Find your fears getting the worst of you? Figure you should be able to pray away the worries? Give yourself a little help. Meditate on one or more of these verses to flood yourself with hope.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind… (Matthew 22:37)
Don’t get wrapped up with what might happen in the future. Focus on today. That’s all Jesus asks of us, to love. It’s the greatest and first commandment, as He says, and the second is like it…
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:39)
Focus on all those who need help as much as you do. Pray for them. Sometimes I even go through the alphabet, finding a name to pray for with every letter. Loving my neighbor as myself. With social distancing we can’t necessarily be at our neighbor’s side. But we can pray.
You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day. (Psalm 91:5)
This psalm might seem timely for its references to things like “the deadly pestilence.” More importantly it stresses what we are to do with fear. God knows how we feel. No use hiding it. Let it go in prayer.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
I suspect that Paul in writing to the Romans is also saying this prayer to himself. Do the same. Email or text a prayer to a friend.
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles… (Isaiah 40:31)
Have you noticed how birds rise on updrafts? It’s not effortful flapping of wings that give them the power; it’s the air. Similarly, we can rise in hope finding those updrafts in the Spirit.
Each day is new. I hear some scary statistic on the news and my fears rise up. I’m just as guilty as the next guy. That’s why I need Scripture. Not just once in a while. All the time. You should have heard me muttering to myself this morning as I went out for my run: “You shall love the Lord your God…”
That’s a prayer bringing me comfort. I hope it brings you peace as well.
