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The scripture says a lot about seeking the Lord and getting wisdom from Him on the direction He wants you to go. But what about that most dreaded in-between stage, when you’re praying for wisdom and getting nothing, and no doors seem to be opening, and you feel unsettled - like you know your time in a particular circumstance or life stage is short, but you have not yet been released?In a word, what about waiting?The Fruit of the SpiritPatience is a fruit of the Spirit... but it comes as a result of a process.Paul lists the “fruit” that we bear when we’re walking with God’s spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).Peter gives a similar list, but he doesn’t call them fruit. His list looks like this (2 Peter 1:5-7):

1. Add to your faith, goodness. This makes sense, because without faith we can’t even become God’s kids. So you have to start with that - faith is the seed that produces the fruit of goodness. In the Old Testament, God started by giving the Israelites the Law. They didn’t understand why they were doing what they were doing, but the Law produced “goodness” - meaning they weren’t killing each other and cheating on their spouses, and that sort of thing.
2. And to goodness, knowledge. God didn’t want them to stop there, though. He wanted the Israelites to know Him, not just to obey a set of rules. God wanted them to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Goodness therefore leads to knowledge - knowledge of the Lord.
3. And to knowledge, self-control. Now that we know what God asks us to do, and we know God himself, we need the ability to control ourselves in order to do what He is asking of us... but we don’t have the ability to control ourselves unless He gives it to us (remember Paul talking about how he used to continually do what he did not want to do, Rom 7:15-20? Instead, we get the fruit of self-control by getting to know the Holy Spirit (which is why Peter lists it after knowledge.) So knowledge is the seed that produces the fruit of self-control.
4. And to self-control, PERSEVERANCE. We may have learned to subjugate the desires of the moment for the longer-term goal, but what happens when the longer-term goal looks REALLY far away, like it’s never going to happen? That’s why we need perseverance. The word implies a struggle: it’s suffering without quitting. It’s hard, but we stick it out. The writer of Hebrews says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (10:36).
5. And to perseverance, godliness. Notice that the corresponding fruit to perseverance is patience. While the word perseverance implies a struggle, the word patience implies rest. You’re not struggling anymore. You know that God is going to come through. Perseverance is the seed, and eventually it bears the fruit of patience. Once you’ve got that, once you’re in rest, you become godly. This was one of the key traits that set Jesus apart: when the storm blew up, while the rest of the disciples were freaking out, He was sleeping in the boat. He’d said they were going to get to the other side, and He knew they were going to - he didn’t have to persevere through the storm anymore. He was in rest. He was godly.
6. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. Paul lists kindness after godliness. Now that you’re in rest, you’re not so worried about meeting your own needs anymore; you know God’s got you covered, and you can wait peacefully for Him to come through. Now you have energy to spare, and you can use it to see and joyfully meet the desires and needs of those around you. (The fruit of kindness is joy, because it feels pretty great to help others.)
7. And to brotherly kindness, love. This is the ultimate destination - to sow love into the lives of others, as we have received it from God. (“Freely you have received; freely give,” Matt 10:8.)

What this tells me is that we can’t just pray for patience and get it, in the same way that you can’t just pray for a Ph.D. and get it without putting in the necessary time and effort. It happens as a result of a process - that’s how God set it up. We have to first believe God, then follow after Him, then get to know Him, and then we gain His power to control ourselves and persevere, even in the face of hardship or long delays. Once we learn how to do this, we bear the fruit of patience. That’s when we can “sleep in the boat,” as it were. We’re not worried about the circumstances - now we can “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7), because we know it’s gonna work out just fine in the end.David: Waiting for DeliveranceDavid was anointed to be king when he was 17. Then the current king, Saul, got (understandably) jealous, and tried to kill him... so David was on the run for thirteen years. Almost anybody else would have given up long before that... but David had this principle down. He knew God would come through if he waited for God to act. And God always did.

• Ps 5:3 “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
• Ps 27:14: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
• Ps 33:20: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”
• Ps 37:7: “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.”
• Ps 38:15: “Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.”
• Ps 40:1: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”
• Ps 130:5: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
• Ps 130:6: “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Why Waiting?Personally I hate waiting. I hate anything slow. I walk fast, I eat fast, and some people say I talk too fast. If I wasn’t a naturopath I’d be all about microwaves.But James says that we should rejoice when we face trials (including delays) because “you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3) - there’s that word again - and perseverance is the seed that produces the fruit of patience. Notice that all of the fruit before patience are about us - they’re about our growth in faith, in knowledge, and in controlling ourselves. But patience is the one that allows us to start to produce for others - godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. That’s where God wants us. So James goes on to say that “perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4) - in other words, not lacking any of the other fruits of the spirit.But it means more than that too - those fruits of the Spirit also bear physical results in our lives. For example - Abraham’s patience eventually “bore the fruit” of Isaac (Heb 6:15). The farmer who patiently waits for the appropriate season will eventually “bear the fruit” of a harvest (James 5:7). Had the farmer tried to reap prematurely, he would not have had a harvest at all - he absolutely had to be patient, recognizing the season he was in and doing the work associated with it (Prov 20:4; Ecc 3:2).Do Not Despise Small BeginningsThe same is true of us. God reminds us not to “despise the day of small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10) - everything great started out small. We all start out as babies. Every harvest begins with a seed.Solomon reminds us not to try to “get rich quick,” for instance, because it will become a curse in the end - instead he says that if you gather money little by little, you will make it grow (Prov 13). He says to build what you already have, and not to tear it down (Prov 14). He says whatever your hands find to do, you should do it with all your might (Ecc 9). He reminds us that our part is to do the possible, but we must leave it to God to do the impossible - that is, to bring victory (Prov 21).“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Heb 6:12).

Sally K. Norton, MPH is a distinguished expert in dietary oxalates with 35 years of health education and research experience. She holds a nutrition degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her path to becoming a leading expert on dietary oxalate includes a prior career working at prestigious medical schools in medical education and public health research. Sally championed a five-year, National Institute of Health-funded program at the UNC Medical School that educated students and faculty about holistic, alternative, and integrative healing. Her personal healing experience inspired years of research, culminating in the release of her groundbreaking book, Toxic Superfoods, which was released in January 2023 and is available everywhere books are sold.

• • You can pick up a copy of Toxic Superfoods here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593139585?tag=randohouseinc7986-20
  • Learn more about Sally at https://sallyknorton.com/ or you can find her on YouTube as SallyKNorton

Your words have tremendous power to influence the course of your life.Jesus teaches it this way. In Matthew 15, the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus because he and his disciples eat food that is considered “unclean” by Jewish law. Jesus explains to them, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’... But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’” (Matt 15:11-19).Jesus has connected three things here: thoughts, words, and actions. They go in that order: your thoughts are seeds, and they get planted in the “soil” of your heart. They don’t necessarily change the environment right away, but when that seed has been planted, it will germinate, and will spring up and become a tree, which will eventually bear fruit. So you’d better be careful what you’re planting.

Round and Round We Go

When I was in my early 20s, I realized my life was on a merry-go-round. I was living essentially the same story over and over again. The names and details might change, but the characters and circumstances were basically consistent. I wrestled with this for years; I had an intuitive sense that it was a spiritual principle somehow (because everyone’s story seemed to repeat itself, not just mine!), but I could not for the life of me figure out why.I was 25 when I finally understood (and wondered why it had taken me so long, because it seemed so blatantly obvious in retrospect). In all of those iterations of the same story, there was only one common denominator: me. I realized that my beliefs were essentially, “My life will always be this way. I will never get out of this cycle. I will always repeat this pattern.” I bitterly said something to this effect every time I told my tale of woe to a sympathetic friend. I wrote about it every day in my journal. I prayed about it every day to God - but despite the biblical promises that God had something better for me, I never actually believed what God said my future held. Instead, I told Him that my future would be exactly the same as my past. I gained a twisted sense of satisfaction by complaining, little knowing that my words were actually prophetic. I was planting seeds, and those seeds were bearing fruit - unfortunately, the fruit they bore was exactly the same fruit I was already harvesting in my life. Instead of recognizing this and changing what I planted, I’d cut open that fruit, pull out the seeds, and plant them right back in the soil of my heart. For years.Jesus compares the Word of God to a seed in the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23). When it falls on good soil and isn’t choked out by the cares of this life and deceitfulness of wealth, Jesus said that seed will germinate, sprout and bear fruit - thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold. But this process is indifferent: your heart will grow whatever you plant in it, whether the seed is good or bad. “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit... For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:33-34; Luke 6:43-45).

Guard Your Heart

The first five books of the Bible contain extremely detailed laws that the Jews had to abide by in order to be “right” with God. The Pharisees had even added hundreds of additional laws of their own by the time Jesus showed up. But their laws were all about external actions. Jesus’ laws went much deeper - his dealt not just with wrong actions, but with the wrong thinking that eventually produced wrong actions (Matt 5). Jesus said it’s not enough to not commit murder - don’t even think about murder. It’s not enough not to commit adultery - don’t even look at a woman lustfully. What’s he saying? Guard your heart. He knows that the heart will grow whatever you plant in it. The thought will eventually produce the words, and the words will eventually produce the actions.Because the heart grows whatever you plant in it, before anything else you have to start with Solomon’s famous advice: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov 4:23).So be vigilant about what you plant in your heart. Solomon talks about this a lot:

• “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart” (Prov 7:1-3).
• “A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction” (Prov 16:23).
• “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out” (Prov 18:15).
• “Apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips” (Prov 22:17-18).
• “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7).

Guard Your Tongue

If your thinking is right, then your speaking will be right automatically. But what if both your thinking and your speaking are already wrong?In the midst of my “merry-go-round,” I don’t know if I could have changed what I said about my future. The habit was too entrenched by then... but at least I could have kept my mouth shut!In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah and tells him that his elderly and barren wife Elizabeth would bear him a son (who would become John the Baptist). But Zechariah did not respond to this statement in faith (as Mary did when she received a similar prophecy that she would become pregnant with Jesus, even though she was a virgin). Instead, Zechariah said, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years” (Luke 1:18). The angel’s reply is disapproving: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” But then he adds something interesting: “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time” (Luke 1:20).This wasn’t just a punishment; the angel said this for a very good reason. Zechariah didn’t believe God’s word, and the angel knew that he would continue to speak his doubts, for nine months. Could that have stopped John’s birth, had Zechariah’s mouth gone unchecked? Another story from the Old Testament suggests that it might have.

An Evil Report

The Israelite spies told the rest of the Israelites after exploring Canaan, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:31-33). Objectively, this report was true: the spies reported what they saw. There were giants in the land, and their cities were fortified and very powerful. The Israelites, on the other hand, were a nomadic band of former slaves who had never fought a battle in their lives, and apparently they were a lot smaller than the Canaanites. But God called this an “evil report” (13:32), because it disagreed with what He said. He told the Israelites that He was giving them the land (Deuteronomy 1:29-31), so the size and might of the inhabitants was irrelevant.What happened? The Israelites had been complaining ever since Moses had led them out of Egypt and out of slavery that they would die in the wilderness. After their disobedience and unbelief, God says, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall” (Numbers 14:28-29). Not one of those Israelites who spread that evil report got to experience God’s Promised Land.So an evil report is anything that disagrees with what God says, even when it accurately describes the current situation. When you’re tempted to say what you see instead of what God says, Solomon advises you to hold your tongue. Speak only what agrees with God’s word, and if you can’t do that, then at least keep your mouth shut!

• “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint” (Prov 17:27).
• “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue” (Prov 17:28).
• “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin” (Prov 13:3).
• “Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov 29:20).
• “A chattering fool comes to ruin” (Prov 10:10).
• “A fool’s mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul” (Prov 18:7).
• “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Prov 21:23).

Speak Life, Not Death

If the best you can do is hold your tongue, you do well. But if instead you use your tongue to say what God says about the situation, you do much better! We can plant the Word of God in our hearts as a seed, instead of a faithless, evil report. It won’t change the way we think overnight, but eventually that seed will become a tree, and the tree will bear fruit, and the fruit will influence the direction of our lives. We can “be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]” (Romans 12:2).

• “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them” (Prov 12:6).
• “From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him” (Prov 12:14).
• “From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things” (Prov 13:2).
• “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied” (Prov 18:20).
• “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:37).
• “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Prov 18:21).

Back to the story of the Israelite spies: all of the Israelites spread an evil report except two, Joshua and Caleb. After the rest of the spies’ resoundingly negative report, Caleb countered them and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). In response, God said, “Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun” (Numbers 14:30). Joshua went on to become Moses’ successor, and Caleb was the only other member of the Israelite community over the age of 20 at the time of the exploration who got to go in to the Promised Land. They got what they said.Solomon said the tongue has the power of life and death. Another famous place in the Bible that uses this same phrase is Deuteronomy 30. Here, God says, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him” (Deut 30:19-20).Our tongues have the power of blessing us by speaking God’s word (leading to life), or of cursing us by speaking what is contrary to God’s word (leading to death). God says the choice is up to us - but He recommends that we choose life.

Rafaele Joudry has dedicated her life to helping people overcome auditory problems and enhance their lives through better brain performance. She was guided to introduce her mother to Sound Therapy, which proved life-changing for fatigue, insomnia, sound sensitivity and difficulty hearing in social situations. As a result, Rafaele and her mother developed the self help Sound Therapy program which helped thousands of people to find relief for tinnitus, dizziness, anxiety and sleeplessness. As a world leader in self help Sound Therapy, Rafaele has enabled individuals from all walks of life to benefit from unique discoveries about how the ears can enhance the performance of the entire nervous system. She has authored three best selling books, and helped many thousands of listeners to improve communication, learning, focus, sleep, creativity and brain performance. To contact Sound Therapy International go to www.mysoundtherapy.com/podcast

David Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm with offices in multiple states, managing $4.5 billion in client assets. Prior to launching The Bahnsen Group he spent eight years as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and six years as a Vice President at UBS. He is consistently named as one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and Fox Business, and is a regular contributor to National Review. He hosts the popular weekly podcast, Capital Record, dedicated to a defense of free enterprise and capital markets. He is the author of several best-selling books. Today he’s here to talk about his upcoming book, “Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life.”To learn more about David, see fulltimebook.com or bahnsen.com

Kim Shapira M.S., R.D. is a celebrity dietitian, nutritional therapist, and author, with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Tulane University and a Master’s degree in Human Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition from Boston University. Kim has spent over 25 years helping people lose weight and keep it off (with a giant emphasis on keeping it off), both in her private Los Angeles practice, in hospitals, sports clinics, addiction centers and universities. When she's not helping her clients take back their relationship with food, she is a wife and mother of three children and three pups. Kim often appears as a guest expert for Yahoo!, Just Jenny, Sky News, Vanity Fair, Pop Sugar, Podcasts, and will be happy to pop in and be a guest speaker for your book clubs.To learn more about Kim, you can find her on any social media platform, at kimshapiramethod.com or you can check out her book, "This Is What You're Really Hungry For," here.

Peggy Ployhar is the SPED Homeschool Founder & CEO, an organization that empowers families to home educate diverse learners. She is also the owner of Eternal Aerial Arts where she teaches aerial arts classes and coaches a student performance team. Peggy is a speaker, aerial performer, podcaster, author, breast cancer survivor, and 19-year retired homeschool veteran. She and her husband Doug live in League City, TX and enjoy paddle boarding, hiking, and camping in their classic Airstream.To learn more about Peggy, go to www.spedhomeschool.com

Paul Harding is the owner of Total EMF Solutions in Tucson, AZ. Total EMF Solutions started as a personal journey and a fight for his life. He experienced a complete breakdown in his sleep after a smart meter was installed on his bedroom wall in the beginning of 2011. After further research he found that smart meters produced frequencies on the home wiring and electric field correlated with those that are used to open the sodium and potassium ion channels. His symptoms began to abate once he started sleeping in an area with very low levels of exposure. Once he found relief, his focus in life became studying the source of the problem.To learn more about Paul, see www.totalemfsolutions.com If you are on the east coast, Paul mentioned contacting Dave Stetzer: https://www.stetzerelectric.com/about/ To find out if there are cell phone towers in your area, see: https://www.antennasearch.com/

Dr. Mike Van Thielen is a bestselling author on optimizing productivity and focus, a sought after speaker, and an entrepreneur who has owned several anti-aging clinics in central and northeast Florida. He was the CEO of an innovative stem cell clinic, treating top athletes including NFL players and heavyweight boxing champions. He is also a treating physician for Boston Neuro Pain and Psych Centers, helping tens of thousands of patients with chronic pain and mental health conditions.To learn more about Dr Mike, see biohackingunlimited.comYou can also find his latest book, The Izod Method, here: https://www.amazon.com/IZOD-MethodTM-Superpower-Productivity-Stress-Free/dp/B0BR9GJLK1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3K1QAJUQD4G4G&keywords=The+Izod+Method&qid=1702672674&sprefix=the+izod+method%2Caps%2C221&sr=8-1

Brant Hansen is a bestselling author, syndicated radio host and advocate for healing children with correctable disabilities through CURE International Children's Hospitals. His award-winning radio show, The Brant Hansen Show, airs on top stations in the U.S. and Canada. His podcast, The Brant and Sherri Oddcast, has been downloaded more than 15 million times. He has been named "Personality of the Year" multiple times by Christian Music Broadcasters and is called "Christian music's most beloved radio personality" by Christian Voice Magazine. Brant writes about varied topics related to faith, including masculinity in his book, The Men We Need, and forgiveness in Unoffendable, about which he was recently interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America. Brant’s new book, ‘Life is Hard, God is Good, Let’s Dance’, releases January 16.For Brant's book, see here; https://www.amazon.com/Life-Hard-Good-Lets-Dance-ebook/dp/B0BYYXTNQ2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1702662446&sr=8-1For more about CURE, go to cure.orgTo learn more about Brant, go to: branthansen.com

Sonia Gomez at AbundantAcres.com is focused on helping families design regenerative food systems, family compounds, and profit centers on their property to live healthy, happy, and free.Sonia Gomez has advocated for alternative health, has been a voice for freedom, and a community leader in alternative health education for the past 12 years. Recovering from a serious life-altering accident, Sonia discovered the secrets to eliminating synthetic medications and holistically rebuilding her health. Food was the first, and most important medicine.When Sonia isn't chasing rainbows and telling jokes, she is a wife and mom passionate about projects that are good for people and the planet.To learn more about Sonia, see http://soniagomez.tv and to learn more about Abundant Acres, see abundantacres.com

So far in this series, we've looked at prayers for ourselves, for which we must find the scriptures to stand on, we must have faith, and we must maintain our primary focus on the Lord. But how does this apply when we are praying for other people? We can't make others do or believe anything. God won't violate our free will, and we can't violate the free will of others in prayer, either. So how does this work?It depends upon the context.The default position is that we should be praying for all people at all times (1 Tim 2:1-6, Eph 6:18), as well as for the cities we live in (Jer 29:7). Just as for ourselves, this gives God "legal" entry into the affairs of men, so that He can intervene and do what He wants to do on the earth. The Old Testament priestly blessing was, “'The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace’” (Numbers 6:23-27). This was what God wanted to do for the children of Israel, and the priests were to invoke this, to give Him permission on earth to do it.In the New Testament, Jesus made this explicit in Matthew 16:19, and also in Matthew 18:18, when he said to his disciples, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." The spiritual realm is the greater reality compared to the physical. Paul tells us that "we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:18). We are to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7), using our position of authority in heavenly places through Jesus to change what we see here and conform it to the will of the Father in prayer.Some examples of effective prayer of one individual for others in scripture:

• In Job 42, God told Job to pray for his friends, so that God could forgive their sin rather than punish them for it (Job 42:8). Clearly this was already God's will, but God still told him to pray for it.
• In Numbers 11, the Israelites disobeyed God and triggered the 'cursing' side of the covenant laid out in the Torah, and consolidated in Deuteronomy 28. But when the people cried out to Moses, and Moses interceded to God for them, the curse stopped (Numbers 11:1-2). God needed a man to ask Him.
• In a similar story, Miriam disobeyed God and triggered the 'curse,' (which now no longer applies to us, thanks to Jesus!), and Moses had to pray for her to be healed as well (Numbers 12:13).
• Moses also interceded for the Israelites after the incident of the golden calf (Ex 32:31-32), so that they would not be destroyed.
• Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail, even before Peter denied him. Because of this, Jesus was confident that Peter would return to the disciples even after he'd stumbled (Luke 22:32). The faith involved was still Peter's, but somehow Jesus' prayer enabled Peter's faith to be revived.
• Paul believed that the prayers of his parishioners would occasion his deliverance, favor, and open doors of opportunity for him that might otherwise have been shut without them (Phil 1:19, 1:22, 2 Cor 1:11).
• Samuel the prophet acknowledged that it was actually a sin to fail to pray for his people. 1Sa 12:23 "Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way."

We pray for others, as individuals, for the same reason that we pray for ourselves: so that God can do what He wants to do on the earth.How does the prayer of agreement fit into this? Jesus said in Matthew 18:19: "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." Why do we need anybody else to agree with us; can't we simply ask and receive all on our own?I don't totally understand how this works, but I think it's similar to what Solomon said in Ecc 4:12: "a threefold cord is not quickly broken," or to the story of Aaron and Hur physically holding up Moses' arms when he got tired, to ensure that the Israelites achieved victory in battle (Ex 17:8-16). It's why we need the body of Christ to come around us, to bear one anothers' (crushing) burdens, even though we should each carry our own (light) loads (Gal 6:2, 5). It's very possible for one person alone to grow heartsick rather than patient in a long wait (Prov 13:12); that's why we need others to "hold up our arms" in prayer and encouragement. When our own faith is strong, perhaps (this is my speculation), the prayer of agreement is less necessary. It's when we are losing strength or growing heartsick, that the prayer of agreement becomes important.This may be why James tells us that if we're sick, we should ask the elders of the church to anoint us with oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit) and pray over us, to receive healing (James 5:14). The assumption is that the church elders are strong in faith, as they should be. The request itself would constitute an act of faith on the part of the person asking; the elders in this example would simply be in agreement. There are many examples of people receiving healing on their own faith alone (Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19, Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 10:46-52), so this isn't always necessary--but sometimes it is. When we are weak, God gave us each other, so that others who aren't as weak, frustrated, or discouraged as we are can join their faith with ours, and "hold up our arms," when they would otherwise fall. When the father of the demonized boy asked Jesus if He could help the boy, Jesus replied that all things are possible when one has faith (Mark 9:23). The father claimed to have faith, but then immediately cried out "Help me believe!" Jesus did not rebuke him for this, but gave him the help requested--and did heal the boy.The prayer of agreement doesn't always have to come into play in a place of weakness, though. This may also be the positive side to what God observed of the people who built the Tower of Babel: "indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them" (Gen 11:6). In other words, this is just a principle of the way God set up the world, and in itself, the law is neutral: if one has power, the combined strength of many is exponentially more so. As Moses wrote of the Israelites in Lev 26:8: "Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight." When we're around others who are strong, we become that much stronger ourselves. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17). I suspect this is also why we are admonished to not forsake assembling together with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). The assumption is that we are assembling with those who are in agreement. Our stronger faith strengthens those with a weak faith in a particular area, while our weaker faith is strengthened by others whose faith is stronger in another area in turn.But this also works in reverse--if those around you are not in faith, it's more likely that they will influence you with their unbelief than that you will influence them with your faith (Gal 5:9, 1 Cor 15:33). (So don't approach just anybody for agreement in prayer; be sure you are agreeing on the right things!)There is one exception to the rule of intercession, and it falls under the category of church discipline.In Matthew 18:18, when Jesus said, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven," He was talking about church discipline. He also said in John 20:23, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Since scripture elsewhere makes it quite clear that only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21), this must mean something different. We know that there are both spiritual and natural consequences for sins; Jesus took the sins of the whole world and paid for them on the cross from a spiritual standpoint (1 John 2:2), but we each must appropriate that to ourselves by faith in Him (Romans 10:9). Regardless, that covers only the spiritual consequences; the natural consequences remain, as sin can still give "place" in our lives to Satan (Eph 4:27), allowing him to influence us rather than the Holy Spirit. So the only thing that makes sense is that when Jesus spoke of binding and loosing, remitting or retaining the sins of others, He meant that when we sin, we're giving Satan an inroad into our lives--but through prayer, we can 'bind' Satan from bringing the natural consequences of others' sins against them.So while another person may continue to choose to sin, and we can't make them do otherwise, we can use our prayers to protect them from the consequences of those sins. That is a good idea only to a point, though. Negative consequences for our actions teach us not to do something bad in the future. Touch a hot stove, and you'll burn your hand, and learn never to do that again. Overdraw your account, and you'll have no money for things when you truly need them, etc. But if someone else rescues you from the consequences of your poor choices (or from the law of sowing and reaping, Galatians 6:7) repeatedly, you'll never learn to do anything differently, and will continue to make the same poor choices. You'll never grow up. That's why in 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul wrote of church members engaging in sexual immorality, "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." They deliver him to Satan by withdrawing their intercessory prayers to protect him from the natural consequences of his actions. Paul recommended this same course of action against blasphemers in 1 Tim 1:19-20. We see in 2 Cor 2:6-11 that this had its intended effect: some of those who were sinning repented, and Paul instructed the church to them receive him back into fellowship, so that Satan would not be able take advantage of the situation. Only if the person does not repent, are we to "retain" their sins unto them (John 20:23)--which is the same as turning them over to Satan (1 Cor 5:5). The hope is that they will eventually learn from the natural consequences of their choices, and come back to the Lord and into fellowship. Our free will allows us to make our choices, but we can't always choose the results of those choices.The implication here is that if we don't pray for others' protection against Satan's attacks, out of laziness rather than a deliberate choice, we are essentially turning them over to Satan. Neglecting intercessory prayer should be the exception, and not the rule.

Dr Jacob Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and nationally known expert in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sleep and pain. He has authored numerous books including the best-selling From Fatigued to Fantastic! (now in its 4th edition). He is the lead author of numerous studies on effective treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and one study on effective treatment of autism using NAET. He also developed the popular free smartphone app “Cures A-Z.” Dr. T lives in Kona, Hawaii.To learn more about Dr T, you can email him at fatiguedoc@gmail.com or see vitality101.com or endfatigue.com

Ed Welch (MDiv and PhD) is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Ed has been counseling for over forty years and has written numerous books on the topics of depression, fear and addictions. Most recently, he was a major contributor to the new Life Counsel Bible from Holman Bibles and New Growth Press.To learn more about Ed, see ccef.org For the Life Counsel Bible, see here: https://lifecounselbible.com/

A final caveat in scripture to this is that we must have our priorities straight. Jesus said in His sermon on the Mount, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt 6:33). Jesus repeated the same concept in His last instructions to the disciples: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit" (John 15:7-8). The precondition is that we must be seeking first the Kingdom, and abiding in Him. That way, the things we're asking for in prayer will be God's will for us, and they also won't be more important to us than He is. Any good thing can become toxic, if it becomes an obsession. (This is the foundation of all addictions--all of them take something originally intended to be a blessing, and twist it into a tyrant which ultimately enslaves us. Money is to be shared for good works and kingdom purposes, 1 Tim 6:18; but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, 1 Tim 6:10. Wine is a blessing to gladden men's hearts, Psalm 104:15, but drunkenness is warned against, Gal 5:21. Etc.) So in the same way, even if something is promised in scripture, it's unhealthy to fixate on that to the point that it becomes an obsession that enslaves us. Also, such a state is essentially synonymous with fear that we won't get the thing we so desperately want--and "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). This is important when it comes to receiving what we ask for in prayer, because "faith works through love" (Gal 5:6). The opposite of fear is both faith and love, which go together. If we shift our focus from the thing we're begging to receive to the perfect love of the Father, peace comes, and our priorities will straighten themselves out, with no direct effort from us.

Dr Gerald Pollack maintains an active laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of WATER: A Multidisciplinary Research Journal; Executive Director of the Institute for Venture Science; co-founder of 4th-Phase Inc.; and founder of the Annual Conference on the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology of Water. He has received numerous honors including: the Prigogine Medal for Thermodynamics; the University of Washington Annual Faculty Lecturer; the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award; and the 1st Emoto Peace Prize. He is recognized internationally as an accomplished speaker and author.To learn more about Dr Pollack, visit his website at https://www.pollacklab.org/ or you can pick up a copy of "The Fourth Phase of Water" here: https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Phase-Water-Beyond-Liquid-ebook/dp/B00N2ASKF2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1699652878&sr=8-1

Another caveat in scripture is that we must ask in faith (Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24) without wavering (James 1:5-7).But how do you make yourself believe something? Isn't that kind of like trying to make yourself fall asleep when you're awake at 3 am: the harder you try, the more elusive it becomes?The Bible addresses this question with the biblical concept of hope. Hope is to faith what a seed is to a plant. If you plant that seed in good soil, and you don't dig it up before it can germinate, and you water it and cultivate it and give it plenty of sunlight, eventually a plant will result. Hope is the positive side of imagination (more on how the Bible says you can get this to work in your favor in the podcast, The Power of Imagination https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/the-power-of-imagination/). Another reason why some of us might struggle with believing we receive when we pray has to do with a sense of unworthiness. 1 John 3:19-23 tells us, "And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."The concept here is that, while our consciences serve a good purpose, they are not infallible. It's possible for our hearts to condemn us falsely, which is why John says, "God is greater than our hearts." His word tells us that Jesus bore all our condemnation (Romans 8:1), and gave us His righteousness in exchange. We are now in right standing with God, and we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). But if we don't believe that we are in right standing with God, if our conscience condemns us, it will shipwreck our faith (1 Timothy 1:19). We won't come boldly to the throne of grace. That's why we have to renew our minds with what God says about us, so that our consciences will no longer contradict the truth of who we are and what we have in Christ (Hebrews 10:22). At the end of Jesus' ministry, He said, "In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete," John 16:23-24. I know of two scriptural ways to interpret the idea of asking the Father in Jesus' name. One is the concept that, because we are in Christ and we are joint heirs with Him, everything that is His has now become ours (Eph 1:17-19). It's as if He's given us His "power of attorney": when we make a request of the Father, to God, it's just as if Jesus Himself had asked. We already have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Eph 1:3, 17-19). That's like having money in the bank; it might all be there waiting for you, but you can't access it unless you make a withdrawal. It's Jesus' account, but we can use His name, and thus gain access to everything that's His. He gave us permission to do that. He told us to do that. It has nothing to do with how good or holy we are, and everything to do with how good and holy He is.The other way to think about praying in Jesus' name is to consider the meanings of all of the various names of God. Throughout the Old Testament, whenever God revealed a new aspect of His character, He received, or He gave Himself, a new name. These included Jehovah Nissi (the Lord My Banner), Jehovah Rapha (the Lord that Heals), Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord my Righteousness), Jehovah Jireh (the Lord who Provides), and many more. Since Jesus is One with the Father and only did what He saw His father doing (John 5:19, 5:30, 8:28, 12:49), we can infer that the Father's names apply to Jesus, as well--so anything that is in one of His names is ours.

Brad & Starla Walker have 8 kids and live on their 15 acre homestead in Southern Indiana, just outside of Louisville, KY. There they garden, raise livestock, homeschool their children, and operate their family business, Abby’s Elderberry. They have personally experienced the benefits of elderberry for years and jumped at the opportunity to take ownership of Abby’s in late 2022. Since that time, they have shipped their products to 48 states and have about 20 retail locations to date.To check out Abby's, see https://abbyselderberry.com/You can also follow Brad and Starla's podcast, The Fruitful Family Podcast on any podcast player or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9WSfaFiQDqIGO27mq1yYIg

Why Pray?We live in a fallen world where bad, evil things happen -- and they are not God's fault (more on how this fits in with the concept of biblical sovereignty in the podcast called "Why Bad Things Happen from a Biblical Perspective": https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/why-bad-things-happen-from-a-biblical-perspective/).The bottom line is that we are now in enemy-occupied territory. Jesus conquered the enemy when He rose from the dead, taking the keys of Hades with Him (Rev 1:18), but He hasn't yet taken possession of the earth He won back, because "He is not slow concerning His promises, as some count slowness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (1 Peter 3:9).So it's still the case that because God gave the earth to men, He cannot legally intervene Himself without a man on the inside. He needs a human to invite Him to intervene, just like a landlord can't just enter a property he's leased to someone else without an explicit invitation.Yet God wants us to bring His kingdom and His will on earth. This is why Jesus included "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" in His template prayer when the disciples asked him to teach them to pray (Matt 6:9-13). Prayer is the only way God can intervene on earth legally. That is why prayer is so important.How and What to PrayJesus' model prayer teaches us the components and structure of a good prayer. It gives us the principles."Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name" -- so we start with praise, with how big and awesome God is, before we ever say anything about our problem (https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/effects-of-praise/)."Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This is the very next broad-strokes recommendation: prayer is about letting God do what He wants to do in the earth, but He needs us to partner with Him in order to do it."Give us this day our daily bread." This is the specifics of the above as they pertain to you. Later in that same chapter, Jesus made the point that if you keep your focus on His kingdom, He'll just take care of these little details of what you need anyway (Matt 6:33)."And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." I think Jesus included the request of forgiveness because He was still teaching the disciples at the tail end of the Old Covenant. We don't have to pray this part anymore--Jesus died for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). But we are still to forgive others their sins against us (https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/how-to-forgive-pastor-david-peterson/)."And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Putting this together with what James says in James 1:13-15, God doesn't tempt us, but when we are tempted, it's our own desires that entice and lead us away to sin and death. Paul also tells us that when this happens, God will make a way of escape (1 Cor 10:13). But it's up to us to take it (James 4:7), with God's help."For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." This template prayer starts and ends with praise (https://www.naturecurefamilyhealth.com/effects-of-praise/), because that is the attitude of faith--focusing on how big and magnificent God is, rather than on the size of our problems. Later in His ministry, Jesus clarified,"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them" (Mark 11:23-24).That's the key to powerful, effective prayer--believe first, and then receive. Scripture qualifies this promise elsewhere--you can't "name and claim" just anything in prayer using this verse. James tells us that if we ask and we do not receive, it might be because "you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3). John tells us, "And this is the confidence we have in Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we asked of Him," (1 John 5:14-15).Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The scriptures with the promise for what you are believing for are your seeds (Matt 13:18-23). They tell you what God wants for you, for those you love, and for the world around you. Your part is to hear that word, and ask and believe God for it. In so doing, you're planting it in your heart. Then, you have to make sure that little seed is well-tended and cared for, and isn't choked out by "the cares of the world or the deceitfulness of riches." If you "keep it in the midst of your heart," then it will become "life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh" (Prov 4:22).If you can find the promise in scripture for what you're asking for, then you don't have to beg God to give it to you; in the Spirit realm, it's already yours (Eph 1:3), just waiting for you to claim it, like an escrow. That's why you can have faith that it's coming--but you do have to ask first (Matthew 7:8, James 4:2).Paul taught this same pattern for prayer in Phil 4:4-8. He writes, " Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!... Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." We start with rejoicing, end with thanksgiving, and keep our minds stayed on the positive hope of the promise(s) we're believing for.

Dr Jacob Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and nationally known expert in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sleep and pain. He has authored numerous books including the best-selling From Fatigued to Fantastic! (now in its 4th edition). He is the lead author of numerous studies on effective treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and one study on effective treatment of autism using NAET. He also developed the popular free smartphone app "Cures A-Z." Dr. T lives in Kona, Hawaii.To learn more about Dr T, you can email him at fatiguedoc@gmail.com or see vitality101.com or endfatigue.com

• His love is everlasting.
  • Isaiah 49:15-16: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands"
  • Isaiah 54:10: "For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you."
  • Jer 31:3 "The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
  • Psalm 136:26: "Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
  • Deut 7:9: "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”
  • Psalm 36:7: "How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
  • Psalm 52:8: "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”
  • 2 Thess 3:5: "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
  • Psalm 63:3 "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”
  • Psalm 103:8, 11, 17 "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him… from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him.”
  • Psalm 48:9 "We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.”
  • Lamentations 3:22-23: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
  • Exodus 34:6 "The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”
  • Psalm 36:5 "Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.”
  • 2 Chronicles 6:14: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.”
  • Psalm 86:15: "But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
  • 2 Thess 2:16: "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."
• Nothing can separate us from His love because the Holy Spirit is the one who pours it into us and He will manifest himself to us.
  • Romans 5:5: "And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
  • Romans 8:37-39 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  • John 14:21 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
• He knows us intimately.
  • Psalm 139:1-18: "Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all.You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot comprehend it. Where can I go from Your Spirit Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me,And Your right hand will take hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You When I was made in secret, And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;Your eyes have seen my formless substance; And in Your book were written All the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You."
• We are his children because we believe in Jesus.
  • 1 John 3:1 "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
  • John 16:27 "For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."
• All the love that we have comes from Him.
  • 1 John 4:19: "We love because he first loved us.”
  • 1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
• Love is who He is and He abounds in it.
  • Psalm 86:15 "But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
  • 1 John 4:16: "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
  • Eph 2:4: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us"
  • Eph 3:17-19: "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
• We know He loved us because He sacrificed himself for us.
  • Gal 2:20: “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
  • John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
  • Romans 5:8: "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
  • Eph 2:4-5: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”
  • John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
  • 1 John 4:9-10 "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
  • Titus 3:4-5: "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit"
• When we understand His love and abide in it, we will not fear.
  • 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
  • Galatians 5:6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love."
  • Isaiah 41:13: "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
  • Luke 12:7 “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
  • Deut 33:12: "Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields them all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”
  • 1 Pet 5:7 “...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
  • John 15:9: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.”
• God has good plans for us and delights over us with singing.
  • Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
  • Zeph 3:17 "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
  • Psalm 139:17-18: “How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand.”

Dr Ardeshir Mehran is a psychologist, behavioral researcher, business leader, and leadership coach with a doctorate and masters from Columbia University. He is a keynote speaker, a marathon runner, and the author of the book, “You Are Not Depressed; You Are Unfinished.”For thirty years, he has been on a quest to pinpoint what depression and anxiety actually are, why they persist, and why executives and high archivers have such high levels of depression and anxiety. His science-based work shows how to “use” depression and anxiety to live a soaring life instead of allowing them to use you.He lives in The Bay Area/San Francisco with his family.To learn more about Dr Mehran, see www.humanworkstudio.com You can get his book, “You Are Not Depressed; You Are Unfinished," here.

When we think of meditation, a lot of us think of chanting and things affiliated with other religions--but at its core, that's not what it is. Meditation can simply be calming the mind by disciplined focus on some external stimulus, like your breath, your heart, or the ambient sounds around you... and if your mind is scattered and flitting from topic to topic, there is certainly great physiologic value in this, as it will get you out of "fight or flight" and into the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state. Also, if your mind is too loud, it makes it all but impossible for you to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit--so quieting your mind through this form of meditation is valuable for that reason as well.Biblically, though, meditation is more than just quieting your "monkey brain." That just gets you back to neutral. Rather, biblical meditation involves focused thought upon an idea long enough for you to get a picture in your mind of what you're contemplating. We all do this all the time; it's just a matter of what we're thinking about. Andrew Wommack likes to say that if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Worry is meditation upon something negative. Paul tells us what we should be meditating on in Philippians 4:8: "whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."The reason this is so important is because scripture tells us that our thoughts determine what we believe, just like planting seeds will determine what kind of harvest we get. Proverbs 23:7 says, "for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." We can act contrary to what we truly believe for a short period of time, but what we think in our hearts is who we really are, and it will come out eventually. This is why Jesus said that the most important parable He ever taught was the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3-23). In the parable, the "seed" is the Word of God, and soil is the hearts of the listeners. It's the state of the soil which determines how well that seed will grow and produce a harvest. There are other possible seeds besides God's word, though--in the parable, there were thorns and tares in one type of soil, too. Jesus later defines these for us as "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" (Matt 13:22), which can choke the Word such that it becomes unfruitful. Those sound like typical sources of worry to me.Think of thoughts in general--any type of thought--as a potential seed that can eventually bear a harvest if you plant it and cultivate it (or meditate upon it until you can see it in your mind). A stray thought here or there can't do this any more than a seed can without the right environment for it to grow--which is why we're told in scripture to take our thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5). Think of this like weeding the 'garden' of your heart. If you don't want the harvest, then pluck up the plant before it can bear fruit--or, better yet, avoid exposing yourself to the seed in the first place, if you can control it. This isn't always possible, but we can choose what we watch, what we listen to, what kind of church we go to (one that preaches faith or unbelief), and what kind of people we spend time with. "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33)--so if you surround yourself with people who are negative, complaining, undisciplined, or any other negative character trait, most likely it'll rub off on you eventually. Those people influence how you think, and unwittingly this plants "seeds" in your heart that will eventually bear a harvest, if they are allowed to do so.It takes discipline to control our imaginations, of course. Just like the Second Law of Thermodynamics describes entropy in the universe (which means that left to themselves, all systems go from order to disorder), so the tremendous power available in our minds will accomplish nothing if we don't focus it appropriately. Worse, if we use our imaginations for an actively destructive purpose like worrying, we might end up with exactly what we're essentially "believing" for. A medical example of this is the placebo versus the nocebo effect: about 30% of people (probably those who are most "suggest-able") in clinical trials will typically get better even if they're given a sugar pill rather than the actual medication being tested, because they believe it will help them. Their minds make it work. The nocebo is the same principle in reverse: if you believe something will make you worse, it very well might, even if the substance itself is neutral.This is the whole concept behind affirmations, or positive confessions: say something long or often enough, and eventually it'll sink down into your subconscious mind, and you'll start to believe it--even if you don't at first. Not what we superficially say, but what we truly believe, determines how we will act. Other religions and spiritual traditions jump onto this too, in books like "The Secret"--because it's a neutral principle which can work for us or against us. It's just part of the way God set up the world. In Genesis 11:6, speaking of the Tower of Babel, God says, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, now nothing they imagine to do will be impossible for them." This was a negative story, but it illustrates the principle as God made it. Jesus said the same thing on the flip side when the disciples were amazed that the fig tree withered when he cursed it: "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11:23-24). When I was a kid, I read this verse, took it at face value, and commanded the mountain outside my bedroom window to be cast into the sea. Nothing happened, of course... but I also didn't expect anything to happen. That's the 'caveat'--you have to actually believe what you're saying, like Jesus did.And that's why it's so important for you to "guard your heart with all diligence"--because out of it literally "spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:20-23). But not immediately; as with any plant, harvests come "first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head" (Mark 4:28). Gardening is hard work; you have to constantly plant not just what you want, but you have to prepare the soil, water the seed, and pluck up competing weeds that might steal the nutrients from your fledgling little plant and choke it. It's just like that with our minds. That's why biblical meditation--using a positive imagination to picture what we want, to visualize God's promises coming to pass--is so important.Here's an overview of some of the Hebrew and Greek words in scripture translated to meditate (or to imagine, speak, ponder, etc), their context, and how they help to back up this idea.

• HAGAH: meaning to meditate, speak, imagine, study, mutter, utter, muse, devise
  • Joshua 1:8: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate H1897 therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
    • Notice that God didn't tell Joshua to just read the book of the law. He told him to meditate on it day and night, to the point where it's coming out of his mouth continually. That's what was required for him to truly follow what was written. That's what was necessary for him to prosper and have success.
  • Psalm 1:2-3: "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate H1897 day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."
    • These are the results of meditating on God's word... versus:
  • Psalm 2:1: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine H1897 a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.' He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision..."
    • The ungodly use this same principle of meditation to produce evil. This psalm shows that it won't ultimately work for them, but only because God will step in in the end, just as He did at the flood when the imaginations of men's hearts were only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5) and then when the men of the repopulated earth tried to build the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:6). Psalm 2 looks ahead to when God will step in again, as described in the book of Revelation.
  • Psalm 35:28: "And my tongue shall speak H1897 of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long."
  • Psalm 63:6: "When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate H1897 on thee in the night watches."
  • Psalm 71:24: "My tongue also shall talk H1897 of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt."
  • Psalm 77:12: "I will meditate H1897 also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings."
  • Psalm 143:5: "I remember the days of old; I meditate H1897 on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands."
    • Consider the fact that the man who wrote these psalms started out a shepherd boy, the youngest of his brothers and some speculate that he was even illegitimate--and he became the greatest king Israel ever had, to the point where the Messiah was called by his name, "Son of David" (Luke 18:38). And much of what we know about meditation comes from him.
  • Psalm 38:12: "They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine H1897 deceits all the day long."
    • And yet, David knew that his enemies were using this same principle against him. He spent some 13-17 years on the run from these enemies (we don't know how old he was when he was anointed king, so we don't know exactly how long). It certainly looked to him like they were winning for quite awhile. Fortunately, David persisted in envisioning and trusting and believing in God's promises coming to pass, even when everything seemed to be against him, and circumstances went from bad to much worse. In 1 Samuel 30:1-6, David had finally fled with his men out of Israel altogether, and was dwelling in the land of his enemies, when their city (Ziklag) was burned to the ground, their wives and children and everything they had stolen, and his men turned on him and spoke of stoning him. The natural human response to this would have been to give in to emotions of despair, but instead David "strengthened himself in the Lord" (1 Sam 30:6). You know that this took incredible discipline on his part, to fix his thoughts on what God said and not his current circumstances. Some believe that David encouraged himself by writing Psalm 61 after Ziklag was burned. The result was that not only did David and his men recover everything that was taken from them, but within days, he was crowned king--at long, long last.
  • Prov 15:28: "The heart of the righteous studieth H1897 to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things."
    • Back to the idea of entropy: cultivating our minds to produce righteousness, wisdom, and a positive imagination doesn't just happen. We have to study. We have to do this work. This is the process of being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
  • Prov 24:1-2: "Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them; For their heart studieth H1897 destruction, and their lips talk of mischief."
    • The point here is that while the righteous studies wisdom and godly principles, the wicked are doing just the opposite. They too will reap what they sow (Gal 6:7).
• YETSER: imagination, form, framing, purpose, conception.
  • Genesis 6:5: "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination H3336 of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
  • Genesis 8:21: "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination H3336 of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."
  • Deut 31:19-21: "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination H3336 which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware."
    • God knew long before the Israelites ever disobeyed Him that they would disobey. You can argue that this is because God is omniscient and knows the end from the beginning, and that's certainly true too--but this verse shows that God knew it (at least in part) because he could see what they were imagining. He knew their thoughts would determine their actions. This is exactly what happened in Numbers 13, when the Israelites sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land. God had promised to give them the land, but the spies returned with a "negative report". It wasn't an untrue report, mind you--the spies reported that the land was full of giants, and it was. Only Joshua and Caleb recognized that while true, that fact was irrelevant. What they should have been focused upon was God's promise that He would give the land to them, regardless of its current inhabitants. But the ten spies' negative report produced fear in the hearts of the people, and that entire generation never got to experience God's intended blessing for them. They died in the wilderness--all except for Joshua, who became the leader after Moses, and actually led the people in forty years later, and Caleb, who at eighty-five years old, was just as strong as he'd been in his forties (Joshua 14:11). He took the mountain of Hebron where the most intimidating Canaanites lived for his inheritance (Joshua 14:6-15).
  • Psalm 103:14: "For he knoweth our frame; H3336 he remembereth that we are dust."
    • The word 'frame' is also the word elsewhere translated meditation or thoughts, so it's not speaking just of the physical frame. The context here is speaking of our sins, and God's compassion upon us for our weakness. In other words, none of this is easy. God knows that. He pities us and has compassion upon us.
  • Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind H3336 is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
    • I love this verse. It gives us the recipe for peace. "Perfect peace" in Hebrew is actually shalom shalom shalom: the word for peace written three times. The translators presumably didn't know how else to translate that but "perfect." David modeled this for us at Ziklag, intentionally turning his mind to the Lord. Jesus modeled this for us when sleeping on the boat in the middle of the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Abraham modeled this for us when he kept his mind on God's promise of a child and not the impossibility of his and Sarah's circumstances (Romans 4:18-22). It's not easy, but the result is shalom shalom shalom.

• SIYACH: meditate, seek, pray, commune, muse, ponder.
  • 1 Chronicles 16:9: "Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk H7878 ye of all his wondrous works."
  • Psalm 77:6: "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune H7878 with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search."
  • Psalm77:12: "I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk H7878 of thy doings."
  • Psalm 105:2: "Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk H7878 ye of all his wondrous works."
  • Psalm 119:15: "I will meditate H7878 in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways." (and repeatedly throughout Psalm 119)
  • Proverbs 23:7: "for as he thinks in his heart, so is he."
• Hope
• YAHAL: wait, tarry, trust, hope, be patient. Hope can be considered positive imagination. It's the precursor for faith (Hebrews 11:1).
  • Romans 8:24-25: "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
  • Psalm 42:5: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."

• Greek dianoia = mind, understanding, imagination
  • This is a command. It's not merely talking about intellectual study, though of course that's part of it. What starts out as an intellectual exercise eventually becomes the mental picture of what we see on the inside.
  • Matthew 22:37: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
  • Eph 1:18: "The eyes of your understanding G1271 being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints"
  • Eph 4:18: "Having the understanding G1271 darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart"
  • Col 1:21: "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind G1271 by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled."
  • Heb 8:10: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, G1271 and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people"
  • 1 Peter 1:13: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, G1271 be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"

• Greek logismos: thought, imagination, reasoning, judgment
  • "Casting down imaginations, G3053 and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"
• A few more examples of this principle in action:
  • Genesis 13:16: God showed Abram the dust of the earth as a symbol of his descendants, and the land of Canaan that would be filled with them.
  • Genesis 15:5: God showed Abram the stars as a picture of his descendants
  • Mark 6:41: before feeding the 5000 with five loaves and two fish, Jesus looks up (ANABLEPO), seeing into the unseen realm, and gives thanks. (2 Cor 5:7: we walk by faith, not by sight... and this works because that's where all the spiritual blessings already exist (Eph 1:3).

Jack Dell’Accio, CEO & Founder of Essentia, has been focused on analyzing sleep for over 20 years! Of most importance to Jack is the impact of restorative sleep in terms of recovery from disease, prevention of disease, longevity, and performance. Jack has worked with some of the world's top athletes to optimize their recovery and performance. Through the years, he has worked directly with health gurus, professional athletes and teams in the NBA, NFL, MLS, and over 25% of active NHL players on creating healthy sleep performance. Essentia’s organic mattress has been recognized by several internationally renowned organizations including the Mayo Clinic’s Well Living Lab. Essentia has been named the #1 foam mattress by Consumer Reports for 7 consecutive years. Now, Jack is proud to present the results of a double-blind sleep study of professional athletes which proves Essentia can extend the time spent in REM and Deep Sleep cycles by 20% to 60%!To learn more about Jack and Essentia, see myessentia.com

Nate Birner graduated from Michigan Lutheran Seminary in 2003, and has been fitness coaching since 2005. He left the church entirely for most of his career in fitness. Multiple (and sometimes traumatic) injuries and surgeries slowly revealed to Nate that he had made fitness into an idol in his life. Now he has a more balanced approach to health and fitness, and owns a strength training gym in Cedar Park TX called Fit Goal Culture. Nate is using his new book, "God's Fingerprint on Fitness,” to encourage Christians struggling with their health and weight to take steps towards fitness, and to encourage fitness enthusiasts and coaches to lead their clients to take steps toward a deeper relationship with God.To learn more about Nate, see natebiner.com, where you can also download the first chapter of the book. You can also follow him @natebirner on Instagram.

Dr. Afton L. Hassett is an Associate Professor and Director of Pain and Opioid Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan. She is a principal investigator at the Chronic Pain & Fatigue Research Center who has over $14M of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Viewed as a leader in the field of chronic pain and resilience, she recently gave the Keynote address at the 2023 Pain Consortium Symposium on Advances in Pain Research for the NIH. While studying established treatments for chronic pain and developing new approaches is her passion, her frustration is that exciting research discoveries rarely make it to the people who could benefit the most. Thus, Afton’s mission was to write Chronic Pain Reset to bring evidence-based strategies from research and academic medical settings directly to people who live with chronic pain with the hope that they will gain new tools to lead more rewarding lives with less pain.To learn more about Dr Hassett, see aftonhassett.com You can get her book, Chronic Pain Reset, here.

• How to deal with stressful situations: pray and then let God's peace rule:
  • Pray and thank God for the answer in advance, and you will have peace: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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." Philippians 4:6-7
  • Col 3:15: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
  • 2 Thess 3:16: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you."
  • Fearing circumstances is not from God: 2 Tim 1:7: "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid (give us a spirit of fear), but gives us power, love and self-discipline."
• If you are weary, let God refresh you:
  • "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
  • Matthew 11:28-30: "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.”
• Hope, faith, and trust which comes from love are antidotes to fear:
  • Believe you have it before you pray: Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."
  • When you understand His perfect love, you will trust: 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
  • Luke 1:37: "For no word from God will ever fail."
  • Psalm 56:3: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
  • Isaiah 40:31: "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
  • "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." John 14:1
  • "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27
• God delivers from fear and rescues from the trouble that besets you:
  • Psalm 55:22: "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken."
  • If you trust, you will flourish no matter the circumstances: Jeremiah 17:7-8: “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
  • Heb 13:5-6: 'God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”'
  • Psalm 34:4: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."
  • Psalm 34:17: "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles."
  • "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
  • Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
  • Isaiah 35:4: "say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”"
  • Psalm 23:4-6: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."
  • "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." Psalm 94:19
  • "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8
  • Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
• God will meet your needs as you seek Him:
  • "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?" Matthew 6:25
  • "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!" Luke 12:24
  • "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34