Nov 26
8:45 AM
Nov 26
8:45 AM
Friday, November 26, 2021
The Bible says you can find joy through your anxious times. Whatever times you're going through that are leading to anxiety, you can replace your anxiety with joy.
Friday, November 26, 2021
Philippians 4:6-7
TOP 10 LIFE LIFTERS: For the next few weeks, we'll be re-releasing some of the top Life Lifters we've ever published since we started this devotional series. Join us as we look back at popular topics like prayer, joy, trust, and hope!
Boy, these are anxious times. Between world events, COVID, our economy, jobs, etc., there's so much to be anxious about. If we focus on the things of this world, a lot of anxiousness. Maybe you feel anxiety because of some personal things going on in your own life, some family things, some marriage things, or some things with your kids. It's so easy to get anxious, nervous, and discontented inside. The Bible has an answer to that. The Bible says you can find joy through your anxious times. Whatever times you're going through that are leading to anxiety, you can replace your anxiety with joy. How do you do that? Let's look at Philippians 4:6-7, "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."
So, he says, "Do not be anxious about anything." It's like, "Oh, thanks. Just don't be anxious." But then Paul explains, "but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." What's Paul saying? The way you avoid being anxious about anything is to pray about everything. Whenever you feel anxiety, pray on it. Whenever you feel anxious about this, that, or the other, pray for this, that or the other. Anxiety and prayer to God cannot coexist. Prayer will always bring a defeat of anxiety. Why? Because of the rest of the verse. Paul says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That's the result. When you are anxious about anything. You pray about everything, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. First, it'll guard your hearts. The word guard means to establish a century guard, a powerful protective guard that is virtually impenetrable. He'll guard your heart. What is your heart? It is your emotions, the seat of your emotions. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the heart was considered a seat of the human emotional system. It will guard your emotions.
God's peace will also guard your mind, because where does anxiety start? In the mind. We have thoughts that we just rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. We replay them, rehearse them, replay them, rehearse them, replay them, rehearse them. We ask ourselve, "What am I going to do? How am I going to get out? How am I going to do it?" And it's all about anxiety. If you pray when you're anxious, your heart or your emotions, and your mind and your thoughts will be kept at peace in Christ Jesus. Try it. Pray. If we did as much praying as we did worrying, we would have an awful lot less to worry about. Pray every time you're anxious. Catch it early. It's like a disease, the earlier you catch it, the likelier It is to be resolved quickly. The minute you're feeling self anxious, say, "God help me not be anxious about that. You've got it." If your job is stressful, say, "God help me not be anxious about my job, you control everything." Your family is mess? Don't be anxious about it, say, "God help me to do the best thing I can do for my family. Help me to control my controllables and realize that I'm only one person. Everybody else has to do whatever else they're going to do." I'm telling you right now, if you want joy, you can have joy through times of anxiety if you'll pray and experience God's peace in your heart and in your mind. Are you willing to do that? Every time you're anxious, pray.
Let's pray. Father, I pray right now that whatever is bothering me and whatever is bothering anybody watching this life lifter, I pray that they would lift it up to you, God. I pray right now to just give it to God. Say, "God, I'm anxious about such and such. I'm anxious about this. I'm anxious about that." Tell him tell him in your own words. Pour out your heart to him. He's a God of refuge. God, as they pour out their prayers to you now and throughout the day, week, month, year, and throughout the rest of their life, give us the answer to this promise that you'll give us a peace that guards our heart and our minds in your son Jesus Christ. I claim this for them. I claim this for me, in Jesus' name, amen.
By Pastor Vince DiPaola
Sep 13
8:10 AM
Joy Through Anxious Times
Sep 13
8:10 AM
Sep 13
8:10 AM
Monday, September 13, 2021
The Bible says you can find joy through your anxious times. Whatever times you're going through that are leading to anxiety, you can replace your anxiety with joy.
Monday, September 13, 2021
Philippians 4:6-7
Boy, these are anxious times. Between world events, COVID, our economy, jobs, etc., there's so much to be anxious about. If we focus on the things of this world, a lot of anxiousness. Maybe you feel anxiety because of some personal things going on in your own life, some family things, some marriage things, or some things with your kids. It's so easy to get anxious, nervous, and discontented inside. The Bible has an answer to that. The Bible says you can find joy through your anxious times. Whatever times you're going through that are leading to anxiety, you can replace your anxiety with joy. How do you do that? Let's look at Philippians 4:6-7, "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."
So, he says, "Do not be anxious about anything." It's like, "Oh, thanks. Just don't be anxious." But then Paul explains, "but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." What's Paul saying? The way you avoid being anxious about anything is to pray about everything. Whenever you feel anxiety, pray on it. Whenever you feel anxious about this, that, or the other, pray for this, that or the other. Anxiety and prayer to God cannot coexist. Prayer will always bring a defeat of anxiety. Why? Because of the rest of the verse. Paul says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That's the result. When you are anxious about anything. You pray about everything, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. First, it'll guard your hearts. The word guard means to establish a century guard, a powerful protective guard that is virtually impenetrable. He'll guard your heart. What is your heart? It is your emotions, the seat of your emotions. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the heart was considered a seat of the human emotional system. It will guard your emotions.
God's peace will also guard your mind, because where does anxiety start? In the mind. We have thoughts that we just rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. We replay them, rehearse them, replay them, rehearse them, replay them, rehearse them. We ask ourselve, "What am I going to do? How am I going to get out? How am I going to do it?" And it's all about anxiety. If you pray when you're anxious, your heart or your emotions, and your mind and your thoughts will be kept at peace in Christ Jesus. Try it. Pray. If we did as much praying as we did worrying, we would have an awful lot less to worry about. Pray every time you're anxious. Catch it early. It's like a disease, the earlier you catch it, the likelier It is to be resolved quickly. The minute you're feeling self anxious, say, "God help me not be anxious about that. You've got it." If your job is stressful, say, "God help me not be anxious about my job, you control everything." Your family is mess? Don't be anxious about it, say, "God help me to do the best thing I can do for my family. Help me to control my controllables and realize that I'm only one person. Everybody else has to do whatever else they're going to do." I'm telling you right now, if you want joy, you can have joy through times of anxiety if you'll pray and experience God's peace in your heart and in your mind. Are you willing to do that? Every time you're anxious, pray.
Let's pray. Father, I pray right now that whatever is bothering me and whatever is bothering anybody watching this life lifter, I pray that they would lift it up to you, God. I pray right now to just give it to God. Say, "God, I'm anxious about such and such. I'm anxious about this. I'm anxious about that." Tell him tell him in your own words. Pour out your heart to him. He's a God of refuge. God, as they pour out their prayers to you now and throughout the day, week, month, year, and throughout the rest of their life, give us the answer to this promise that you'll give us a peace that guards our heart and our minds in your son Jesus Christ. I claim this for them. I claim this for me, in Jesus' name, amen.
By Pastor Vince DiPaola
Sep 01
8:01 AM
Knowing the Object of Your Faith
Sep 01
8:01 AM
Sep 01
8:01 AM
Wednesday, Septemeber 1, 2021
Imagine if I was to ask you, "What is your relationship with God like? What do you know about God? How is God working in your life?" If I asked you those questions, your responses will tell me a lot about how much faith you have.
Wednesday, Septemeber 1, 2021
Romans 10:17
This week, we've been talking about faith. Yesterday, we asked a question, "What is the object of your faith?" Today, I want to ask you, "Do you know the object of your faith?" And so I want to talk to you about the struggles that people have with faith. What I have found in in my almost 20 years of being a pastor is that when people struggle with their faith in God, it is more times than not tied to a lack of knowledge of who God is and his ways. Read that again: struggles in faith more times than not are tied to a lack of knowledge of who God is and his ways.
Lakeshore exists to help people discover and develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you were to just discover a relationship with Jesus, I assure you, you are missing out on so much that the Christian life has to offer. Therefore, it's more than just discovering that relationship, you've got to develop that relationship with Jesus Christ. Get to know God more and more every day so that you can have more and more faith and trust in Him. Imagine if I was to ask you, "What is your relationship with God like? What do you know about God? How is God working in your life?" If I asked you those questions, your responses will tell me a lot about how much faith you have. If your relationship with God is sporadic and surface level only, if your knowledge of God is minimal, then I am pretty darn sure that you do not have a lot of faith in God. On the other hand, if your relationship with God is consistent, if it's growing, if you're spending time with him, learning more about God by reading your Bible on a daily basis, then I am pretty darn sure that you have a lot of faith. Or, you at least have a growing amount of faith, more and more faith every day in him.
Romans 10:17 tells us this, "Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." The key to increasing your faith in God is to be in his word every day. By hearing the message, by reading it in our Bibles. The more you read the Bible, the more you will get to know God and his ways. If you are struggling to have more faith in God, then I want to encourage you to spend more time with him reading your Bible. But you may say, "Well, Frank, I already read the Bible." I want to encourage you, don't just read it, study it. Maybe you already study the Bible. Make sure that you're praying, speaking to God. You know, prayer doesn't have to be in some high and lofty English. It is just common, everyday language. It's having a conversation with God. Praying is also listening to God, spending time in quiet, just listening and letting God speak to you. Is it an audible voice? I've never heard it as an audible voice, but deep down inside in your heart, you sense the leading of God in your life. If you want to go even deeper in your faith, try fasting. Fasting is a great way to grow deeper in your faith and your connection and closeness to God. These are all spiritual disciplines to draw us closer to God to help us know Him and to know his ways better. The result will be an increase in our faith. When we know God more, we will trust him more, and we will trust his word in our lives in an increasing measure.
Let's pray. Father, thank you that you have given us the opportunity to know you through your word, the Bible. May we study it, may we apply it to our lives. As King David said, may we hide it in our hearts to know you more and more. Thank you that we can reach out to you in prayer. Thank you that we can sit in quiet and let you speak to us. Thank you that you've given us fasting to draw us closer and make us more and more dependent upon you, increasing our faith. Thank you, Father. For this we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
By Pastor Frank De Luccio
May 14
8:11 AM
A Spiritual Gut Check
May 14
8:11 AM
May 14
8:11 AM
Friday, May 14, 2021
Today, I want to ask you to do a spiritual gut check.
Friday, May 14, 2021
Psalm 139:23-24
Every year, some of our 14 or 15 staff members go through an annual evaluation. Our staff are evaluated on five criterion, which I'll save for another time. They are evaluated in these five criterion by fellow staff members, by people they work with in their team focus group, and by me as well. Then, every year, they get a review based on the evaluations. It's really important because sometimes we need to see and hear things from others that we just don't see in ourselves. However, I've always tried to operate by a certain philosophy. I know many of our staff follow this philosophy, and maybe you do, too. It is that I'd rather be tougher on myself than have others be tougher on me. I'd rather have somebody else say, "Hey, that was a pretty good job." I would rather say of myself, "You know, I could have done a lot better." I would rather throw a little shade on myself and underestimate my performance, because I know that will help me get better and better. I never want to have a high view of myself, and have people say, "Whoa, horsey, calm down. That wasn't that good." I think this idea comes from the fact that sometimes we need to do a gut check.
Today, I want to ask you to do a spiritual gut check. In other words, I want you to not worry so much about what others say. That is still important - I just said it was. But I want you to hold yourself to the highest standard you can. Do a spiritual gut check. I get this from a verse that I think about very, very often, like many other scriptures that roll around in my head. It comes from the very end of Psalm 139, verses 23 to 24. I want you to take it in, because I think it just says what it means, and means what it says. It doesn't need a lot of explaining, but it does need a lot of applying in many people's lives. David says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Search me, O God, and know my heart. In other words, what's in my heart? Try me. In all my mind, what am I thinking about? See if there is any offensive way in me. That refers to your actions. Lead me in the way of everlasting life - in other words, lead me the right way. David is saying that sometimes we need a gut check. Sometimes we let things slide in our life that we shouldn't let slide. Sometimes we have anxious thoughts that we have no business being anxious about. Sometimes there are things in our life that are character slippage. If you let character slippage go on too long, your character will change. I don't know what's going on in your life, but one of the most challenging prayers is to say, search me, O God and know my heart. Ask God to look into your heart, look into your mind, look into your actions. Those are the three things David calls out. Say, "God, what do I need to change?"
Are there things in your heart that you need to change? An attitude toward a person, or things in your mind? The things you think about a lot, or things in the way you're living, where you're going, what you're doing? Search me O God, and know my heart. I know this is a very humbling, sobering thought, but it's an important one. The best thing in life is when you challenge yourself more than anyone else in the world does. When I challenge myself, I hold myself to the highest standards, and I know when I do that, I'll be the best Christian I could be, the best husband I could be, the best person I could be. I hope the same is true for you.
Let's pray. God, I just pray this prayer, search me and search all who are reading this. Search us, O God, and know our hearts. Try us in all our mind, see if there is any offensive way or action in us, and lead us in the way of righteous, everlasting life. God, just help us see where we need to grow and help us work on changing it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
By Pastor Vince DiPaola
Topics
- 1 Corinthians
- 1 Thessalonians
- Anxiety
- Apologetics
- Blessed
- Broken World
- Chaos
- Community
- Confidence
- Conflict
- Contentment
- Courage
- Dependence
- Devotion
- Encouragement
- End Times
- Evangelism
- Faith
- Faithfulness
- Family
- Favoritism
- Fear
- Focus
- Forgiven
- Forgiveness
- Future
- Genesis
- Gentleness
- Gifts
- God
- Goodness
- Grace
- Gratitude
- Growth
- Heaven
- Holy Spirit
- Hope
- Humility
- Identity
- Included
- Integrity
- Isolated
- Isolation
- James
- Jesus
- Joy
- Judgement
- Kindness
- Limits
- Lonely
- Love
- Matthew
- Mercy
- Mindset
- Patience
- Peace
- Plan
- Prayer
- Pride
- Problems
- Proverbs
- Psalm
- Purpose
- Rapture
- Redemption
- Relationships
- Rest
- Salvation
- Secure
- Self Control
- Serving
- Sin
- Sorrow
- Spiritual Gifts
- Strength
- Strengths
- Suffering
- Temptation
- Thoughts
- Tired
- Trust
- Truth
- Value
- Victory
- Weakness
- Weary
- Wisdom
- Worship