Those who watch and wait for favorable winds never plant, and those who watch and fret over every cloud never harvest. Ecclesiastes 11:4 The Voice
It Is All About Me
Fretting is making everything about me and nothing about God, His way, truth and life. When I fret, I know no power higher than self-willed power. Will power is not sustainable, it fizzles quickly in its arrogance and leaves us soul drained. Fretting does accomplish something, it depletes us of hope, leaves us despairing in our soul and down in our spirit. The goings-on of fretting are consequences we truly do not want to subject ourselves too. Fretting is broad in its assumptions, speculations and rationalizations and narrow to navigate through with any semblance of truth, hope and promise. Fret Not!
Proverbs 24:19-20 Don’t fret because of evildoers; don’t envy the wicked. For evil people have no future; the light of the wicked will be snuffed out. New Living Translation
“If you have a murmuring spirit, you cannot have true cheerfulness; it will generally show up in your countenance and your voice. Some little fretfulness or restlessness of tone will betray it. Your cheerfulness is forced, it does not spring up freely and healthily our of your heart, which it can only do when that is truly at rest in God; when you are satisfied with His ways, and wishing no change in them.” Author Unknown
Willful Wanting
We want our own way, so we fret, fretting springs out of our willful wanting. Fretting gradually wears out our faith until we know fretting more than we know faith. Fretting is always accompanied by dread, which flips our focus to envying those who seem to have it easy in their sin. When we fret, our focus is flipped flopped from hope in what is right to despair of what is wrong. What is right is seen as wrong and what is wrong is seen as right as we fret away all reality of truth and buy into the fake reality of our enemy. It is our enemies plan for us to turn to fretting first, before we turn to God. God, His Words of promise and hope are the kill-joy of fretting and our enemy pushes us forward in a fret-focus to keep us from gaining a Kingdom Perspective.
Isaiah 43:18 “Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by; Complete Jewish Bible
Fretful Control
I wish I could change that. We fret over things done and gone, things we can’t take back or change. We can wish ourselves up into a fretting nightmare of hindsight shame of things we no longer have any control over. What is done is done, we can’t change it, only God can transform our past in that way where it purposefully changes things up. We can fret up an agonizing soul storm by worrying over every little past thing. Fretting doesn’t change up the regulator of a situation, it changes us, giving the enemy a strong hold of control over us. When we fret, we think we are gaining control, but we are losing, as we mope, we stew, we fuss and fume. After all the fretting, who do we resemble? Do we mirror God in all of this life-brooding? Fretting changes us subtlety at first, but then our character is marred in ways where people notice, we are not ourselves, we have changed and it isn’t pretty.
Philippians 4:6-7 Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. The Passion Translation
“You may readily judge whether you are a child of God or a hypocrite by seeing in what direction your soul turns in seasons of severe trial. The hypocrite flies to the world and finds a sort of comfort there. But the child of God runs to his Father and expects consolation only from the Lord’s hand.” – Charles Spurgeon
A Very Present Advocate
Where is God? On this day, God is present, here, with us and for us. God is our Advocate of this day, and it is with Him, connected heart to heart with God, that the power of His life ebbs and flows purposefully in us and through us. Be present with God, in this day. Fretting pulls us out of today into tomorrow, trying to figure out something we have no control over. Brooding, keeps us in the past, trying to fix something we can’ fix. God is here, now. Cling to God, dig your life roots deeply in Him, identify with God on this day. Make it personal with God today, invite Him into the all of your everything and watch and see how He transforms things in ways we could not even begin to hope for or imagine. Vital-Vertical relationship with God is a great adventure and fretting, worrying will not be a part of it as we realize the peace, strength, hope and joy of knowing God in our today.
Isaiah 43:18-20
“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed. New Living Translation
Put Your Identity In Christ
When we put our identity wholly-holy in Christ, it is here, on this day we will know Him in all of His glory, and experience the power of His purpose in play for us, on this day. There is no challenge worth fretting over, we are no match for the enemy of our soul, but God is. Every single challenge God has allowed in this day has a God purpose that is greater than the challenge itself. We do not live one day without the purposeful will of God in charge, without being purposefully equipped for the day at hand, without God adventure for us to grow through with Him. God is in this day, stay with Him, shun fretting, brooding and worrying, resist the enemy and He will flee.
Psalm 37 O Eternal, show me Your way, shine Your light brightly on this path, and make it level for me, for my enemies are lurking in the recesses and ravines along the way. They are watching—hoping to seize me. Do not release me to their desires or surrender me to their will! Liars are standing against me, breathing out cruel lies hoping that I will die.
The psalms provide us with a way to think about and pray through the various threats we face. Our enemies today may not be the same as in biblical times, but they are no less real. Consider the threats on the horizon. Some may be national. Others may be more personal. Still they come to surround us and destroy us if they could only get the chance. The reality is there are times when our enemies appear to have the upper hand and our cause is lost. But wait and listen to the psalm! All is not lost because, ultimately, God is our light and salvation. The darkness will lift, and our Savior will come. He will settle all scores, and we will live in the beauty of His presence. Commentary The Voice Psalm 37
Thanks for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Café today. http://www.thebridegroomscafe.com/servantwarrior/prayer-mentor/The Prayer Mentor table always has inspiring meals for you to nourish your soul with. Every day Jesus speaks; therefore, I highly suggest you purchase, The Bridegroom’s Voice, a devotional book that helps get us into the Word, helps us to daily listen up to God’s Voice. God bless ya, KimberlyMac
Purchase The Bridegroom’s Voice
