Our Everyday Battles
April 14, 2008 4:00 am
Reflections for the past few weeks
As you may have heard, our church, Tokyo Baptist Church (www.tokyobaptist.org) has an ongoing campaign called "Journey to Freedom". In this campaign, our pastor speaks on different issues that affect us in our everyday life. The past weeks, topics such as unforgiveness, depression, worry and lust have been discussed. Needless to say, I have found these messages to be very helpful and practical.
depression
hmmm. I do not consider myself depressed. Although when Ramiele Malubay was eliminated at American Idol, I found myself telling anyone who would listen "I am soooo depressed Ramiele is gone!". I do not think that qualifies since I was just making a joke. (insert peace sign here). ha ha ha.
But seriously speaking, I learned in this message that when things in life go rough, we are prone to be depressed. It is quite a difficult situation to get out off, and this is the reason we need God to save us. We really REALLY need the Lord to help us. Here in Japan, we hear so many people commit suicide because they became depressed after losing their job, or getting divorced etc. It is quite alarming. I think that this has a big correlation to many people here not knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. People need the Lord. They really do.
Worry
Worry is a failure to trust God. What if? What if? This message had a big impact on me as I am a big worrier. When my wife gets sick, or when my daughter gets sick, I worry. A lot. And my immediate reaction was to try to find ways to help or to alleviate the problem at hand. But I learned that the best way to deal with any crisis in life is by doing one thing: PRAY.
Here is a good memory verse:
