When We Need Peace

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Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)

Be careful for nothing,

 Paul tells believers at Philippi and us not to worry about anything. I know it is hard to follow this advice but let’s see how we can follow his counsel.

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God

Paul also tells us to pray about everything, no matter how small it may seem. A friend and I pray when we discover we have misplaced our car keys.  We sometimes hear of or face circumstances that we can’t do anything about except pray for that need.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding 

Paul describes God’s peace as being far greater than we can imagine or understand.

shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus

Because we learn to rely on God, that peace we receive will protect our hearts and our minds through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we receive that peace, we feel better about ourselves and those for whom we pray.

When We Need Patience

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Cease from anger and forsake wrath: fret not in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37: 8-9 (KJV)

These are words penned by David. He writes that we should refrain from being angry and not seek revenge for any hurt inflicted on us.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 12:19 (KJV)

Paul tells us in the anew Testament no to act out our anger. When we react to hurts, we go against God’s Word and retaliate we sin and even risk creating bigger issues.

Both of these Biblical heroes tell us not to get angry or to seek revenge.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. Matthew 5:38-40 (KJV)

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to not resist the one inflicting the pain. He further tells us to take that pain. He also tells us to give up more than asked for when we face a lawsuit.

When my patience runs thin, I get frustrated. I know this about myself. I try to not allow myself to become frustrated because the next emotion I feel is that of anger. I have to remember the words of Paul In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, Ephesians 4:26

We all need to practice patience in our daily lives. The presence of road rage is due to our people having no patience. The antidote to our not having patience is to step back, take a look at the circumstance and pray to God for His guidance to get us through the situation.

End of August Thoughts

http://www.2018calendarwithholidays.com/august-

I sit here writing this post with excitement mixed with some fear. I have built a website for my writing ministry. I chose to do this in order to further establish my branding as I try to build my writing platform.

My website is entitled Cecelia Lester Author; its web address is cecelialester.com I have been working on it off and on for a month, trying to add sections to it that are attractive and informative about me and about my writing. I have cross-posted a few of my entries from here. I have to decide on a posting schedule.  I hope and pray that you will visit my new home as you can.

In September, I have two speaking engagements at area institutions, a nursing home and an assisted living facility in my immediate area. I also have contacted a couple of other places in search of finding opportunities to share God’s word. I will be using some of my blog posts and the columns I have written for another site.

In November, I will be giving a “Children’s Moments” message at our church. I haven’t done anything like this in quite a while (think years). Our Children’s Ministry Director has some added stresses with family illness.  Some of us know the stress she is under doing both and wanted to relieve a bit of it.

A Visit from a Humor Writer

Jeanette Levellie. com

Today, we have with us one of my favorite authors, Jeanette Levellie, who happens to be a friend. She comes to share with us about her book, The Heart of Humor which is going into a second edition. Let’s get started.

Quiet Spirit: Welcome Jen! Can you give us an overview of The Heart of Humor?

Jeanette Levellie: By all means! Here is the back cover copy, which took almost as much time and thought to write than the entire book:

Welcome to a vacation from stress, worry, and global whining. Learn the secrets of how laughter can help you:

©      live healthier & longer

©      deepen your relationships

©      trust a God with the sense of humor that gives a 90-year-old lady a baby.

 In her sassy yet down-to-earth style, award-winning author and speaker Jeanette takes readers on a fun trip through 45 short stories with titles like: An Outhouse to Celebrate, Confessions of a Jailbird, and Swimsuit Shopping Stress. Accompanying the stories are comical drawings by a professional animator, articles, and lists revealing the superpowers of humor such as Got Pain? Laugh it Away, Everybody Loves Dummies, and Ten Ways to Help Yourself Laugh.

QS: How did the idea for this book come about?

J L: I’d been writing humor columns for a Christian magazine for five years. I had so many on file, I decided to compile the best ones into a book. After writing articles about the benefits of humor and compiling lists of humorous quotes and the best funny movies, The Heart of Humor was born. In this second edition, we’ve added 8 cartoons and a new cover, which has a laughing redhead who looks suspiciously like me!

QS: What other books have you written? Can you share a bit about them?

Two Scoops of Grace with Chuckles on Top, my best seller, is a humorous devotional focusing on God’s bottomless heart of grace. Comical drawings from my son accompany nine of the chapters.

Shock the Clock is a fun time management system that focuses on different personality types. A great feature of this book is the list of time management tips by well-known Christian authors, agents, and editors.

Touchable God features 25 personal stories about how I developed a friendship with God through talking to him. The final 20 chapters are actual prayers for friends in crisis.

Here are links for all four of my books:

Scoops of Grace: http://amzn.to/2e5qOjl

The Heart of Humor: https://amzn.to/2LDX5h8

Shock the Clock: http://amzn.to/1XQ3F3t

Touchable God: http://bit.ly/2aNFaS0

My website: www.jeanettelevellie.com

QS: Thank you, Jeanette, for stopping in and sharing the news about the re-release of your book The Heart of Humor. I might add that the re-release date for The Heart of Humor is tomorrow, August 28, 2018. May God continue to bless you and your writing.

Our Need for God’s Strength

Quiet Spirit Writing Ministry

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3     He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

    for his name's sake.

In this changing world, we need God’s strength to withstand the difficulties we, as Christians, face. My prayer list includes several names of people who could be stressed by the circumstances of their lives. Except for the prayers of God’s people.

When we stand against these issues that could vex us, we do it by relying on God. As we depend on Him, we learn that He is faithful and will be beside us in all situations that come to us.

Without God’s presence in our lives, we would tend to be enticed to follow concepts and ideas that would lead to our harm and eventual destruction.

A dear friend and I were talking on the phone about a circumstance that may come to her. It’s a family matter and she was distressed about what she heard. She wondered what she would do if something was said to her about the incident.

We discussed several Biblical passages that we felt could apply. Later, a while after we hung up. I had a thought come to my mind. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; (James 1:19, ESV)

In our focus verse, we read of God restoring our soul. I have learned, when God does this restoration, He does, in fact, give us the strength we need to continue what we need to do.

David’s Plea for God’s Presence

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 My mouth is filled with your praise and your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. Psalm 71:8-9 (ESV)

David penned these words. He reminds the LORD that he praises Him throughout each day. He gives his readers the sense that his praising God is an everyday occurrence.

David shows concern that God may depart from him as he gets older and his strength fails. He actually pleads that the LORD will not do what he fears.

As we age, some of our strength does leave us. Arthritis can cause our hands not to work, especially when we try to open those jar lids. It might take us longer to get up from a chair. We become experts at predicting the weather.

But God does not leave us because we are old. He does not leave us because we are not as physically strong as we once were. He is still with us in the winter of our lives because He loves us, and we belong to Him, and because we praise Him.

Strength in The LORD

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Wisdom puts more strength in one wise person than ten strong men give to a city.

Ecclesiastes 7:19 (MSG)

Solomon, David’s son, gives us insight into wisdom’s relationship with strength. Let’s take a peek at this verse and see how wisdom contributes to our strength.

Wisdom makes us strong. When several of us were children, we could not get our mothers to budge from what she told us about certain things we wanted to do or did that we shouldn’t have.  We may have thought our moms and dads were against us.

But no, the act we did may have caused us harm. Our parents had our safety and well-being in mind. As we matured, we realized their motive was that of love for us.

Wisdom gives us insight into the issues that affect us. The Lord gives us His eyes and guides us through to better outcomes because, as our heavenly Parent, he wants what is best for us. This insight gives us the strength to continue in our daily walk with Him in spite of what the enemy tries to bring to us.

How can we gain wisdom and strength in our modern world? 1.) Read His Word 2.) Talk to Him about the issues that concern you. 3.) Develop friendships with like-minded Christians.

All of those who believe in Jesus need to have strength in order to stand for Him in this confusing world.