By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
When someone criticizes you are you defensive? Or do you get angry? Many people I talk to have a hard time responding to criticism because they take it inside and feel bad or they protect themselves by shutting down emotionally, which leaves them isolated and depressed.
I can relate. For much of my life I felt inadequate whenever someone criticized me. So I put pressure on myself to succeed and to try to get people to think well of me. That created a lot of anxiety!
I have learned another way. It’s expressed in a favorite little prayer of mine [...]
Continue reading Use Your Christ Shield
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
Life is precious and brief. How can we “redeem the time” before our days on earth slip away? (Ephesians 5:16).
The ancient devotional masters were helped to live each day for Christ by meditating on their dead body being put into a tomb. Probably you haven’t done that before! Most of us today try not to think about our death!
But actually this is a Biblical practice. Long before the monks and spiritual writers of the past the Psalmist was praying about the brevity of life in order to live each day for God. This has been very helpful for me to [...]
Continue reading Like a Flower in the Father’s Field
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
Most every day I talk to someone who is afraid or anxious (which is generalized fear). Maybe you fear what people think of you… Not having enough money… Public speaking, flying, being far from home, or spiders… Failure or rejection… Losing a loved one… Disease or pain… Death…
We all long for more of God’s peace in the midst of the stresses of our lives!
It’s been said that there are 365 “fear nots” in the Bible, one for every day of the year. This is a wonderful thought, but is it true? Most people say no. Indeed, there is not a version of [...]
Continue reading “Fear Not!” 365 days a year
By Bill Gaultiere © 2009, 2010
What do you do when you’ve been mistreated and God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers? How do you pray when God seems distant and unconcerned about your pain? We all go through these trials. They don’t mean that God is angry with us or that we’re not good Christians. It may be a dark night of the soul.
In dark night trials we tend to feel alone, but we’re not! The Psalmist understands and in Psalm 44 he shows us how to pray in the dark. Many of our Bible heroes went through these times, most notably Jesus in the [...]
Continue reading The Other Side of Deep Darkness
By Bill Gaultiere © 2007, 2010
I awoke early one morning. It was quiet after a night’s rain. I recited Psalm 23 again and again and talked to Jesus, the Good Shepherd – my Soul Shepherd. What joy to appreciate Psalm 23 anew!
For three thousand years David’s prayer has been offered by people of various faiths and cultures. Jesus himself prayed Psalm 23 – more than that he fulfilled it. And he helped me to paraphrase it into words that restored my soul.
I’m sure that you also need for the Lord to restore your soul each day – there’s no better way than by [...]
Continue reading The Lord Jesus is my Soul Shepherd
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
From time to time we all go through trials in which we lose heart and feel overwhelmed with discouragement, worry, or exhaustion. The painful times are “Dark Nights of the Soul” when our prayers seem to go unanswered and God’s comfort cannot be found.
All Christ-followers go through Dark Nights when God seems distant and prayer and other spiritual activities do not yield the experience of God’s blessings as they have in times past. But few people today have been trained in how to deal with these spiritual trials. Inspired by Psalm 77, I wrote [...]
Continue reading In the Dark Night Remember God
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
Are you free – really free? Are you at peace being the person God created you to be and enjoying your life with him?
Many people we talk to are wearing a heavy yoke. They’re working all the time. Or they’re worried about money or their health or their kids. Or they’re tired of trying to please an impossible to please spouse. Or they’re depending on alcohol to relax.
Jesus shows us a life of freedom. No one has had more pressure than Jesus. No one has had more responsibility, expectations, temptations, stress, or pain than Jesus. And no one lived life more [...]
Continue reading Be Free! Live in Jesus’ Easy Yoke!
Psalm 135:4 says: “The LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession.”
Let’s apply this to you and I today. Let’s pause to ponder, paraphrase, and pray this verse.
Today I found myself captivated by a little prayer that emerged from this verse. I prayed it over and over throughout the day. I invite you to pause with me now to ponder, paraphrase, and pray. Open your heart be stirred to appreciate God’s goodness to you!
The Father treasures me as his child;
Christ chooses me as his disciple;
The Holy Spirit lives [...]
Continue reading The Lord Treasures You!
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
If you were asked, “What is love?” How would you answer?
Most people define love by expressions of care or generosity, which are essential to love. Or worse, we define love by having desire or emotion. Very few of us would define love as the Apostle Paul did, beginning by saying: “Love is patient…” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Why does Paul focus on patience? For many of us, patience is very difficult! You know the joke, “Never pray for patience!”
Love is patient. Let’s try putting that in some other wording to help us understand what Paul is saying and why he [...]
Continue reading The Love You Long For
Your identity, worth, meaning, and joy are in Christ alone – not in your performance or what people think of you. 110 times the Apostle Paul urges us to place ourselves “in Christ.”
Practicing my “In Christ Alone” prayer will help you to enter the Sabbath rest of Jesus’ Christ’s embrace: “In Christ alone my soul finds rest… Selah” (inspired by Psalm 62:1,5).
Pause to take a breather now… Refresh your soul in Christ… Form your heart around the desire to seek Christ alone as your source in all that you do… Pray slowly, over and over,“In Christ Alone my soul finds rest… Selah.”
Try it as a Breath [...]
Continue reading In Christ Alone
By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
