Farewell, Minister Phillip *cries*

One of my favorite ministers at my church received his pastoral ordination on this past Sunday at church.



I remember I was cleaning up and watching church on the internet (as I rarely go on Sundays), and it was announced. I just started a crying... and a crying. Ugh. (Oscar was looking at me like "Girl, what is wrong with you??")

I am happy that he is starting his own ministry. I am also glad he left with the blessing of his own pastor, without there being a bunch of mess (you know how church mess goes). But man oh man, I loved it whenever he would preach at my Friday evening services. It is the main reason I go to some of the Wednesday and Friday morning/evening services because I really like some of the ministers.

I loved Minister Phillips ministry. He was a MASTER of explaining self-identiy crises and he was such a great minister on walking in love and the love of God. Just masterful.

I post little nuggets of his on blog from time to time... One of my favorites:

You worry about the future. You wail about tomorrow. Get all depressed, let the circumstances get to you.

The truth of the matter is that you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Tomorrow isn't promised.

You can't even see 5 minutes in front of your face, people.
I posted that in a post entitled "5 minutes" a couple of years ago. And I have thought about it every since, especially when something unexpected happens. I mean, we think we know what's gonna happen in the next 5 minutes. But we truly don't.

Hmmm. STILL thinking about that one.

I have learned much about seed and how it relates to the type of seed we sow into our relationships, and just learning to esteem others higher than we do ourselves, and to check my selfishness. He is such a great minister (It takes much to hold my attention. He definitely does)As a matter of fact, I posted one of his sermons here on my blog years ago. I titled it The Mystery of the Identity crises.

Shoot. I think I will just copy and paste it below.

I even talked to him once. Bust out crying in his face explaining to him how he has just had a powerful impact on the way I think about myself and how it has helped me in being honest with myself. I know he was thinking What the world?

I was happy to see him that day. I'd gone on vacation a few months earlier and had some cash left over from my "fun money" for the vacation... and I just wanted to put it in his hands. Just a little thank you for the wonderful seed he has sown into my life over the past 10 years.

So I will miss you, Minister Phillip! May you go on to be a great "Pastor Phillip"!

Here's the message he preached, some years ago, that still has an impact on me to this day (and this wasn't even his sermon that night. He just spent 10 minutes talking before he opened his bible).

“God loves you, with His undying, never failing, unconditional love, and He wants to do you good, and make you happy.

You’re the crown of God’s creation, the apple of His eyes, marked by His love, and the focus of all His attention.

See when you know that, people, when you know who you are in God? Anything you hear, that is taught to you, you know you’re able to accomplish it, because you know who you are.

In the beginning, before God gave man authority, He let him know who he was.

“You are created in My image, you are created in My likeness, NOW go subdue the earth.”

He crowned man with glory and honor before He gave man his charge, so man knew his position in God before He stepped out to perform.

The same thing He did with Jesus: Before Jesus did any miracles, he heard a voice from heaven validating his position:

“You are my Son, I am well pleased.”

Jesus was graced to go heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast out devils because he knew who he was.

The attack has always been on man’s IDENTITY. If you lose your identity (if you don’t know who you are, if you don’t know your position) you will not be able to fulfill the mandate that God has for your life.

Paul did the same thing. In every one of the epistles that Paul wrote, he says, I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace, God’s ability, and shalom and wholeness be multiplied to you, to the church, to the faithful, to the call. He always told them who he was before he told them how to walk.

You gotta know who you are…

If I don’t know nothing else, people… If I don’t know one more word in the bible, I am convinced, I am FULLY persuaded, with all my mind, my heart, my soul, my pancreas, my liver, my lung, my kidney, my hair follicle, my fingernail, that God loves me with his undying, never failing, unconditional love, and He wants to do me good and make me happy.

I am convinced, fully persuaded, 100%, that I am the crown of God’s creation, I’m the apple of His eye. I am marked by His love and the focus of all His affection.

If I don’t know nothing else, I know that.

Now everything else He asks me to do, I know that I am equipped to do it because of my position in Him.

I’m the righteousness of God, I am as righteous as I’ll ever be, I am as righteous as Jesus himself, will never ever be any more righteous, because my righteousness is of Him.

You are too!

But you got to stay on that, put it in your mouth, until you are FULLY persuaded that that’s who you are!

You are created only a little lower than God, crowned with glory…

But you say, Minister P, you don’t understand, you just don’t know… my life is tore up from the floor up!!!

Well? It doesn’t matter! Why?

Because you are not who you are based on what you have done. Don’t let what you’ve been through, or what has been done to you, validate you! Don’t let those actions determine who you are!

You are patented by God.
You are one of a kind.
There will never be another you.
You were deliberately created with a unique purpose, that no one that was, is, or is to come, can fulfill but YOU.

You put a spring in God’s step every morning you wake up…
You put a smile on God’s face.

You are the “it” in all the cosmos…

When one considers all the works of God’s hands, the stars, the heavens, the moons which he has ordained:

What is Oldgirl, that you are mindful of her?
Why you take care so much of OldGirl?
Why you love OldGirl so much?
Why you favor OldGirl so much?

Why God???

Of everything that he has created, the earth is like the head of a pin, we are a planet in this whole cosmos, and this awesome, infinite, timeless, endless God, from beginning to end, the first, the last, the beginning to end, He that was, is, and is to come, the unlimited One came down to a speck of dust and he took up you and mold you out of that speck of dust and gave you dominion over everything that exist!

What makes you so special? I’ll tell you:

You are His offspring.
You are His baby.
You are the life of God in flesh.
You are the essence of who God is.

I can’t see Him, but I see Him in you. But when I see you, I know that God is.

You gotta KNOW that.

Learn faith, learn this, learn that, learn it all….

But learn one thing: God’s unconditional love for you.

God wants you to know that you are His sole possession.

If you could go and count the number of sand on the seashore, God’s thoughts towards you outnumber the sand.

Heaven’s agenda from the fall of man until the end of time is that you win in this life!

The Holy Ghost, the Word of God, the blood of Jesus, Jesus himself, the Angels, and everything else of God… God has set in array for you to win!

So…

Why you crying?
Why you fretting?
Why you worrying?

It’s over. As far as God is concerned, it is done.

You are victorious.
You are triumphant.
You will never lose.
You were created to win.
You’re a winner, not a loser.
You are the head, and not the tail.
You are above only, you will never ever be beneath.

I don’t care if you feel like you are under a rock, that’s a LIE!

That is Satan’s attack… He still is on, and after your IDENTITY. Because if he can get your identity, he will stop you from fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for your life. He wants your identity. He doesn’t want you to know who you are. He wants you messed up, confused, trying to figure out:

Who am I? What am I?

Because if he can get you to start thinking that way, you’ll never think the way of God.

You’re special, people.
You’re a diamond chip from the big Diamond Himself.

I don’t care what your Mama told you, what the kids in school told you, I don’t care who told you what.

You are a chip off God… makes you as special as God Himself.

You are equipped to fulfill God’s will for your life. You will!

I want you to be convinced people… You are special.

The molestation that happened to you as a child?
It was an attack on your identity.
The rape that happened to you as a child?
It was an attack, an attack on your identity.
The abuse that happened to you as a child?
That was Satan’s attack on your identity.

Think about it: God called Moses as a deliverer, and the first thing Satan did was rise up in Pharoah… he wanted so bad that one little boy, he was willing to kill every male child in all of Egypt just to get that one.

You are a solution to an existing problem, and Satan’s plan is to eradicate that solution. So he decided to come at you by any means necessary, from a seed… he started attacking you from sperm form.

He was after Jesus, he was after that bloodline, and he poked and tried to find out… He wasn’t sure who it was, but he poked. And when Jesus was born, Satan moved up in a man name Herod, and Herod couldn’t figure out which child it was, so he just said “Just kill all the male babies!”

God don’t change, He is the same.

Satan is the same: steal, kill, and destroy by any means necessary.

Attack their identity! Attack their identity!
Wipe them out! Wipe them out!
Kill God’s creation? I’ll kill God’s purpose!

Rape them! Molest them!
Do whatever it takes to destroy who they are!
Destroy their minds! Mess them up!
They’ll never think they are special.
They’ll always think it’s their fault.

The divorce was an attack on your identity.
Satan knows that a house divided can’t stand. If he can get mama and daddy to divorce, he’s going to get some man to try to show that little girl love, and he’s going to rape her, he’s going to prostitute her, but he’s gonna destroy her mindset of who she is, and she’ll Never be able to fulfill God’s plan for her life.

Every abuse you went through, people… it was Satan.
People want to know, they wonder…why God, why did God allow? Why God?

But in the end, you will win.
So I want you to know, it ain’t your fault.
Don’t let that hold you down.
Don’t become a victim, you’re a victor.
Don’t let it hold you in victim position.
You are a victor, you are more than a conqueror.
Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
He’ll always cause you to triumph.

You win, I don’t care what it looks like, you win!
You win, I don’t care what it looks like, YOU WIN!

This has nothing to do with my message, but it has everything to do with who you are in God and the scheme and plan that God has for your life.

You get that?

Look in the mirror and tell yourself everyday:

“I am a winner, I am destined for greatness.
I am deliberately created with a unique purpose.”

No other human being that was, is, or is to come, will ever have the same thought process that you have. You are a dimension of God that the world is waiting to be expressed. What you have in you, the world doesn’t know that side of God yet. He wants to expose Himself through you.

But you got to get with the Creator, so He can show Himself to you, and show you what portion of his deity He wants to express through you.”

That meant something to me that night, so many years ago. I remember he put on his glasses, and said, "Let's get started. Open your bibles too..."

I don't know what he said next. He could have sent us on home after that. 

Really though.

I was just blown away by what he said above. Goodness. 

So good-bye, Pastor Phillip. I know you will go on to do great things. And have a positive affect on many people... Just like you have had on me. *ladylee grabs more Kleenex*

Agitation - Personal Thoughts

Agitation.

This mental state of extreme emotional disturbance.

That sounds pretty bad, don't it?

Yet, I haven't met yet one person in my life who hasn't had to deal with the area of agitaion, and it's relation to worry and anxiety, and its roots of fear.

I must admit, I'd been praying about this, some solution to my own areas of agitation. It's always been like a monkey on my back.

So I was glad when this subject came up. And my Pastor was talking of his battle, some 20 year battle, with it, and how he's found that one has to do the necessary work to understand agitation, and develop in this area of response to agitation, and to do what is necessary to have and maintain personal peace.

I did a little digging around looking for the aramaic, greek or hebrew root of the word agitation.

I didn't find anything immediate. That's why I'm glad I have an Amplified version of the bible, that stretches out a verse of scripture to include the hebrew and greek full translations.

But I did come across something that caught my eye: the relation of agitation to "shalom" or peace:

"A word study in the New King James version for SHALOM says: Completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord."

Hmmm... This peace. This "shalom". It is a most valuable asset. And I need to do what I need to do to develop in it, and hold on to it.

I find it funny that, if someone stole something material of mine, like my money, something like that, I do what I can to get my stuff back.

Yet, if the situations in my life have me agitated, and rob me of my peace, I become paralyzed. And worry and anxiety set in and have their way. Depression comes on in and has a seat. It may even bring some of its friends, anger, rebellion, deceit, hatred... and God forbid, Big Daddy might show up... i.e., suicide raises its ugly ugly head.

Negative emotions move in like squatters, taking over, taring up ish. Mental carnage and squallor are the results.

I have to do the necessary work, i.e., pick up my spiritual baseball bat and attack agitation... Open up a spiritual can of whoop azz on the situation. (Excuse my language. I just think I need to get violent with it).

I've had stellar examples of this in my life. My baby sister is good at doing what she needs to do to get her peace back. I know she don't mind me sharing this, as it is helpful. She had a bad breakup of a long term relationship a couple of years ago. She was angry, hurt, upset... basically agitated. She wallowed for minute.

She had to do more than come and talk to big sister LadyLee. (And we had our talks, man.)

She had to work on herself. This had affected her spirit. She had to do the necessary work to get her peace back.

I remember her getting some information on the area of work. She had find some type of tape series from church on it. (I tell you, we have extremely detailed info on any subject available if we look around for it). I think that was the quickest way for her to gather every piece of scripture quickly on the matter. She had a time of fasting and prayer.

I'm not sure of all she did. We didn't talk about it. I just remember sitting on the couch, crocheting or something, and she'd come share something with me from time to time. Heck, I didn't even know she was in a time of personal fasting. It was a private thing for her.

I was proud of her after the fact. To this day, she shares with me her understanding. Very proud of her for doing whatever she needed to do to combat her agitation and pain, instead of letting it marinate and take her even further into a dark hole.

A more immediate example is one from my baby blog sista Serenity, my "intannet BFF" (this is funny to me, as she thinks this of me). I really like her. It's been nothing but an honor to witness her arc of personal development over the years, and to share in that, as she is one of my most cherished confidants, and I am honored to be the same to her. So when she says or shares something that I can take and incorporate into my own life, I'm vigilant about being mindful and considerate of it.

Latetly, she'd been a bit disturbed that both houses on either side of her were vacant, after the occupants moved. Something like that, man, that will cause one's imagination to run wild in a negative way. She herself found herself getting over into fear. This fear over her safety of herself and her child... It was robbing her of her personal peace.

So she took action. She went up for prayer at church, got someone to pray with her over the situation. She gave me permission to share an excerpt from a post she wrote concerning it. I have highlighted parts that resonated with me. (From the post "Beating a Dead Horse" 11/17/10)

"When I was afraid the other day and really decided enough is enough, the prayer that the lady said with and for me at church kind of jolted me back to reality. Why am I sitting around afraid and playing the victim here? God gives me the power and authority to conquer anything that is troubling me.

When I picked Tyler up from his sleepover, I explained to him in the car that b/c our neighbors are gone, we have to be more cautious and remember to lock all doors and keep teh alarm on at home, but the first thing we are going to do is go into every single room in the house and pray. We are going to do this together.

I'm sure he wanted to protest. But as soon as we got in the house, we stopped in the foyer and I began to pray. Moreso, being thankful for the foyer, the living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. I talked to God about how all my life from even Tyler's age, I've always wanted and wished for a house. I talked about my struggles in fixing my credit and spending habits in order to be able to buy the house. I talked to him about why I wanted a house. I talked to him about all the times he has protected me from danger that I knew of and didn't know of. I must have spent the longest time thanking him for random things like the big window in my kitchen that I love and yet at night it makes me nervous b/c someone could be on the other side of it. For every fear I had regarding certain rooms or aspects of the house, I thought about how grateful I am for them.

It may seem trivial to you, but that night I got the best sleep. I haven't been afraid anymore. It also reminds me that we can chose to sit and wallow in fear or we can chose to be thankful for what we do have and pray about changes that we need."

To me, this was a stellar example of appropriate response to agitation, fear, anxiety and worry. And the church sermons on agitation, which were given a good week after this post, were my confirmation of my notes of what she did.

And further confirmation of the following scripture

Phillipians 4:6-7 Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks. Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.

Another version: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I think here, I see how God affords a peace that will guard my thoughts and emotions.

Because that is what it's all about, right? Keeping my thoughts, feelings and emotions from being infected with the wrong thing. Because as you can see from scripture I've posted in the past couple of posts: Our life, the issues of our life, flow from our hearts.

And I don't know about you, but I want God's peace to be a gatekeeper, a guard over my thoughts and emotions.

(And I can NOW understand why it's necessary to be honest about my areas of unbelief, and how critically important the simple 6 word prayer of "Lord, help me with my unbelief" becomes. Sooooo important.)

That's all for now. I will do a post on what agitates me, and the steps I'm taking to rid that from my life. (And wouldn't you know it, from applying what I've learned here, I'm getting much needed answers... and peace.)

And with that... I say have a Happy Friday, and a great weekend.

And I leave you with my song of the week, with extra special dedication to my homegirl Shai... I think this will mean something to her.

This is one I listen to that reminds me to always maintain a spirit of thanksgiving.



To be continued...

Notes on Agitation, Part II

Continued from Agitation, Part I

The issue now is : work, work, work on your Peace.

A good definition of peace: security in the midst of turmoil.

"You can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair."

We will always have issues. Our issues don't have to have us. Problems arise. But when they do, go to your manual, the Word, and see what is said about your issue. Grab hold of that. And make up in your mind to believe that.

Life is too short to rent space in your mind to people and situations that agitate you.

Your purpose in life is too important to be derailed by worry and agitation.

If you can't conquer what's going on in your mind, then you can't conquer what's agitating you.

Additional scriptures (concerning worry):

Matthew 6:25-33

25Therefore I tell you, stop being [v]perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?
26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the [w]span of his life?(B)
28And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and [x]learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.
29Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his [y]magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?
31Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?
32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.
33But seek ([z]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([aa]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [ab]taken together will be given you besides.

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad.

Phillipians 4:6-7 Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks. Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.

When you're worried or find yourself in a state of agitation, pray about it. Your antedote, as seen in the aforementioned scripture, is to be sure to operate in a state of thanksgiving. We all have a past, where God has answered prayers, seen us through, etc. Be diligent about remembering this and giving thanks continuously for this. This is your antedote to worry.

As a result, God's peace is given. That's what we are after.

This is a lot of information.

"Easier said than done, Pastor."

To which the pastor responds, "Whatever."

This is about getting developed in your peace.

Development in any area begins with starting SOMEWHERE. Development does not happen automatically. It takes conscious effort.

Make an effort to move towards perfection. Perfection is not about being flawless, but it is about being fully committed to continuous growth, evolvement, and change.

Know that when we develop in peace, we clear up the noise and static in our spirts, so that we can hear from God.

Okay, that's it for my notes. I think part II was a little more all over the place here, as I was trying to decipher my handwriting and bring it all together. But I think you get the picture.

I think what I got out of this overall is... I have to work on my thought life, and what's going on in my head, by renewing my mind to what the Word says, and allowing that to be my final authority on life issues, especially when it comes to fear, agitation and worry.

There's a LOT of info. Not just in the sermon, but there is so much that can be gleaned from the scriptures given. There is explicit instruction on what to do when the issues of life threaten to agitate you, have you emotionally disturbed: get involved with what the Word has to say, get in agreement with it, clear up your areas of unbelief, and basically rely on God. Period.

So, tomorrow, I will give my own personal thoughts (well more of it) on this, and how it applies to my life.

Notes on Agitation, Part I

Last week, I mentioned a pretty good sermon I heard at church on the subject of agitation.

It was good for me, because it is one of my severe problem areas. As a result, it has stuck with me, and I've been thinking much about it.

It was made more interesting because my Pastor said it was one of his problem areas, and he was teaching OUT of his issues, i.e., he had done his research and studying, working through the Bible, searching for what he could use to work on his issue, and then working on shaping it to bring to us so it can help the congregation.

Incidently, someone asked who my Pastor was. Hmm... I go here.

I'm in my 9th year of membership. I've done pretty well under his ministry. I should do a post on my thoughts over the years as being a member. (You would be amazed at the amount of peeps who run up on me and want to discuss this, especially those who know the total arc of who I am and my own personal development over the years).

We've been on the blood of Jesus since late August (for Sundary services). Didn't know there was THAT much concerning the blood of Jesus or blood in general in the Bible, but here it is December, and I think we've only scratched the surface of that subject.

In the midst of all that, this Agitation series has come up in Bible Study, and it only had 3 parts. I imagine we could go further into it, because I know I'll be coming across examples of it in my own reading. I may try to go find a workbook somewhere on the subject. It is a serious topic, and I know there is one out there on it.

Anytime anyone requests notes on something I groan... because my notes are LONG and detailed. But I go ahead and post them, as I know there is a reason and point to it, and that they will help someone else.

Well, I have 7-8 pages of notes. So it may take me 2 to 3 posts just to get through it. And let's not even talk about my own personal thoughts on this subject of agitation. Geez. Like I said, this is one of my nagging problem areas. I may save my personal 2 cents for the weekend.

My notes are detailed, and I'm having to pick through what to post. I missed one of the bible study nights on this subject, but we have the last 7 years of notes on our website, so I will go take a look at the notes for that night, and see if there is anything I may need to add.

I rarely go to the website, but I browsed around this morning and found an interesting article by my pastor on the subject, Overcoming Agitation.

So here you go. Special dedication to my blog sistas Mzinspiredmind and Shai, since they requested this.

Notes on Agitation
(11/25/10; 12/1/10)

[Note: anything in BRACKETS "[ ]", that's not apart of bracket AMP verses - those are my personal thoughts, things I've added in the margin of my notes. I read a lot, and I like to write down a scripture if something is said that reminds me of such. That way, I can go and look it up/ponder/read it later on]

John 14:27 AMP Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

John 14:1 AMP DO NOT let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.

In these verses, Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

And these were the core scripture that we will examine.

A definition of agitation:

Agitation: A mental state of extreme emotional disturbance.

We can allow our emotions to become so disturbed that it moves us out of the will of God for our lives.

(That was the purpose of agitation in the first place).

Agitation is connected to fear in some way.

Agitation

-causes you to be unsettled.
-allows FEAR to take over.
-the area of attack is our emotions
-FEAR is the platform where the enemy can operate in your life.

So it's important to deal with the area of agitation, because when you are agitated, you are really operating out of fear.

Everytime you locate what you fear, what you are afraid of, you locate what agitates you.

We can even get over into a state of panic. Panic is defined as groundless fear.

Therefore, if we look closely at the 2 scripture given above, then we can see one thing. Everything has to based on what you believe and what you don't believe.

This is crucial.

-Be HONEST with yourself about when you say you believe something. Don't be saying you believe something just to be religious and sanctimonious. Know what it is that you believe.

-Areas of unbelief in your life ALWAYS produce areas of fear in your life.

-Our greatest fear - it is that God's word won't come to past. It is one thing to read the Word of God, and a whole nother thing to believe what you read.

-Critically important to deal honestly where your unbelief is concerned.

-Ask yourself the question: What is it that I don't believe?

As a result, your prayer will become: Lord, help me with my unbelief.

Examples:

"Lord, I'm having trouble believing You are a healer. This is why I fear that I'm gonna die."

"Lord, I'm having trouble believing You are a provider. This is why I'm afraid I'm gonna get put out."

It cannot be said enough, we have to individually spend critical time examining our areas of unbelief and working on it.

Our lives have to get to a point where, when we face something, that we know it don't look good right now, but I choose to believe God and His Word in this situation.

It is a choice.

Trouble can be all around us, but we cannot let it get in us and infect our heart.

[I wrote in the margin of my notes, Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. A version of this verse that made me go "O_o" is Proverbs 4:23 Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.

Hmm... I think I remember this because I wrote a post on it: Food for Thought: The Ultimate Trump Card.]

2 Peter 3:14 (Amplified Bible) So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, [a]free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].

It it important to learn how to hold on to your PEACE when agitation arises.

For:

PEACE is a by-product of FAITH
AGITATION is a by-product of FEAR

Both are based on what you believe versus what you don't believe.

As a result, personal peace is a very valuable asset in the life of a Christian. Have respect for how powerful peace is. And don't lose your peace because everyone around you can't find theres.

Make it a point to identify WHAT or WHO is stealing your peace. Confront and deal with it.

A couple of examples of agitation can be found in the scripture:

Daniel 2:1 IN THE second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams by which his spirit was troubled and agitated and his sleep went from him.

Daniel 4:4-5 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and prospering in my palace.
I had a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts and imaginations and the visions of my head as I was lying upon my bed troubled and agitated me.

Notice, in the above scripture, the different avenues by which fear and agitation can come into our lives: dreams, thoughts, imaginations, visions.

Make sure that you understand the following: Dreams don't have greater authority in my life over the Word of God.

All of this has potential to cause us to become agitated and to get worried. We can get over into worry.

Definition of Worry: It is negative meditation on the issue of concern; it involes taking a negative thought and holding on to it.

Immediately, go to your Word, find some information on that issue, grab it, and believe it.

[Concerning worry, one of the scripture I myself grab a hold of and believe is Phillipians 4:6-7 (Message Version) Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

This is my worry scripture. I am sure there are many others, but this comes to mind. I grab it, believe it, and work it. Period. I even wrote a WHOLE post on it a while back. (See Sunday Scripture III)

And I find it quite interesting that peace is also mentioned in this scripture. Hmmm]

I think that's a good stopping point. Later on tonight, or in the morning, I will put up notes on concerning maintaining an attitude of Thanksgiving is an antedote to Agitation.

I hope that was helpful. It was helpful to me, even giving me a chance to refer back to some old posts I've written concerning the subject...

Stay tuned for Part II.