5 Marks Of A Contented Heart

What are the characteristics of a contented heart? Contentment is often tough to pin down. In this post, I want to take an excerpt from my book Chasing Contentment to try to answer this common question by interacting with a trusted guide from the past.

Through the gospel, God lovingly accomplishes and applies redemption for people who have sought happiness in something other than him. Humanity has all turned aside and served the creation rather than the Creator. Instead of leaving us hungry and hurting in our rebellion, God acts. He pursues us. He comes after us. And to what end? It is so that through this gracious rescue we might find ourselves agreeing with him about his all-surpassing supremacy and sufficiency. Through the gospel, God makes himself our treasure. In other words, God makes us content in him.

We know that this contentment is not simply idealistic but rather characteristic of the Christian life. As believers, we continue to learn contentment by learning to trust and treasure God in every situation. God has provided us with the Bible and the church to be the means by which we work this out in our lives.

In his book The Art of Divine Contentment, Thomas Watson described five characteristics of a contented heart. With our course marked out for learning contentment, let’s think about how we might evaluate where we are in our own personal progress.

A Contented Spirit Is a Silent Spirit

Read more: https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/erikraymond/2017/09/06/5-marks-of-a-contented-heart/

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A Cappella Group Sings A Beautiful Rendition Of ‘Be Still My Soul’

http://www.faithpot.com/be-still-my-soul-acappella/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=30/06/2017

The Secret to Being Content

http://unlockingthebible.org/secret-being-content/

9 Ways to Cultivate Peace of Mind

Why are some people peaceful, tranquil and calm? And others are constantly disquieted, distressed, and frustrated? Why do some folks seem happy all the time and others unhappy? Why does one person wear a perpetual smile, and another an incessant frown?

Several years ago the Sociology Department at Duke University did a study on “Peace of Mind.” After studying hundreds of people, both happy and unhappy, 9 factors were found to contribute to emotional and mental stability.

In reading the list, it was quickly apparent that these ideas are either directly stated in implicitly implied in the Bible. Here are the 9 with a corresponding scripture and a brief comment.

1.The absence of suspicion and resentment. Holding a grudge was the major factor in unhappiness

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” (Eph 4:31, NIV)

Bitter people are unhappy, agitated people. Get rid of this detrimental toxin.

Read the rest: https://thepreachersword.com/2016/12/08/9-ways-to-cultivate-peace-of-mind/

9 Ways to Cultivate Peace of Mind

Why are some people peaceful, tranquil and calm? And others are constantly disquieted, distressed, and frustrated? Why do some folks seem happy all the time and others unhappy? Why does one person wear a perpetual smile, and another an incessant frown?

Several years ago the Sociology Department at Duke University did a study on “Peace of Mind.” After studying hundreds of people, both happy and unhappy, 9 factors were found to contribute to emotional and mental stability.

In reading the list, it was quickly apparent that these ideas are either directly stated in implicitly implied in the Bible. Here are the 9 with a corresponding scripture and a brief comment.

1.The absence of suspicion and resentment. Holding a grudge was the major factor in unhappiness

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” (Eph 4:31, NIV)

Bitter people are unhappy, agitated people. Get rid of this detrimental toxin.

There is more: https://thepreachersword.com/2016/12/08/9-ways-to-cultivate-peace-of-mind/

4 Different views of peace

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
– Philippians 4:7

Read the blog: http://www.christianquotes.info/images/4-different-views-of-peace/

How to Fight Anxiety

by John Piper

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?

The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.

The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The work of the Spirit and the Word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the Word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief.

Both are necessary: the Spirit and the Word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety smooths out.