Kneeling on the promises of God

[The following article introduced the book, Kneeling on the Promises of God.]

As you have likely heard, the hymn “Standing on the Promises” encourages us to trust God and take Him at His word. But from the very beginning of time, the matter of believing God arose in the Garden of Eden with the doubt-producing question, “Does God really mean what He says?” That contagious thought gave mankind an excuse to disobey, and distrust gave birth to death!

Now, as then, wariness of God brings uncertainty and the ongoing scramble to find, “Who can I trust?” Sometimes we can’t even trust ourselves! So where do we turn? Do we place our hope and faith in money, power, politics, institutions, traditions, or trends?

The trouble with those options is that people change their minds. Money changes hands and value. Political leaders come and go. Institutions become something unlike their original selves, and trends are, well, trendy. Facts get disproven as new information comes to light. Even the ground beneath our feet trembles, and stars careen from the sky. Everything changes! But God does not change, and neither does God’s word.

Mysteriously and paradoxically, the Holy Spirit is invisible to us yet the most solid matter. So, too, are the promises God gives – promises so stabilizing, we can build our whole lives on them. Promises so truthful and trustworthy, they can become the basis of our most powerful prayers. But why should we believe those promises? Why should we place our faith in God?

According to the Bible, God is Love – forgiving, compassionate love that can always be trusted to do what’s best for us and our spiritual well-being. Nothing and no one is greater, kinder, holier, or more trustworthy than God.  Nothing and no one can offer us more power or purpose for our lives. Once we realize we can totally trust the Lord, we can build our marriages, families, churches, and occupations on the promises God gives.

We can build our prayer lives on those promises too. We can take God at His word, knowing He agrees with our prayer requests because He has already promised the very things we claim or ask Him to do. Therefore, to kneel on a promise God made means claiming that promise and praying it into our lives.

To put this belief into practice, the book Kneeling on the Promises of God includes heartfelt, conversational prayers following each Bible promise – promises found in a variety of translations but paraphrased into everyday English. These prayers are to give you an idea of how you, too, might kneel on the promises in God’s Word.

The hope is that relevant prayers will also come to you as you meditate on the scripture verses, and write down your prayers, claiming God’s promises in the space provided on the lower part of each page. But, before doing this:

Pre-pare with pre-prayer!

Pray for the prayers to pray.

Regardless of our denominational affiliations or cultural backgrounds, let’s agree to stand on the promises  of God throughout our lives and kneel on those promises as we claim God’s Word each day and night in prayer.

May God bless you and your prayer life in the Lord!

Mary Harwell Sayler

For actual prayers from the Bible, visit the Bible Prayers blog.

Soul Care in African American Practice

When Intervarsity Press kindly sent me a review copy of Soul Care in African American Practice by Spiritual Director Barbara Peacock, I joyfully read a paragraph in the Preface describing the author’s upbringing, which reflected my own nurturing home and the deeply held convictions that grew from that love. As Dr. Peacock said:

“I thank God for his faithfulness toward my siblings and me in that he blessed us with an environment of a loving, caring, and nurturing community, including our parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Such a foundation in my Christian journey allows me to seek ways to love unconditionally. Consequently I emphatically embrace the theology of love. I believe that love covers all kinds of sin. I believe what the world needs more is love. And is love not the greatest commandment? This is the greatest call: to love.”

Indeed, the certainty that God is love sets every troubling thing into perspective and enables us to discern the responses God wants from us as we ask, “What is the loving thing to do?”

Sadly, many people from every culture and country lack the loving care and encouragement needed to be all they’re meant to be, but thankfully, our spiritual growth doesn’t rely on love received from the human race but from God’s grace. Often, the greater the obstacles, the greater God graces us with His powerful presence.

As Dr. Peacock points out in the introductory chapter “African American Spirituality”:

“While in chains, many slaves expressed great faith in God, the only one who could deliver them from such inhumane circumstances.”

Therefore,

“It was on those slave ships making the Middle Passage that we find the origins of African American spiritual direction and soul care.”

However, “Many make the assumption that all Africans first heard about Christ when they came to America. This is far from true.”

“In fact, the African church fathers contributed to the formative years of Christianity. St. Augustine of Hippo as well as Egyptian and North African scholars such as Clement, Origen, Tertullian, and Athanasius are widely recognized as fathers of the church.”

Later, slavery sorely challenged Christian beliefs, but stories of faith and spiritual hymns provided strength. As the author explains:

“The wording, the verbiage, and the tone of slave narratives and spiritual songs in the African American tradition tell the journey as a story. Such songs lifted the heart and affirmed hope for a better day. The central relational focus of the spirituals was God. He was and remains the hope, the deliverer, and friend.”

In the following chapters, Dr. Peacock focuses on African American leaders who “have been tenacious in pursuing a relationship with Yahweh.” One seemingly unlikely person was Dr. Frederick Douglass, better known as an abolitionist, reformer, and former slave, whose master’s wife read the Bible to him and helped him learn to read.

“From memory, he began to speak words he heard her say while they read together. The way they read the Bible together resembles the Latin reading process called lectio divina, a slow, thoughtful reading of the text with God’s presence in mind.”

After explaining this ancient spiritual practice, the author provides “Questions For Reflection” to help us engage more fully. That section, included in subsequent chapters, too, additionally provides spiritual direction in talking with God, hearing from God, visually reflecting on the Lord, and praying.

“As a result of learning to read the Bible, Douglass became a well-known intellectual in his community and beyond. Reading was the fundamental skill that prepared him to live a life that transformed not only himself but also others. For him reading was not merely glancing over a text but meditating on what he heard, which eventually equipped him to impact millions.”

The next chapter, “Spiritual Direction and Prayer,” highlights the soul care of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose “life of contemplative prayer made him an effective spiritual leader.” The author goes on to say:

“It would have been impossible for Dr. King to fulfill the mandate on his life without the assurance of God’s unconditional love for himself and all humanity…. Thus, as a leader, he was called by God to lead in a movement for freedom that was centered in love – that is, Christ-centered love. Such love is the kind Dr. King allowed the Spirit to form in him amid racial discord. With such love, he loved God and his people to the extent he was willing to die for what he believed.”

In the chapter “Meditation and Contemplation,” we learn of the “conscientious decision to speak silently for her civil rights” that Mrs. Rosa Parks made before getting on that Montgomery bus. Having been brought up in a Christian home, she spent much time seeking God and developing the soul care needed to equip her for the task at hand.

“During the civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks needed the supernatural peace of God as she led the people God called her to serve. She understood the cost of developing and nurturing God’s peace within her that would equip her as a spiritual leader. Because of her faithfulness, God graciously provided her peace in the midst of adversity. In order to maintain and abide in this peace, Mrs. Park’s challenge was to keep her mind fixed on God.”

Throughout this enlightening book, Dr. Barbara Peacock focuses on the practices of ten African American leaders, whose companionship with God enabled them to do the work to which they had been called. By tending their own souls through prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and reliance on the Holy Spirit, they could then provide spiritual direction to others.

In “Conclusion,” the author calls us to re-call:

“The journey of all people (regardless of color or ethnicity) began in Genesis. The inclusivity of the Spirit of God is seen in the divine entity of life and the breath that all humanity shares…. All creatures, whether black, white, brown, red, or yellow, are communicative beings designed for the glory of God. All peoples are created to worship and to be in holy communion with our Creator.”

May we all enter into this intimate relationship with the Lord and express God’s love to others in Jesus’ Name.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020, poet-writer, and lifelong lover of God’s people and God’s Word

 

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Offering God our PRAISE!

 

As negative, worrisome news pummels our ears, the last thing we might feel like doing is praise! But that’s the very reason the Bible encourages us to “offer to God a sacrifice of praise.”

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name,” Hebrews 13:15, New International Version (NIV.)

Some time ago, I asked, “Is there something You want me to do, Lord?” and, immediately, the word “Praise” came to mind. Having been raised in a polite Christian family, the inclination to thank God and people came easily enough, but praise? Frankly, I wasn’t sure I knew what praising God truly meant – or at least how it differed from thanksgiving.

After looking up several dictionary definitions, I saw praise as expressing approval more than the appreciation shown in giving thanks. Praise  commends, lauds, and says good things – not with gratitude in mind so much as acknowledgement, commendation, and re-commendation. Or, to say it another way, praise focuses on Who God Is, more than what God does. Praise pours out our love to the Lord.

The Psalms provide wonderful examples of ways to praise, pray, thank God – and lament. A closer than usual study of those priceless poems shows that almost all of the lamentations begin with a concern or complaint but end with purposeful thanks or praise. That uplift at the end exemplifies a strong faith in God, despite the circumstances, and also shows how a poured-out-heart must remain completely honest and wholly vulnerable.

Ready to praise but not particularly practiced, I immediately sensed God’s help as relevant thoughts and phrases caught my attention each morning. Once I had typed those beginning lines in a computer file, other thoughts and lines swiftly followed – somewhat like a stream-of-consciousness flow, but more “subconscious” or even “unconscious” of what might come next.

Spontaneity remained key–often with a phrase that startled me or an insight God gave in thoughts I’d never had before the poem gained my attention. So my “method” became an intent to obey, rather than create, as I wrote down each spontaneous thought or phrase with the anticipation that the rest of the words would freely follow. Usually they did, sometimes even exploding onto the page. Other times they seemed more reflective, depending, perhaps, on my mood or something God wanted me to consider as I wrote to discover what the lines had to say. For instance:

Praise God our Praise

without Whom
there is none:

no cause for joy,
no source of love,
no hope of peace.

Praise God Who Dwells
in us and around us –
enthroned on our praises
– uplifting our days.

 

Maybe you’ll prefer to call such poems“ meditations.” Maybe you’ll see them as prayers. Or maybe, as you offer up your praises to God, you’ll be stunned by the unexpected thoughts and ragged edges that come to mind. Write them down – especially if you don’t feel like it!

Praise God, the Rock

under Whom I crawl
when I feel low,
the Rock I climb
to get a higher view.

May the Lord bless you and your life of purposeful praise, whether joyful or sacrificial.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler

Note: The above poems and text came from the introduction to my book PRAISE! published by Cladach Publishing.

 

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Pre-destination

Have you ever been troubled by the word predestination? Since it's God's Will for ALL peoples to come to Him, I figured I had misunderstood what predestined means. Then it hit me!

God made PREparations for us. The Son of God PREpared The Way. In Christ Jesus, we are all equal. We all have the same destination! 

To give you a few examples of our shared destiny as Christians, we are ALL destined to:

Be filled with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11.)

Have ministry gifts to build up the church Body of Christ (Romans 12:6.)

Be ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18.)

Bring light to the world (Matthew 5:14.)

Spend eternity with God (John 3:16.)

 

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020

 

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The Pursuit of God

First published in 1948, The Pursuit of God  by A. W. Tozer, has been reissued with an Introduction by James L. Snyder and published by Bethany House, who kindly sent me a hardback copy of this Christian classic to review.

A self-taught theologian-pastor, Tozer (1897-1963) wrote the book on a long, cross-country train ride, most likely unaware it would be published many times in many languages over many decades. He just wanted to bring readers of this and his forty-plus books into the presence of God. As he stated in the Preface, “It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God’s children starving while actually seated at the Father’s table.”

In the chapter “Following Hard After God,” Rev. Tozer advises us:

“Come near to the holy men and women of the past, and you will soon feel the heat of their desire for God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking.”

His book has precisely that effect with chapter after chapter showing us how. In “The Universal Presence,” for example, Tozer explains:

“God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.”

Each chapter ends with a prayer relevant to what’s just been read as Rev. Tozer draws us ever deeper into The Pursuit of God. The book continues to direct our focus away from ourselves and our concerns toward God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, exhorting us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) while become more receptive to “The Speaking Voice.”

In the chapter by that name, Rev. Tozer clarifies:

“The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak…. The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech.”

Further:

“I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking….” for “…a word of God once spoken continues to be spoken.”

Therefore:

“If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible, expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than a thing; it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God.”

©2020, Mary Harwell Sayler, poet-writer, Bible Reviewer

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God’s Word on plagues and other disasters

For months we’ve been plagued by a pandemic of COVID-19 virus with subsequent outbreaks of crime, violence, joblessness, and a spirit of fear. In the midst of this turmoil, we’ve experienced weird weather patterns and natural disasters that make us wonder if all of this is supernatural.  

To get a biblical perspective on current events, I went to the Bible Gateway website and typed “plague” into the search box. Some translations immediately brought up 70+ relevant scriptures, while others showed over 100 Bible verses that included the word.

If you want to know more, just look up “plague” online or in your Bible, but for now, let’s focus on a few verses that convey God’s perspective on the subject:

“And the Lord said unto Moses, …stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God…, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth,” Exodus 9:13-14, King James Version, KJV.

For 430 years, the pharaohs in Egypt had made slaves of God’s people, but God wanted (and still wants) His people to be free. He used several plagues to convince Pharaoh to let the people go, but, more than that, God used each plague to show His power over very particular Egyptian gods. This strengthened the faith of God’s people and also brought many Egyptians to Him.

“If you act with hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times for your sins,” Leviticus 26:21, Christian Standard Bible, CSB.

This might sound cruel at first, but remember: God is declaring spiritual warfare! He wants us to remain close to Him in faith and obedience. We have that choice for God gave us free will. And, because God is fair, just, and loving, He lets us know what consequences to expect when we reject God and set ourselves against Him.

“And Aaron (the priest) …ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed,” Numbers 16:47-48, KJV.

Is it possible for a plague to continue because God’s people forget to intercede? Through Jesus Christ, we have been declared “priests” and given the authority to pray in Jesus’ Name in the strength and power of the Risen Lord.

“And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel,” 2 Samuel  24:25, English Standard Version, ESV.

King David responded to a plague threatening his people by building an altar and worshiping God. That’s not crazy! That’s faith. No matter what’s happening, God can be trusted to bring good out of the circumstances. Immediately, the plague ceased and, eventually, that place of worship became the location of the Jerusalem Temple.

"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways,”  Psalm 91:9-11 KJV.

Think of it! We can inhabit the Lord. We can live within Him and He within us. What could possibly harm us when we seek refuge in God?

“In that hour (Jesus) cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight,” Luke 7:21, Revised Standard Version, RSV.

Jesus Christ has the power to cure – then and now! As His Body of Christ on earth, the church has been given the authority to bring health, healing, and restoration in Jesus’ Name. That means all power to you! All power to we who believe.

For now, the church must read, read, read God’s Word! With the power of Bible truths, prayer, and Holy Spirit guidance, we’re to represent Christ with faith and boldness. But then what?

What does the end time hold for us?

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God].He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.’

“The one who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then he said, ‘Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me, ‘They are accomplished. I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son. But as for cowards, the unfaithful, the depraved, murderers, the unchaste, sorcerers, idol-worshipers, and deceivers of every sort, their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

“One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God,” Revelation 21:1-11a, New American Bible (Revised Edition), NABRE.

MaryHarwell Sayler, ©2020, poet, writer, and lifelong student of God’s Word; author-compiler of the Book of BiblePrayers and Kneeling on the Promisesof God

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How to Ruin Civilization

Has this very thing begun to happen? If we communicate with one another, we can find workable solutions, but first we must identify each problem before we can solve it or even know what to pray about!

The downfall of a country – whether ours or anyone else’s – often occurs because of events or actions such as these:

• Break down social structures.
• Keep people isolated.
• Make one person fearful of another – or at least suspicious.
• Stir up bigotry.  
• Be firm in the belief that one shameful person represents the whole group.
• Spread unsubstantiated rumors and lies that illustrate a point, a purpose.
• Speak loudly so that one race, religion, culture, or age group cannot possibly hear those with differing views and circumstances.
• Operate only from emotion.
• Stop doing business with local merchants and agencies until closures and lay-offs occur. People with no work, no income, and no hope will have just causes to protest.
• Destroy historical reminders of important events that led to the shaping of a people, a nation. This will keep citizens from learning from mistakes, so they’ll be doomed to repeat them.
• Place self at the center of all actions and opinions.
• Never admit a mistake or confess a sin.
• Refuse to take responsibility for anything that contributed to misunderstandings and hatred.
• Pretend everything is just fine.
• Assume inconvenient laws don’t apply.
• Believe that kindness, courtesy, and empathy are for wimps.
• Become devoted to a fake god that entices followers with false promises of wealth and power, but actually has no power or anything worthwhile to give.
• Think of self as better and more powerful than other people – or, equally important, worse off than anyone else in the world.

As a Christian, who embraces the Judeo-Christian Bible, I believe we’ll find answers to each problem if we read our Bibles with an open mind and spirit, recognize ourselves in the uncensored history of God’s people, and request the guidance, forgiveness, and help of our Lord God, Who has the power to save and restore all that’s lost.

©2020, Mary Sayler

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Would We Recognize a Prophet if We Saw One?

As Christians, we’ve heard of the ministry gifts the Holy Spirit gives God’s people to build up the community of faith. Hopefully, we even know what our particular gifts are. If not, we can always ask God to reveal this as we reflect on the various gifts listed in Romans 12 and First Corinthians 12.

For instance, some of us have a gift of wisdom, discernment, exhortation, or healing, while others have a God-given ability to teach, preach, evangelize, or do administrative work. Usually, we can recognize those gifts in the Christian community, but what about the gift of prophecy? Do we recognize that gift in other people of faith – or in ourselves?

According to a search on Bible Gateway, the word “prophet” comes up at least 450 to 500 times. However, we might have heard more about false prophets, which, ironically, the Bible only mentions a couple dozen times. Apparently, that’s enough to frighten us! But, that's enough of that!

Dare we ask God to reveal the prophets in our midst? Or – to be really daring – dare we ask, “Lord, am I a prophet?” God might stun you with a “yes!”

Anxieties over false prophets can make us wary of that gift in others – and unaware of that gift in ourselves. But, if we dare to pray about it and consider this possibility, we can tell if these descriptions fit us or someone we know.

• Are you drawn to read God’s word, again and again?
• Do your values often differ from those of other people?
• Do you see where things are headed long before they’re there?
• Do you recognize the Lord (or His absence) in the people or situations around you?
• Is truth truly important to you?
• Are you apt to look beneath the surface and beyond the way things seem?
• Can you see into the heart?
• Would you rather please God than people?
• Can you identify problems but also see solutions?
• Do you long to see wrongs corrected?
• Are you sensitive to God’s movement?
• Do you often feel an urgency to pray?
• Do you encourage God’s people to seek and obey Him?
• Do you speak up when no one else will?

Many people think of a prophet as judgmental or some kind of psychic able to tell the future, but that’s not it at all. A gift of prophecy does come with power to discern what’s going on and to see where it’s likely to end up, but, more often, a prophetic gift helps God’s people to wake up to spiritual realities and gain courage to use whatever gifts they have been given to serve the Lord.

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020

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Why I murdered Jesus

[Spoiler Alert! We know we've all sinned, but this prose poem makes it personal.]

Even in the Garden of Eden, God wanted everything perfect. How could I fit in? I thought of fruit as food, not fare for knowing good and evil or other things over my head! Why entice me with beautiful berries wrapped in seamless silken skin – fragrance summoning me – and no seeds to navigate around, no hard core in the middle?

I admit I disobeyed. I ignored Your clear instructions, Lord. And then You murdered me!

You sent my now-limited life from the Garden in shame – spiritually dead, nothing the same, everything changed forever.

How hard I toil for fruit that spoils in a life filled with imperfection! I feel worthless. I question myself at every turn, fearing Your rejection.

Where do I go? How do I live with myself? How do I live without You?

Trying to be good and obey every dot and iota of the law didn’t do it! Neither did self-hatred nor mutilating remorse. I wanted to make things right, Lord, but I couldn’t, and You wouldn’t let me!

You sent Yourself –

Your Son –

The Perfect One –

Who perfectly suited

Your plan of redemption,

the Fruit of Yourself –

Your Pure Love – given

to exempt me from my own sin.

I’m sorry, Lord! I’m sorry, but

I could not stand

to look on such Whole and Holy Love

and live

as I’d been living.

What could I do but kill Him?

by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017

[EPILOGUE/PRAYER: Lord, help us to confess anything that keeps us from You. Help us to truly accept Your forgiveness. Praise You, Lord, for overcoming death, forgiving all who turn to You, and bringing us new life and a fresh start each day in Jesus' Name.]

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Corona goes viral! What to do.

If you’ve been hearing about the Corona Virus, you’ve been bombarded with precautions such as: Stay home. Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 second every time you have been out. Sit and stand several feet away from other people. Avoid hugs and hand-shakes. Cough into a tissue – things I hope you’ve already been doing anytime anything is “going around.”

We who love God also count on the Lord to protect us, and certainly, our faith will overcome fear. But that doesn’t mean faith wipes out good sense! On the contrary, believers in God do well to investigate what our Creator has placed in nature that will boost health now - physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Physically

Vitamin C in reasonable amounts will help to protect your immune system. However, too much can send you running to the bathroom where, oh no! You might not have toilet paper! (Hmm. For that, God made big leaves, right?)

Echinacea is a natural herb with antiviral properties. Its “dirty sock” smell and earthy flavor keep us from downing it like candy, which means it’s not to be taken like a bag of potato chips or chocolate squares. The trouble is, this herb works in the mouth, not the stomach, so instead of swallowing an Echinacea capsule, open it and dump the contents into a honey-sweetened cup of tea.

Low humidity dries out body cells, making mucous membranes less able to filter out dust, pollen, and germs. Besides drinking lots and lots of clean water, use a humidifier. Or put water on the stove to boil, then add a few drops of cinnamon oil or eucalyptus or peppermint.

Find something to laugh about – the more belly involved the better. Listen to soothing music. Sing. Dance around to get your blood and those happy endorphins circling.

Mentally

Focusing on fear gives whatever we’re afraid of power over us as fear becomes the focal point of our lives. We can’t always control our feelings, but we can change the subject of our thoughts.

Instead of panic, choose faith over fear. (Yep, it’s a decision! Do we trust God or not?)

Read Psalms, Bible prayers, and poetry to stimulate faith.

Journal. Paint a picture. Color with crayons.

Relax. Watch the sun set. Get ample rest.

Spiritually

Constant worry puts the body into a fight or flight mode. Every time you start to worry about something, pray about it instead.

Look up “faith” in a Bible concordance. Find verses that speak to you and claim them for your own. (For me, for instance, it’s Romans 8:28 and John 3:17.)

Pray the Lord’s Prayer aka Our Father as though it were an outline for praying. As you say each phrase, let God bring to mind the people or situations for whom you’re to pray. For example, “Give ___ today the bread needed to feed their family.” Or, “Lead us not into the temptation to give in to our fears.” Or, “Deliver us, Lord, from the evil of faithlessness, greed, and hardened hearts.”

Count your blessings. Thank God for each gift. Praise God as The One to Trust – The One Who Wills to work for your good, no matter how scary things seem.

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020.

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Happily Ever After Fifty Years

Marital advice and tips on staying together seem to be almost everywhere. If, however, you’re a married couple in Christ, you might want something more than a worldly view.

I might be able to offer that, but I’ve been reluctant to discuss marriage for a couple of reasons:

•         My husband and I married young. I was still a teenager, and his parents had to sign for him. (FYI: our bio child was born twelve years later!)
•          We didn't really know each other. i.e., We met in early February and married mid-May.

To be very clear: I do not recommend that pattern! Nevertheless, by the grace of God, we have been married to each other for fifty-plus years.

What’s the secret? Having no secrets sounds like sound advice. However, too many variables keep it from being a solid tip, applicable to all.

The most reliable guidance can be found in God’s Word for only God truly knows what we need! For example:

Have a godly attitude. Accept your equality in Christ.

“Submit yourselves to one another. Husbands, LOVE your wives. Wives, RESPECT your husbands,” Ephesians 5:21, 33.

“Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be harsh with them,” Colossians 3:19.

“Husbands, be considerate of your wives. Treat her with understanding. She might not be as strong as you, but you are fellow heirs of the grace of life. This way your prayers will not be hindered,” 1 Peter 3:7.

Remain true to each other.

“Marriage must be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to one another,“ Hebrews 13:4.

Have each other’s back! Be supportive of one another.

“Encourage one another. Build each other up,” 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Call on the Lord. Ask for God’s help – especially during or after an argument!

Jesus promised, “Whenever two or more gather in My Name, I Am there with them,” Matthew 18:20.

Remember: Praying together is the most intimate thing you can do.

“And, this I pray: That your love keeps growing in true knowledge, discernment, and insight, so you can discern and decide what is best,” Philippians 1:9-10.

Mary Sayler, ©2020, Christian poet-writer, forever wife, and author of What the Bible Says About Love

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Breaking with Christmas nostalgia

All of my life, I have loved my family’s tradition of traipsing through the woods to cut and decorate a real tree that filled our home with the fragrance of evergreen. Strings of lights wrapped warm colors around the branches and a wealth of ornaments (each with a story) dangled in the glow. In the shade beneath the tree, carefully chosen gifts gradually appeared, while carols played on the radio.

For many years, I’ve truly enjoyed that tradition. But this year, after I’d recorded, briefly watched, and deleted “Christmas specials” on television, the false gaiety made me sad as one show after another was neither special nor relevant to the annual mass for Christ – The One for Whom this holy day is named.

Even Santa Claus aka Saint Nicholas (an actual Christian Bishop in the fourth century) doesn’t seem to get top billing, but uniformly decorated trees grow on every channel as do commercials that bulge -- bigger and bolder every day.

And so this year, we set aside the fake tree and boxed ornaments in favor of a nativity set with large ceramic figures placed in or around a wooden stable with non-carnivorous animals alongside the scene.  The set sits on a wooden bench in our living room with colorful gifts placed way off to the side to keep the focus where it belongs.

What a difference this change of emphasis makes! Instead of walking through the room, wondering if I’d forgotten anyone or worrying about whether they’ll like the gifts I bought, I see the beautiful reminder of that first holy night when Jesus Christ was born.

May we never forget Christ in Christmas.

MaryHarwell Sayler, ©2019

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