Worry about the future is the source of most of our anxiety. We adopt concerns about money, health issues, the outcome of an election, and an economy that is already driving some people to despair. Among us are Christians living in fear of losing their salvation, or of dying in shame and disgrace. At times, we lose confidence in being saved, and of reaching heaven.
In the final chapter of Believing God, Beth Moore states, “I remember a time when I couldn’t picture victoriously living in Christ into the next year, the next month, or even into the next week, but then
God spoke to my heart, saying, ‘But, Beth can you picture living victoriously today?’”
Beth answered “yes,” remembering the solution referenced by Kay Arthur, found in I John 5:14-15,
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will,
He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of Him.”
If you have wearied of feeling helpless, of living in sin or disobedience, all you need do is to daily ask God for the strength to walk away from destruction. If you have prayed with confidence to Him,
He will have heard your prayers, and will answer them, because that is His will for you.
God calls upon us to remember that He assists us as we walk toward salvation. In I Samuel 7:12, we read, “Then Samuel took a stone and named it Ebenezer saying,’Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” The word “Ebenezer” means stone of help.
Beth Moore has identified the memorial stones God provides that serve as faith markers. In 1939, ten years before my birth, God placed a stone with Papa, my grandfather. Papa (who had six other sons) gave to my father his Bible and his watch, saying, “Robert, give these to your son.” Some 49 years later, my father learned that I, his son, was a collector of bibles and of timepieces. Papa’s message to me was delivered.
God asks us to remember His interventions in our lives, and the spiritual markers placed for us in difficult times. If we take each day as a gift from Him, one day at a time, we can move much further toward our goals.
In the weeks before our national election, many became aware of God’s role in American politics, a focus not confined to any one candidate.
How can we best live one day at a time? In Luke 12:25, Christ asks, “Who among you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Christ breaks down living to the hour, reminding us of the need to be faithful every second. He reminds us that consistent prayer and faith will free us from anxiety caused by greed, covetousness and fear of scarcity. While we must plan and diligently work our plans, we must not be unfaithful by worrying whether our plans will fail.
When we stumble (not, if we stumble) into sin, disobedience, or trouble, we must pray for an
Ebenezer stone to carry, to remind us of God’s faithfulness to us. Remembering the victories in our lives after hard-fought battles will allow us to live, calmly and in faith, “one day at a time.”
The Rev. Dr. R. Joaquin Willis is pastor of the Church of the Open Door at 6001 NW 8th Ave., Miami. To contact the church, call 305-759-0373 or email the pastor at pastoropendoorc@bellsouth.net.
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