Brendan Mc
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Ways to have peace Of mind and heart Crossan
Look at this statement from the mouth of Jesus himself - "I am leaving you a gift". What is a gift? A gift is a present from someone to you for you to use as you wish. If someone gave you a gift of say a box of sweets and you never opened it ,the sweets would be of no value, would they? You have to
times, how can we keep our peace? At the moment of writing this, peace in Ireland has been blown apart through riots. Never have people experienced such anger, fear, despair and hatred as they are feeling at this moment. Marches and counter matches are going on. Peace seems far removed from our hearts. How can we find peace in the midst of all this? Not only do we have threats of war but we have increasing worries about drugs and our children. Drinking is on the increase. Sex outside of marriage is rife. Marriages are breaking down. The priesthood has been torn apart by scandal after scandal. Things seem to be going from bad to worse. Peace of mind seems far removed. However, there is good news for you - Jesus said "I have come to bring you good news" and the good news is as Jesus says in John 14:27 - "I am leaving you with a gift of peace of heart and mind and the peace I give is not a fragile peace like the peace the world gives, so don't be troubled or afraid."
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SEVEN WAYS TO HAVE PEACE OF MIND AND HEART Brendan
use your gift. To really appreciate a gift, it must be taken out of its wrapping and used accordingly. The same applies to the gift that Jesus gives in Phillippians 4:4. "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice, let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all that you do.
If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your hearts and minds quiet and at rest, as you trust in Christ Jesus. Spiritual instructions When we are sick, the doctor prescribes medicine for us. We then go to the chemist who makes up the prescription. He then gives us our medication with instructions on the label and there's usually a leaflet enclosed with further instructions in it from the company who make the medicine. It would tell us to take one only per day or three times a day or not to exceed the stated dose or not to take with alcohol. We follow those instructions to the letter and we get well again, because we know that the company who make this medicine have tried and tested it and found which dosage works best. Now treat these instructions from God with the same respect that you would your medication. God's medicine works. These are God's instructions.
FULL OF JOY "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again , rejoice." Philippians 4:4. How can you always be full of joy in the Lord? The first
Do not worry about anything but instead pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers"
thing you have got to do is to go back to the moment that you gave your life to Jesus. Realise what you did. You gave all your life to Jesus - all rights to your life were given to Him. Jesus then assumed all rights over your life. In other words, He was given control over everything that concerns you. He became your Lord and Master, your Saviour. A lord in olden times took responsibility for his servants lives - he fed them, clothed them and looked after them. He saw to their every need. Now, Jesus is greater than any earthly master or lord and He can and will supply every need that we can ever have. Our problems happen when we take control of our lives back from Jesus and then we usually mess things up. That's when things go from bad to worse - that's when we loose our peace. Before, our peace was in Christ Jesus and it was secure. Now our peace is worldly and very vulnerable. It's fragile and the least wee thing will break it. We have forgotten that Jesus is supposed to be Lord. To resolve any conflict between you and your Lord, repent and hand back control of your life to Him. He knows everything about you and as scripture says in Jeremiah 29: 11 "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope". You can see that the plans your Lord has for you are for good and not for evil. The scripture says that your Lord has a plan. Have you ever sat down with your Lord and asked Him what are His plans for you, in themidst of whatever trouble you find yourself in? Sad to say, most of haven•t. We just plough on in there, trying everything we can to get out of it. We need to repent immediately, give control back to God and start again. The Lord allows us to do our own thing because He has given us freedom. We are free people, especially with God. He allows things to happen to us, things that will make
Points to remember :-
Point to remember :you gave your life to Jesus. He is in charge of it. He knows best, even if it looks bad.
Thank God for her. We have to work hard at being what the Lord wants us to be, but God never said it would be easy. He just said that we can do everything through Christ JesusPlilippians 4:13.
UNSELFISH AND CONSIDERATE
us stronger people later on in life. The things we go throughnote the word 'go through'. That means we have gone through them and when we go through trials, we can then help other people like us who are experiencing the same. We can tell them how to get through the easier way.
Philippians 4:5 "Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all that you do". How can this have an effect on my peace? When we act with consideration and unselfishness towards others, when we try to do the best we can for others, we give away love. When we give away love, it always returns back to us overflowing. Inconsiderate people cause pain to those around them. Isn't that so and no likes to have them around. On the other hand, unselfish people are such a joy to be around. They're always thinking of others and radiate happiness. They carry a positive air with them. The atmosphere is joy filled. Unfortunately, not all of us are considerate, unselfish people. I myself have to work very hard to be considerate and unselfish and it is only with Rose, my wife helping me, that I can see where I am going wrong.
REMEMBER, THE LORD IS COMING.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING
"Don't worry about anything" - Now that's a good one to tell me. Sure I have six children, my husband is not working, my dog has fleas and I don't know if I will have the money for bingo to-night. I have plenty to worry about. Remember something here - it is not me who is telling you not to worryit is God himself. Ask yourself the question - "Has all the worrying I have done up to now done me any good? Has it helped me in any way? Did it leave me feeling happy?" Have you ever worried about money, about having enough to pay a bill? Somehow or other you managed to get there. Isn't that right?
Ask your partner or friend to help you to remember.
"Don't worry about anything" - Philippians 4:6.
Try to be unselfish and to put others first. Practice being considerate.
Point to remember :- Ask the Lord what it is He wants you to learn.
"Remember, the Lord is coming soon", Philippians 4:5. When troubles come and troubles come to us all, we have a choice. We can try to sort out our troubles ourselves or we can turn to the Lord and ask Him, "Lord, what do you want me to do here and also what do you want me to learn from this. Come Lord and show me." Our biggest mistake is that we rarely turn to the Lord and ask Him what to do. We have to retrain our thinking and start to think, "Lord, help me and show me what I need to know."
Point to remember :- Start now to chat to God about everything in your life - He loves to hear from you..
PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING Philippians 4:6 - Pray about everything.. God says to pray about everything - not somethings, but everything. We should do as God tells us - pray about even the tiniest little thing that concerns us. God is concerned about everything in your life, even those tiny litle problems. If they cause you annoyance, then God is concerned about them. If you learn to pray and talk to God about even the smallest little thing, then when the big things come along, you will be confident to talk to God about them. Sad to say, most people only talk to God when big troubles come along and then they don't have the confidence in their prayers, simply because they subconsciously feel guilty. If you have been like that, all
The worst thing about worry is that it causes heart attacks, blood pressure, tummy upsets, headaches and mental illnesses. Worry doesn't do us any good at all, does it? Worry causes stress and God doesn't want you or I in any kind of stress. God loves us and so does not want us living with worry or stress. Worry cancels faith. Tell me then how I can stop worrying. If we have a friendship built up between us and God, our Father, then we could approach Him for anything and confidently expect to get it, knowing that we are good friends.
Remember that God wants you as his friend, not just as one of his creations. He loves you with an unconditional love. There are no boundaries to that love. Treat God like your best friend, someone whom you could sit and yarn with for hours, chatting about everything and anything. He loves to hear from you.
you have to do to change it is to start today and talk to God about everything. Tell Him, "Lord, I'm feeling good today. The sun is shining away and I'm getting a lovely tan or, oh Lord not rain again today or, Lord, my dog is having pupsplease look after her for me". God is interested in everything that concerns you. Look at it this way. Say that you had two wealthy friends. Could you just walk up one whom you had only seen once or twice a year and ask him for a wee loan of a few hundred? On the other hand, could you approach your friend whom you talk to every day and ask him. More than likely, you would honestly say that the friend whom you talk to every day is the one you could ask more easily. I'm sure there are some out there who could not approach either of them and if that's you, then you need healing. people sadden God with this old date way ofthinking TELL GOD YOUR NEEDS Philippians 4: 6 - Tell God your needs. As well as talking to God, He wants you to tell Him your needs. He wants you telling Him about specific needs that you have. God says, "Tell me your needs". Why is He saying that? It is because He wants to answer them. If He's telling you to tell Him your needs then obviously He wants to answer them. When will we ever believe Him? His love is unlimited, gigantic, bigger than anything you could ever imagine. When you tell God about a need, you have to be specific. In other words, if you need £400.00, you don't ask for £395.00. You must ask for the exact amount you really need and God will grant it because He said He will. Whatever your need, you must be exact, you can't keep changing your mind. That is not faith - faith means that when you ask God for something, you then wait on God to provide.
God is all powerful. There is nothing He cannot do and there is nothing He will not do for you, if you ask Him for it and then wait on Him. The saddest thing that we can do is to put a limit on our all powerful God. It demeans Him. I can't emphasis enough how much God loves you and wants to supply your every need. Do you hear that? He wants to give you your every need. I have seen God supply in the strangest ways, when Rose and I were in financial need. For God's sake don't limit Him to the bingo, He owns all the gold and silver in the hills. All the world's wealth belongs to God. Man only has a loan of it. We have also seen God answer some of our request in unusual ways. Sometimes we thought the worst was happening only to discover six months later that God was right. After all, God has our best interests at heart, His heart. On the subject of money,an awful lot of that you shouldn•t ask God for money. I•ve heard more people than enough say this one - •I wouldn•t ask God for money• as if it was taboo. God says in Phil.4:19, that He shall supply all our needs through Christ Jesus from his riches in Pointglory.to remember:- When asking for a need, do not limit God - believe that He wants to answer that need and then do what the next paragraph says.
DON•T FORGET TO THANK HIM
Philippians 4:6 - Don•t forget to thank Him for his answers. Most of us just say a few times, •Thank you Lord•, when he answers our prayers. Our proper attitude should be as far
If we asked a friend for a favour and he said yes, we would be telling people - •sure Jim is going to do this for me• and we would be waiting on Jim to come and do it. Isn•t it strange that if we ask a friend for a favour and they say O.K., we believe them and even if they are late in coming with the favour,we still say •oh sure he•ll come alright•. Yet when it comes to God, we find it hard to God, we find it hard to believe Him - strange isn•t it? As God•s children, we should be in a continual state of praise and thanks. That•s what we are called to do - always to praise and thank the Lord. If you have never thanked God for favours, then begin now. Praise him for the very fact that you exist; that you can walk; that you can talk; the fact that you were given new life by God; that your sins were all forgiven by God; that you are counted as belonging to God•s family; for the sun that warms us; for the clouds that give us rain [that might be asking too much of those who live in Ireland, as all we seem to get is rain!]. There are many things that you can praise and thank God for, if you just sit down and think about it - for your wife and children; for your friends; your workmates; your parents ,brothers and sisters; for financial blessings; for good hearted people; for the stars at night and the moon that gives us light.
as I am personally concerned, to thank Him as often as I reminded Him of my needs or even more so. We should learn how God feels from the story of the ten lepers. Only one came back to thank Jesus after he had healed them. To have the right attitude towards getting prayers answered would be to praise and thank Him from the first moment we ask Him.
Point to remember:- Begin by giving thanks and keep on thanking God after the answer comes.
If you do this, you will experience God•s peace -
Think about it - God himslef is giving you instructions on how to have peace and how to keep that peace! Common sense should tell us to do what God tells us to do. There are seven things which we must do to experience God•s peace. You need to give careful thought to all this if you want to have peace of mind and heart and then apply it to your life. The scripture finishes off by saying in Phil.4:8Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and dwell on the good things in other people. Think about all that you can praise God for. This is good advice from God. We mostly fix our thoughts on all the wrong things that are going on in our lives. We dwell on the negative things instead of the positive . We build up worry and anxiety until it•s driving us crazy.
Phil.4:7
IF YOU DO THIS
Remember something here - it is not I who write this to you but Almighty God himself. He is telling you to do this.
God tells us to change all that and instead to think about the good things. Acknowledge the bad and then hand it over to God, as I•ve been explaining in this booklet. Then praise God for all the good around you. It will take your mind off your problems and on to God and that•s exactly what He wants you to do.
Point to remember :- The more time you spend with God, the less time you have to worry - so, spend lots of time with Him. He wants us to really get to know him and the better we know
The peace Jesus gives you as a gift is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your heart and mind at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
him the less we will worry. Amen. TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN.