THINK ON THESE THINGS...

Think on these things…

Philippians 4:4-9 The Message
4 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! 5 Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! 6 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. 7 Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. 8 Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. 9 Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Last Wednesday night at around 2:30 am, I was awakened by my wife telling me I was getting a text message on my phone. I have to honestly say that I did not wake completely up and get the message, but instead, Malia got it and answered it for me. She then woke me up enough to tell me what it was about. The message was from Ron Graves letting me know that Deana’s father, Dean Patterson, was on his way to the hospital with heart problems. In fact, on the way to the hospital, Mr. Patterson clinically died, but they were able to revive him and get him to the hospital in time. They put in two stints, and on Thursday, Malia and I headed to the hospital unaware of the condition we would find with Mr. Patterson. To my pleasure, I found Mr. and Mrs. Patterson in great spirits, thanking God for the great ways that He protected them. They were doing exactly what Philippians 4 says to do. It would have been easy for them to focus their attention on all the negative things that had happened, but they chose to focus their minds on the “best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not to curse.” He did go home, but has developed some complications and is back in the hospital. We need to continue to pray for him.

Last Sunday, Dr. Steve Parr did a great job taking this even a little further. In the times in our life when we face giants, are we choosing to rejoice in all things? In the good times and in the bad times, we are to make it clear to others that God is in control and we trust Him. How will others see our faith if all we do is worry about the giants? There are many things in our lives that we can worry about, most of which are out of our control. I serve a God who is ABLE - able to heal, able to provide, able to do miracles, able to see us through challenges, able to provide peace, able to work everything for our good and able to defeat our giants. I know from experience that when I give my giants to the Lord and think on the positive, God will always bring me through the rough times. To God be the glory for He has done great and mighty things for His children!

Reveling in Jesus,

Aaron Hodges