The T.A.G. Blog

Living in God's Truth and Grace

~ Welcome~

Welcome to the Truth and Grace (T.A.G.) Blog: a place where women can connect with other women and encourage and support one another. We want this blog to be a positive place where all is done in love according to I Corinthians 16:14 which says, "Let all that you do be done in love." (NASB) We welcome you to this blog and hope that it will be a source of encouragement to you.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY! Please ask permission before using any original graphics or written text on this blog. All rights reserved.

Get This Calendar...

~ Books I'm Reading ~

•The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order

•Praying God's Word Day By Day
By Beth Moore

•Extraordinary Women: Discovering the Dream God Created for You
By Julie Clinton with Mary M. Byers

~ Praying For Our Families ~

31 Days of Praying for Your Husband By Revive Our Hearts Ministries

31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Children By Revive Our Hearts Ministries

Email Me

Wednesday, July 2, 2008
~ God's Gifts of Comfort, Peace, and a Sound Mind ~

Yesterday morning as I was sitting down to do my Bible reading, I decided to not do my chronological reading. Instead, I flipped to the Psalms to read there. Amongst what I read that morning was the following two portions:

“God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.”

- Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.’

- Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV)

If you make the Most High your dwelling –

even the LORD, who is my refuge –

then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

‘Because he loves me,’ says the LORD, ‘I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

- Psalm 91:9-16 (NIV)

Later that morning, a situation arose that brought about fear in me. My thoughts ran wild with “what-ifs” and I felt the surge of fear go through me more than once. Then the thought occurred to me that I needed to go back and read again what I had read earlier that morning in the Bible. I just happened to have read the above portions in Psalms that talk about trusting God and not fearing and God’s protection. Of course, I don’t believe it was happenstance. I believe God knew I’d need to read those portions later in that day when that situation would arise.

As I spoke with my dear best friend about the whole thing and as I pondered on the issue of fear and peace, it occurred to me that many times we feel we have peace as a result of things we’ve done. We took all the necessary precautions. We did this. We didn’t do that. We, we, we……We take comfort in knowing we did what we needed to do. But is that really where our major source of comfort should come from?

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.” (NASB)

Did you notice the two titles given to God in this passage? The Father of mercies and God of all comfort. You see, instead of finding our comfort in the things we do, we need to find our comfort in God. Instead of taking comfort in knowing WE did this or that - we need to take comfort in knowing that God is in total control and we can trust Him with EVERYTHING that concerns us. Now, that's not to say that there may be things we need to do in a given situation. However, our main source of comfort and peace needs to be God not us. We can go to God and pour out our fears and concerns and know that He is in control of it all and has our best interests at heart. I Peter 4:6-7 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) When we present our requests to God, with thanksgiving, His peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is a promise. We can claim this promise. In addition, we can also tell the spirit of fear to leave. James 4:7 tells us to “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (NIV) When we lay our concerns at God’s feet, give them to Him, and relinquish our control, we are submitting to God. This Scripture tells us first to submit to God. Next we see that when we resist the devil, he has no other choice but to leave. In addition, 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. This is another passage with a promise that we can claim. We can resist the spirit of fear and command that spirit of fear to leave in Jesus’ name. We can remind the enemy that he has no choice but to leave. We can let the enemy know that we know that God’s Word tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear. So that spirit of fear must go. And we can claim the sound mind that God’s Word says we have in Christ. I did just that yesterday. And you know what? I had peace and a sound mind. Praise the Lord!