Kids Groups Blog
VBS and COVID-19: If, How, and Why?
I receive phone calls daily with questions about Vacation Bible School (VBS) this year. There’s so much uncertainty about how much longer we will need to shelter in place. There’s also uncertainty about whether or not parents will want to send their children where hundreds of others will be after our restrictions have been lifted. Pastors and […]
Living a Creative COVID-19 Life with Kids
The massive COVID-19 quarantine is bringing quiet and slower days of work from home for some, while bringing stress to others who have lost their jobs. Many are now homeschooling their children, with no previous experience as a teacher. These bewildering days are already taking a toll on everyone, especially kids. Whether you set time […]
Faith over Fear.
Faith over Feelings.
By now, you have seen the graphic of the word faith with a line below it and either the word fear or feelings below the line. It’s on t-shirts, social media graphics, websites, etc. The message is prevalent, and it’s a good message. Unquestionably, faith is more trustworthy than feelings or more powerful than fear.
Yet, when we are truly honest, feelings and fear come to us more naturally than faith. Faith is an easy thing to confess and a difficult thing to live out each day. How can we actually live the graphic and not just wear it on t-shirt or like it on Facebook? How do we move toward living by faith rather than by our feelings or our fear?
I think there is an answer found in some of Paul’s most well-loved verses. You are probably familiar with these verses and may even have them memorized. I want to encourage you to take these verses a step further and let them be a guide for prayer that grows faith when you feel threatened by feelings or fear.
Philippians 4:4-8
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.
Here is a pattern for prayer based on these verses that can help us move from feelings and fear to faith. If it helps, you may even want to write these prayers in a journal.
It starts with recognizing God for who He is.
Rejoice, the Lord is near!
Start by remembering that God is always with you. He is as close as your next breath. You can be at rest because He is near. Spend a few moments praising Him for who He is—list out qualities you know to be true of Him.
Don’t be anxious about anything. How? In every situation …
Present your requests to God.
What concerns you right now? What are you afraid of? What is consuming you? Why do you feel anxious? What are you feeling? What do you need? Tell it to God.
With thanksgiving.
Spend a few minutes listing every thing you can think of to be grateful for in this current situation. Even in the most difficult situations, there are many things for which we can be thankful. Do your best to list at least 10 now.
What will God do?
Guard your heart and mind with the peace of Jesus.
This is the kind of peace we can not explain, but we know it when it comes. It is something that comes only from God and it only comes when we do the first three things — recognize Him for who He is, tell Him our needs, and give thanks.
And then what should we do in response?
Think on these things.
This is what we do in response to what God has done. Paul reminds us to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. When we set our mind to think on what is TRUE, all the feelings and fears are immediately quieted.
Ask God to reveal TRUTH to you about your current situation. And then when you are tempted to surrender to the feelings or the fear, instead turn your mind to think on what He has said is true. This is when real transformation begins to take place and we find that faith really is stronger than fear or feelings!
For more resources, visit https://gabaptist.org/covid19. Be sure to also join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/covid19gabaptist/.