Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8

These traits (in bold) are faith’s focus. To “dwell” means, in this context, to “take inventory.” In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul writes that we are to “be anxious for nothing” and then, in verse 8, he gives the very steps and cure for worry: Dwell on or take inventory of these eight attributes. Imagine two shelves: one shelf full of anxiety-producing items and one full of peace-producing things. Don’t keep examining the peace-stealers—hurtful things people have done, shortcomings of the past, regretted actions. Instead, constantly write down and think about the incredible acts God has done in your life.

in•ven•to•ry – noun
A detailed, itemized list, report, or record of things in one’s possession, especially a periodic survey of all goods and materials in stock.*

Have you noticed that when you start worrying, your incentive to pray declines? Dwelling on the good equips you to avoid the pitfalls of worry, and when you trust God, His peace can guard your heart and mind (Philippians 4:8). That’s why Paul emphatically writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). In Numbers 13, the Israelites murmured and chose to focus on the giants in the land, but Joshua and Caleb took account of the good report and held to the way of faith. Because of their faith, they saw the Promised Land. Anyone can shoot out words of doubt, but it’s a special individual who can speak faith in an overwhelming situation. That’s a person who has taken inventory of the faithfulness of God.

If you’re taking a worrisome approach to life, step back to a place of faith. The position of the believer is to forgive, forget what is behind, and move forward. Surround yourself with testimonies. Say, “God, You’re faithful; You will see me through.” This is not naïve optimism but courage because we know that He has overcome the world (John 16:33). As you meditate on God’s faithfulness, “The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

Remembering God’s goodness,
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2011 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. *The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

We can all get bogged down with the cares of life. That’s why every day we need to get washed with the “water of the Word” (Ephesians 5:26). So take time to get into the amazing Word of God!

• It is powerful. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

• It equips. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

• It guides. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Joshua 1:8

• It blesses. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25

• It brings peace. My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Proverbs 3:1-2

• It strengthens. Strengthen me according to Your Word. Psalm 119:28b

• It always comes to pass. So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

• It is truth. Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. John 17:17 AMP

• It saves. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21

• It heals. My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Proverbs 4:20-22

God bless you!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2011 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

It’s important to go back to the Word every day to get fortified and remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done for us!

for•ti•fy (verb): To strengthen; to give physical strength to; to invigorate; to add mental or moral strength to; to confirm. To strengthen and secure by forts. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary*

Those who love your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. Psalm 119:165

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:1-3

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head. Psalm 3:3

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Psalm 46:1-3

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!” Psalm 91:1-2

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

If you’re feeling drained, worried, or stressed, set some time aside to strengthen yourself through prayer and reading and the confession of God Word. God wants to be your firm foundation and fortress.

God bless you!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2011 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. *Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Fifth Edition. Copyright 1936 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

Because of God’s grace, we get to push a reset button every day. Every morning, every night, at any moment of the day—we can choose to lift our eyes past the circumstances we see looming around us and say, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24 NKJV).

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17 KJV). We can sometimes take for granted the call to connection and intimacy with God, but it’s the source of our greatest strength. As you go about your day, acknowledge Jesus. Pause from your routine and take “minute vacations with God” (Chuck Swindoll).

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

As you draw near to God, He’ll draw near to you. Not only will consistent devotion to God produce joy and a renewed mind, but it will show up in the subtle steps and nuances of your life. It will keep you from getting so worn down and distracted by life’s issues that you miss those God-moments of reaching out in love to someone who is hurting.

If you feel like you’re doing a crummy job as a Christian or you’re dealing with insecurity—God’s faithfulness overrides man’s inconsistency! God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knows the plans He has for you! Give Him a thimbleful of devotion and He’ll flood you with an ocean of life. Pray a little prayer and mean it and He’ll stretch it as big as heaven.

Great is His faithfulness!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2011 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

God doesn’t just tell us to “take courage” without showing why we don’t have to fear. The reason we can take courage is because He has overcome the world. Yes, life’s tough—we don’t have to idealize it—but because of Jesus we can have peace even in the middle of a challenge.

Peace comes when you know the stabilizing promises from the Word that reveal God’s never-ending faithfulness. That is how you develop the abiding conviction that God is going to see you through.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? Psalm 27:1

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. Psalm 139:7-10

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! . . . The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

We cannot even fathom how fantastically faithful God is. When you know someone is with you and has your back, fear has to leave. In its place you have faith: a peaceful confidence produced by the stabilizing promises of God.

God bless you!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2011 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.*

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

God fills you with joy and peace. The Bible describes the pre-salvation position as “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). But the lost-ness of a fallen world has forever changed because Jesus who never sinned became sin for broken humanity (2 Corinthians 5:21). He left the splendor of heaven and came on a rescue mission for us. Joy to the world, the Savior has come!

He is the God of hope. Biblical hope is based on the integrity of God’s faithfulness—His character, performance, and nature—and differs greatly from the baseless optimism that the world calls hope. Hope in God springs from knowing His well-documented track record in the Scriptures and in people’s lives: “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The faithful God in the Bible is the same God who will help you in your situation. Even if you fall, God is there to lift you back up (Proverbs 24:16; Psalm 145:14).

Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Be a carrier of hope. God wants to use you to offset the incredible negativity and pessimism in the world. Hope should be something you carry—something that gets in your vocabulary when everybody else is complaining, that flares up when all the circumstances go the opposite way, that adjusts your thinking to keep your dreams and hopes from getting dashed. Get tenacious! Be confident that God will cause all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). You will see the goodness of God in this life (Psalm 27:13-14).

. . . We have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men . . . 1 Timothy 4:10

Merry Christmas!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Philippians 2:2

The power of unity is a principle that resounds through the Old and New Testaments. When people get together in unity around a cause – even if it’s a negative ideology – things get done. God said of the people who unified in their own fleshly interests to build the Tower of Babel: “Nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6b). On the positive side, the Philippian church got so unified around the cause of Jesus that they were able to fund much of the outreach of the Gospel in other cities.

Unity is constantly assailed by the temptation to get in strife. Just as there is power in unity (Matthew 18:19-20), strife takes on a life of its own—don’t even open the door to it. “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16 KJV).

Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! Matthew 18:7 NKJV

Don’t indulge in the luxury of strife this holiday season. Treat it as the poison it really is. Strife is like ringing a bell for the demons to come. As tempting as it gets to “go there,” we must do our level best to resist it and pursue peace with all people (Hebrews 12:14). Repent, humble yourself, and pursue unity.

God bless you!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. NKJV Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

When Jesus shows up in a rough situation He calms the storm. Fears that try to plague your life are not coming to you from God. God wants you to be filled with a victorious spirit. His perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). He loves you not on the basis of deeds done in righteousness but because of His mercy (Titus 3:5). When you realize that God loves you completely, and that nothing can separate you from His love (Romans 8:38-39), fear can’t stay.

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad” (Prov. 12:25). God is calling us to better things than giving ourselves over to worry from the time we wake up till the time we go to bed. When I’ve been worried and discouraged, God has instructed me to go to the Word and read His promises and remember His great faithfulness.

To defeat fear, make the Word your confession:
• My God shall supply all of my need. Philippians 4:19
• No weapon formed against me will prosper. Isaiah 54:17
• Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
• The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Proverbs 4:18
• Jesus became a curse for me so the blessings of God would come upon me. Galatians 3:13-14
• These blessings come upon me and overtake me. Deuteronomy 28:2
• My barn is filled with plenty. Proverbs 3:10
• My cup runs over. Psalm 23:5
• His grace is sufficient; His power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
• Having done all to stand, I stand. Ephesians 6:13-15

Get in your A-game by getting in the Word. Some of you will have to stop the negative intake you have been allowing into your life. Some of you need to meditate on the scripture in Philippians: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:6-7). Your situation may feel hopeless, but with God nothing is impossible. Give your worry over to Him and choose to step into the New Year with a spirit of faith.

God’s promises are true,

Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2008 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.