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John 14:27 I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart.

Published March 6, 2023

All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Go

“I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 (NLV)

In today’s world it is virtually impossible to avoid stress. Almost everyone is carrying some amount of it, in varying degrees. Many find it increasingly difficult to simply survive in the world we live in. You’re probably stressed out right now. That’s OK. It’s understandable. So is everybody else, according to a study released recently.

The study measured the forty largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, focusing on six factors that cause or are caused by stress: high unemployment, long commute times, long work hours, limited access to health care, poor physical health and a lack of exercise . And, I live in the fourth most stressful city in the nation. No wonder I am stressed out, but at least I have good company.

In desperation, people are seeking relief for their problems through any remedy they can find. Our culture is inundated with self-help books, therapists, time-management workshops, massage parlors, and recovery programs (to name just the tip of the iceberg). Everyone talks about returning to a “simpler” way of life, but no one seems to even know exactly what that means, or how to attain it.

Many of us cry out like Job, “The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.” (Job 30:27). The problem is that people are looking for all the right solutions in all the wrong places. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew. 11:28-30).

Jesus’ gift is a gift that the world cannot give. It is a peace that surpasses all human and worldly understanding. The Bible is the only self-help book that can give you true inner peace and overcome the stress of the world. So, if you are stressed out, follow this simple formula: Read five psalms and on chapter of Proverbs each day and you will discover true peace and overcome the stress of the world.

by John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

His Sheep

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

Recently, I was riding through an area of extensive sheep herds. Pastures were full of them. Some had jumped the fences and were along the roadway.

One thing caught my attention. Each had been spray painted with a strip of color. There were reds, blues, greens, etc. Our guide told us that it was so that farmers could identify their sheep as they intermingled with others from other farms.

I thought of God looking down on creation. We humans are His sheep and He is our Shepherd. He knows the hairs on our head. No painted stripe is necessary. He knows each one of us because He created each of us, each in a definite and different way. There is no one exactly like you. God loves you just as you are. God wants us to love Him as much as He loves us.

Because He is our shepherd, He will provide all our needs. He will provide green pastures and still water, as He restores our inner being. If we will listen and follow Him, He will lead us down the right paths of life. We need not fear, as He protects us from danger with all His power.

As I looked over the green pastures and saw the calm sheep, I thought of myself as one of them and was assured that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and, because of my commitment to Jesus, I will dwell with Him forever.

I can listen to His voice, because He knows me and then I can follow Him where so ever I go.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

A Servant Heart

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Being a servant in our world means being suppressed, even trod-upon. But in the Biblical context, it takes on a totally different meaning: one of freedom and devotion. It describes those who are more like Jesus.

The quality that so completely characterized the life of Jesus was the quality of His unselfish servant-hood. The Apostle Paul added to this focus when he wrote, “In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4). Pointing to the Savior as our great example, he quickly added, “You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had.”

If we, as Christians, are going to grow and mature into Christ-like character, we must experience progress in giving of ourselves in ministry to and for others. Servant living stands opposed to the primary concerns we see today — where the focus of our culture and society is more on our own personal happiness and comfort.

The preoccupation with self today is readily seen in slogans like, “Be all you can be.” Simply put, our modern day society (and this includes a great number of Christians) is focused on making satisfaction its goal.

Pleasing God is more important than self-fulfillment.

We must be careful to not take the focus off what is truly at the heart of Christianity: knowing and loving God. Out of that resource and relationship, we are able to live as servants in the power of the Spirit, according to the example of Christ.

Lord, may I decrease so that You may increase. Help me to back away from the standards and trends of the world and become more like You. Amen.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Peace

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes”. Psalm 37:7

In this crowded world most people don’t want to be alone or away from the crowd, but Jesus wants us to sit quietly in His presence while He blesses us. He wants us to rest in His sufficiency, as we consider the challenges of the day. He doesn’t want us to wear ourselves out worrying if we can handle the pressures of the day. He wants to walk through every day with us.

Too often we rush and forget whose we are. We are royalty in His kingdom. It is so easy in this crowded and confused world to lose sight of Jesus, especially in a culture that tells us to do whatever we do in a worldly way.

We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy people belonging to God and we need to continually declare the praises of Him who by His sacrifice called us out of darkness and into His wonderful light.

Through time alone with Him we are transformed. When we center on him, trust displaces fear and worry. As one goes up, the other comes down. Time with Him also helps us to discern the important from the not so important things in life.

At the end of the day, what we spend most of our time worrying about really doesn’t matter in the long term.

Recently we sang a song that says it all:

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in him always, and feed on his word. Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak, forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time in secret with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be; thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy, let him be thy guide, and run not before him, whatever be tide. In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord, and, looking to Jesus, still trust in his word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive beneath his control. Thus led by his spirit to fountains of love, thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

L.I.F.E.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40

The first month of the year is the month of resolutions, most broken by the second month of the year. What are your resolutions? Maybe they are things like losing weight, getting in shape, reading a book a week, etc. How many, if any, of your resolutions deal with spiritual matters, like daily quiet time and Bible reading, discipling fellow believers, leading one lost person to Christ each month, etc.?

Perhaps you are thinking of honoring God with your generosity, but feel that your financial position lacks the ability to give much. Giving is important and a tithe is a tithe whether you make a million dollars a year or try to live on a minimum wage.

But there is more than money involved. The word “Lord” is the most common word in the Bible. Will it be the most common thought in your mind as you live out the coming year?

We are admonished to keep our eyes fixed on Him. Hebrews 12:2

“Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God’s throne.”

What will you give as you keep your focus on Him in this new year? Let me suggest the L.I.F.E acrostic:

LABOR – God gives us a body to be used for Him. You may not be able to give a lot financially, but you can give your labor, in missions, constructions, walking your neighborhood and a lot more.
INFLUENCE – God gives us power and position and I refer not to just important people. You might exert your influence on the person in the cubicle next to you at work.
FINANCE – Share your financial resources. Got gives some much, some little but all enough to give.
EXPERTISE – Each of can do something well…. very well. What is your gift….. administrative, music, second language, etc.?

Take your life’s talent, resources…… and give it all to Christ this coming year. I’m not a poker player, but I understand that when a player builds of a big war chest and feels he has a good hand, he pushes his entire resources and shoves them to the center of the table and says “I’m all in.”

How about you? Are you ready and willing to push all you have into the center of your life and say to God: “I’m all in?”

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Come to Him

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

We can come to Jesus when we are hurting and He will soothe our pain.

We can come to Him when we are joyful and He will share our joy and multiply it many times over. In all things, at all times, we can come to Him, no matter what. He is all we need when we need it and our deepest desires find fulfillment in Him alone.

While the world says to be self-sufficient, confident and always “look out for number one,” true confidence comes from knowing that we are complete in Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

The world has us looking for fulfillment and completion in all the wrong places for rewards that by comparison are minuscule compared to all he has to offer.

J. Wilbur Chapman often told of the testimony of a man in one of his evangelistic meetings. The man said

“I got off the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp. For a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said ‘Hey Mister, can you give me a dime.’ As soon as I saw his face, I was shocked to realize that the man was my own father. I said, Father, Father, do you know me? Throwing his arm around me and with tears in his eyes, he said ‘Oh my son, at last I have found you! I’ve found you. You want a dime? Everything I have is yours.’ I was a tramp. I stood begging from my own father for ten cents, when for eighteen years he had been looking for me to give me all he had.”

That is a small picture of what God wants to do for His children. His supreme goal in bringing us to Himself is to make us like Himself by filling us with Himself, with all He is and has.

Without Him, we can do nothing, but the world tells us to look in all the wrong places for the things that ultimately do not matter. We go around begging for dimes while ignoring the riches He offers just a prayer away.

Turn to Jesus and reap riches that surpass anything on this broken and fallen world. Faith that makes a difference is faith that fixes its eyes on the ultimate rather than the immediate. We all need to learn to cultivate the eternal perspective.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

The best way to get to know God is to invite Him into your life to be the director of your life. He will take care of all your needs. Do you want to do that right now? You can by sincerely praying this prayer.

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

Leaving a Legacy for Christ

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35

When you have departed this earth, what do you want to be remembered for and what do you want to leave behind?

It should not the wealth you leave or how you scored by the standards of the glitter and glamour of the world, but the legacy you leave impacting future generations for Christ.

Have you thought about the legacy you want to leave and the impact you want to make on the lives of others?

Nobody who leaves a great life lives a selfish life. Jesus told us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. The world preaches a different message.

If you understand your eternal inheritance, you will be more generous with your earthly inheritance.

Recently I was doing some family research and I came across the will of my 8th great grandfather. In it he said he had few possessions of the world to leave behind, but one thing he did have to leave to future generations was his acceptance of Jesus and his confidence in the Gospel.

Jesus calls us to serve others with our time, talents and treasures. He wants us to make an impact on others for His sake.

At the beginning of a new year, people make all kinds of resolutions. What kinds of resolutions are you going to make? Perhaps yours could be to share the Gospel more boldly or to give more of your time with others in need or with the programs of your church.

Thought: Think of ways you can influence others for the cause of Christ in the coming year. Make a list of how you plan to grow spiritually and increase your hunger for God’s Word.

Lord, I want to leave an impact for Christ with the footprints of my life. Help me to glow and grow with your Word during the coming year. May the world I leave be a better place because I lived.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Can We Keep it?

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7

As we usher in another year, I recall a question a reporter asked Benjamin Franklin as he emerged from the Continental Convention that was forming the structure of America’s government. “What kind of government have you given us’” asked the reporter. Franklin’s response was “a republic if you can keep it.”

That statement was made more than two hundred years ago and history shows that the cycle of national dominance usually expires in about that period of time. Where are we in the cycle of nations?

The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.

At the stage between apathy and dependency, men always turn in fear to economic and political panaceas. New conditions, it is claimed, require new remedies. Under such circumstances, the competent citizen is certainly not a fool if he insists upon using the compass of history when forced to sail uncharted seas.

As we usher in 2023 we are in worldwide economic chaos, fighting wars we cannot win against enemies we cannot identify. In our country, more people are getting from rather than contributing to the revenue stream that powers democracy. The world is encased in a turmoil.

Where can we place our trust and faith in the New Year? Certainly not in men nor in nations, as both will disappoint us. Certainly not in the economy. Certainly not in military might.

In this coming year, the only safe place to put our trust is in God.

“Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2:12). “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).

The New Year is always full of resolutions. Let this one be yours from (Psalms 18:2)

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold“

Put your trust in God!

For where your treasure is, there you’ll find your heart. Put your trust in him!

He won’t let you down.

God is our hope, so put your life in his hands.

May this be our resolution for the New Year.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

How Great Thou Art

“O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.”

In the chilled and crisp early morning, I drove into the woods and then walked the last few hundred yards. It was about an hour before dawn and between the lack of moonlight and the canopy of the forest, it was so dark that I could not see anything. I used a small penlight to find the way to my intended location. I hoisted my hunting gear on my shoulders and began the climb up to the top of the hunting stand.

As I got to the top of the ladder, I looked up and froze and awe and amazement, for what I saw could only be the handy work of God. Given the chillness of the night, the lack of moisture in the air, the darkness of the night and the absence of pollution and city lights, the heavens opened up like I had never seen before.

I looked at the stars, recognized constellations and could only praise the awesomeness of God. As I saw what His hands had made. I thought how the universe displays His power. I could only think of how great He is, as I realized that what I was seeing was only a thumbnail of the universe that can be seen with the naked eye.

With space placed telescopes we constantly see articles about new discoveries in space. Recently astronomers announced the discovery of a fifth planet forty five times bigger than planet earth orbiting a star about the size of our sun, some forty one light years away from earth.

Scientists tell us that the observable universe has been determined to have a width of billions light years and continues to expand at an accelerating rate. When God said “let there be light” He really meant it.

As I sat in the stand, I looked and listened as dawn broke and the forest came to life. As I watched squirrels hop from limb to limb in the majestic trees and heard the birds chirp for the joy of the morning, I could only think that all was created by the hand of God.

My soul began to sing, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Thought: Have you taken the time lately to be still in the wonderful of our Almighty God?

By John Grant
Used by Permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

This is a great rendition of the Hymn How Great Thou Art by Hillsong

Then Sings My Soul by Hillsong

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Do Not Fret

Published October 13, 2022

Do Not Fret

“Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrong doers, for they will soon wither like grass.” Psalm 37:1

Psalm 37 is filled with good advice and key words to live by. It begins by telling us not to fret, worry or be anxious about the wicked or be envious of wrong doers. The key word is SATISFACTION.

It tells us to TAKE DELIGHT in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart. We are admonished to COMMIT our ways to Jesus and TRUST in Him and assures us He will act.

The psalmist then gives us one of the hardest ones telling us to BE STILL before the Lord and WAIT patiently for Him, not fretting about others who prosper or carry out evil.

We are reminded that fretting leads to evil and assures us that the wicked will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord will inherit the land. The Lord laughs at the wicked and sees that their day is coming and they will perish.

We are assured that our steps are made firm by the Lord, when He delights in our way. Even though we stumble, and we all will do from time to time, we will not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand. We should depart from evil and do good.

This wonderful psalm ends on a high note assuring us that the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, who is our refuge in our time of trouble. He helps us and rescues us. He saves us when we take refuge in Him.

The summation of the psalm is that we are to be satisfied, take delight, commit, trust, be still and wait. Knowing that the shield of the Lord is our defense against the evil of the world.

We are saved by a righteous God, in whom we can take refuge and always trust.

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

The Map of Life

“They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” Exodus 14:11

Being the naturally organized person I am, I tend to be a planner, planning as much as I can as far ahead as I can and getting irritated with anything that gets in the way. So it was only natural recently when I was planning a trip that after getting my airline ticket on-line, I mapped out the ground plan.

I was flying into a major city airport at afternoon rush hour that was exactly on the opposite side of town from my hotel. Not wanting to take the time and expense of a cab ride, I checked the train schedule and found out I could get on at the airport and off near my hotel. I then got an on-line map from the train station to the hotel and found it to be less than a mile straight down a well traveled road and then three blocks on another street. I decided I could walk and get some evening exercise.

Initially, all went as planned….. off the plane onto the train and then off at the station. I walked past three perfectly good waiting cabs and proceeded down the road. It was dark by then, but the sidewalks were wide and the lighting good. Then, about a half mile into it, the sidewalks ceased, as did the lighting. It was then I realized I had to walk under an Interstate highway the banks of which were covered with heavy underbrush.

So, there I was, walking on the highway in the dark, wearing a dark suit, pulling my luggage and wondering how many pair of eyes were looking at me from the underbrush like sharks eying a mackerel. Would I get run over or mugged? At least I had voted before I left.

Then, the road forked and I went the wrong way. Finally, after walking a couple of miles in a circuitous route, I found my hotel and wondered if those cabs were still waiting at the train station. It looked so easy and short on the map.

When our children were small, we would use each trip as a geography lesson and show them our journey on a map. It looked so short. Maybe that’s why they would say about an hour into the trip “Daddy are we there yet?”

The map of life is like that. Our plans look so easy on paper, but walking out life’s journeys is quite another story. Look at the journey out of Egypt when the people asked Moses if he brought them into the desert to die.

The key is that we have a map and in order to do that, we have to have a specific destination. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.

I’m amazed that so often when I think I know where I’m going God shows me I’m absolutely wrong. Certainly I do wander off of the path every once in a while, but God brings me back to that path again and again. He is faithful in doing this no matter how far I stray.

As long as God’s will is your destination, He will provide the map to get you there, so follow His map for your life and enjoy the journey.

by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
Used by Permission

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He Leads and Guides Me

Published October 5, 2022

He Leads and Guides Me

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalm 23: 1-3

Recently, I received a call from a man inquiring about setting up a guardianship for his father, who could no longer mentally or physically care for himself. Suddenly, I had a mental picture of a blind man being led by a man who could see.

And then I had a spiritual picture of a shepherd leading his sheep… protecting them, guiding them and protecting them from all danger. Sheep are somewhat less than intelligent. Have you ever seen one in a circus act?

But sheep are smart in one respect. They faithfully follow their leader and they trust their leader. When their long wool gets saturated with water, they are unable to swim, so the shepherd finds them still waters from which to drink. Their mouth is tender and briars and other sharp vegetation will cut them, so the shepherd goes ahead and prepares a place (table) for them to eat which is free from the vegetation that would harm them.

The wilderness is a dangerous place for defenseless sheep. They can be at the peril of wild flesh eating beasts, but the sheep remain calm as long as they see the shepherd with his rod to fend away wild animals. Sometimes the path is steep and the cliffs fall off suddenly, but the sheep know that the shepherd has crooked staff to pull them back on the trail if they fall. They know they can face any enemy as long as the shepherd is there to defend them. They know he is with them.

It is easy to get lost in the Judean Wilderness, but the sheep can trust the shepherd to keep them on the right path. Sheep don’t see very well, but they have the eyes of the shepherd. Though they traverse some dark shadowy places they fear not because they are following their shepherd in whom they have complete trust.

By day, the shepherd tends his flock as a group, but each evening as they go into the fold, he treats them individually, one by one. He examines each and where necessary bathes their wounds of the day with soothing and healing oil. Sheep are dumb and defenseless and really have nothing, but yet their cup overflows with goodness and they lack for nothing.

Come to think about it sheep aren’t as dumb as most people think. They have figured out that all they need to do is to trust and follow the shepherd. It is sad that most of us seemingly intelligent humans haven’t figured out to do the same.
(a thought on life from John Grant )

by John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Spiritual Distractions

“And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.” 1 Corinthians 7:35

Driver distraction has become epidemic, as drivers focus on calling, texting, selecting stations and the like. Maybe you are just engaged in deep conversation with someone else in the car or just looking at a beautiful sunset. Whatever the reason, driver distraction was cited as the cause in sixteen percent of all traffic fatalities last year, which killed more than five thousand people.

Webster’s Dictionary describes distraction as an act of separation or drawing apart and something that diverts attention. It is a process when our focus or attention is called in different ways.

In First Corinthians, Paul admonishes us “attend upon the Lord without distraction.”

Like focusing on our driving, Christians need to be spiritually focused.

And like driving where when we are distracted we can have an automobile wreck, when we are spiritually distracted, we are in danger of having a spiritual wreck.

The opposite of distraction is focus. We must focus to keep from being distracted. While it is inevitable that we will become distracted in life, it is most important that we remember to stay focused on God and His ways. I love to see people wearing the WWJD reminder wrist bands, because that identifies them as someone who approaches life’s decisions based on what would Jesus do. As Christians there are a number of ways to counter inevitable distraction. Be daily in His Word and pray when you wake up, as you pray when you lie down and at times in between. Steer clear of the areas and ways that lead us to distraction. It’s not always easy, but we can always have God’s help. He is but a prayer away.

First, recognize your distractions. What typically distracts you? Do you get caught in power struggles, control games, worrying, caretaking others, complaining, people pleasing, or solving problems that don’t yet exist? When you bring awareness to your common distractions they will have less power over you.

Second, focus on your higher purpose. As you go through your day, ask yourself what’s most important. Define your purpose for the day and stay focused on that. Let distractions move into the background from your higher purpose. In writing to the Philippians, Paul says to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy.

Put your time and energy into spending time with the Lord every day. Listen to and learn from Him. If you will do this, your life will produce incredible spiritual fruit. Don’t have a spiritual crash because you are spiritually distracted.

By John Grant
Used by Permission

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. ” Matthew 6:34

Written from a quote and recorded by several artists, it became a popular tune. “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” also reminds of Jesus discourse in Matthew 6:25-34. In it He gives us a real formula for a happy life.

I confess; I am a worrier. I worry too much, often about things in the past, often about things over which I have no control and often over things that probably won’t even happen. Jesus wants us to live a day at a time and trust Him. I need to apply these words of Jesus to my life and write them on my heart and so do we all.

Here are Jesus’ words in seven bite size morsels, a list for us to chew on about why we should not worry. Remembering that planning (with the Lord’s direction and guidance), is not worry:

6:25 – The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life.

6:26 – Worrying about the future hampers your efforts for today.

6:27 – Worrying is more harmful than helpful.

6:28-30 – God does not ignore those who depend on Him.

6:31,32 – Worrying shows a lack of faith in and understanding of God.

6:33 – Worrying keeps us from real challenges God wants us to pursue.

6:34 – Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.

It can be hard to comprehend the Biblical concepts of joy and happiness because our culture has trivialized and sentimentalized these states of being. Society tells us real joy is impossible if we are not always happy with our relationships and possessions.

Paul had something about not worrying as well. (Philippians 4:6-7). “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Wonderfully Made

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14

Not long ago, I spent several days at more than thirteen thousand feet in the Andes Mountains. We had a wonderful time, but the price was altitude sickness. In the middle of the night, the sickness felt like my bed was a swinging hammock and when I got up, I could barely stand up and was totally out of balance.

They say that the best cure for altitude sickness is to go to a lower altitude and I did. It partially helped, but when it lingered after arriving home, I knew I needed professional help. So I went to see an otolaryngologist.

He explained to me that the ears control our balance and in each ear there are two gel sacks of tiny crystals, billions of them. The crystals (sometimes called ear rocks) in one sack control horizontal balance and the crystals in the other sack control vertical balance. Imbalance is caused by a mechanical problem in the inner ear. It occurs when some of the calcium carbonate crystals that are normally embedded in gel become dislodged and migrate into one or more of the 3 fluid-filled semicircular canals, where they are not supposed to be.
After learning so much about my ears, I drove home thinking how wonderfully we are made by God. Only a God of creation could design such a complex body.

Do you ever wake up, take a good look in the mirror, and tell yourself, “No doubt about it—I’m fearfully and wonderfully made!” Maybe when you think about the kind of person you are, words like “average” or “not bad” come to mind. Sometimes you might see yourself as above average, but there are days when a closer look reveals insecurities and flaws that you can’t ignore. If you ever consider yourself unremarkable or even ordinary, you’re not seeing yourself as a result of God’s divine creation. When we discover the truth that we are God’s unique design, it is overwhelming. In Genesis 1:27,

“God created man in his own image…male and female he created them.” We often mistakenly equate this with just physical appearance.

On a more practical level, God has fearfully and wonderfully made us, setting us apart as the brightest, clearest mirror of His creativity. While evolutionary biology considers us nothing more than glorified apes, scientific research confirms that humans are vastly unique on many levels.

We didn’t evolve from goo to the zoo, to you. We are a direct creation from the hand of God and we are wonderfully made. Never underestimate the power and creativity of the hand of God.

By John Grant
Used by Permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Category: <span>thoughts by John Grant</span>

“I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 (NLV)

Further Reading

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

Further Reading

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Pleasing God is more important than self-fulfillment.

Further Reading

Further Reading

Further Reading

We can come to Jesus when we are hurting and He will soothe our pain.

Further Reading

Have you thought about the legacy you want to leave and the impact you want to make on the lives of others?

Further Reading

Put your trust in God!

May this be our resolution for the New Year.

FURTHER READING

“O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.”

“Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrong doers, for they will soon wither like grass.” Psalm 37:1

We are saved by a righteous God, in whom we can take refuge and always trust.

Further Reading

Further Reading

Like focusing on our driving, Christians need to be spiritually focused.

Further Reading

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. ” Matthew 6:34

Further Reading

Further Reading