I Proclaim 2012 as the Year of Encouragement

February 22nd, 2012

Okay…Dan has officially lost his mind.  Stop right there…many have made that accusation, but nobody has been able to prove it in a court of law.  And no…I haven’t developed a Napoleon complex, or any complex for that matter…I just want to tell people about a friend of mine…

When Jesus came on the scene and began His public ministry He proclaimed the favorable year of the Lord.  It is told to us in Luke 4:16 – 19 - And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Now that is a way to get everybody’s attention.  But listen to what He said…in my paraphrase, He announced that He was going to tell everyone great news for those who are suffering…and to set the captives free from the bondage of life that they live in…and to let the blind see…..that is good stuff.

So I figure, it is STILL the Favorable Year of the Lord….the good news is still as good as it was when Jesus Christ stood up in the synagogue almost 2000 years ago.  But how do we best tell everyone?  By beating them over the head with the Bible…not necessarily…although there is no doubt that the Bible is where true wisdom and understanding come from.  And it IS the inspired and infallible Word of God.

But…the way that I am going to do it…and I encourage you as well…is to be an ENCOURAGER!  Do you pay attention to the fact that when we talk about how well a politician is doing we look at his “disapproval” ratings…yikes.  Do you realize that when we go to customer service, we seldom if ever go there to tell everyone how wonderful they are doing?  We are very good at complaining and very bad at encouraging, and I look in the mirror when I say that.  BUT as for me…in 2012…I am going to be an encourager.  I hear-by pledge to all who read this that I will:

1. Write at least 365 hand written letters of encouragement this year.
2. I will try to take the time to acknowledge everyone who helps me at a store, or serves me at a check out line, by at least using their name and saying thank you.
3. I will try to find ways of writing people’s bosses to tell them what a great job they are doing.
4. And as Galatians 6:9 says…I will try my best to “never grow weary of doing good.”
5. Because it says in Colossians 4:5 - Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
6.  I am really going to work hard on doing number 5.  And I will start by being graceful with my wife, my kids, and my friends.  Because those are the ones that I normally fail to be graceful with.

And by doing this…I pray that I will be better at being available to proclaim the Favorable Year of the Lord.  Because Jesus Christ is real…and He is wonderful.  He died to separate my sins as far as the east from the west.  How cool is that.  He gave up His throne in Heaven, to come to earth so he could identify with every pain, and  every trial that we have and will ever have.

Hebrews4:1-16 says – Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus did all of that because He loves me, and He loves you.  Please pray for me that I will take every opportunity to tell people about Jesus.  But not by making them feel guilty, but by letting them know how wonderful He is.

Thanks for listening to my proclamation.  And may God make 2012 an opportunity for you to be a blessing to others…by being an encourager.

Grace and Peace, Dan

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Ask someone their name!

February 22nd, 2012

Day 10

Ask someone their name!

Names are a big deal.  They identify things, people, animals…etc.  If you don’t think it is a big deal, consider this.  Plan a dinner evening with some friends in this manner:  Okay everybody, we are going to go to that place for food and order that stuff with cheese and meat, but before that we will meet at what’s his name’s place to drink and eat some other stuff.  Everybody make sure that you bring something.  Oh yeah, I have invited people, but make sure that you all don’t tell certain people who I don’t want there.  Okay…a little silly, but I think that you get the point that it may not go as well as desired…and you would probably be eating by yourself.

Well that is what names are all about…they identify us, and they give us meaning.  But for the most part we have been ignoring them, and the people behind them.  Think about this…you go in to a store, and go to the checkout counter, and there stands someone with a “name tag.”  Why do think that is…for them?  They probably know their name.  So you can complain about their horrible customer service (do you wear a name tag?)?  If that were the case, I would want a nametag with somebody else’s name…or maybe a name tag written in Latin…or any dead language for that matter.

Dan…the point? Oh yeah.  We have forgotten how important names are.  We call people…the guy at the check out counter, the homeless guy, the guy with cancer, that guy who spent 3 weeks writing that 50 page report for me so I could get promoted (slipped that one in).  I used to go to meetings all day long, and very seldom would anybody ask me or anybody else their name.  They were so busy that they had forgotten those people that were working for them had names…and lives…and they just wanted somebody to appreciate them.

Let’s go to the bible and consider these passages.  Isaiah 49:1 - Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.  Or  Psalm 91:14 - “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.

Names mean a lot to God, in fact, He really loves it when we call Him by name, and when we take the time to find out His name. He knows that your name means a lot to you, and you know how great it feels for someone to care enough to call you by name…and to try to find out something about you.  Anybody who spends any time with me knows that I always ask people how to pronounce their name, how they are…where they are from….etc.  Because, caring about people has to start somewhere…why not with me?  Can you imagine the impact on our world if people would start genuinely caring about people’s names….and then maybe how they are doing…and then maybe caring about their lives…and then maybe asking if there is anything that they can do for them, or pray about for them…

Oh my…kindness and gentleness could break out everywhere.  We could even have an epidemic of “please and thank you’s”!  What would happen to the world if we became kind to each other?

Be Encouraged….it can start with you.  Try taking the time to appreciate the names of the people that you see everyday.  Take just a moment and see how they are doing?  Ask about their day…ask about their families.  It will be a blessing to them…and will be an even bigger blessing to you!  Let me know how it works out…

Grace and Peace, Dan


 

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Can I get my name back….please?

February 21st, 2012

I met with some friends of mine last week, and one is named Jay.  He is working on his “dash” in a really cool way.  He has a great story about how God put it on his heart to reach out to the homeless.  It is called “the 25th project” (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-25th-Project/167881589916681).   I’m going to give you the abbreviated version…  He was spending some time alone on Thanksgiving…and decided…this stinks.  So he went to Boston Market, got some food, and put some meals together and took off to give them to some folks who needed it.  Again, this is the short story, but he found that on Thanksgiving and Christmas…there are a lot of folks doing that.  And he though, “what about the rest of the year on the 25th of the month?”  So he started this 25th project thing to deliver food, clothes, supplies…etc. to folks who could use a “hand up”, and I will explain that in a minute.

I asked the question, “how did you find these folks?”, and his reply was amazing….”I went looking.”  Wow…can you imagine that…just driving around to see who you can help a little bit.  Since then, he has really gotten to know some of these folks, and even helped find a couple of them jobs.  But even more amazing than that…HE FOUND OUT THEIR NAMES!  That is what separates a  ”hand out” from a “hand up.” In our fast pace society, we far too often categorize people…the homeless guy, the weird guy, the lawyer, the doctor, the Jesus freak, the bible thumper…you get the hint.  We do another bizarre thing….we identify ourselves with what we do.  Let that sink in a little bit.  I met a guy from the Lambs Center, which is a homeless shelter in Fairfax County, VA….one of the richest counties in the country…wow…if that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t’ know  what will.  He told me that when a lot of folks show up at his door and are asked “who” they are, they say that I am a lawyer…a teacher…and the list goes on.

That is not who you are…that is what you do/did.  Who you are is the person that you see in the mirror.  Who you are is the substance of your life…the meaning of your life.  You have a name…we all do.  Jay asked me the other day, how do we restore people’s names?  Good question….and it isn’t that hard.  We ask.

I lived in Japan for a while, and there is something very interesting that happens there.  A CEO of a company and a Janitor of a company can ride in an elevator together.  They will exchange niceties and ask what they do, and they are both very accepting of the fact that each plays a critical role in life.  I think that would be a very good idea to do here as well.  People are in really tough situations today…they may not be homeless, but they certainly have some real problems and tough things that they are dealing with.

But more importantly, they are in search of their name.  There is a great story in the bible about Jacob and Esau.  The story is in Genesis 32:22-31.  You have probably heard the story…Jacob tricked his father into thinking that he was his older brother, Esau.  So his father (Isaac), gave Jacob his blessing….that is really important in the bible.  So to speed up the story, Jacob takes off and hides from his brother, and is very successful, and life isn’t too bad until…(crescendo in the music please)…Esau comes back looking for Jacob.  Again, the quick story…Jacob freaks out, and starts scattering his family and possessions so Esau can’t take it all.  Then at night, he decides to go across the river to meet his brother and humble himself…and out of nowhere some guy is standing in the road and they start wrestling all night…

Check out Genesis 32:26-29 – Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

So after an all night wrestling match, this guy asks Jacob his name.  Actually it was God asking….which makes it even more bizarre.  God certainly knew Jacob’s name…but you see Jacob didn’t.  God is basically telling Jacob about his life revealed through his name.  Jacob had been wrestling with life…doing it his way…and God wanted him to see that about himself.  Just like so many of us today…we want to do it our way.  But when God told Jacob that from now on his name would be Israel, he telling him basically to acknowledge that he had just had a huge spiritual victory over deception…because from then on, he would depend on God.  The name Israel means, “overcomer”, or literally Prince with God.

So back up to the 25th project…the fact is that folks who are hurting really don’t want a hand out…they want a hand up.  They want someone to help them now so they can help themselves later.  They need to confront their name.  They need to have their names and dignity restored.  How do we help them, and give them a hand up? Well start by asking them their name.  But you can only do that if you get intentional, and get involved.  Don’t look down on people, or categorize them.  Will you get taken advantage of?  Maybe.  But remember they all have a name.  If they can recover that…then the next steps won’t be quite so hard. Down deep, they just want somebody to care that they exist…and somebody to call them by their name.

Oh yeah…remember what Jesus said.  Matthew 25:40  - The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Thanks Jay and the 25th project. Thanks for making your dash mean something.

Grace and Peace, Dan

 

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Free communication plan…anytime…anywhere

February 21st, 2012

Day 9

Free Communication plan...

I was looking at my phone bill/telecommunication bill…whatever you call it…it is painful!  When I think about the money that I spend on TV which I hardly ever watch….internet where I spend a lot of time doing email for some reason…telephones (land line and cell), when I am not really important enough for anybody to call…with the obvious exception of the people who tell me that I won something…..what good is all of the communication if the communication doesn’t do anything good for me???  About the only thing that I can think that it does do…is take time away from my family and my friends.  I am sure that almost everybody reading this is probably one of two or three or four computers in your house with everybody in separate rooms…on the computer, etc.

Oh yeah…the free communication plan….PRAYER! Consider Jeremiah 33:3 - ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’  I don’t know about you…but that just sounds cool!

And Psalm 91:15-16 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”  Again…pretty cool….having a bad day…you just call…and watch Him go to work.

You see the great thing about God is that He is always available free of charge.  No monthly bills, no cell coverage problems….no busy signals…no answering machines.  If we call Him…He will hear us, and He will answer us.

But the catch is that He isn’t just going to give you stuff and let you hang up.  You see, He wants to talk…and let you get to know Him. And when you do…you won’t want to hang up.  Because like Jeremiah says…He is going to tell you great and wonderful things that you do not know.  By the way…that is every time that you ask.

Oh yeah…one more catch…He doesn’t just want to talk to you…He wants to love you.  But you have to let Him.  Try it out…give Him a call.  Tell Him that you are tired of communications that do nothing for your except drain you life, and tell God that you are ready for some really meaning conversations…life changing ones.  And then…stand by…because life will get exciting, and meaningful…for a change.

Be encouraged….oh yeah.  His phone number?  Try 564-6316 (that is John 3:16….I couldn’t resist).  I can guarantee you that you will never want to hang up!

Grace and Peace, Dan

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Friends are the Balm of Gilead

February 20th, 2012

Day 8

Friends are the Balm of Gilead

Godly friends are a treasure!  If you don’t have any…get some quick.  If you still can’t find any…you contact me, and I will hook you right up….it is worth that much to me.  I just came out of a huge rut…valley…you name it. And I didn’t like being in it.  Valleys, and the “hurts” in life leave scars, unless of course you have people in your life that can provide you something to heal those scars before they become permanent.  Anybody who has put a bandaid on a cut without ointment…and a bandaid with ointment knows exactly what I mean.  You heal much better with an ointment.  Not that this is an advertisement for neosporin…unless they want to contribute…but it is a very important concept.

When you are alone and the “world” is pressing down on you, and attacks are coming from all sides…if you don’t have some friends who are going to “not” let you quit…then the odds are that you will quit, and that scar will remain and you will look at it your whole life.  It will be like a curse to you.  And you will think about the pain that you endured every time you look at it.

And frankly…bad counsel is as bad as no counsel.  If you are in a valley and your “friend” comes in and tells you what “they think”…then you should close your ears.  If they talk to you about what God thinks…or what the bible says…or a verse that God has laid on their heart for you…STOP whatever you are doing and listen!  That is the kind of wise counsel that you need to move forward and to learn from God.  And that is the Balm of Gilead.

Here are two verses…the first should get your attention.  Proverbs 18:1 - He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom.

In other words…if you isolate yourself, you will dwell in your own misery…and may never get out of it.  That is how you spiral down into the depths of darkness, and as the proverb says, you are quarreling against all sound wisdom.  Wisdom is not good to quarrel against.

The second verse is Psalm 25:4-5 –  Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.

Waiting is a tough thing to do, especially when you are screaming out for help.  BUT…if you have some godly friends that are available for you, then they can walk you back toward God’s path…which frankly is always better than yours…because He knows the plans that he has for you.

So find some godly friends…and if you don’t know how to do that…shoot me an email: dgrieck@gmail.com…and I will help you on that path.

You will be blessed because of it.  AND….your life will get much brighter.  AND…God will be well pleased with your desire to be taught by Him.

Whew…it is good to be back in the light, and not to have a scar to prove it!

Grace and Peace, Dan

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This valley is dark…but the good news is…

February 19th, 2012

Day 7

This valley is dark…but the good news is…

Sadly, I am in day 2 of a really dark time.  All caused by an attack that I wasn’t expecting.  See when you are trying to do what God wants you to do…they come in all forms, and sometimes from people that you don’t want them to come from.

So again today….this is going to be short, because nobody reads this anyway…  When you are in a valley, you have to remember that on both sides of a valley is a mountain.  Life is full of trials….you are either in a trial…just getting out of a trial…or just getting ready to go “into” a trial…but the encouragement is:

Psalm 34:4 - Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

See, the thing about the valley of the shadow of death is that it is a shadow.  Shadows aren’t real.  Valleys hurt…but they aren’t real.  Don’t stay there…just keep walking.  That was for me…not for you.  Regardless of your circumstances…be encouraged.  The Lord has a wonderful mountain for you to climb.

Grace and Peace, Dan

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Encouragement on a really lousy day…

February 18th, 2012

Day 6

How to be encouraged on a really lousy day….

I would like to say this is a fun day, but it isn’t. Sometimes, when you plan what you think is going to be an amazing thing…it becomes so bad that you wonder what the heck happened!  That is what today was for me.  So I will cut to the chase…how do you have any encouragement on a bad day? Here you go….

Psalm 34:17-20 – The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.

If anybody reads this, I will pass what wisdom that I got today from Gino.  ”Hang in there.”  If what the Bible says isn’t true…then we have real problems.

Grace and Peace, Dan

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Ask – How are you doing? Twice…

February 17th, 2012

Day 5

Ask – How are you doing?  Twice…

EVERYBODY just wants to know that somebody cares.  There is nothing more lonely than being in a crowd of people and thinking that nobody cares about me.  Let’s face it…that happens all of the time.  The way to minimize that and to let people know that you care is to ask them how are you doing….but do it twice.  If you do this…you and the person will be so blessed…and you will do it more often.  Let me explain.

I was the opening act (introducing the guest speaker…not juggling) for the Pentagon Prayer breakfast for a while.  By the way, the Pentagon Prayer Breakfast happens on Wednesday Mornings at 7:00 a.m. for those of you folks “serving time” at the Pentagon, just thought I would give some cheap advertisement, because it is a great way to bring some meaning in to that place.  If you worked there…you would know what that means.  God is being choked out of that place more and more everyday….and He is being replaced by oppression.  Sorry for the editorial comment.

So anyway, one morning I noticed a friend of mine there that I had never seen there before, and as strongly as I had felt anything, God laid it on my heart to talk to him…okay God, got it.  Well the breakfast was over, and I was talking to someone, and I see my friend walking out the door…God promptly smacked me in the head and said…”I said go talk to Him.”  So anyway, I hustled out the door to catch Mike (not his real name) in the hallway.  I asked him, “Mike…how are you doing?  And he gave me the standard, “I’m doing pretty good”…which I have never really figured out why we can’t just say “lousy.”  I think that we are afraid that we will scare people away forever…and maybe we will.   So anyway, I asked again…”Mike, I just haven’t seen you down at the prayer breakfast before…how are you really doing?” His face dropped quickly, and he said….my life is falling apart. My wife wants to leave, me…my kid doesn’t like me…and this job is killing me.”  I could tell that just saying that….the truth….was great therapy.  So that led me to ask him if he wanted to get a cup of coffee and talk….which he did.  And we were both blessed by being available for each other.  And it was a heck of a lot better than making PowerPoint Slides that nobody was going to care about any way.

Neither of us actually had time to do that…especially in the Pentagon…but that was the best investment of time that either of us could have ever made.  You see, when you ask how somebody is doing “twice”, then you are actually telling them that you want to hear the answer…and you won’t run away.  We NEED people to be available for us….and to let us know that somebody in this crowded world will take just a minute to let me be honest…and say when things are lousy.  We all NEED somebody to be there for us.  That doesn’t mean that we have answers or can even help…but at least we can be there.  Here is how the bible describes our need for companionship.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 - Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

So today, and every day for that matter.  Take the time to ask someone how they are doing……twice…and see what happens.  You will be amazed and blessed.

Have a great day…and be encouraged!

Grace and Peace, Dan

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Rush Limbaugh Got It Right!

February 16th, 2012

You may or may not be wondering or even saying to yourself, “What does Rush Limbaugh have to do with “What’s Your Dash.” Well I am not sure how many, or if any of you listen to Rush. I have listened to him off and on since 1990 when I was going through flight training in Milton, Florida. I can’t even tell you the last time I listened to his show but there I was in church on Sunday listening to a sermon about “Keeping up with the Jones’” and it hit me. Pastor was quoting passages from Proverbs 6:8 “yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” 10:4-5 “4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. 5 He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.”

Well, those of you who have listened to Rush have probably heard him you the words, “With talent on loan from God.” You may be asking yourself what does Proverbs and Rush Limbaugh have in common. I don’t know but I do know if you take Rush’ words….I assume Rush came up with the phrase but if he didn’t, he is the first person I heard say it and I can’t remember anyone else ever saying it. When I have commented on his “With talent on loan from God” when talking with people, a lot of them have the opinion that he is arrogant, full of himself, conceited, has a high opinion of himself, you get the picture. But then for some strange reason, during a church service, it hit me. “Rush Limbaugh Got It Right!”

What did he get right? Everything we have is from God. It isn’t ours to keep and hold onto for eternity. We are just holding onto it for God and doing with it what God intends for us to do. Yes we “work hard” and get paid. We buy nice things. We donate. We help others and do a heck of a lot of things with the “fruits of our labor” as we go through life. In the end, it is all God’s. We can’t take it with us. We can leave it to our children and if we taught the correctly, our legacy of doing God’s work will continue. That is what we want. Use our gifts and talents to do God’s work, to live out his will for us.

In Financial Peace University, Dave Ramsey provides a teaching moment where he brings two men up on stage. He demonstrates to the audience how we earn our money, deposit it in a bank, and entrust the bank to keep our money safe and use it wisely so when the time comes, the money we deposited and possibly more, is there for us. He then shifts the example and points out to look at ourselves as the bank and God as entrusting us with His money. God has given us our talents to be used in life. We are supposed to take the money and everything else in life and use them as God intended. He is entrusting us with His stuff, yes, all of it. It all belongs to him.

We have been entrusted by God with all of our talents and should be using them to the best of our ability and to honor Him. We can use them to help people, build magnificent things, provide for our families, and help people in need or hundreds of other things. They are all gifts from God. We may not realize what our greatest talent is or even think we have any talent. We all do. Some people make lots of money in their life and hold onto every penny. Other, like Bill and Melinda Gates, are using their talents, and a heck of a lot of their money, to help thousands, perhaps millions, of people around the world. Bill isn’t an evil, rich man with lots of money; he is a great philanthropist who is spending the rest of his life helping others. You see, Bill made billions of dollars creating and running Microsoft but at some point in his life he transitioned from running a multi-billion dollar company to using his great talent and wealth to help others.

Very few of us will ever be able to do what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does but each of us has a talent which can be used to help others and glorify God. If you don’t have money to give or items to donate, you may just have time to help another or be a good listener. Sometimes people just want to be able tell you something and that is it. Use the talents which were entrusted to you by God to serve him and live out the purpose you were created for. You don’t have to know what your talents are, do things from the heart and it will shine through. By living this way, “Your Dash” will speak for itself.

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How to get a Great Night’s Sleep!

February 16th, 2012

Day 4

How to get a Great Night’s Sleep!

In this day and age of multitasking, go…go…go…there is one thing that we long for, and that is getting a good night’s sleep.  No this is not a redirect to a pharmaceutical website…and this is not a new way to count sheep.  By the way…isn’t that a little out of vogue?  I mean how many people have access to sheep…and if they were in your bedroom, I don’t think that you would be sleeping very well anyway.  So how do you do it?  Well be encouraged, the answer is found in…

Proverbs 3:19-24 – The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;  By understanding He established the heavens; By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes—Keep sound wisdom and discretion; So they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.

Here is how it works.  When you are trying to go to sleep, the battle is often against what the future holds.  You wrestle, and toss and turn, and stress out about things that you can’t control…because you can’t even control if you will wake up in the morning.  So try this…think about who can control that….like God.  Because if He founded the earth, and He established the heavens, etc…and we ask God for sound wisdom and discretion, then we will be contemplating the ONE who CAN control tomorrow…and not taking that burden on our self.

By the way…the word wisdom is used over 200 times in the bible, so it must be kind of important.  So how do we get this wisdom you may ask…Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 110:10, etc….all say that the Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Now this doesn’t mean being afraid of God…but being in AWE of God!  Because when you are in awe of God, then you think about what He can do….like take care of everything!  And apparently, if you think about Him, you will realize that all of the things that you can’t control….HE CAN!  So if you don’t have to worry about tomorrow…then you won’t have to be afraid of tomorrow…and you will sleep well.  But check out the term that is used in proverbs:  Your sleep will be sweet! That just sounds good.

Be encouraged!  You can let God do your worrying for you…and you can get some needed and well deserved….sweet sleep.

Grace and Peace, Dan

 

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