This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought
to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast,
you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from
beginning to end. Now here's our guest teacher,
Kyle Eidelman, with a message titled, Win the
Morning. Life is difficult. Life is difficult.
In fact, the Bible tells us that life is difficult.
If anybody ever tries to preach a message that
doesn't include the fact that life is difficult,
then... They're not preaching the message of
scripture. Jesus said in John 16, in this world,
you will have trouble. And he goes on to say,
I have overcome the world. So there's hope, there's
strength. Like we have confidence in who Jesus
is, but in this world, you'll have trouble. And
that word for trouble is the word tribulation.
Meaning that these are not small challenges.
These aren't light. These are things that are
significant. This is a darkness that is so deep,
it can feel like it's consuming all the light.
That's the word here for trouble. It is a young
Ukrainian girl stabbed to death on a train in
Charlotte. It's the shooting in a Catholic school
in Minneapolis. It's a 31 -year -old husband
and father being assassinated while speaking
at a university in Utah. And so what it can feel
like is that every morning we wake up and we
don't know what the headlines are gonna be, but
we know that darkness is waiting. And what that
means is that we end up carrying some sadness
and some grief with us that can at times just
feel like it's sitting really heavy on our chest.
What that means is that sometimes we have to
fight back anger and certainly confusion. Things
just don't make sense. Things don't unfold the
way we think they should or that would make sense
to us if we were sitting in God's seat, which
we're not. And so we pray and we pray for the
church. The church is called to be a light in
the darkness. And the way we see it, church,
is that the darker it is, the brighter the light
shines. The Ephesians says, so we pray, Jesus,
let us be a light. Somehow let us do what you
tell us to do of loving our enemies and praying
for those who persecute us. And so it's a time
to pray. It's a time to reflect on our own lives.
I often say at a funeral that this is a time
when we gently close the eyes of the dead, but
we open the eyes of the living. The Bible says
in Psalm 90 verse 12, teach us God to number
our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
God teach us to live with an awareness that our
days are numbered so that we live with an intentionality
about our lives. James 4, 14 says, what is your
life? You're a mist that appears for a while
and then disappears. And we need to be reminded
of the temporariness of this life. That from
our perspective, the years run together, but
compared to eternity, none of us are here very
long. And that's not meant to scare us. The scriptures
aren't meant to scare us, but they're meant to
wake us up. They're meant to help us pay attention
to our one and only lives and understand that
moments like these matter, that matter. And we
need to look up long enough to recognize that.
That one day we'll stand before God and on that
day, it won't matter what anybody else thought
of you. It won't matter what your boss thought
about you or your critics said about you. It
won't matter how many followers you had or what
your bank account looked like or what car you
drove or house you lived in. It won't matter
who won the last election. It won't matter what
grade you got on the exam this past week. Like
what will matter is your relationship with Jesus.
And so this is a good time to just pause and
ask a question. If this is your last day, are
you ready? Have you surrendered your life to
Jesus? Have you confessed that you're a sinner
who needs a savior? Have you believed that Jesus
died on the cross for your sins, that he rose
again so that you could have eternal life? Is
that where you have put your hope? Is that where
you find your confidence? Jesus defeated death
so you can live. That's the platform. And so
we pray and we reflect on our lives, but we also,
if we're honest, and I think we should be, we
find ourselves in moments like these and weeks
like these asking questions that have perhaps
always been there below the surface. But when
certain headlines hit the news, those questions
get louder. Like, how do we make sense of such
evil? And how do we respond when violence becomes
the answer to disagreement? How do we find hope
when darkness seems overwhelming? Like, how do
we even do that? And so I want to talk to you
about some of those questions because this is
true. And this isn't just true globally. Like
this is true personally. It's not just the darkness
and the headlines. It's like the darkness in
our hearts and darkness in our homes. And it's
the darkness when we're in these quiet moments
alone with our thoughts. Life is difficult. That
is actually the first line of the book called
The Road Less Traveled. which according to the
Guinness Book of World Records holds the record
for the longest time on the New York Times bestseller
list, The Road Less Travel, last time I checked,
694 weeks. Bestseller for 13 years. Starts off
life as difficult. But in the midst of the difficult
circumstances that we have no control over, in
the midst of the darkness that can seem overwhelming,
in the midst of grief and fear, the Bible tells
us God's will is for you to live with joy and
gratitude. How do you do that? Like, I know that's
what you want. I want that. But it's not just
what you want. It's what God wants for you. 1
Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18 say, rejoice always.
Some translations, be joyful always and pray
continually and give thanks in all circumstances
for this is God's will. You wonder what God's
will is for your life? You lay awake at night
and say, God, what do you want from me? What's
your will for me? This is my will for you, God
says, is that you'd be joyful, that you pray
continually, you give thanks in all circumstance.
And there's always and continually in all circumstances,
not just some of the time, not just when things
are going well and everything's unfolding the
way we hoped that it would and things just make
sense for us. All of life is up and to the right.
It's like, no, it's always. all the time, in
all circumstances. And so how do we do that?
How do we live with that kind of joy when life
is difficult and we're hit with wave after wave
of difficulties and everywhere we look, we're
reminded of how hard things can be. How do you
find that kind of peace when maybe you're carrying
a lot of shame and regret and you don't know
what to do about it, but it feels, it just feels
like too much. You just can't go back. and do
things differently. You wish you could, but you
can't. And now it's like every day, you're just
reminded of the reality of your decisions, what
it's done to you, the people around you, and
it just all feels like too much. How do you find
victory over temptation where it just seems to
get the better of you? Like you don't want to
keep doing what you've been doing, but you keep
doing it. How do you find victory? How do you
intentionally fill your mind with thoughts that
are true and God honoring? How do you overcome
the voices in your head that tell you, hey, it's
too late and things are too dark and evil is
winning? So the answer, I believe, is connected
to the series we're in called Every Thought Captive,
where the Bible would teach us that either you
take your thoughts captive or they're taking
you captive. That the way we tear down these
strongholds in our life is by being renewed in
our minds. That we partner with the Holy Spirit
in experiencing this mind transformation. We
align our thoughts with what God says. And as
we do, he gives us a new way of looking at things.
He gives us a new way of thinking. He transforms
our minds. And as he transforms our minds, our
lives change. And so what I want to do is focus
this in a little bit as we get in this series
and talk to you about taking your thoughts captive
at a certain time of the day, specifically taking
your thoughts captive first thing in the morning.
Now, listen, I know some of you are not morning
people. I get it. Some of you don't, you don't
even, you don't even believe in God till after
lunch. That's sort of how you feel about it.
Like you wouldn't say that out loud, but the
people around you might be like, are you a Christian
yet? Okay, I'll give you another hour and we'll
see if it cares. in after you have the coffee
because you're just not a, you're just not a
morning person. So I'm going to talk to you about
the importance of taking your thoughts captive
in the morning, but I want you to hear me. I'm
not putting it like a time on what the morning
is for you. It's just whenever you wake up. All
right. So that might be five something that might
be 10 something. If it's 11 something, I mean,
okay. But really what we're saying is what you
think about when you first wake up has a way
of determining what you think about through the
rest of the day. Like your thoughts early in
the morning have impact on who you are. I don't
remember where I first heard the phrase when
the morning. I think I heard it from, I know
I heard it from my junior high soccer coach.
He may have been the first person. He would,
he just took all of it too seriously. I don't
know if you ever had a coach like this, like
in junior high, where you're like, this is not
professional soccer. That's not what we're doing
here. But he coached as if it were. And he insisted
we have our practices before school instead of
after. And we'd show up half awake and he would
blow his whistle and yell at us with this annoying
William Wallace -like energy and say, win the
morning. Win the morning, boys, and you win the
day. Have a sprint back and forth. And look,
we were tolerating the morning, I feel like.
And I thought we should have gotten credit for
that. Like we were there tolerating the morning,
but he wanted us to win the morning. And my question
was always, why can't we win the afternoon? I'm
all for winning. Does it really matter when we
win? And my coach would say, yeah, it does. You
got to win the morning if you want to win the
day. And I think there's a lot of wisdom in that.
And what I discovered is that there's a reflection
of this in scripture. teach and would prioritize,
I believe, how we spend our morning hours, our
time with God in the morning. I did just a quick
survey of scripture on this. Abraham, Genesis
chapter 22, three and five, rose early in the
morning to split wood for burnt offerings and
to worship God. Moses, Exodus 24, Exodus 34,
rose early in the morning to worship God, to
meet with God. Gideon rose early in the morning
to find the Lord's favor, Judges six, Judges
seven. Proverbs 31 describes a godly woman as
one who rises early and with intentionality.
Hezekiah worshiped God first thing in the morning,
2 Chronicles 29. Job made it his habit to rise
early in the morning and to pray for his children.
Isaiah spoke about waking up and meeting with
God in the mornings, Isaiah chapter 50, verse
four. You read through the Psalms and David uses
this as almost a refrain. In the morning, let's
look at a few of these together. Psalm five,
verse three. In the morning, Lord, you hear my
voice. In the morning, I lay my request before
you. And then here's what happens. Because he
starts his day this way, then throughout the
day, what's he do? He waits expectantly. Because
he starts his day by praying and laying his request
before God, it changes the way that he lives
out the rest of his day. Throughout the rest
of his day, he's living with this anticipation
of how God's gonna show up because of how he
started his day. Psalm 143, verse eight. In the
morning, God, bring me word of your unfailing
love. If I put my trust in you, show me the way
I should go. For to you, I entrust my life. God,
in the morning, just give me direction. Help
me know the path I should take. Next verse, Psalm
59, 16. But I will sing of your strength in the
morning. In the morning, I will sing of your
love. For you are my fortress and my refuge in
times of trouble. Next one is Psalm 88, verse
13. But I cry to you for help, Lord. In the morning,
my prayer comes before you. In the morning, in
the morning, in the morning, in the morning,
I worship. In the morning, I seek your direction.
In the morning, I'm reminded of your love for
me. In the morning, I ask you for help. How you
start your day, the thoughts you first think
have a way of setting the direction for the rest
of your day. And then ultimately, your days become
your life. Jesus modeled this for us. In Mark
chapter one, It's this crazy busy time in the
life of Jesus. Lots happening, lots of crowds
with expectations for Jesus about what he should
do and what he shouldn't do with his time. And
in the middle of all the craziness, we read about
Jesus in Mark chapter one. It says of him very
early in the morning. How early? Well, it was
still dark. And Jesus got up and he left the
house and he went off to a solitary, to a quiet
place where he prayed. And if Jesus needs this,
like if he's prioritizing this, if he's intentional
with his mornings, then how much more should
we be with ours? And so it was just really clear
to me that, okay, like this is biblically emphasized,
this idea of connecting with God in the mornings,
of meeting. God in the morning of taking my thoughts
captive when I first wake up. And then I started
to wonder if maybe science backed this up. In
other words, if this is true in scripture, maybe
it's true biologically. Like maybe this is how
we're made neurologically. That God has wired
us in such a way that our brains are especially
moldable in the mornings. And turns out they
are. When you wake up, your brain moves from
delta waves to theta waves to alpha waves. And
in that time, important things are happening
that determine whether you respond or you react
to whatever happens to you throughout the day.
Dr. Andrew Huberman, in his research for Stanford
University, he uses some language I find really
helpful. He calls the morning hours your neuroplasticity
window. That you've got a couple hours in the
morning that are your neuroplasticity window
because in those few hours, you're thinking,
disproportionately shapes your brain. It's your
neuroplasticity window. The first hour or two
of your day, what you think about has disproportionate
weight. It has compounding effects on what you
think about the rest of the day. Dr. Sonia Lupine
and her research on cortisol patterns talks about
how our stress hormone levels are naturally highest
in the morning. It's called the cortisol awakening
response. And the idea here is that our morning
thoughts have amplified emotional impact through
the rest of the day. Like our morning thoughts
set us up for either having a resiliency throughout
the rest of the day or having these negative
thought patterns for the rest of the day. Psychology
would call this a primacy effect. Like your first
thoughts about something, first thoughts about
a person or your first thoughts about the day
disproportionately influence everything else
that follows. So your thoughts early in the morning
create neural pathways that are used to process
whatever else happens to you throughout the course
of the day. Psychologists also refer to the morning
hours as a time of priming. Like if you ever
put a coat of primer on a wall before painting
it, You can't see the primer, but it's underneath
what you can see. And if you've ever done much
painting and you've tried to skip the primer,
you know it's a bad idea. You pay attention to
what's underneath what you can see. Even though
you can't see it, even though people can't see
how you're spending your morning hours, what
they can see is impacted by what they can't see.
Think of it like this. Imagine that somebody
gives you a gift as kind of an old school radio
that has a... you know, tuner on it that you
tune into different radio stations. But the way
this radio works is whatever you turn into, tune
into before, you know, 7am is what it stays on
the rest of the day. So whatever station you
tune into first is what you gotta listen to all
day long. And you better be like, you could tune
into some country music and maybe that's nice
to start your day, but around five o 'clock in
the evening, you're like, why didn't I choose
differently? Like whatever you start the day
with is what you have to listen to all day. And
in a sense, this is the way our brains work,
that whatever you tune into to begin your day
is what you listen to throughout the rest of
your day. So play this out with me. You wake
up, you immediately, Grab your phone. There's
a news alert, another tragedy. A political post
makes you all angsty to start your day. A couple
of messages from work marked urgent that you
miss during the night. You've not even gotten
out of bed yet and you're already dealing with
anxiety and anger and feeling overwhelmed. But
what really the cost of this is what happens
the rest of the day. Because it's not just in
that moment, but now you're setting yourself
up where, Small inconveniences, you're reactive
to them. They feel like a crisis. Traffic makes
you furious. Your coworker's innocent attack
or comment feels like an attack. And you're reactive.
It's because you primed your brain for chaos
at 6 .47 in the morning. Or maybe instead of
checking the news, you get on. Your phone, and
the first thing you do, before you even get out
of bed, you look at Instagram, your friends posted
their stupid, perfect vacation pictures, and
you look at the perfect date that somebody else
went on the night before, and that fitness influence
you've had. influencer you follow has been up
for like four hours already. And like before
you've even had your coffee, you're feeling inadequate
and insecure. And so what that does for the rest
of the day is it primes it. Like now you're measuring
yourself against others. Your accomplishments
feel small. Your appearance is lacking. And you
spend the day feeling less than because that's
what you primed your mind for. That's how you
set the trajectory of your thinking to begin
your day. But you think of the flip side of that.
Like what if you take your thoughts captive and
you wake up and before you even reach for the
phone, you say, okay, God, before I get out of
this bed, I'm gonna think of three things today
that I have to be grateful for. And you say it
out loud. And maybe the first thing is I woke
up. Maybe that's what you go with. I woke up.
I'm thankful that I woke up today. And you pick
a couple of other things and you say it out loud.
And what happens? Well, the rest of the day,
you've primed yourself for some gratitude and
you can notice things that maybe you would have
missed otherwise. And this time when the traffic
is heavy, you... Find something to be grateful
for. The podcast that you're listening to or
your work is stressful and you notice a coworker
who's there for you that maybe you would have
missed otherwise. And you respond instead of
react because you primed your brain to see some
blessings. This is what it looks like to take
your thoughts captive is you recognize in the
morning what you see, what you look for is what
you're gonna see the rest of the day. The station
you tune into is what you're gonna listen to
the rest of the day. I want you to take a look
at a parable that I call the parable of the smudge.
Kristen had always dreamed of visiting the picturesque
coastal town of Seaview. She'd seen countless
photos online of its stunning cliffs, pristine
beaches, and vibrant sudsets. Finally, after
years of saving, she booked a week -long stay
at a highly rated Airbnb perched on the cliffs
overlooking the ocean. As soon as she arrived,
Kristen rushed to the large picture window that
dominated the living room wall. This was the
view everyone raved about in the reviews. But
as she approached, her excitement quickly turned
to disappointment. There, right in the center
of the window, was a small but noticeable smudge.
She spent the next hour trying to clean it off,
but it seemed to be in between the window panes,
impossible to reach. For the rest of her stay,
Kristen found herself fixated on that smudge.
When she looked out the window, instead of seeing
the vast expanse of the sparkling ocean, the
rugged beauty of the cliffs, or the glorious
colors of the sunset, all she could focus on
was that small, blurry spot. Her photos all seemed
to showcase the smudge rather than the view,
and the more she saw it, the more she saw it.
She finally shut the curtains so she wouldn't
have to see the smudge anymore. She spent most
of her vacation indoors feeling cheated and frustrated.
She barely noticed the sound of the waves or
the fresh sea breeze when she briefly ventured
out. On the last day of her stay, Kristen left
a scathing review. I don't understand why everyone
raves about the view of this place. All I could
see was a dirty window. As Kristen got in her
car to leave, the young couple was just arriving
to check into the Airbnb. The woman gasped with
excitement as she got out of the car. Pointing
at the view in awe, she said, Look at that sunset.
It's even more beautiful than in the pictures.
Kristen glanced into her rearview mirror as she
was driving away, hoping to catch a glimpse of
a spectacular golden sun sinking into a violet
and pink sky. But she couldn't help but notice
right there on her rearview mirror was a smudge.
The more you see it, the more you see it. Some
of you are just smudged people. like you do this
really well, it doesn't matter how beautiful
the view is out that window, you're gonna find
the smudge and you're gonna notice it. And so
the Bible would teach us that we have more control
over this than maybe we realize, that if we will
take our thoughts captive, if we'll look for
the beautiful, we'll see the beautiful. If we
look for the good, we'll see the good. If we
look for the praiseworthy, we'll see the praiseworthy.
And so how you start off each day will largely
determine what you see during the day. I want
us to spend a few minutes just looking at an
example of this from the Old Testament. The prophet
by the name of Jeremiah is having the worst morning
of his life. Kind of the worst morning in his
nation's history. Jerusalem had been destroyed.
People were starving. And he walks the street
of the once beautiful city and his heart breaks.
He sees his people, but really he sees God's
people, the Israelites, rummaging through trash
looking for food. And it's not the way it should
be. Like these are God's people. Why wouldn't
God take care of them? Why wouldn't God protect
them? And he smells the stench of death and he
just, he breaks down and the tears come and he
starts weeping. And as he cries, he hikes up
to this cave that overlooks Jerusalem and he
wants to pray, but he doesn't know how. And we
have written for us the book of Lamentations
as he processes his thoughts. Lament means to
express grief or sorrow in a passionate or intense
way, to weep or to wail. And then this is Lamentations.
It's interesting the way the book is laid out.
It's laid out as a bit of poetry. You have chapters,
it's five chapters in Lamentations. Chapters
one and two and chapters four and five are all,
have a similar rhythm to them where he takes
the alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, and each verse
starts with the corresponding letter of the alphabet,
22 letters, and he just goes through in chapter
one, here's all the things I have to lament about,
alphabet, all the, things I have to lament about
chapter two and then the same thing in chapter
four and five. It'd be like us wanting to kind
of make our complaints known to God. And so we
like, where do I even start? I've got so many
of them. How about A? And A is for anxiety and
B is for bullying and C is for cancer and D is
for divorce and E is for eating disorders and
F is for financial difficulties and we just work
our way down. And chapter two, I can do another
round of this and we just go through it. And
that's how Lamentations is written, but sandwiched
between chapters one and two and four and five
is chapter three. And chapter three gives praise
and thanks to God. And so the whole book is written
as a bit of an illustration of what it looks
like for us as believers to lament. And the book
is, of course, bookended with sorrow and grief
and frustration and confusion and disappointment,
but it's sandwiched around be joyful always,
give thanks in all circumstances, pray continually.
And so there's an important principle in lamenting.
So when we find ourself overwhelmed by the reality
that life is difficult, one of the important
principles for us as followers of Jesus is to
start but don't stay. This is where you start
being very honest with God about your fears and
your frustrations, about anger and bitterness,
about the hurt that you're carrying. Like you
don't pretend that everything's fine when everything
isn't fine. You start there, but you don't stay
there. David models this beautifully throughout
the Psalms where he is uncomfortably honest with
God about how he feels around some of the circumstances
he's dealing with. He starts there, but he doesn't
stay there. A term for this would be, in neuroscience,
would be cognitive repraisal. It's a reframing
where you recognize the reality of your emotion
or of what you're going through, but with the
intent of letting it draw you closer to God.
When you're in a season of lament, it'll drive
you further away or it can drive you closer to
God. You start there, but you don't stay there.
With God's help, you ask him to show you a different
way of looking at things. You get a different
perspective. And so you begin with some honest
questions, but you're not just rehearsing your
lament, you're releasing it to God. You're not
just focusing on your problems, but you're focusing
on his promises. And so that's what Jeremiah
does. He sits in a cave, looks down at the ruins,
and in the middle of these really dark circumstances,
here's what he does. Listen, he makes a choice
about what he's gonna think about. That's what
we read in verse 21 of chapter three. He said,
yet this I call to mind, despite all these A
to Z things that aren't going my way, this is
what I'm gonna call to mind, and therefore I
have hope. Because I'm gonna be intentional with
my thinking, I'm gonna find some hope. And so
when you're lamenting, you have to be intentional
about what you're gonna call to mind. And that's
what Jeremiah does. And we see three things that
he calls to mind. First, God's compassions never
fail. Verse 22 through 23. Because of the Lord's
great love, we are not consumed. For his compassions
never fail. They are new every morning. That
every morning, God will show you his compassion
and his mercy. You have to look for it sometimes
and pray that he'll show it to you, give you
eyes to see it. The word new here is like new
of a different kinds. It's like, it's not like
saying, well, we had eggs for breakfast today.
We're having new eggs for breakfast tomorrow.
It's like we had eggs for breakfast today and
tomorrow we're having waffles. It's like, it's
new of a different kind. And the idea here is
that each day, God will show you some way in
which he is redeeming, restoring, rebuilding,
way that he's working, but you need him to help
you see it. And so you say, God, it makes no
sense to me. I don't understand what's happened
or why it's happening. I don't sit where you
sit. So tomorrow morning, when I wake up, would
you help me see that you're compassionate and
merciful? Would you let me see that your mercies
are gonna be new tomorrow? That there's gonna
be a new way that light shines into the darkness
that I can't see from, where I sit today, but
tomorrow I'll be able to see it. That each day
his mercies are new. Each day his compassions
are new. And so as you go through the lament,
you just remind yourself that each morning his
mercies are new. His compassion is new. The word
compassion here carries with it this idea of
tenderness. Verse 32, if he works severely, he
also works tenderly. It's not always the way
we think about God. But Jeremiah understood in
that moment, the tenderness of God. His mercies
are new each morning. Secondly, Jeremiah tells
himself, here's something I'm gonna call to my
mind, that great is his faithfulness. I'm gonna
speak that out loud. I'm going to take the thoughts
I have captive and I'm gonna replace it with
this thought, that God is faithful. Lamentations
3, verse 23. Great is his faithfulness. Even
when you can't see it or feel it, even when you
don't understand. how the situation is unfolding.
The sovereignty of God is at work. He is always
faithful. He won't let you down. Third thing
he says is, I'm gonna call to my mind, the Lord
is my portion. The Lord is enough for me. Verse
24, I say to myself, the Lord is my portion.
Therefore, I will wait for him. I'm not gonna
put my confidence in anything else. I'm gonna
put my confidence in him. And so when life is
difficult, what do you say to yourself? Jeremiah
says, here are the three things I say to myself.
Here are the three thoughts that I am constantly
thinking. God's compassions never fail. Great
is his faithfulness and he's sufficient for me.
So can I just challenge you starting tomorrow
to have a little bit of a morning routine. Now
look, don't be... Getting this thought in your
mind that it has to be an hour long. Maybe you
do that, good for you. But the duration is not
nearly as important as the consistency. So what
if you just for 10 minutes in the morning say,
okay, I'm gonna be intentional to think through
some of these things. Consistency is more important
than the duration. And I would just tell you
a couple of things. So if I could challenge you
with number one, do not check your phone. Don't
check your phone in the morning. The research
is just really clear on this, that when you get
on your phone, as soon as you wake up, you skip
the theta and alpha and you jump straight to
the beta phase, which means you're awake and
alert, but you're now already in a reactive response.
In other words, it's triggering a stress response
in you. And so unless you wanna start your day
off, primed for distraction and stress, don't
do it. Like maybe do, like maybe that's what
you want. You're like, you want people to look
at you and say, you know what I like about him?
Always distracted. It's my favorite thing. He's
never quite paying attention and he's always
a little stressed out. Like if that's what you're
going for, do it. Then just get on your phone
as soon as you wake up. It's a good way to do
that. But otherwise, like just. Don't do it.
Stay off your phone for that neuroplasticity
window. And then just develop a morning routine.
Look, use Jeremiah as an example of this. It
can be different, but what's he do? He starts
with lament. He starts there, but he doesn't
stay there, but he does start with it. David
does this in the Psalms again, where he says,
hey, here's some heavy things. Here's some challenges
I've got to deal with today. Here's some people
who are against me. Here's some circumstances
I wish I could change. But then he turns the
corner. and reframes those things, which is number
two, taking your thoughts captive, where you
say, this is all true, God, but here's what I'm
gonna call to mind. Yet this I call to mind.
And then you declare those three truths over
your life. God's compassions never fail. They're
new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.
I can count on God today. The Lord is my portion.
He's enough for me. And then you pray and you
read some scripture. You spend a few minutes
in prayer, spend a few minutes in God's word
before engaging in the demands of your day. Because
life is difficult. I would love to say that it's
gonna get easier, but there will be more to lament.
Pain and suffering will continue to show up uninvited.
Economic uncertainties will come. Family dynamics
are fragile. Everything's maybe okay today, but
tomorrow it might be different. Lamenting will
be a part of your story and my story too. But
we are chapter three people. We're chapter three
people, that in the midst of it, we praise the
Lord. In the midst of it, we remind ourselves
of God's faithfulness and his compassion and
sufficiency. When Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica,
stood and she made her first public comments
after her husband was murdered, she whispered,
if you heard her comment, she whispered a short
prayer that the microphone picked up right before
she began. This young widow and mother of two
whispered, Jesus, fill this room before she spoke.
And so in her moment of greatest darkness, when
she could have said anything, when she could
have cursed the darkness, no one would blame
her. She said, Jesus, fill this room. She could
have invited bitterness into the room. She could
have allowed fear to fill the room. She could
have whispered revenge, fill this room. But this
young mom in her deepest grief invited the presence
of Jesus. As you begin your day, can I just challenge
you to whisper those same words? Jesus, fill
this room. Life is difficult. Darkness is real.
Grief is heavy. Jesus, fill this room. Let's
pray. God, we don't want that prayer to just
be this like, metaphorical prayer. Like, would
you fill this room right now? Jesus, would you
fill this room with your presence? Jesus, would
you fill this room with your peace? And would
you fill this room with your power? Jesus, we
ask that you would fill this room. Would you
fill it with your hope? Would you fill it with
your grace? Would you fill it with your mercy?
Would you fill this room with your compassion?
Jesus, please fill this room. Would you fill
it with forgiveness? Would you fill it with your
tenderness? Would you fill it with second chances?
Jesus, fill this room. God, I pray that you would
fill this room so that there's not any space
left for fear, bitterness, revenge. No more space
left for shame and guilt. Your presence would
so fill this room that all of that just has to
leave. So, Jesus, would you fill this room? We
love you. It's in Jesus' name. Amen. This is
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend,
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when you're there. Well, that wraps up today's
episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching message
coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast.
Today's program is produced and sponsored by
Living on the Edge.