December 31, 2023
Greetings and blessings to all of you and a Happy New Year. It has been said that if you don’t fill your mind with the Word of God, the enemy will fill it with fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and temptation. This New Year let us start fresh by fearing God Almighty plus reading and practicing His Word. Begin reading from Genesis to the book of Revelation. When we do that, we will encounter a living Lord who is both great and good, sovereign and kind; who never will leave you nor forsake you. By God’s grace He allowed each of us to be here another day. Our Master has assignments for all of us. We do not get saved then live as if He is not our Father. We are called to walk by faith in our heavenly Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some of us have a difficult time focusing on the Word to lead/direct our lives because the achievements of modern life medicinal, technological, and otherwise have given us an ever-increasing sense of control…and false comfort. [The devil continues to lie. His best trait.] This illusion of this increasing sense of control and false comfort can begin to feel natural and intuitive. Why the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the worry and the temptations? Because we try to control situations and circumstances as trials rudely show up uninvited. We try to control people, but they do not stick to our wonderful plan for their lives. We even try to control our future, but He who sits in the heavens always seems to laugh. (Psalms 2:4) So much stress today. Why? In our culture today TRUTH is no longer relegated to the world of scientist or biologist or any expert. Nowadays YOU are the expert because Truth is now whatever YOU decide it is. The religion of expressive individualism dominates our cultural. That is contrary to what God wants of His children. The Word said, “Everything is permissible for -but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me -but I will not be mastered by anything.” (I Cor. 6:12) Paul said in the Word (I Cor. 11:1) “Be imitators of me just as I imitate Christ. “In John 10:27 the Word tells us, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” Without Him as our gravitational center, everything spins off in a thousand directions. Such is the insanity of idolatry. No wonder life feels so chaotic, so exhausting. Fearing the Lord is the ultimate key to understanding and the antidote to anxiety. This year begin to worship God with all your heart with all you soul. Follow Him as you listen to His voice.
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC