Praise the Lord for
another brilliant and beautiful day in in His Kingdom. The Lord blessed us with
great day of worship and praise yesterday. Jessica and Tom returned back to
Philly after being away in Europe for over two weeks. Laureen visited one of her
friends at the Canadian border and attended worship there with her friend and
family. We spoke to our granddaughter Micah in Boston this weekend. She and her
brother are coming to spend a week with us in a couple of weeks. We are excited.
Sunita and Andy are coming home for a week this weekend. We are planning for
some camping and hiking.
We are launching our
VBS ministry today. It will be held at the historic First United Methodist
Church, Endicott. It will start at 6 PM nightly and conclude at 8:30 PM. It is
our missional outreach for the children in downtown Endicott. We are excited and
thrilled about this open door the Lord has given us to minister to the children.
Our VBS staff are ready for action. Our VBS will culminate with a community wide
carnival to be held at the Union Center Methodist Church on Saturday, August 18
from 12- 4 PM, along with a chicken BBQ. This will be a great time of fellowship
for the whole family, including pony rides and games.
We watched the
Olympics with joy and gratitude. THE USA won the most number of medals in each
category, gold, silver, and bronze. This week I read about a fascinating
research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University, who
studied Olympic medalists. She discovered that Bronze medalists were happier
than Silver medalists. According to Medvec, Silver medalists tended to focus on
how close they came to winning gold so they weren’t satisfied with silver.
Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal
at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all.
I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: our focus determines our reality. How we feel is not determined by objective circumstances. If that was the case, Silver medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result. Instead, the way we feel is determined by our subjective focus. In other words, our internal attitudes are more important than our external circumstances.
John Milton said, “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven out of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” All of us know people who can find something good to focus on even in the worst of circumstances. All of us also know someone who can find something bad to focus on even in the best of circumstances. We tend to see what we’re looking for.
I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: our focus determines our reality. How we feel is not determined by objective circumstances. If that was the case, Silver medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result. Instead, the way we feel is determined by our subjective focus. In other words, our internal attitudes are more important than our external circumstances.
John Milton said, “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven out of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” All of us know people who can find something good to focus on even in the worst of circumstances. All of us also know someone who can find something bad to focus on even in the best of circumstances. We tend to see what we’re looking for.
I think there are
two basic types of people in the world: complainers and worshippers. Complainers
can always find something to complain about. Worshippers can always find
something to praise God about. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in a prison cell
in Philippi. Paul had cast a demon out of a fortune-teller. Her master did not
like it because she lost the ability to predict the future so he had Paul and
Silas arrested. Acts 16:22 says, “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas,
and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They
were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was
ordered to make sure they didn’t escape, so he took no chances but put them into
the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.” Their backs were
bleeding from their beating, leaving the men black and blue all over.
The Bible says, “Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” They were worshipping.
Worshipping is taking our eyes off of our external circumstances and focusing on God. In order to worship we must stop focusing on what’s wrong with us or with our circumstances. We need to start to focus on what’s right with God.
Paul and Silas could have complained about their circumstances, which were certainly bad, but they made a choice to worship God in spite of their external circumstances.
Paul and Silas knew the secret of true, heartfelt worship, which restores spiritual equilibrium. It helps us regain our perspective. It enables us to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.
One of my all time favorite books is Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. Everything was taken away from these prisoners. They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings. Even their names were taken, the each was given a number instead. Frankl was number 119,104.
Everything was taken away except one thing. Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
Philippians 4:8, written by Paul, is an amazing passage. It lists eight premeditated cognitive commitments. He said, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
In other words, a worshipper can always find a reason to praise the Lord.
Worship set Paul and Silas free physically. It is worship that will set us free emotionally and spiritually. Worship sets off a chain reaction. The prison doors fly open. The chains break free.
Let us keep a gratitude journal this week. Let us write down something every day that we can be grateful for. It is a spiritual discipline. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits.”
The Bible says, “Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” They were worshipping.
Worshipping is taking our eyes off of our external circumstances and focusing on God. In order to worship we must stop focusing on what’s wrong with us or with our circumstances. We need to start to focus on what’s right with God.
Paul and Silas could have complained about their circumstances, which were certainly bad, but they made a choice to worship God in spite of their external circumstances.
Paul and Silas knew the secret of true, heartfelt worship, which restores spiritual equilibrium. It helps us regain our perspective. It enables us to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.
One of my all time favorite books is Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. Everything was taken away from these prisoners. They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings. Even their names were taken, the each was given a number instead. Frankl was number 119,104.
Everything was taken away except one thing. Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
Philippians 4:8, written by Paul, is an amazing passage. It lists eight premeditated cognitive commitments. He said, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
In other words, a worshipper can always find a reason to praise the Lord.
Worship set Paul and Silas free physically. It is worship that will set us free emotionally and spiritually. Worship sets off a chain reaction. The prison doors fly open. The chains break free.
Let us keep a gratitude journal this week. Let us write down something every day that we can be grateful for. It is a spiritual discipline. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits.”
In Christ,
Brown
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