‘When the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace.’ Galatians 5:22 TLB
Panic and anxiety are often our first reactions to conflict and problems. In those initial moments, choosing peace seems impossible. Your subconscious whispers, ‘If you really care, you will worry.’ As panic begins to rise, it’s important to turn to the Holy Spirit and tap into the peace He offers. Panic is the enemy, not the situation. Anxiety just empowers and enlarges the problems we’re facing. Your best problem–solving resource is always peace.
Fear and anxiety block solutions; answers flow more easily and naturally from a peaceful state of mind. And God’s peace is always available to us—if we choose to use it. Paul writes, ‘When the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce… peace.’ Refuse to let your negative emotions run uncontrolled. Don’t let them decide your response.
Jesus said, ‘Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful… intimidated… cowardly and unsettled.’ (John 14:27 AMPC) That means you have options; you can choose between peace and inner conflict. In the same verse, Jesus also said, ‘My [own] peace I… bequeath to you’ (John 14:27 AMPC), and ‘bequeath’ relates to executing a will. When someone dies, they leave their most cherished possessions to the people they love. But just because Jesus left us His peace doesn’t mean it will automatically operate in us. Plus, when we lose our peace, it’s harder to hear from God.
When Paul says, ‘Let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule… in your hearts’ (Colossians 3:15 AMPC), the word ‘rule’ means to govern and to control. So instead of letting yourself get anxious and panicky today, choose peace.
SoulFood:
Matthew 21:1–16 ()
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21:1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
Psalm 118:19–29 ()
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19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27 The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
29 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©