Wisdom teachings 1

Note to Caregivers

Whatever you or your friend’s circumstances, you may want to pray your own words and add them to this collection.

Waiting with Hope

Waiting without anxiety, how hard it is! Waiting for an unknown outcome, unable to plan, unable to act…waiting.

ISA 40:31

“Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings as the eagles…” I give thanks I am mounting ever upwards and shall not look down. I am being freed from anxiety, strengthened during this time of waiting. I am strengthened with hope:

“They shall walk and not be weary, they shall run and not faint.” My heart is leaping for joy, I am running with the freedom of knowing that “all things work together for good for those who love Him.” (Rom 8:28) I am free because I know that everything is proceeding as it should, that the outcome will be for my highest good. Whatever fears pass through my mind, these have no power over me because my good is unfolding perfectly. God, life, is for me, not against me. (Rom 8:31)

…”We love whom we do not see.” (1 Pet 1:8) My faith is growing, I love the Creator who is working out for me, the best plan for my life. I rejoice in this waiting period for I am told in the scriptures: “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make known your request to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

My heart and mind is now guarded in peace. I give thanks that what I need shall come to pass. I turn my attention to the beauty around me. I acknowledge that Divine Order is arranging my life, and I am given the wisdom when to act, and when to wait.

“Be still and wait for the Lord, and let your heart take courage.” (Ps 27:14) “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13) I am grateful I have a strength, a power, and a love which sustains me, which is infinite, which is linked to everything that breathes in this universe. I am grateful that this wondrous energy, this Unlimited Source, this unfailing Good, overshadows me when my mind, body, or emotions are weak, insecure, wavering.

“The Lord is my strength and my song, he is my stronghold.” (Ps 118:14) I lay hold of the joy of what lives within me: when I release what I most desire, when I lose my life, it is then I shall find it. (Mat: 10:39) My riches come from an inner peace which sings my joy in the steps I take, as I walk through this day, confident that everything is going as it should, teaching me what I need to know, bringing me closer to the fulfillment of my life’s goal.

Ps 26:12-11

“My foot stands on level ground…I walk in my integrity.” (Ps 26:11-12) It is wonderful to know that when I turn to the source of my being, I encounter steadiness, my feet are guided on a firm foundation, a level place where balance and order abound.

I give thanks for this experience of waiting. For the gift of knowing that He cares about me in every detail of my life, and I can be at rest, with peace, with a quiet flame in my heart. Waiting turns to ecstasy.

Freedom

1 Cor. 4:16

“I appeal therefore to you, become imitators of me.”

“Who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ.” When I live in His way, with His power, His endurance, His strength within me, I can go through anything and find victory through Him. I need not be a victim of anxiety, fear, and despair.

Eph 3:16

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, into the inner man (self).” I am being strengthened with power; I can overcome each obstacle through Him.

Rom 5:17

“…those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the One…” I have been given a wonderful grace and righteousness. May these gifts reign in me as peace, hope and faith. I shall not be tossed about by every wave and storm, but shall remain anchored in the calm sea of His love, the serenity of His promise to care for me always, to protect me under the shadow of His almighty wings…

1 Cor 1:4

“…The grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus.” This grace is my inheritance, my assurance, my refuge. I am not alone but have my life in Him. I have this treasure in my earthen vessel, and this life of grace shall never die.

Mat 13:16

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” As I open my eyes, I see the joy of the Lord; as I open my ears, I hear the truth and am made glad. I am released into the adventure of opportunity: to overcome darkness by the light of His grace.

Preparing for Loss

Col. 2:10

“And you in Him are made full.”

Whatever loss I experience, my fullness, wholeness and happiness does not come from that person, possession or place. “…who is the Head of all rule and authority.” (Col. 2:10). I give the Lord authority over my emotions; He is able to take control over them, to heal them. I do not have to be overwhelmed: I have grief, but grief does not have me.

Col. 2:11

“…the putting off of the body of the flesh…”

My emotions, body and mind are not the full truth of my being. I put off my emotions, body, mind, to favor the Holy Spirit who dwells within them. I turn to the Spirit as the source of happiness and healing, knowing the Holy Spirit shall comfort me, offer companionship, joy, well-being, self-esteem, confidence and self-control.

Col. 2:12

“Buried together with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised together through the faith of the operation of God…” May my past way of reacting to events and people be buried with Jesus. May I no longer be at the mercy of what people and events do to me. May I live in Him and He in me. I am raised with Him into obedience, willing to die to unmet desires, disappointments, despair, in order to gain Christ in my heart, to rise with Him in peace and glory. He is my Crown, my Beloved. May my old ways be gone; may the new way be joy everlasting.

Col. 1:11

“Empowered will all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy.” Through Jesus I am empowered to go through this loss without being devastated. He has not left me an orphan, He has given me the Holy Comforter and the endurance to wait—for those who “wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (ISA 40:31)

Col. 1:13

“Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” May I be delivered out of the darkness of fear, rage, condemning others, defiling myself with self-hate. I can “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace (HEB 4:16), to the Son of His love. His love heals agitation, suffering, sorrow.

Col. 1:21

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works.” My mind tries to alienate me by self righteous anger, guilt, doubts; dwelling on the past and fearing the future. But the Lord has brought me out of darkness—negativity, worry, hopelessness—these enemies have no power over me for the Lord is my shepherd, constant guide, always by my side.

Col. 1:20

“And through him to reconcile to himself all things…”

He alone can reconcile all the divisions, the split between myself and another; all dissension, all confusion, all feelings of abandonment—he can transform and bring together what is broken—if not outwardly with a specific person or situation, then inwardly where he can repair, replace, and restore his love, peace, and overflowing fountain of joy. He is my freedom, my hope of glory.

The Challenge of Loss: Endurance

James 1:2

“Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials.”

When my trial is severe, when I am losing what is deepest to me, then I can only count it all joy if I abide in the Lord and he in me. The One who raised Jesus from among the dead lives in me. That same One can quicken my spirit to express joy in the midst of trials. Of myself I can do nothing (Jn 5:30) and joy has no life in me. Through Christ, joy is abounding, in Him I have my strength and joy.

James 1:3

“Knowing that the proving of your faith produces endurance.”

Can I prove my faith by being willing to go through this loss, willing to endure this suffering? I offer this suffering for Thy sake, Lord. In my person I don’t want it, I abhor it, I want to run from it. But you have told me to “run with endurance the race set before me,” looking to Jesus. So I shall run to you Lord Jesus, and in the running, endure the pain, agony, dissolution, the tearing down, and all I ask is that you may be glorified.

James 1:4

“And let endurance have its complete work, that you may be complete and entire, lacking nothing.”

This is the mystery: that this endurance will bring completion, wholeness, for it is the ultimate offering of love. I love you Jesus, therefore I am willing to die for you. And what I must be willing to die to is my resistance, fear, repulsion, anger, blame, unbelief. I must die, lay naked before you, give up attachment to this body. And in my emptiness, total weakness, there is Thy strength, Thy grace, Thy beloved saving love, the treasure in my earthen vessel (2 Cor 4:7): Your Life. I must empty out all that I have been, to be filled up anew with you, to be delivered totally into your hands.

Lord, this task seems too much for me. Yet you have said you would “not give me more than I can handle”(1 Cor 10:13) and you would “make a way out of temptation”—despair. You “endured the cross, despising the shame,” (He 12:2) and you live in me. Therefore I too can endure.

Further, I can turn to the One who shines in my heart, illuminating the knowledge of you. And in that knowledge, I am blessed.

Mat 24:13

“But he who endures to the end, he shall be saved.” You Lord will give me the power not only to endure but to love you so much I am willing to die for you. Love you that much, because you first loved me. (1 Jn 4:19) But Lord, I am not a saint, the task seems overwhelming. Do I have the inner strength for this ultimate completion?

The joy of the Lord is my strength. (Ps 28:7) I must go on praising him with shouts of joy. The Lord is not sickness, disease, death. He is light, victory, ecstasy, conqueror. And he says that I am “more than conqueror in Him.”(Rom 8:37)

I may be in this critical situation because of a wrong lifestyle, wrong thinking, physical problems inherited from my family, the challenges of aging, but I can decide to dwell on what is right and not on what is wrong. “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus…” (Rom 8:1) only love and acceptance.

This situation can turn into gold and out of it my treasure shall shine. I shall be as a child of God shining light in this world—because I will endure to the end, my true life being preserved for Him in the times to come.

“My times are in His hands” (Ps 31:15) though all or everything seems to have forsaken me, “He is my rock, my fortress, (Ps 18:2) He has established me as a mountain. “I shall not be moved.” (Ps 16:8)

Author’s Note:

Many of these scriptures came spontaneously paraphrased, sometimes combining scriptures from different parts of the Bible. Several scriptures would come all at once and were from different Bible sources. Other times specific Bible selections were prayed. Therefore the specific Bible is difficult to name. Generally, scriptures were inspired from some of the following Bibles:

New Testament & Psalms, American Bible Society, NY, 1971

The New Testament, Recovery Version, Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, Ca., 1985

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