Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”
Our Bible verse for today: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “In the midst of the storm stay focused on Jesus.”
When it comes to dealing with difficult situations, especially difficult situations that seem to go on for a long time, Isaiah 26:3 is some of the best advice the Bible gives us. Fix your thoughts on Him (that’s prayer), and He will help you to remain calm and peaceful. Why is that? Because He is the Rock upon which we can take our stand when the storms of life are raging. He is the One we can trust in when everyone else and everything else seems to be uncertain.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews echoed this great spiritual truth in Hebrews 12:1-2 when he wrote, “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”
Commenting on Isaiah 26:3-4 the editors of “The Leadership Bible” observed: “This is the ultimate advice for stress management. Regardless of the storm swirling around the leader’s head, this internal conviction (of keeping our thoughts fixed on Jesus) becomes a haven for those who hold firmly to it.”
That reference to “the storm swirling” made me think of Peter in Matthew chapter 14. Peter and the other disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. A storm was raging around them and they were scared. Suddenly Peter sees Jesus walking on the water towards them. Peter was so eager to be with Jesus that he called out and asked Jesus to empower him to walk on the water to get to Him faster. Jesus said ok and invited Peter to do it. When Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus he was fine – as long as he had his eyes on Jesus he walked on the water and didn’t sink. But as soon as he shifted his focus off of the Lord and onto the storm, he began to sink.
The storm was the problem, Jesus was the solution. As long as Peter was focused on the solution rather than the problem he was ok. It was when he shifted his attention to the problem that he lost sight of the solution.
That’s true for us too and it’s exactly the point both Isaiah and the writer of Hebrews was making. In the midst of the storm it’s important to keep our eyes and our thoughts fixed on Jesus. Jesus is not only our source of strength and stability and peace, but He is the solution to whatever problem we’re dealing with. It’s essential that we stay focused on the solution rather than on the problem.
When it comes to effective praying one of the most helpful things we can do is to just stay focused on Jesus.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 