had
all come down to a mixture of fear and faith.
And
that is all of us...when we have not called out to the Lord as much as we
ought...whatever that statement means...( it isn't a numbers game)...when we
are afraid...we cry out...we seek help from the Lord....
And
why not...didn't He say..."I am come that you might life and that you
might have it more abundantly."
I went driving today...and the same thing happened that
had happened at home and everywhere I go...I could see clearly...I was wearing
my new glasses...for a long while as my eyesight got worse I convinced myself I
really didn't need glasses...and then finally I admitted...yes, you do.
And oh what that clarity..that focus did to what I was
seeing...and what I had been missing because I was playing games with my
vision.
We
do that with God sometimes...see fuzzily and are therefore afraid when we
don't have to be...and then we pray a prayer deep and wide and handsome in its
content...and we put on our new spiritual glasses...and everything becomes
clear in a new way...and we aren't afraid of a world full of fuzzies.
“God
has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline.”
(2 Tim. 1:7)
And there it
is, God doesn't want us to be afraid whether we out on a lake...or on the bumpy
road called life...or emotional storms are breaking out all around us....God
doesn't want us to be afraid.
Nor can you grow so big and powerful you
no longer have to be afraid. It was said that every night the Soviet dictator Joseph
Stalin slept in a different bedroom of the eight bedrooms in his
residence in Moscow contained.
He could kill
with impunity. He feared receiving the
same. He was afraid...for after all...he
was only a mortal man...
And think what Russia might have become
if the impossible had become impossible...that this monster had found
Christ...all the fears that would have left him...and all the fears he caused
would have gone away to...
"I am
come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10b)
Author Leo
Buscaglia tells this story about his mother and their "misery
dinner." It was the night after his father came home and said it looked as
if he would have to go into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with
their firm’s funds. His mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a
sumptuous feast. Other members of the family scolded her for it. But she told
them that "the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next
week." Her courageous act rallied the family."
How often do
you remind yourself who God is and what He has done and keeps on doing?
How often do you gaze beyond the
furtherest star you can see with your naked eye and envision a God whose has no
time or distance restraints?
How often do you marvel at all that He
has done from the first day of creation and will continue to do forever and
ever?
Whenever John
Wesley felt afraid he would just pause to pray and praise God for the fact that
He was still on the throne of heaven ruling all things well. Wesley wrote,
"I have never known more than fifteen minutes of anxiety or fear.
Whenever, I feel fearful emotions overtaking me I just close my eyes and thank
God that he is still on the throne reigning over everything and I take comfort
in His control over all the affairs of my life.
Handle fear God's way. Don't grit your teeth. Fold your hands. Bend your knees. Chase a spiritual rainbow that stretches from
the first words in Genesis to the last word in Revelations. Become an expert on the word of God and the
ways of God and the teachings of God and the power and presence of God.
It is more
blessed to give than to receive? Well
now, try giving your fears to God and if and when you do it with gusto...what
you will receive in return will leave you breathless.
As much as 77% of
everything we think is negative and counterproductive and works against us.
People who grow up in an average household hear "No" or are told what
they can’t do more than 148,000 times by the time they reach age 18.
So yes...you
need your God to better shape your thinking rather than be shaped in lesser
ways by lesser thinking.
Where I can fail
and have and will again...God doesn't and that's the spiritual underline of the
eternal truth that rules the Universe.
QUOTES BELOW ARE
FROM WYRICK'S WRITINGS...CLICK
ON THE FOLLOWING TO TAKE YOU THERE...
(These are selected sermons from over
50 years of ministry and as a worldwide evangelist have been preached all
over the world)
+++++++++++++++++++
A new quote (posted Aug 12) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM
LINCOLN...available on
amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and many other book sites) (read the rave reviews below)
How
much differently would government function if all elected officials were as
good historians as politicians and statesmen?
The school-of-yesterday is such a worthy teacher. It is a shame that so many who have shaped our
nation’s directions have not better studied and remembered the good and bad
directions of the past.
++++++++++++++++++++++
CLICK ON www.go60.us
IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....click on
"Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click
on Neil Wyrick
Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has
written for this web site are: REFLECTIONS
·
Here Comes Summer (July 2012)
·
Spring (May 2012)
·
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
(April 2012)
·
Wayward and Windy (April 2012)
Just
remember that “the pain of discipline will cost you pennies, whereas the pain
of regret will cost you millions.”
++++++++++++++++++
How can we keep our faith from being a weak and fruitless thing? How can we not be foolish little men and women groveling in the dark shadows of overeager egos.
Well, first we must do more than just pray. We must believe in our own prayers.
+++++++++++++++++++
Anxiety
out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot
forward.
++++++++++++++++++
It's
an old joke, I went to the doctor and I said, “Doc, when I do this, it hurts.”
And the doctor said, “Then don't do that.”
++++++++++++++++++
How many things have you been anxious
about that were things which you knew before you got into them were probably
going to create some problems for you?
And if you asked your doctor, or your minister, or common sense and your
God, all of them would have said, “Don’t do that.”
++++++++++++++++++++
To buy into the
community of accountability we have to realize that like bikers we are divided
into two categories. Those who have fallen and those who will fall for anything. None of us are perfect.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Think
on it this way, some philosopher of old wrote it and it endures because there
is so much truth in it… every right
implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a
duty
++++++++++++++++++++++
Some
of the sermon titles posted recently
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Before you decide
to purchase or not purchase his book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.... view his Award Winning One Man
Dramatization of Lincoln (since he wrote the script
for this drama it will give you an insight into what you will find in the book
itself)
Available on
Amazon.com in printed form and on Amazon Kindle Books. and at
many other sites
TO VIEW THE LINCOLN
One Man DRAMA and 3 other dramas; Ben Franklin, Martin Luther & Charles
Wesley
click on the
following URL
http://www.speakerneil.com/
++++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW
ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
++++++++++++++++++
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
Two stores faced each other across a very
busy street. Their owners were in constant competition
with each other. One day, the owner of
one store put out a sign that read – If
you want it, we have it!
Almost immediately the other owner put out a
sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t
need it!
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
WHO ARE
YOU?
NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?
Who are you? Whose are
you?
You influence and are influenced
according to the answer you give.
Are you are the flavor of the month because
you are determined to be like everyone else no matter what? If so, consider being more independent in our
thinking and actions...because God wants you to grow up.
It may be easier being someone's shadow but
wouldn't you really rather be a sun.
QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED "Who
Are You? Whose Are You?"
This is an old quote, and a romantic one
as well but, nevertheless, can anyone say of you, “I love you not because of who you are,
but because of who I am when I am with you.”
QUOTE FROM THOUGHT PIECE POSTED
ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
" WHEN A NATION STRAYS TOO FAR FROM BEING MORAL IT IS WELL ON IT'S WAY
TO BECOMING A MESS
James 4:17
To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it,
to him it is sin.
Someone once said: “A
belief is what you hold, a conviction is what holds you!”
So what holds you,
constructs you, leads you with a push when needed?
Quotes
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING ENTITLED WHO
ARE YOU?
NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?
In a Peanuts
cartoon strip Peppermint Patty is shown talking to Charlie Brown.
“Guess what, Chuck? It’s the first day
of school and I got sent to the principal’s office.
And it’s your fault!”
Charlie Brown responds, “My fault? How
could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?”
To which she declares, “You’re my
friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”
In the comics, it’s funny… but in real life it’s much more
complicated.
Would you like to read the entire thought
piece? Then... TO TAKE YOU TO THE WYRICK'S WRITING'S
SITE
click on
the following
Yes, God loves you the way you
are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN
HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN,
CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER
To
Order and Read
Neil's 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"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
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