Good day to one and all!

Ever wondered which are Jesus' favorite phrases?

Yes, you have got it - they are "Peace", "let not your hearts be troubled", "don't worry", etc. Also it is interesting to note that He only said His favorite phrases to His followers, His disciples, those who believe in Him and it is also exciting for me to learn that there are a total of 365 times those phrases are mentioned in the Bible. It is as if the Lord knows that we need to be reminded of His Presence in our lives at least once a day 365 days a year.

One of the greatest troublemakers that lurk in the background all the time is WORRY. It was precisely the worry that his children may have sinned against God that brought on Job's tragedies. In Job 3:25 we read Job saying, "For the one thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me". He lost all seven of his children and all his vast wealth all in one day.

You see, Satan knew of Job's fear and worry (I will use these two terms interchangeably as one leads to the other) and he attacked Job on his weak spot. In fact, Satan wanted Job's life (read Job 1) but God restrained Satan. Fear is negative and extreme fear can paralyze us. In fact, Jesus addresses this subject at great length in Matthew 6 & 7 in the famous "Sermon on the Mount".

Jesus reminds His hearers that our Heavenly Father will supply all our needs - Matthew 6:19 - 34. In those verses, Jesus talked about the Father feeding the birds of the air, provides the lilies of the fields for our enjoyment and clothes the grass of the field. If God does all those things for nature, there is nothing that He would not give to His children when they ask Him. If that were so, why are we still troubled so much? I submit to you that by human nature, man likes to have the power to control his own destiny. But can he do it? I hardly think so. We cannot even control the coloring of our own hair leave alone prevent them from falling off.

I remembered when I first started learning to trade. The chief dealer told me one most important lesson - whether I would make money or lose some, each day is a new day. Forget your losses and don't think of the profits made. Stay objective. Now all of us know that that was good advice especially when the day's pressures are so great and I have seen dealers who are 30 years old looking like they were 50.

Praise God, I stuck to the teachings of Jesus and left everything in His great hands. I did not allow the daily pressures of life to bother me and as a testimony up to today, I am still being mistaken for being only in my late thirties or just touching 40. For those of you who have seen me in person I am sure that was the first impression you had when we were first introduced and now the truth is out. Praise the Lord I do not look my age even though I am pushing 47 this year. Many times people have asked me what the secret of my youthful looks and I was too embarrassed to tell them the truth. No, I must from now on testify of the goodness of the Lord and tell them that it was all because of Jesus. Thanks be to Him.

You know, recently on a business trip to Hong Kong I had a valuable lesson on worry from Jesus. I usually travel with a cabin luggage that has both number locks and key locks. On this particular trip I forgot to lock the suitcase with my keys although by habit I usually push the numbers on the number lock. After checking in the suitcase (it was too big to fit into the overhead compartment), I went to the SIA lounge for a cup of coffee and while I was there, it suddenly dawned on me that I had not locked my suitcase with my luggage keys - I could not remember locking it no matter how many times I tried to picture what I did with the suitcase. Soon I boarded the plane still thinking of the suitcase and by now horrid snapshots of contents falling out from my luggage flashed across my mind. All through that 3-1/2 hours of flight time, I sat there worrying about the luggage. When the food came along, I had no appetite to eat, as I was too busy worrying over the suitcase. When I was waiting in the immigration queue, the anxiety became more intense; more horrifying scenes flashed across my mind.

Finally, when I reached the baggage carousel and picked up my bag half expecting to find that the bag would have been lighter because some kind airport worker had managed to close the bag minus some pieces of clothing and contents, I was relieved to find that the bag was locked - at least the number lock held. And then, guess what, I heard the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit rebuking me in a most loving way - "Was all those fears worth it? You could have enjoyed the meal on board the plane?" (and I was hungry for I had just missed my dinner on board the plane). It was not a reprimand in a loud booming voice announced over the public address system of the airport; but it was enough for me. I heard it just the same, loud and clear and I repented there and then.

The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 5: 7 - 9 exhort us as follows: -

7 Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you
8 Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

We are exhorted/ encouraged to cast our cares on Jesus. When we have done that, it is no longer us who are carrying those cares but the Savior. When that happens, Satan cannot come and trouble us because there is not a care on us. Interesting.

Read verse 8 again and this time pay attention to the following - the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

"like a roaring lion"
The Bible did not say that the devil is a roaring lion but that he is like a roaring lion, meaning that he is not even a roaring lion. Next the bible says that the devil is like a roaring lion. All the devil can do is to make the roaring sound. Why? Because he is already defeated at the cross when Jesus died for our sins. For those of us who have received Jesus into our hearts, we have become children of God and God is our Heavenly Father. The devil no longer has power over us; you may say he had lost his teeth and therefore is no threat to us.

"whom he may devour"
This means that there will be some who may not be devoured. There is a choice here. We can choose to guard ourselves against attacks or we can be so busy worrying that we let our guard down and then we become his prey.

But praise the Lord! Even when he managed to get through to devour you, take heart, he has lost his sharp teeth and he is toothless. The worst that can happen to you is that you be "gummed to death". Don't let him deceive you. You who have received Jesus into your hearts are save from him. He cannot come between Jesus and us - no way the Lord will allow that to happen. However, there may be lapses when we let our guard down when we entertain one small worry in our lives and then we become vulnerable. I encourage all of us to snap out of it immediately when that happens and cast all our cares upon Jesus for He cares for us.

Best regards,
Andrew L W Lee