Hello, Alabama Baptist family. My name is Jarman Leatherwood and I’m the Pastor of the House of Hope and Restoration Church, here in Huntsville, Alabama. I wanted to stop by briefly, to give us a word of encouragement.
No doubt, we’re living in some turbulent times. It’s in times like these that you and I have to make up in our minds that we’re gonna live a life of faith and not fear. Faith produces in us the resiliency that we need to continue on even in the face of COVID-19. Fear on the other hand, causes us to be anxious. It causes us to worry.
There’s several people right now, in this world who are worried about many things. Worried about their health, their finances, worried about their family. There are some pastors that I’ve spoken with who are concerned about whether or not their church can survive this global pandemic.
In a lot of those things, I’m reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:6-7, who gives you and I a solution for how to deal with worry. First thing Paul tells us to do. He says, “Put it away.” He says, “Don’t do it, don’t worry.” Worry, by definition means to torment oneself with disturbing thoughts.
When you and I are bombarded with the cares of this world and all these things on our minds, if we’re not careful we’ll self-destruct. That’s not what God wants for us. He says you gotta put it away. Second thing that he said that you ought to do is commit to a life of prayer. He says, “Don’t be anxious for nothing, “but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving “let your requests be made known unto God.”
In other words, we have to put it in God’s hands. God’s hands are bigger than ours. He says, so when you put away worry and you put your requests before God in prayer, he says then you and I can experience God’s peace that “surpasseth all understanding.” In other words, God’s peace will act as a military fortress, a guard against the cares of this world. And that’s what God wants for us.
Family, I wanna encourage you today, that when you feel yourself beginning to worry, to be anxious, don’t do it. Put it in God’s hand and trust. Trust Him, trust His power, trust His person and believe family, that God will see us through. And so I’ve been hearing word that there’s not a book that prepared us for this global pandemic. But I do believe that there’s a Book that can help us get through it and that’s the Word of God. And we can trust Him to see us through. God bless you.
