claim the truth

Life isn’t easy.  That is a statement that I bet all of us would agree with, yet our different perspectives bring us to look at the situations in ways that we can live with.  Some people are simply negative and are looking for something to complain about.  Others are positive and seek to make the best of any situation that comes our way.

One of the ways that I find strength and get a lift from depression and stress is to remember what God says.  God has given us much to hang on to, to memorize, to share with others and to make our journey easier. 

The following verses have long been a part of what I believe about God.  To apply this truth will make a difference in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.

Philippians 4:4-9  MSG

4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day.  I mean, revel in him!  Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them.  Help them see that the Master is about to arrive.  He could show up any minute!  6-7 Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.  8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.  Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized.  Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Take a look at those verses.  Read them in other translations of the Bible.  Ask God to help you apply things that will change you and change the people you have influence over.

Celebrate God.

The more I get to know God and the more I see His love, the more I can worship and celebrate Him.  To revel in God is to mull over, think about, spend time in the celebration of our God.

He could show up at any time.

Jesus is coming back.  Be ready for Him.  Look for Him.  This God of ours is on our side.  He is for us.  That makes a big difference.

Don’t fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.

That is easier said than done, yet when we replace our faith ahead of our fear, things will change.  I need that to be true of me.  Stress and worry pulls me down.  Allowing God His rightful place in my life lifts me up. 

Christ displaces worry at the center of our lives.

There has to be a change.  A good thing is to replace a bad thing.  These verses say that worry is replaces with God’s presence and His peace.  This reality is a great thing.

Meditating on things true…put into practice what you learned.

The old saying of “garbage in and garbage out” is the real thing.  What we think about we will become like.  The more of God in my life and claiming His truth the more my life will line up with what God wants for me. 

I challenge you to claim what God says as true.  Allow what God give us, the truth, to replace the faulty and crooked believing that this world allows us to hold on to.  Changing what we believe happens as we claim the truth.  Jesus is truth!