Hydration = Lower Anxiety

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I really wonder how many roads I could go down with this passage; how many roads of our lives could this passage minister to each of us? Should not this scripture be on the dashboard of our cars, on the screensaver of our phones, on a post-it note on our computers? We need to be daily reminded of this scripture, for all of this world takes us in the opposite direction. I am entering into what will likely be the most difficult summer of my life; the air conditioning business is brutal in the summer and now I have the load as a pastor also, and still all the load as a husband and dad. Already in these few early weeks I am seeing the stresses and anxieties it is going to place on me; I think I need to figure out a way to place this scripture as my screensaver.

I read a book called “Out of Control” a few years back; I really need to find it and re-read it to be honest. It spoke greatly to me of how God did not create us for this 4G world we live in. He did not create us for living our lives in constant communication and constant stimulation. Our world and the demands of it are moving us away from God. Sunday’s are becoming just part of our calendars, making time for God on them. That moves us one step closer to religiosity, and one step farther away from God. He created us for a relationship born out of love; not mindless worship and motions that we feel obligated to perform on Sundays. Religion teaches and kills, for it teaches that we are saved in it; nothing you can do earns you favor with God except the humble heart that realizes Grace. Only in that realization are you saved through his Son. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Even in my early hours out here with God, I never want it to be of duties call. There was a point in this ministry that it became a call of duty, and God showed me that clearly. I only want early mornings to be about spending time with One I love and expecting to hear from Him. Those days such as this when I struggle to arise, my heart pulls me from bed to seek my alone time with him before the pressures of the day demand my attention. I have always leaned on Psalm 63:1 A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. When we all go out and about into our day, the pressures of the world are that dry and thirsty land is our world is. It daily points to our need of the “Living Water” that Christ nourishes us with; that living water that we should seek early each day to prepare for the day. A properly hydrated soul will be a soul that faces the day with the strength found in Philippians 4.