Transforming worry into joy
ChatGPT"It's so easy to be anxious."
A friend confessed this to me recently, and I couldn't help but agree. No matter how much Scripture we read, or how many sermons we hear, it seems the well of anxiety never goes dry for most of us.
During the hard times, I know I should have joy because my faith is being tested. But why does that joy seem so elusive?
It's so easy to be faithless.
We know we should persevere. Perseverance can be described as taking next steps, one at a time, all the way through whatever trouble has come.
As we walk through, we know we should trust God with the outcome.
But it's so easy to be anxious.
Lord, would you replace our worry and stress with joy?
God's answer to that prayer shines brightly from 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NLT):
"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."
Rejoicing,
Tom Harper
Founder, BiblicalLeadership.com
LinkedIn profile | Books
 | Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More » |
More on Leadership Devotions
- How to get a jolt of wisdom in less than a minute (by Tom Harper)
- Leading ourselves (and others) to greater confidence in God (by Tom Harper)
- When God is silent toward us (from A.W. Pink’s The Attributes of God) (by Tom Harper)
- Thanking him for the bad: A final word on The Sovereignty of God (1928) (by Tom Harper)
