Wade in the Word

Recently my wife, Amy, and I had an appointment with our attorney to sign some important papers regarding our will. As we sat in the conference room waiting for our attorney, I couldn’t help but to notice all the law books on the bookshelves. These shelves went from the floor to the ceiling and there was not an empty space on the shelves. We were literally surrounded by laws. I turned to Amy and said, “Can you believe what started as God’s ten commandments has turned into this? There must be thousands of laws here.” When our attorney and his paralegal joined us, I took the opportunity to open up a conversation about the Lord by sharing how it seems as though we have taken The Lord ‘s Ten Commandments and stretched them. What was written on two stone tablets, by the finger of God, now fills books and covers entire walls of rooms. I began thinking … what was the purpose of the law in the first place?

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Last week’s post revealed why faith matters and that Jesus is the author and finisher of a Christian’s faith. The Word says, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In this week’s post we’ll take a look at a menace to faith … worrying. I noticed a common thread woven among those that I have counseled … worrying. For me there is no better truth or insight into our needs then to have the wisdom of God for our daily lives. God’s word is perfectly clear when it comes to worrying.

Matthew 6:27 says Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Just as I was adding this Bible verse into this post, I realized that I was see something for the first time. Something that I had missed, although I have read this Bible verse many times. I now understand that Matthew was talking about LIFE. Perhaps I thought that Matthew was dealing with the issue of worrying alone, but now I see a whole different perspective. The act of worrying actually subtracts from the quality of my life. Where did we ever get the impression that worrying could add anything to our lives? I know I have been guilty of worrying on many occasions. By worrying I mean giving considerable amounts of time and thought to trying to prevent something from occurring which hasn’t happen yet. Ask yourself how many times has your worrying taken on an emotional state of mind? And, you’re body is responding to an event that has not yet happened, but it’s as real to you emotionally and physically as if it did?

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Several months ago my wife, Amy, started getting up early in the morning and going on what she called a “prayer walk.” Now if you know my wife, she is not a morning person. So to see her come back from these walks wide awake, rejuvenated and joyfully ready to start her day, I knew there must be something powerful about this experience. So I decided to tap into this for myself and on the days my wife was unable to go, for one reason or another, I got up and went. Well I liked it so much I started making time to go on a regular basis in the morning after Amy and the girls were off to school.

During these walks I’ll meditate on the scriptures from the Bible. I’ll make up songs and sings them to Jesus as I’m walking. I’ll give thanks for all that The Lord has done and I’ll confess my sins and ask for forgiveness. All in all, it’s just a wonderful time to spend with Jesus and gain His wisdom and counsel. One particular morning, not five minutes into my prayer walk, I found myself at the intersection of Monroe Avenue and Highland Avenue. I thought, now would be a good time to amp up my prayer walk with some exercise. You see, not only did catch this idea of prayer walks from my wife, but she also loves to run. Remembering my post on working smarter not harder, I thought why not be efficient and to both at the same time!

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