Links & Quotes

April 12, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Hey, leaders, let me ask you a simple question: Is your workplace a safe place for people to make mistakes? It should be or else we will be limiting the potential of both our teammates and our whole organization. Greg and I unpack this in greater detail in this episode.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“You yearn for a simplified lifestyle, so that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day just as it comes, and find Me in the midst of it all. … Remember that your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you; it is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me, even if many things remain undone at the end of the day. Do not let your to-do list (written or mental) become an idol directing your life. Instead, ask My Spirit to guide you moment by moment.” —Sarah Young, Jesus Calling [1 Thessalonians 5:17; Proverbs 3:6]

“God is God, and since He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere else but in His will, and that will is necessarily infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” —Elizabeth Elliot 

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” —Booker T. Washington 

As I have mentioned previously, T.M. Moore and I share the conviction that pastors are called by God to shepherd the sheep God has placed under their care. Moore writes, “Jesus indicated six disciplines that shepherds must master in leading His churches.” Check out this post where he outlines these six disciplines.

Pornography adversely effects the viewer’s brain, leading to a growing list of physical and emotional problems. Check out this post from Fight The New Drug, in which they report, “No matter what you believe about porn, ‘what is undeniable is that we’re consuming far more of it than at any point in human history, and the effects of this are yet to fully register.’”

I have always loved the fact of God’s laughter—the perfect joy He has must be expressed in perfect laughter! David Mathis writes about the encouragement in God’s laugh: “One way to enjoy the smile of our fiercely happy Father is to tune your ears to the wonders of His laughter.”

Scientists took a cubic millimeter of a mouse’s brain and mapped out the neurons and connections. The result is astounding! In Nature, they wrote, “A cubic millimetre might not sound like much—roughly the size of a grain of sand—but to neuroscientists, it is enormous. One cubic millimetre of a mammalian brain contains tens of thousands of neurons with hundreds of millions of connections, or synapses, between them.” Can you imagine what the human brain is like?! How amazing is our Creator! 

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” —G.K. Chesterton 

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Links & Quotes

January 25, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Whether you call it grit or stick-to-it-iveness, those who don’t give up easily are the ones who will become leaders by their example. Check out the conversation we had on The Craig and Greg Show.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I was thrilled to be asked to write an article for Influence Magazine about the biting sheep that every pastor has experienced. I am praying that this article will help pastors recover and thrive in their shepherding ministry.

“Knowing our lowliness and Christ’s worthiness, we neither grovel nor saunter into the presence of God. And we do not go home flippant or weeping. In Christ, we will receive what we ask or what we should have asked.” —David Mathis

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, the apostle Paul warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit. T.M. Moore asks, “How do we quench the Spirit?” and then gives Christians seven warning signs to avoid this quenching. Check out his post Joy In His Spirit.

I really enjoy these archeological biographies of biblical people and places. The Bible Archeology Report writes, “The Neo-Babylonian king, Amēl-Marduk (biblical Evil-Merodach) is only mentioned twice in Scripture (in 2 Kings 25:27–30 and the parallel passage, Jeremiah 52:31–34), both times in connection with the restoration of Jehoiachin, king of Judah.” In a separate post, John Stonestreet shares an archeological discovery in a Roman cemetery in Frankfurt of an amulet that shows that “the Gospel spread farther and faster than historians thought.”

Kenneth Blanchard shares his novel way of setting personal and business goals for the year in a post ‘Look forward to looking back at your goal success in 2025.’

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Lessons From The Playground

January 22, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Some time on the playground with some little kids taught me some great lessons about leadership.

The Scriptures I mentioned in this episode—1 Corinthians 1:14-17; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45.

Please check out the full post from T.M. Moore here, but these are the three criterion he gives us to consider:

“First, they teach the Word of God faithfully (Hebrews 13:7). They aren’t trying to impress anyone with how clever, witty, or visionary they are personally. Their desire is that the Word of Christ might dwell in people richly, and all their teaching is based on that holy and inspired Word (Colossians 3:16).

“Second, their lives exemplify the things they teach (Hebrews 13:7). True leaders are people whom, as you follow them, you begin to become like in ways that reflect full faith in Jesus Christ (John 13:1-15). 

“Third, true leaders care for our souls (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). They are interested in us, want to get to know us, do everything they can to serve and build us up; and they will go the extra mile when necessary to help us become people of full faith in Jesus.”

(Check out all of the biblical references in T.M. Moore’s quote here.)

A mark of a godly leader is one who is NOT trying to grow a personal following.

This is part 81 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Prayer That Opens Our Eyes

January 20, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Charles Spurgeon said, “We too often rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like people who present themselves before a king without a petition, and what wonder is it that we often miss the end of prayer?” I hope you are starting to…

Spurgeon also asked an important question: “Do we not miss very much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of careful meditation before it, and hopeful expectation after it?” 

We talked about competing priorities, but also how Jesus made prayer the priority for His life. This means that some things we call important may have to temporarily be set aside. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Let’s look at the example of Jesus. He prioritized prayer over:

  1. Training. In Luke 5:16 and 9:18 we see Jesus praying in private even though His disciples were right there with Him. This was so revolutionary to the disciples that it prompted them to ask Jesus how they could pray like He did (Luke 11:1-13). 
  1. Sleep. Mark 1:32-35 tells us Jesus was up after sunset ministering to the needs of people, and that He was up and praying while it was still dark. And Luke 6:12 tells us Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before making a big decision. 
  1. Strategizing. The big decision Jesus had to make was choosing the twelve men who would be His apostles—the ones He would spend the most time training and preparing. He didn’t hold strategizing sessions or interviews with the perspective candidates, but He spent the night praying for wisdom (Luke 6:12-13). 
  1. Ministering. People were looking for Jesus, but He guarded His prayer time so the Holy Spirit could guide Him into His ministry time (Mark 1:37). 

Why did He treat prayer this way? Because He knew that God knows our day better than we do. He knows the people will encounter, the conversations that we need to have, the decisions that await us. So we must prayerfully entrust our days to Him (Proverbs 16:9, 3:5-6). 

Remember that Spurgeon said “careful meditation” before prayer and then “hopeful expectation after it.” This is exactly what David said in Psalm 5:1-3 where he was expectant of God’s answers throughout the day.

We see this example throughout the Bible, but let me give you three quick examples: 

  • Hagar’s eyes were opened to see the supply of water that was already there (Genesis 21:14-19) 
  • Eliezer had success in finding a wife for Isaac by seeing a woman that was already at the well (Genesis 24:7, 12-15, 21, 27) 
  • Nehemiah prayed for 4 months so he could pray in the moment that the king asked him what he needed to be successful (Nehemiah 1:4, 11; 2:1-4, 8) 

I think this is what Paul meant when he told us to “pray continually “ (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

Jesus could announce that everything He did (John 5:19) and everything He said (John 12:49) was directed by the Father. 

We can live like this too, if we will only make prayer the priority that sets the order for any other thing that we call a priority. Missionary Hudson Taylor said, “Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”

If you have missed any of the messages in our series called Our Prayer Book, you can find them all by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Gratitude That Reverberates Through The Ages

December 2, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week we learned how our gratitude helps strengthen other saints. I mentioned that one of the saints that may be helped is yourself. Like when King David took care of Mephibosheth “for the sake of your father Jonathan” (2 Samuel 9:7). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

But this isn’t quid quo pro—we aren’t grateful people just so we can get something back for ourselves. We should be grateful people because…

(1) …God is good all the time and so we should be thankful to Him continually—1 Thessalonians 5:18

(2) …Jesus was grateful—1 Peter 2:23; Hebrews 12:2 

(3) …God blesses thankful people—1 Peter 3:9; Luke 6:33 

(4) …your thankfulness can benefit people you haven’t even met!  

Near the end of his life, David wrote a hymn of thanksgiving, which he taught to Asaph (his worship leader) who then taught it to all the citizens (1 Chronicles 16:7-35). Throughout this song, notice how many times David sang about not only giving thanks but sharing our thankfulness with those around us. 

In difficult times, people search for what delivered others in the past. A good example is Psalm 106, where the psalmist warns his readers about the dangers of forgetting to be thankful for God’s blessings. This psalm begins and ends with words taken right from David’s hymn of thanksgiving as an added reminder of what our gratitude should sound like (see vv. 1, 47-48).

One hundred years after David wrote this song, King Asa needed to look back to it. His father Abijah had been evil throughout his reign as king, so had his grandfather Rehoboam. His great-grandfather Solomon started off well, but turned away from God near the end of his life. So Asa looked all the way back to the thankful heart of his great-great grandfather David (1 Kings 15:11). 

Jehoshaphat needed this same song 100 years after Asa (200 years after David wrote it) in 2 Chronicles 20. Enemies had surrounded Judah and Jehoshaphat called the people to prayer. Jahaziel, a direct descendant of David’s worship leader Asaph, calls the people to trust God to fight the battle for them. As the army marches out the next morning, they put the worship team at the front who sang David’s 200-year-old song of thanksgiving and God used that to ambush their enemies! 

Your lifestyle of gratitude today—your songs of thanksgiving—could be a blessing to future generations that haven’t even been born yet! 

We would do well to learn the lessons of the past and make sure we are always quickly turning our grumbling into a song of thankfulness. 

As you do, you are… 

  • Emulating the lifestyle of Jesus 
  • Banking up blessings from God 
  • Ambushing the enemy 
  • Bringing a testimony to non-believers 
  • Establishing a standard for future generations 

We bless God and bless others by employing two words: BE THANKFUL! 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our Be Thankful series, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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MVP: Most Valuable Praise

November 26, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

In preparing for our Be Thankful series at my church, I have been reading and studying quite a bit about gratitude. For example, my wife and I are reading a devotional on the YouVersion Bible app call “Practicing Gratitude.” 

The other morning, our devotional writer shared this thought: “When the prophet Jonah was having a terrible day at work, he found gratitude by looking at God’s provision through the physical environment. God made a bush for shade and ‘Jonah was very happy about the bush’ (Jonah 4:6).” 

In our shared notes, my wife had an insightful word. She wrote, “Jonah’s gratitude didn’t last long. This is a great reminder to pursue a lifestyle of gratitude. It is sometimes very challenging in the midst of hard days to recognize God’s blessings, but it forces me to take my eyes off myself and place them back on my Lord and Savior!” 

My studies, this devotional plan, and Betsy’s insight got me thinking even more about the most valuable praise we can offer to our God. 

Jonah was indeed happy about the shade. But as soon as the shade was gone because the plant withered, he was back to his sullen complaining all over again! 

Ah, yes, poor Jonah is a microcosm of the whole Old Testament: God’s blessings are only appreciated for a moment until the complaining starts up again. 

Oh, wait! That’s still our story today. All of God’s blessings are so quickly forgotten unless we are intentionally grateful.

Especially in the hard times where it feels like our difficulties are just so unfair. 

Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 

“In everything” is not the same thing as “for everything.” This means that I can still be God-focused in my painful circumstances, even though I may not be thankful for those circumstances. 

But as I remain thankfully God-focused, perhaps I may begin to see what He is accomplishing because of my painful circumstances. Just as Jesus saw “the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2) and knew that His Father would triumph even in that horrific time, perhaps as I keep my eyes on Jesus I can begin to get a glimpse of God’s coming glory. 

Isn’t it “the will of God” that I know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that I am irremovable from my position “in Christ Jesus”? 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is IN Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 NASB)

Shouldn’t my assurance of that truth produce a joy that prompts praise from my lips that brings glory to God? Isn’t that praise of greater value precisely because it comes from a person in a setting where thankfulness seems impossible? 

God is magnified even more when praise comes from a thankful heart that is in a place where humanly there seems to be absolutely nothing praiseworthy. 

It is in this place that my praise is to God simply because He is God and He is worthy to be praised simply because of who He is! 

So I will praise Him no matter what—“in all things”—because I am secure that I am “in Christ Jesus.” That hope produces a reward that is invaluable. That hope produces a praise that is beautiful in God’s ears. 

…And we boast IN the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory IN our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out INTO our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:2-5) 

We give God our MVP—our most valuable praise—when it is lifted to Him in that place and time where the natural response would be grumbling and complaining. In those moments, remind yourself that you are IN Christ Jesus, which means even here in this dark moment you can be thankful IN all things. 

(You may also be interested in my post and video Praising God in the Troughs.) 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Your Gratitude Strengthens Other Saints

November 25, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Let me remind you of something I covered last week: 

  • If we start out thankful but then forget about our blessings, we become fearful and selfish, which makes us susceptible to the sin of grumbling against God. 
  • But if we start our thankful and then continually remember all that God has done for us, we remain joyful and secure, which fortifies us against giving in to the sin of grumbling against God. 

As I have shared with you during this series, medical science has discovered so many connections between gratitude and wellbeing—mentally, physically, emotionally, and relationally. Here’s another important finding from medical science: Chronic stress impairs memory formation. 

Remember this insight from George Santayana: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”? 

But what if we cannot learn the lessons from history because we cannot remember and recall those lessons? That’s one of the ways chronic stress ravages our ability to be grateful. Stress literally clogs up the amygdala in our brain so that these lessons cannot be filed away for future use. 

Where does this chronic stress come from? Stress can be a good thing—think of the stress we put on our lungs, heart, and muscles when we exercise. That good stress (eustress) prepares us to respond well in difficult situations. 

But chronic stress is unhealthy. It begins to make us withdraw into ourselves. We become self-protective. We start to see potential problems even behind blessings. 

Self-protective becomes self-focused, which is the exact opposite of the God-focus we looked at last week in Psalm 103:2. This also makes us want to isolate from people (see Psalm 42:1-4, especially the “used to” in v. 4). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

The enemy of our soul is prowling. He loves to see isolated saints because they are easier prey. This is why the New Testament again and again highlights the phrases “one another” and “each other” for the saints (for example: Colossians 3:15-16; Hebrews 10:19-25). When one saint struggles, all of the saints should feel that and respond quickly 

Consider the example of David’s life. David is in a stressful state where I am sure it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to find praiseworthy things. He is becoming more and more self-protective and therefore self-focused. 

  • Saul tries to kill him—1 Samuel 20:28-33 
  • The Philistines have him trapped—21:10-13; Psalm 56  
  • The people of Keilah reward David’s help with betrayal—23:10-12 
  • David is in a desert place (literally!) and sold-out by the Ziphites—23:14, 19-20 

Psalm 54 is written when David learns about the Ziphites’ plan. He begins to pour out his complaint to God in vv. 1-3, but then there is a totally different tone in vv. 4-7. What comes between is the word Selah—a pause to consider. 

I believe at this time is when Jonathan shows up to encourages David—And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God (1 Samuel 23:16). 

David learned this lesson well because when he’s in another tight spot, we read that David found strength in the Lord his God, which allowed him to encourage his distraught men to seek God’s help. It was with God’s help that they recovered everything single thing that had been taken from them (1 Samuel 30:1-18)! 

Your gratitude fortifies you and helps you encourage other saints. As you encourage other saints, they will then be fortified to help other saints—maybe even you! 

I like how Eugene Peterson paraphrases 1 Thessalonians 5:11 in The Message: “So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.” 

Your gratitude could make all the difference in someone else’s life, so “just keep on doing it”!  

Make sure you check out all of the other messages in our Be Thankful series. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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4 Benefits Of Gratitude

November 4, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Do you remember this song: “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”? It goes on to say, “If you’re happy and you know, then your life will surely show it….” Frankly, I’m concerned about Christians that are unhappy. 

Charles Spurgeon was talking to his students and he said, “I commend cheerfulness to all who would win souls; not levity and frothiness, but a genial, happy spirit. There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar, and there will be more souls led to heaven by a man who wears heaven in his face than by one who bears Tartarus in his looks.” Tartarus, in Greek mythology, is a sunless abyss, below Hades, in which Zeus imprisoned the Titans, which is the exact opposite of the Paradise described in the Bible. 

Unhappiness generally comes from ingratitude. An unhappy Christian gives God no praise, robs Him of glory, and paints God in a bad light. A happy Christian lifts God high and invites others to know this All-Good, All-Happy God too! 

Christians need to fight against the downward pull of negativity in which our culture seems to so easily gravitate. In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul says that a Christian who doesn’t engage in the complaining that the world is known for will shine brightly. Quite simply, thankfulness is the antidote to complaining (Philippians 2:14-18). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I reference in this post by clicking here.) 

Even those who may not recognize the the authority of Scripture have extolled the benefits of gratitude. Psychologists and medical professionals have identified three benefits from a thankful heart: 

  1. Psychological benefits—more mentally alert, increased self-satisfaction, enhanced mood 
  2. Physical benefits—stronger immune system, less body aches and pains, regulated blood pressure, a better sleep-wake cycle 
  3. Social benefits—better communication with others, increased empathy, increased likability 

And Christians can add one more benefit to this list:

  1. Spiritual benefits—more dynamic corporate worship, enchanted Christian testimony, perseverance through trials, fortification against giving in to temptation 

The well-known Cleveland Clinic reported that an attitude of gratitude leads to overall wellness. When you are grateful for what you have, it improves your outlook mentally, physically, spiritually, and relationally. 

Here are five things you can start doing today that will increase your gratitude levels, enhance your Christian testimony, and generally improve your life: 

  1. Switch your perspective. Worry is focusing on what you don’t have. Make the switch to gratitude by giving thanks for what you do have (Matthew 6:25-34). 
  2. Strengthen your relationships. It’s fine to weep with those who weep, but let’s encourage others and be encouraged by others so that we can rejoice with those who rejoice (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10), 
  3. Foster healthy habits. Dr. Luke gives us the pyramid of health that Jesus demonstrated in Luke 2:52. The pinnacle is strong relationships, and grateful people are more empathetic and likable. 
  4. Keep a gratitude journal so that you don’t forget what God has done for you (Psalm 106:7).  
  5. Talk about your gratitude. This instills thankfulness in other saints (Isaiah 63:7) and in future generations of your family (Isaiah 46:4), and it becomes a testimony for seekers (1 Peter 3:15). 

Let me close with this observation from Blaise Pascal: “There are three kinds of people in the world; those who have sought God and found Him and now serve Him, those who are seeking Him, but have not yet found Him, and those who neither seek Him nor find Him. The first are reasonable and happy, the second reasonable and unhappy, and the third unreasonable and unhappy.” 

Reasonable, happy saints are the ones who lift God high and invite others to know this All-Good, All-Happy God too! Not just at the Thanksgiving season, but starting now and then going all year long! 

Follow along with all of the messages in this series called Be Thankful by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Kept To Keep

July 10, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week I reminded you that the main point in Hebrew literature is usually found in the middle. In Psalm 121 that would be the first phrase of verse 5: The Lord watches over you. 

But I notice something that seems contradictory in the New Testament. Whereas the message here is, “God watches over you,” the message in some New Testament verses seems to be, “You watch over yourself” (see for example Matthew 26:41; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Timothy 4:16). Paul even said to the Christians at Corinth, “I worked harder than all of them” (1 Corinthians 15:10). 

So which is it: Is God watching over us or are we to watch over ourselves? It’s actually both, but something important has to come first. We cannot watch over ourselves unless we are assured that the Lord is watching over us to sustain us. 

Okay, I was being a bit sarcastic when I said those verses seemed contradictory, as I clearly quoted them out of their context. For instance, in that statement from Paul in 1 Corinthians, check out the full verse, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Paul is clearly saying that he could only work hard because he was empowered by God’s grace. Notice that it is decidedly not the other way around: Paul doesn’t say, “I worked hard to earn the grace of God.” 

Remember that these psalms of ascent remind us of our upward look and our upward journey. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, which is God Himself (Psalm 121:1-2). Using the apostle Paul’s life as an example again, he said something very similar—

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14) 

The middle verse of Psalm 121 foretells what appears six times in just eight verses: the Hebrew word samar. Depending on the translation of the Bible, this word is either “watch over” or “kept.” In either case, the meaning is a concentrated focus, not turning aside to the left or the right, not distracted, eyes on the ultimate prize. And all six of these instances are God’s unwavering, loving focus on us. In this song, we are told: 

  • God never slumbers or is even momentarily distracted (vv. 3-4) as opposed to other deities that were thought to sometimes be unavailable to their worshippers (see 1 Kings 18:27). Instead, our God watches us so closely that He notices if even a single hair falls from our head (Matthew 10:30-31). 
  • God stands beside us to protect our places of vulnerability (vv. 5-6). The Amplified Bible says, “The Lord is your shade on your right hand—the side not carrying a shield.”
  • God keeps us from the entrapment of evil (v. 7). Jesus told us that He was praying this way for us so we can have confidence to pray this for ourselves (Luke 22:32; Matthew 6:13).  
  • God protects us as His most precious treasure. David uses this same word samar in Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings.” 
  • God is our eternal Protector. The last phrase of this psalm says He watches over us “both now and forevermore” (v. 8).  

The other places the word samar is used in the Bible is a call for us to keep God’s commands. But just as we saw with Paul that he was committed to running his race well because he was assured of the prize Jesus had secured for him, so for us, we can only keep God’s commands because we are kept secure by God. 

Because we are kept by God we can keep His commands. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses applies the word samar to God’s people. We are to..

  • keep the commands of the Lord (v. 4) 
  • watch ourselves closely so we don’t forget what God has done for us (v. 9) 
  • be careful not to forget the covenant God paid for us (v. 23)
  • keep God’s decrees and commands as way a way to pass on God’s blessing to future generations (v. 40)

If God is not the One keeping and preserving me, it will be impossible for me to keep His commands on my own. The promise of His watchful keeping and preserving should fuel our prayer to watch over ourselves with all diligence. Read His promises, pray His promises, be assured of His ever-present help so that you can use His help to look out for yourself. 

If you’ve missed any of the others messages in our look at the Psalms of Ascent, you can find them all here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Check Your Inputs

June 5, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Jesus was the healthiest Person to ever walk planet Earth. When Luke, a physician, tells us about the growth of Jesus, he says first that “Jesus grew in wisdom.” (Luke 2:52). That is our indication that a healthy mind is at the foundation for every other aspect of health. 

But mental health doesn’t stay in your mind—it affects every other part of your life. Likewise, all of the other parts of your life can enhance or drain your mental health. We are created as interconnected beings. For instance, it’s hard to think correctly when you’re physically tired, spiritually drained, or involved in an unhealthy relationship. It’s also true that it’s hard to make good decisions about your physical health, stay focused on God, or handle your relationships successfully if you aren’t thinking correctly. 

We see the apostles writing about our wholly healthiness—

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (3 John 2) 

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NLT) 

When my laptop is disconnected from the monitors I use at our church building, the message on the screen tells me to “check your inputs.” That’s not just for inanimate technology, but for us too: To maintain good overall health, we need to check our physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional inputs. 

Let’s start with the physical inputs. When we are active during the day our bodies release a stress hormone called cortisol. Stress is not a bad thing—it’s a normal thing. A body that isn’t stressed will atrophy and become susceptible to disease. Balanced, healthy stress is called eustress, and unbalanced, unhealthy stress is called distress. 

Cortisol is naturally flushed from the body in two ways: exercise and sleep. Exercise is important to keep our bodies moving effectively, and sleep helps us recover and helps our brains catalogue our memories (see 1 Timothy 4:8; Psalm 3:5). To fuel our exercise and our sleep requires the energy which we get from a healthy diet. 

So if you’re not thinking healthy thoughts, check your physical inputs: Am I getting the proper amount of sleep? Am I exercising regularly? Am I eating properly? Do I see a doctor for a checkup? 

How about spiritual inputs? Somewhat surprisingly, our spirits are kept healthy very much along the same lines as our physical bodies—proper food, appropriate exercise, and a time of rest. Our spiritual food is God’s Word, our exercise is working out what we’ve studied in the Bible, and our rest is called sabbathing (Jeremiah 15:16; Matthew 7:24-27; James 2:17). Jesus demonstrated all of these in His life and we, too, should follow His example. 

If you’re not thinking healthy thoughts, check your spiritual inputs: Am I reading the Bible regularly? Am I putting what I learn into practice? Am I sabbathing properly?  

Then there our emotional inputs, or the relationships that build us and relationships that drain us. You are always going to encounter people in need, and ministering to those needs is draining (Luke 8:45-46). We also need to be alert to those antagonistic people who purposely drain us (2 Timothy 4:14-15). We can make decisions to place people in our lives who build us up and be cautious of those who drain us (Proverbs 27:3, 5-6, 9, 17). 

Once again, if you’re not thinking healthy thoughts, check your emotional inputs: Do I have healthy people investing in my life? Am I sharpening the iron of others? 

Finally, let’s not forget the mental inputs. Computer programmers are well aware of the acronym GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. If you don’t like the results that are coming out, check what is going in. The apostle Paul gives us an outstanding checklist in Philippians 4:8. 

If your mental health isn’t as healthy as you would like it to be, perhaps you need to talk to your doctor about your physical health, or a mature spiritual friend about your spiritual health, or a Christian counselor about your emotional health. As you consult with these wise people, continue to pray for God’s help. As your Creator, He knows you better than anyone else could and He can give you the wisdom you need as you check your inputs. 

This is part 5 in our series on a Christian’s mental health. If you’ve missed any of the other messages I’ve shared, you can find them all by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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