God in control – Westchester Men's Ministry

Do You Know Who God Is?! May Our Eyes be Open

November 27, 2012 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

Today is day 16 of our 40 day challenge, how have you been doing? Why not write a comment here or tell us on our Facebook page. You can find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NYMensministry

God had been reminding me about Himself, that is who He is, and that He is trustworthy. I thought I would share this below, recent journal entry. I hope it blesses you!

God is in Control – Trust God, Follow Him

“Peter … said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘… what is that to you? You follow Me'” – John 21:21-22

“My eyes are on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me…” – Psalm 101:6

“Then the angel showed me the river of life rising from the throne of God and the lamb, and flowing crystal-clear. Down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are cure for the nations. The curse of destruction will be abolished.” – Revelations 22:1-3

Heaven, River of Life, Trees of Life, Revelations 22, Revelations 22:1-3

manualoflife.com

River of life is rising from the throne – Life originates from God
The water is crystal-clear, that is absolutely no imperfections
Abundant crops – twelve a year! Signifying God’s abundance!
Curse abolished – no destruction, satan has been destroyed
Tree of life – instead of being associated with the first sin, it is now the cure for all nations

Hymn – Open My Eyes that I May See – Clara Scott

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of the truth you have for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that will unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, My God, your will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear
Voices of truth you send me clear;
And while the wave notes fall on my ear,
Everything false will disappear,
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, your will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

Open my mouth and let me bear
Gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart and let me prepare
Love with your children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, your will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit Divine!

(Judgement on Judah)

“And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sack cloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'” – Isaiah 22:12-13

Lord, I ask that You open my eyes, as you did John’s in his writing of Revelations. May I not look at others to judge or to prevent your Your will but seek Your will for me! May I be sad and repent when I grieve You. May I celebrate when You are happy. May my life be a tree of life, supplied and nurtured by You, and a blessing to all that see, taste and are touched by it. May I be silent and humble before You. May I be ready to hear You and to act in Your name. May I be a joy to You. May Your eyes ever be on me.

In Jesus’ very precious name. Amen

Do You Know Who God Is?! May Our Eyes be Open by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://nymensministry.com.

Filed Under: Bible Study, communing with God, daily office, divine office, God in control, Heaven, Prayer, Salvation Tagged With: abundant crops, bible study, Christianity, Clara Scott, Curse Abolished, faith, Follow Him, God, god is in control, God's will, Jesus, Judgement on Judah, Open My Eyes That I may See, Revelations 22, Revelations 22:1-3, Rising from the Throne, River of Life, Tree of Life, Trust God, voices of truth

Is Anxiety a Sin?

October 30, 2012 by nymensministry 13 Comments

I struggle with anxiety. I guess this isn’t too hard to admit here, since many of you don’t know my name. My guess is that I’m not the only Christian that does. According to recent statistics about 18% of people over 18 suffer from some form of anxiety. That’s about 40 million adults in the US. Actually, anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem in America, surpassing even depression in numbers. So, I’m clearly not alone.

Embarrassed by Anxiety

That said, once my anxiety became a true problem a few years ago, I started to also feel guilty. I thought, if I had more faith, I wouldn’t be anxious. I felt that my anxiety was a verdict on the state of my walk with God. It took me a long time to realize that this might not be true.

I read all the scriptures that said we should “be anxious for nothing…” (Phil 4:6) but trust in the Lord who is sovereign. I tried – but I remained anxious. Through this experience I realized two things:

God is very compassionate, in scripture, to those that are anxious
Although we are to trust God there are practical things we can do

God is Compassionate to the Anxious Christian

I believe the Bible speaks about anxiety so much because it is one of satan’s tools and God knows that it can cripple us. (Bible versus on anxiety: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/anxiety.html).

“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” – Romans 8:26

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” 1 Peter 5:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” – Philippians 4:6-7

Scripture doesn’t condemn anxiety, it seems to compassionately try to help you avoid it and overcome it. This is an important difference. I don’t believe anxiety is a sin, still God doesn’t desire us to be anxious. He wants us to turn to Him in everything and trust him.

Actually, it is interesting that many famous Christians have suffered from anxiety including Abraham Lincoln, Rick Warren, John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress) and even Charles Spurgeon (known as the ‘Prince of Preachers’) may have struggled with it. They all had a huge impact and therefore anxiety doesn’t need to stop us.

Practical Solutions to Anxiety

God says that we should trust him with our finances but that doesn’t mean we don’t create a budget. He tells us that He will always be with us, but that doesn’t mean we should haphazardly walk through a terrible area of town. Likewise, there are practical things we can do, and avoid when it comes to anxiety.

Please note, there are many reasons for anxiety and sometimes professional help and medication is the best answer. What I’ve found is that I need to know what I’m trusting God for, and therefore thinking through and journaling about it helps.

In our next blog, we are going to go through two tools. A simple breathing exercise and what is called cognitive restructuring which is closely linked to journaling but with a focus on dealing with the anxiety of the moment. Look for this blog on Thursday, November 1st

Let us know your thoughts; does this subject resonate with you? Have you felt guilty because of anxiety? What has helped you to overcome your anxiety? We want to hear what you have to say!

God bless

Is Anxiety a Sin? by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at https://nymensministry.com/2012/10/30/is-anxiety-a-sin/.

Filed Under: anxiety, depression, Faith, God in control Tagged With: anxiety, anxious, faith, fear, God, hope, practical solutions, remedy, sin, stress, worry

Why You Can’t Predict the End of the World

May 21, 2011 by nymensministry Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Christian, Christianity, Discernment, God in control

Mondays with Dad

November 24, 2010 by nymensministry 1 Comment

My father passed away last Thursday. He shared his heart for his family with me during our weekly discussions. I’m so thankful that he was my dad!

Mondays with Dad

(Borrowed from Tuesdays with Morrie)

As Long as You Are Under this Roof…

It is great to see so many people here today. Dad always loved this church and did a lot to fill it. Although I can’t say he had those high intentions in mind when he had 12 children … but we can’t say for sure.

It is sure that he did his best to get his children to church. I remember hearing more than once “as long as you are under this roof you will go to church”. …Father (referring to Ft. Morris), I think it is appropriate … on behalf of my brothers and sisters; we have a confession to make. We would often come to church pick up a bulletin and get scarce for an hour. When dad asked later, “Did you go to church?” we could say “I went to the 10 (holding up the bulletin) and I see the youth group is meeting again this Tuesday”

Personally, I was very closed minded about God. I would go to church to please dad. But I would go to the late service because than, I reasoned, I could at least practice my Spanish.

Mondays with Dad

It was many years later, actually only 2 or 3 years ago, that dad and I started sitting at the kitchen table each Monday. We would discuss God, Jesus and Heaven. Typically the conversation would turn to Scripture and we would have to pull out dad’s big Bible, possible a remnant from his days selling Bibles in the Bronx. One day I remember holding the Bible with only one hand and the bulk of the Bible fell on the floor, leaving me with only the cover. Dad quickly said, “you know before you started coming over here that Bible was in great shape.”

Workers in the Vineyard

On one of those Mondays we actually talked about today’s Gospel reading (Matt 20:1-16. I remembered telling dad how I used to struggle with it. I understood that the parable indicates that some will accept Jesus when they are children and others while they are on their deathbed. And some will resent the offer and never accept Him. I just didn’t understand why those that have lived, sacrificed and suffered for God for a long time wouldn’t be acknowledged in some way.

I told him that I was praying about it and God said, “I’m in the vineyard, you are with Me. The vineyard is heaven.”

Guided by God

It was probably this reference to prayer that dad still had in mind the next time we met. When I told him I was praying for something, he quickly stopped me and said, “Terence, God isn’t bothered with trivial things like that. God is like a landlord; you call him only when you have a big problem. He doesn’t have time for such small and daily issues.

“Well dad”, I said, “the Bible does say that God cares about the small details in our lives. It says that He counts the hairs on our head (which is a moment by moment activity for some of us) and he has his eye on the sparrow…and we are worth many sparrows.”

Dad paused; it looked like he was thinking even before I started talking. He then started to share a story but he seemed to be talking more to himself than me.

“When I was a kid, I was often in trouble for pitching toss. (An Irish game where you gamble on the results of a tossed coin) My father (Dad’s dad) told me more than once that I should be studying instead.

One day, my father thinking of my future, bought me an Irish pub. On the way home, he saw me pitching toss. Without even telling me, he went and sold the pub. He later told me that I wasn’t mature enough.”

Dad looked at me, “it was probably for the best, I was so easy going that I likely would have given most of the drinks away for free and forgotten to charge for the rest, going bankrupt. I would have shared in the drinking myself too, possible getting hooked.”

He continued and turned to me, “Did you know that when I first came to the U.S. I had my heart set on becoming a NY city police officer?” I never knew that. “Yea, when I got here it turned out that I required a number of months of training and that training would put me over the maximum age allowed. I would have just missed the cutoff.

That too, was for the best, when I was young I was brazen and I likely wouldn’t have lived long with a gun in the rough streets of New York City.”

He continued with more examples of disappointments that were blessings in disguise. And finally said, as if to himself, I guess God IS watching my way and focused on the small things.

Destined for Heaven

Throughout our discussions, dad never questioned whether he would be going to heaven. He once said, “I know two things. I’m a great sinner and I have a great Savior. I know I’m going to heaven. You might make it too but I’ll probably have to travel to see you.” He was always ribbing me. Mom quickly responded, “Dad, just because you go to Heaven doesn’t mean they will open the pearly gates and let you in!”

Intercessory Prayer

The prayer dad copied down, that Patrick read, is what is called an intercessory prayer. It’s a prayer that asks for nothing for yourself but is on behalf of someone else. Using the Gospel analogy, I imagine dad (t-shirt wet from sweat after a hard day’s work) going to the vineyard owner, God, and saying I know it is late … but would it be possible for you to go out one more time… there are still a few missing.

Dad did desire to see this church full but what he really had on his heart was that we would all be in heaven together. Let’s pray.

Mondays with Dad by Westchester Men’s Ministry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at nymensministry.com.