Operation Take Charge

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/201b8fe1/operation-take...

The Trust Plan ~ how to trust God more

"I've been listening to your podcast over and over" she wrote.

And another, "I'm drawn to your podcast yesterday: May the God of hope fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in him, so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It has everything. Hope, Joy, Peace, Trust, Overflow with the Holy Spirit." Yes and Amen!

Fact is, no matter where we find ourselves in the world, encouragement is good.

We trust God, we believe he is able, but the challenge is to keep his promises uppermost in our minds as we go throughout our day—at work, at home, in our vehicles, at the beach, sitting bedside at the hospital. Is there a mechanism to increase our awareness of his presence and involvement in our lives? Because we can be ever so sure, ever so confident of God's might, his strength and his goodness, and then a disturbing phone call comes--and boom--our God-trusting mental peace is threatened!

Is there a solution? Is there some other way of living so I am not the flim-flam man? Yes, I believe so.

I call it the Trust Plan:

Since military operations often have a code name, I thought I ought give this plan of intention a name as well: Operation Take Charge.

Our Operations orders might include, at the minimum, the following actions:

1. Resolve to give Fifteen. This is the most important intention and action in a day. Appoint 15 minutes to connect with God each morning. Get up, read scripture...from Psalm 28, consider these words of David: The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped.

My heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.1

Then pray/communicate with the Lord. Ask God to refill you with his Spirit, to renew and increase your faith in him. Perhaps listen to a God-honoring song such as the one at the end of this podcast or the bottom of this written briefing.

Okay, but what then? Once you leave this position of faithful strength, how can you maintain your focus and what you believe to be true?

2. Have some visual Reminders. What reminds you of God’s faithfulness? Could be a picture, a word or a verse that will instantly center you on the Rock, rather than the shifting sand of circumstances, of headline news.

~You might write a powerful scripture on a post-it note or 3 x 5 card, carry it with you, memorize it, and then pray it.

For instance, because I have memorized the Psalm 28 verse above, I could pray it:

Lord, you are my strength and my shield; in You my heart trusts, and I am helped. My heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to you.

**Note: the psalmist said that trusting in God helped him, and also singing a song of thanks to him. Ponder that for a moment, and the difference it might make in your awareness of God's provision and mental peace it affords. Yes, that's very good.

3. Be Aware of your consumption. Is your media/social media intake helpful? Paul's words are a check for me: “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.2

Recently, a woman told me she had let Facebook overtake her life … wait, what? And I have heard of people wasting an hour on Instagram and TikTok... ?? Let's be aware. According to recent polling, the average person spends 2 hours and 24 minutes a day on social media!3 Come on, Friend, consider how you feel, what you think about after you scroll through that, or watch such and such a thing? Are you better for your time engaged on that website or… activity? Hmmm. Please bear in mind - our time and attention are valuable resources.

4. Do not be an island. As mentioned in recent Morning Briefing, Take Me Back, https://conta.cc/466sJvJ, if we are healthy, we are aware of our need for community, we were made for it, and God designed us that way.

Get intentional and associate, communicate and affiliate with other faith-filled Christ followers—especially positive, optimistic ones, who live like they know God is Able, he is on the throne, and he has got this!

O Friend, God is good, He is at work in our world--if you look around, you will see evidence of that--college students, professional athletes, even President Trump who said on international airwaves the other day, 'we love you, God!' Whether you like him or not, we are commanded to pray for him, and whatever your connection to former presidents, I have never heard one utter such a thing.

Prayer Focus: Praise God for who he is - Heavenly Father, Creator, Savior, Good Shepherd. Center yourself on him and who he wants you to be. Ask him to put someone in your path that you can love and serve today so that you might be a little more like Jesus. Lift your requests to him, entrust them to God, and leave them at the foot of the cross. Thank God for his good gifts which are many. Amen.

You and I must take charge of our daily lives--thoughts, words, emotions . . . and live out the faith we profess in God who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us4 . . . his incomparable power.

Listen to truth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_iob6lOUOI&list=RD5_iob6lOUOI&a...

With love,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 – Psalm 28.7

2 - 1 Corinthians 10.23, HCSB

3 - Social media usage stats: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/social-media-usage

4 - Ephesians 3.20, CSB