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God's Words For US
by Cecelia Lester
“God grant me the serenity to change the things I can; courage to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr
God
God: the first word of this prayer, our Creator, the giver of life, the giver of all good things.
God: the maker of stars, the One who keeps them in balance.
God: the one responsible for all our growing plants.
“God is great; God is good.” We learned this table grace as children. Yes, God is great and God is good—very great and very good.
From time to time, we may have doubts about God. We may even find we are angry with Him. These emotions are okay because He created these emotions. But we must deal with them by giving them to Him and allowing Him to guide us through to His peace about the issue that bothers us.
God, our Father, protects us from evil and from willful sin. God, our help in ages past, present and future, help us to work for You; help us to live for You. Help us to share the good news of Your love. God, Healer, Heal us from all our infirmities physical, emotional, and spiritual. These things, I ask, believing in You. AMEN
Grant
Grant: the main verb in this Serenity Prayer. It means give but it also means something more.
When a young person goes to college, he or she may need financial assistance. One form of this assistance is called a grant. With this form of assistance, a need has to be present. When Reinhold Niebuhr chose the word grant, he must have felt the need of a person to find a new path to walk along, a new outlook, and a new lease on life.
Grants in the temporal sense are usually given to someone who has nothing (e.g. land grants). We sometimes have to approach God with nothing in our hands and be also aware of our needs. We can ask God to grant us things but it is His decision as to whether He, in fact, does give us what we request. Whatever God grants us is according to His will.
Serenity
Serenity means peace; usually it means peace of mind or peace of heart. Peace of heart is not always easily obtained. Most of us try to achieve it with little help from those around us. In those instances, we have to separate ourselves from the source of our unrest, mentally and spiritually, in order to gain a balance.
Hymns of the church, gospel songs, and even the modern praise and worship music speak of a closer walk, contentment, God’s peace, or the presence of God during a personal crisis.
When I journaled about these terms in 1991 my peace was fragile. I was trying to find firm ground to deal with my co-dependency. My plans and goals for the previous Monday changed, partly due to a physical problem. We also experienced an ice storm that left us without power. (No power for 12 ½ hours) I was not happy.
One thing I have learned and now rely on is Jesus promised to leave us His peace, not that of the world. (John 14:27)
Change
Change means to do things differently. It takes courage to change things; it also takes DISCIPLINE.
We all know, deep down, that we need to change some things in our lives. We have learned that in order to see any change we have to exercise discipline for our own good.
Some areas we can change in our lives are our weight, our appearance, our attitude, and our way of doing ministry. While we seem to be able to do these changes on our own, we also need God to change our hearts and our ways of thinking. God will take over our lives, if we ask Him to, and guide us as He shapes us into the person He desires us to be.
Courage
Courage means strength, inner strength. Courage is commendable. It took courage for the French people in World War 2 and for the Kuwaiti people in Desert Storm to have resistance movements during their times of captivity and occupation.
It takes courage to love a person with a compulsive make-up. It also takes courage to stand up to someone enraged at another party when we feel ‘caught in the middle.’ This courage is not based on size, familial relationship, or friendship. This courage must come from the LORD.
People who know the LORD rely on Him each day. When I went through a prolonged time of depression, a friend knew what I meant when I said, “I’m making it.” One day, she told me that was something to praise God for.
Lord, please help me to be courageous during hard times. I love You and want to live for you at all times.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the most sought after virtue in our Christian walk. Solomon asked for a discerning hear and the ability to distinguish right from wrong. God allowed him possess wisdom, riches and honor.
Proverb 8:11 tells me that wisdom is more precious than rubies. Proverbs 11:2 says, “With humility comes wisdom.”
We all want to know what to do in any given situation; James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God.” We all need to take James’ advice and seek the LORD’s wisdom (aka, the mind of Christ) in our circumstances. We need to ask for God’s wisdom DAILY.
Please, God grant me Your wisdom above all else. Please guide us in our daily walk to have the ability to make choices that You approve of. In the Name of Jesus, I ask these things. AMEN
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Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.
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