The Disharmony of Anxiety: October 24th Devotional

The Disharmony of Anxiety

Matthew 6:34

October 24th Devotional

      On this day in Berlin, 1819, Felix Mendelssohn played in his first public concert at the age of nine.  Felix was born in 1809, one of four children to a wealthy Jewish family in Germany.  The Mendelssohn family believed in providing the best education and opportunities for their children.  They would often invite various professors or musicians to their home.  All four of their children showed interest in the area of art or music.  Felix’s sister Fanny would become a great pianist (which was rare during that time).  Felix started to learn piano from his mother at the age of six.  He quickly excelled beyond the ability of his mother.  He would receive more formal training, often surpassing his teachers.  His family quickly realized that he was a child prodigy, but they did not want to exploit their son or try to capitalize on his ability.  They begrudgingly allowed him to perform publicly in a chamber music concert.  The audience was awed by his ability.  The family would then invite others to Sunday concerts in their home.  Felix became a household name.  Between the ages of 12-14, he wrote 12 stringed symphonies.  The bulk of his famous works were composed before he turned twenty.  His most famous composition would be setting music to Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  Most of you reading this are unknowingly aware of this overture.  Brides come down the aisle to the “wedding march” which is a portion of that wonderful piece.  His musical ability would grow to playing the piano, the organ, composing, and even conducting.  He would also become quite an accomplished painter.  His fame would spread rapidly.  Large audiences would fill music halls all across Europe as Mendelssohn toured.  During this time of traveling, Mendelssohn started to suffer from the effects of overworking and anxiety.  His anxiety started to take effect on his physical health.  Tragically Felix died at the age of 38 after suffering multiple strokes.  To this day he is still considered one of the best, if not the greatest musician of the Romantic period.

      Anxiety takes its toll on everyone, even people like Felix Mendelssohn.  Sometimes we are good at masking it but nonetheless, anxiety causes the heart to race and the mind to doubt.  It is a spiritual issue that plagues all of us; it does not discriminate based on age, gender, social status, or skin color.  Anxiety is one of the only problems in our world that affects us mentally, spiritually, and physically.  To worry is human, so how do we battle a beast that has waged war on humanity since the introduction of sin?  In Matthew 6:34 we find Jesus saying “So do not worry about tomorrow.”  Those are simple words for our problem with anxiety.  Worry doesn’t stop simply because we tell it to stop.  I worry about how to stop worrying.  Jesus gives us the ultimate remedy for anxiety and stress in the previous verse, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…”  Anxiety often hits me when I take my eyes off Jesus.  Stress takes me under like the waves of the ocean when I stop taking life’s circumstances to Jesus.  Jesus says to seek His kingdom first, to seek Him first.  Next time you feel that tension rising in your chest, that tightness in your jaw, run to Jesus…seek Jesus.  Simply give it to Him.  He wants the things that burden you and worry you.  Give up worry and give in to Jesus.

Take Me Home: April 12th Devotional

Take Me Home

John 14:1-6

April 12th Devotional

 

      On this day in 1971, the famous folk singer John Denver released his hit single, Country Roads.  The song debuted on his RCA label named “Poems, Prayers, and Promises.”  This album helped skyrocket Denver into the mainstream.  This song has morphed into the state anthem of West Virginians and holds a special place for many mountaineers, but what is the story behind Country Roads?  The song was the creation of a husband and wife songwriting team, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. They were struggling musicians trying to make it big.  They wanted to create one hit song that would impact the music industry.  That song came in the form of County Roads.   The inspiration for the song came after they left a wedding in Maryland.  They were enjoying the drive through the winding roads and started to sing together.  They instantly knew they had something, the problem was that the state of Maryland only had three syllables, and their song needed a state with four syllables.  Taffy mentioned her home state of Massachusetts had the correct number of syllables and they started to craft a song based on it. But Massachusetts sounded clunky so they quickly changed to West Virginia.  They said that it had a certain ring to it.  The irony is that neither Billy nor Taffy had ever been to West Virginia.  They wrote a song that would become West Virginia’s state national anthem without ever being in the state!  Their original goal was to perform the song for Johnny Cash and sell it to him, but all of that changed in 1970.  They were the opening act for Denver at a Club called the Cellar Door in Washington DC. They listened intently to Denver singing folk songs.  They knew that Denver had the voice and the heart to bring their song to life. They introduced the song to Denver after the concert and he was smitten with it.  They stayed up until the early hours of the morning tweaking it until it was the masterpiece that they were aiming for.  Denver returned to the same club later in 1970 to sing the song for the first time.  The result was astounding.  The crowd was moved to tears and gave him a five-minute standing ovation. This continued every time he performed the song.  The song became a part of American culture.  It topped at number 2 on the Billboard charts in 1971 and became a gold-certified album.

      The chorus opens up with the words "Country Roads, take me home, to a place, where I belong."  Where does this country road lead us?  To Maryland which inspired the song?  Or maybe Massachusetts Taffy's home state which happened to have four syllables?  Or to the mountain state of West Virginia?  Or maybe home is somewhere else.  For the believer our ultimate home is heaven.  We trek through this world for a temporal time, though it might seem long, but as the old song says 'this world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through.'  According to Paul, our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  But how can we have confidence that heaven is our home?  Our confidence is rooted in the words of Jesus in John 14:1-2, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you."  We often get hung up on the word 'mansions.'  We get this image that we are going to have a golden palace just over the hilltop, but that isn't what Jesus is saying.  The Greek text makes it clear that there are many rooms in our Father's House (heaven) and one of them is ours if we trust in Christ as our Savior.  The image that Jesus paints is that heaven is like one house and each believer gets a room.  I would rather have a room in God's house than a mansion down the street, further away from His presence.  A room in our Father's house symbolizes how near we will be to God in heaven.  It's almost as if He is just down the hall.  It paints a picture of how 'intimate' our relationship will be with the Father in glory.  There will be no separation or boundary between us.  According to the promise of Jesus, we are going to have a room in our Father's House.  The troubles of this world can overwhelm us at times.  Discouragement and disappointments mount, often taking our focus off heaven.  Today, allow your eyes to move from the woes of the world and the screens that we hold and instead look to heaven.  Realize, with an assurance that Christ has made the way.  He holds the keys and has already opened the door.  We are simply waiting until we head home.  Let us be comforted to know that there is more than this temporal life, so much more, and we are already on the road heading home.

Success Over Setbacks: February 12th Devotional

Success Over Setbacks

Romans 5:3

February 12th Devotional

      On this day in 1915, the iconic hymn writer Fanny Crosby entered into glory at the age of 94.  Crosby is a household name in Christianity.  She composed over 8000 hymns and gospel songs.  She was hailed as the Queen of Gospel music.  Not only that but she was also an accomplished poet.  Crosby’s childhood was mired with tragedy and heartache.  At six weeks old Frances contracted a simple cold, but it caused an infection in her eyes.  The local doctor was out of town and another man masquerading as a doctor treated her with a  hot mustard poultice.  This treatment left Fanny blind for the rest of her life.  A few months later her dad passed away, leaving her mother to work many hours toiling as a maid just to make ends meet.  One would have assumed that the multitude of tragedies would have destroyed Fanny, but it was quite the opposite.  She was labeled as a happy child.  She was faithful to church and loved Jesus.  She had a passion for the Bible.  She had memorized the four Gospels, the Pentateuch, Proverbs, and countless other books of the Bible before she turned 15!  She attended a school in New York City for the blind.  She excelled while she was there.  She wrote countless poems which were considered masterpieces at her time.  But her greatest love started in 1864.  She started to pen hymns.  Her songs revolutionized church singing during that era.  Most songs were evangelistic in nature, pleading with people to come to Jesus Christ for salvation.  Writing thousands of hymns that are still used today seems like quite an accomplishment, but Fanny found her greatest satisfaction in working alongside the poor in New York City.  Fanny purposefully choose to live in a poor area of town so she could minister to hurting people in rescue missions.  She would regularly speak and serve the hardest of people in places like Hell’s Kitchen and ‘the tenderloin.’ Her song “Rescue the Perishing” was written while working alongside the lost living in the slums.  She continued to reach the perishing until her death in 1915.  

      Fanny didn’t allow the setbacks in her life to unravel the plans that God had set before her.  She even saw God’s providential hand in her blindness.  Fanny once said, “when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”  Think of that word setback for a moment.  It’s defined as a reversal of progress, or when your life goes much differently than you originally planned.  Each of us has experienced them multiple times in our life.  We’ve experienced setbacks when we didn’t get the raise we wanted, when we lost our job, when a tragedy strikes our homes, when we have an unexpected result at a doctor’s office, etc.  Setbacks are hard because they seemingly cause us to rearrange our life.  But what if our setbacks are only comebacks?  That setback isn’t meant to derail our faith, but instead, it should cause us to intensely follow after Christ.  The words of the Apostle Paul give us clear direction on how to navigate this area of life.  In Romans 5:3 and 5 Paul writes “we triumph even in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope….a hope which never disappoints us since God’s love floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”  We can triumph over life’s setbacks knowing that God is in control and everything that comes our way can be viewed through eyes of hope.  Don’t allow the setbacks to set you back spiritually.  Instead, look at it and ask, what is God doing in the midst of this?

Marching on the Impossible: November 6th

Marching on the Impossible

November 6th Devotional

Joshua Chapter Six

      On this day in 1854, John Philip Sousa was born in Washington DC.  Sousa was the third of ten children.  Both of his parents were immigrants.  Sousa’s father had a passion for music which he instilled in his son.  John started to study the violin at a young age and enrolled in music theory classes taught by some of the most talented musicians in the D.C. area.  He loved music and excelled at it.  He even attempted to create his own orchestra when he was 11.  Despite his talents, he still wanted to try other pathways.  At one time he aspired to be a baker and at the age of 13, he wanted to run away with the circus.  His father noticed how unsettled young John’s heart was so he signed him up as an apprentice to the Marine Corps Band.  John’s father was a trombonist in the band and the Marine Corps tent was only a short distance from their home.  He served the band for seven years.  After leaving the band he became a violinist and eventually a conductor, but nothing could replace the burning that he had for marching music.  He returned to the Marine Corps band in 1880 as their conductor and would remain in that role until 1892. It was during this time that he wrote the Marine Corps Marching band song called “Semper Fidelis” which is still the Marine Corps song.  He led this particular song for the inauguration of five presidents.  He revolutionized the Marine Corps Band.  He expected nothing short of excellence.  The band started touring and recording music.  After leaving the band he became a band leader in the civilian world.  He did this until he died in 1932.  He conducted nearly 16,000 concerts in his lifetime.  As a matter of fact, he was conducting a practice for “Stars and Stripes Forever” the day before he died.

      Sousa will forever be remembered as the “March King.”  His marches, especially his patriotic ones are still played today (typically on the fourth of July during fireworks).  His baton is still passed down to each new conductor of the Marine Corps Band.  The Bible mentions a march, but one without music.  Joshua, the newly appointed leader of Israel had a daunting task set before him, Jericho.  Those walls had to look intimidating.  This was a large city with a mighty army.  The task was considered impossible.  One might assume that they would lay a siege against the city.  To literally starve the people out.  But God had a different plan for the Israelites.  In Joshua 6:2 God told Joshua “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days.  Have seven priests carry trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout, then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”  Joshua even told the people, “do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout…”  Joshua and the army obeyed.  They marched around the city for six days, and finally, on the seventh day the city walls fell down and the army marched right inside.  The walls of Jericho should have been completely impenetrable.  The task should have been impossible.  The mission seemed silly, but Joshua and the Israelites obeyed by faith.  As believers, there are times when Jericho’s walls are still in front of us.  Maybe God is asking you to do something hard, impossible, or maybe something out of your comfort zone.  He isn’t asking you to attack the wall, to dig under the wall, to flee from the impossible, He is asking you to simply obey Him.  He is asking you to trust Him.  What Jericho is in front of you right now?  What seems impossible?  Your marriage?  Your calling?  Your purpose?  Jesus said, “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  March on the impossible.  March in obedience.  March in faith.

A Heart Tuned to Worship: July 17th Devo

 A Heart Tuned to Worship

July 17th Devotional

Colossians 3:16

On this day in 1674, Isaac Watts was born in Southampton United Kingdom. He was raised in a very religious home, his father was a schoolmaster and a non-conformist of their time. At a young age, Isaac had a tremendous love for music and would often pray in rhyme. He was a devout student in every subject including languages. After graduating he would pastor a large church named Mark Lane Congregational Chapel in London England. While there he started to train young men for the pastorate. Watts is most known for his hymn writing ability. He is considered the godfather of hymnody. Over the course of his life he would write over 750 hymns, many of them still being used over 300 years later in the church. Some of his most famous works are Joy to the World, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Our God and Help in Ages Past, and many more. Watts was challenged by his father to write new church music; Watts often complained to his father that the music of that time brought forth a dull indifference in the people. At the time the church sung strictly Psalms from the Old Testament, and while Isaac was not against the use of the Psalms he felt that the church should expand its worship. He broke with tradition and was considered a rebel in his time because of this. He would have been considered a contemporary musician in his era. Isaac Watts ushered in a new era for church worship. Watts was a faithful Pastor, theologian, and hymn writer until his dying day.

Isaac Watts will always be known for his hymns which still stir in the souls of men today. Worship should always be a priority in each believers heart. We may disagree over the styles of worship but we need to agree over the supreme importance of lifting up our voices in praise to God. Our forefathers in the faith have carried on a beautiful legacy of singing to God. Colossians 3:16 says "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Paul places equal emphasis on both worship and spending time in God's word. For the Christian worship should come naturally from a heart that is grateful, from a heart that has been set free from sin, from the heart of the redeemed to say thank you God for what you have done. Our voices might not be the most melodious and we might have no idea what harmony means but one of the most powerful things a believer can do is praise God. Let not our praise be confined to what we do on Sundays in the building but let our praise fall from our lips everyday, wherever we may be, and whoever may be near us.