By: Steve Wilmot
Here’s a recommendation. Search your television provider and the app store on your phone and laptop for “The Chosen.”
It’s a multi-season TV show about Jesus’ life seen through the eyes of those who knew him. Five seasons are available now with two more to come.
I can’t endorse “The Chosen” strongly enough. It has given me a different viewpoint from which to see who Jesus was during his 30 years on earth. They bring the gospel accounts of Jesus to life. I can’t get enough.
Some of the scenes and dialogue have left an indelible impression upon me starting with the opening scene in Season One, Episode One.
The scene takes place at night with a man sitting outside his tent home. His little daughter charges out of the tent and jumps into her father’s arms.
Father: Why can’t you sleep?
Mary: Because I’m scared.
Father: Of what?
Mary: I don’t know.
Father: Hey, what do we do when we are scared?
Mary: We say the words.
Father: Adonai’s words from the prophet…
Mary: Isaiah.
Father: The prophet Isaiah. Right. Thus saith the Lord — He who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not… Come on now, I want to hear you say it. I want to hear your pretty voice.
Mary: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
Father: You are mine. That’s right
With a tight hug from her father, Mary smiles broadly and skips into the tent, her fear gone. Wouldn’t you love to experience that yourself? A rapid change from unhealthy emotions that torment you, like fear, depression, anxiety, anger, resentment, shame, guilt, regret, impatience, and more to joy, peace, hope, patience, and trust.
Mary’s experience can be yours too if you do what she did — Say the Words. I can hear the dissent in your mind. “You don’t know what I’m going through… what I’m facing. I have major problems and saying a few words won’t solve them.”
You’re right. A few words won’t necessarily solve your problems and remove all the stress that haunts you. They didn’t remove the object of Mary’s fear, but they changed the way she was able to deal with it. Whatever it was that scared her, her fear was gone.
But even if you “say the words” and your problem doesn’t disappear, there is great gain when you choose to say the words — the words of Scripture.
You’ll find God replaces your fear with a supernatural ability to face your problems with confidence and trust.
God will exchange your debilitating worry about how things might turn out with patience and greater trust in the God who holds your future and makes all things work together for good.
He’ll trade your guilt and shame over things you’ve done in the past. Say the words that remind you he’s fully forgiven and pardoned you, and that he’s not mad at you. That in fact, he loves you even on your worst day, and he’s for you.
Your trials and difficulties may remain, but your attitude and approach to them will enable you to cope with them so much better.
If you want a powerful advantage when problems try to overwhelm you, steal your hope and joy, weaken your faith, and drive you into a pit of unhealthy emotions, Say the Words.
The older I get, the more I yearn and pray my children and grandchildren will have a growing and intimate relationship with Jesus. That they will trust, obey, love, and follow him their whole lives long.
But I know there are thousands of obstacles standing in their way, calling them away from God. I read the statistics that show only three-in-ten young people who start as a Christian will still be following him when they die.
So, I worry about my children and grandchildren. But then I discovered the power of Say the Word. Two verses escort me into a place of calm confidence that God is working behind the scenes in ways I don’t see to bring each of them into a place of intimate love for him that steers everything they say and do.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1.6).
“When the time is right, I, the Lord, will do it” (Isaiah 60.22). When I say those words, I relax and trust God is working in them, whether I see it or feel it.
Father: Hey, what do we do when we are ______? [Fill in the blank with your issue].
Mary: We say the words.
Father: Yes… Adonai’s words… Come on now, I want to hear you say it.
Friend, learn to say the words.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.