Is worry eroding your confidence in God?

Mark and I enjoy watching Coast Guard Alaska on YouTube. We have seen many amazing rescues of people whose lives would have perished had not the Coast Guard come for them. These rescues our only possible if the person needing help has the confidence to get into the basket the Coast Guard has lower down for them. If they refuse to get into the basket because of fear that they basket won’t carry their weight, or the cable might break on its way up, then the rescue is impossible.

In a similar but grander way our confidence (faith) in God rescues us from many difficulties we could get ourselves into. When we worry “what if’s” begin to erode our confidence in God‘s character and ability. As our worries increase, God becomes smaller in our minds. Before we know it our confidence in God has dwindled and our worries have become dominant. The only way to reverse this discouraging and depressing direction of life is to read and believe what God says in his Word. He spoke and the Universe came into being. Surely he is more than able to care for everything in our lives. No worries.

Ladies, I am so excited that we are on Livestream every Thursday morning at 9:30. You are welcome to join us that way or watch the recorded version of our study anytime after 11 o’clock. Go to discoverybaptist.org and click on Livestream to find us. Lesson 7 will be our discussion platform this Thursday morning.

Ladies Bible Study is Coming to Your Home!

Knowing that many of you cannot attend our ladies Bible study in person because of either distance or the Covid restrictions or other commitments, I have been praying that God would make it possible for us to make the study available online. This morning my husband set everything up for us to do Livestream of our study. We didn’t know ahead of time if it would work or not so I did not send out a notice about it. However it did work very well and a couple of people actually joined us for the live Livestream and now I am letting everyone else know that we will be live every Thursday morning at 9:30. Also the study will be available anytime after 11 o’clock towatch the recorded version of it. In order to connect to Livestream all you need to do is go to discoverybaptist.org and scroll down to Livestream and click. Then click on the live stream for whichever ladies Bible study you would like to watch.
Today’s recording did not have sound for the first minute. So don’t worry if you can’t hear anything as it begins. Let me know if you have any problems with getting this to work.

Is Contentment Possible?

In a world of discontent is it possible to truly be contented? Is my life characterized by contentment? Do I even really know what contentment is?

In commenting on the wonderful verses from 1 Timothy 6 that speak of godliness with contentment being great gain, David Guzik has said the following. “Godliness really can bring almost unbelievable contentment; but before it can, we must be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2) - to start putting material things in their proper priority next to spiritual things.

i. It’s easy for many Christians to say they have this contentment; but whether they have it or not is often more truthfully known by they spending and shopping habits. How much of a place does shopping and buying have in your life? How does material loss affect your happiness? How happy do you get from having some material thing?

ii. When we live and act without contentment, we are trying to fill needs in our lives - a need to be “somebody,” a need to feel secure or cared for, a need to have excitement and newness in our lives - most people try to fulfill these needs with material things, but they can only really be met by a spiritual relationship with the God who made us.

iii. Real contentment isn’t too difficult for those whose real home is heaven. “It requires but little of this world’s goods to satisfy a man who feels himself to be a citizen of another country, and knows that this is not his rest.” (Clarke)” end of Guzik quote

Point iii crowns his argument with the greatest of thoughts concerning contentment. Just now as our dear friend Karman Storset awaits his “Welcome Home” from God we witness a perfect example of a life humbly lived for God and a heart that looked forward to real life in Heaven. Just last Wednesday when Mark and I visited Karman he exhibited such a calm spirit concerning life and death. His confidence completely rests in God.

I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow morning at ladies Bible study as we discuss and encourage one another concerning contentment.