Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6–7, esv).

Throughout the day we need little arrow prayers—quick prayers in the car, in the office, in the kitchen. When we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), this connects us to the Lord in sweet communion. But these quick-fire prayers, though important, don’t yield the deepest peace.

Nor does ritual praying. Mindless repetition is unbiblical and won’t bring you peace. Little prayers yield little peace. Big prayers yield big peace.

“Peace is coming like a flood to a person praying fervently to the Lord.”

Here’s a practical checklist: fervent prayer, by yourself, out loud, kneeling down, with a list. If you pray like that for five or ten minutes, a river of peace will rush down the parched canyon of your anxiety. Peace is coming like a flood to a person praying fervently to the Lord.

The enemy of your peace is anxiety. If you are living crippled by anxiety, that suggests your prayer life could use some focused improvement. Review the past month of your life. Have you been fretting over some things? Fearful? Anxious? Worried? No doubt, those feelings increased as you moved further and further from your last, fervent prayer time with God.

On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your prayerfulness over the past month? Ten means you’re rocking your world several times a day with faith-filled, awesome prayer. Zero means . . . zero. A prayer vacuum in your life. Perhaps you can’t even recall the last time you knelt down and prayed out loud fervently with a list.

On the same scale of one to ten, rate your anxiety level. Zero means you are calm. Nothing deeply divides you. Though bad things happen to you, they don’t rob you of peace. Ten equates to frequently freaking out, crippled by dividing cares—no peace.

Now notice the correlation. The lower your score in prayer, the higher your score in anxiety. The higher your score in prayer, the lower your score in anxiety. Where fervent prayer abounds, peace abounds.

If you want to lower your score in anxiety, the solution is to raise your score in prayer. This isn’t a mystery. It’s not a function of personality, as if some people are natural pray-ers and others missed out on that gene. Philippians 4:6 clearly links anxiety and prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When anxiety goes up, up, up, you must pray it back down. Start by reviewing what you know to be true about God and His faithfulness.

Go in a room by yourself, shut the door, pray out loud fervently with a list, and begin to thank God. Thank Him for who He is, all He has done in your life, the ways you’ve seen Him provide, and His personal, intimate care for you.

When you pray “with thanksgiving” and review God’s résumé of faithfulness, you become more aware of who He has been and will continue to be. In light of His faithfulness, your anxiety will minimize and your problems will shrink into perspective.

It’s a holy exchange—anxiety for peace, through prayer. Available for you today.

Pray
Our Father, thank You that You don’t want me to live crippled by anxiety. Thank You that You are available anytime I pray. Forgive me for my prayerlessness and my stubborn attempts to handle my problems on my own. I know that’s not working for me. Lord, teach me to pray with fervency, with thanksgiving. Give me a clearer view of You, Lord, that my anxieties would fade into perspective. Though my problems are real and at times feel overwhelming, they are but light, momentary afflictions. I choose prayer. I choose peace. I choose You. In the name of Jesus, my Savior, amen

Blessings,

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. – James 4:10

Humility doesn’t save us, but it can save us a ton of grief. Humility doesn’t change your circumstances, but it helps you submit to God’s purposes no matter what the circumstances. Humility doesn’t speed up answers to prayer, but it accelerates the acceptance of God’s will. Humility doesn’t make decisions for you, but it inclines your heart toward decisions consistent with God’s plan. Humility doesn’t earn you more of God’s love, but it helps you experience God’s love at a deeper level.

For these reasons Scripture has a great deal to say on humility:

– Psalm 25:9 says, “God guides and teaches the humble.”

– Psalm 147:6 says, “The Lord sustains the humble.”

– Proverbs 11:2 says, “Wisdom belongs to the humble.”

– Proverbs 22:4 says, “True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.”

– Isaiah 57:15 says that the Lord personally dwells with and refreshes the humble.

– Matthew 23:12 says that the humble with be exalted, and the exalted will be humbled.

– And James 4:6 says that God is gracious to the humble.

Rewards, sustenance, wisdom, guidance, intimacy, grace, renewal, and revelation—all hinge on an attitude that accompanies our faith. The early twentieth-century preacher and theologian, Oswald Chambers, called humility “the great characteristic of a saint.” For all its benefits and blessings, humility is the best way to go for God’s people. In fact, it’s the only way to go.

Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. – Italian proverb

TODAY’S PRAYER

Father, give me a humble heart. As I approach your throne, I pray that I will do so with an attitude of humility and not entitlement. Amen

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

Words have the power to heal, encourage, instruct, and bless. Yet too often we use our words to brag, deceive, confuse, and wound. The apostle James wrote,

The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire ‘no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. – James 3:5-10

This should not be! Yet, this restless evil is a stumbling block to us all. So what can you do? James said no one can tame the tongue, so is it a lost cause? Maybe for men, but not for God. Submit your words to the Lord. He alone is able to change our hearts, and therefore, our poisonous words. But are you off the hook? No way. God calls us to strive after Him and bless the people around us. Below are thirteen practical ways to help you communicate without spreading a fire.

1. Avoid the Words “Never” and “Always”

These words are used when you are frustrated or irritated, but they cause the other person to feel unfairly accused. When you use these words, you are usually exaggerating and not communicating precisely. Using the words “never” and “always” may communicate your frustration, but they hurt the other person by creating defensiveness.

2. Don’t Blame, Shame, or Call Names

When you feel frustrated, hurt, or angry, you are tempted to strike back. You want the other person to feel what you are feeling. If you can blame or shame the other person, you think you will achieve a degree of satisfaction. But blaming and shaming statements cause both parties to feel miserable and will ultimately hurt the relationship.

3. Use “I” Statements Rather Than “You” Statements

It is much easier to hear someone say, “I’m feeling frustrated,” than to hear him or her say, “You frustrate me!” “You” statements cause people to feel blamed or accused. They can no longer listen with empathy because their attention is focused on defending themselves. Therefore, “you” statements are counterproductive to healthy, effective communication efforts.

4. Say, “I am Hurt,” Rather Than, “I Am Angry or Mad”

To increase your intimacy and decrease your aggression, you will want to reduce the number of times you use the words angry and mad. After you have been hurt in some way or another, it is a natural reaction to become angry. But more often than not, your hurt is your primary or root emotion. To communicate most effectively, you will want to express that root emotion. When you become frustrated, irritated, jealous, or hurt in some way, share those feelings rather than say that you are angry. When hurt is expressed, it leads to healing. But anger begets anger! Therefore, it’s best to share your hurt rather than your anger.

5. Take a Time-Out

If you become angry to the point of losing control or teetering on the edge of saying something purposely hurtful, we recommend that you call for a time-out. This technique protects your relationship from deteriorating further.

6. Don’t Withdraw or Isolate

When you withdraw or isolate, you hurt the other person. You create a situation where the other person feels ignored, cut off, or abandoned. Withdrawing can be perceived as a way to punish the other person. If you need to withdraw to stay in control of yourself, take a time-out.

7. Repeat to the Person What He or She Said to You Before You Share Your Thoughts, Feelings, or Possible Solutions

This process involves intentionally listening for the thoughts and feelings of your partner and then repeating them before sharing your thoughts and feelings. Acknowledging what the other person has shared is essential. First, it lets the other person know that you are listening intently, and he or she feels cared for. Second, it provides a way to check on the accuracy of what you heard. It keeps communication clear.

8. Don’t Interrupt

Give the other person a chance to share. Interrupt only if you need to ask a question to better understand what is being said. It is especially difficult not to interrupt when you hear your partner saying things that hurt you. Your natural tendency is to defend yourself. You may need to bite your tongue to keep from interrupting during these times, but forgo the temptation. You will need to tell yourself that you, too, will get a chance to share your feelings and thoughts, but you must wait until the other person is finished.

9. Don’t Demand

Rather than demand, ask! Demanding usually results in the other person’s feeling controlled. Since most of us felt controlled by our parents as children, we don’t respond well to demands. Demands can send shivers up our spines or even worse! It is much more effective to ask a question of the other person than to make demands. For example, ask, “Do you think you could?” or “Would you be willing to?”.

10. Use the Phrase “I Would Like.” Rather Than “I Need”

Rather than say, “I need you to listen to me!” say, “I would like it very much if you would listen to me.” To say, “I need,” is to sound more demanding of a person. Though you may have a legitimate need, it is still better to communicate with a statement of desire.

11. Don’t Use Threats

Threats can be detrimental to your relationship. You will have an instinctive tendency to use them when you feel hopeless, frustrated, or backed into a corner. Nevertheless, avoid threats at all costs. Call for a time-out, bite your tongue, but don’t use threats. Threats are identified by the keyword “if”:

–“If you don’t stop nagging, I’ll…”

–“If you ever do that again, I’ll…”

Threats should be considered extreme measures that don’t solve conflicts.

12. Be Affirming

Thank the other person for listening intently. But be sincere! Work very hard at keeping your communication positive. Even when you disagree with what your partner is sharing, you can still thank him or her for communicating thoughts and feelings. You can thank your partner for sticking with the conversation rather than isolating or withdrawing. Someone once told us, “It takes ten positives to balance out one negative,” and we have found this to be true. Force yourself to communicate in affirming ways.

13. Don’t Use the Statement “You Broke the Rule”

These rules are designed to protect your relationship. Be careful not to use them to beat up or criticize each other. Rather than say, “You broke a rule,” it is better to say something like this:

–“I felt hurt when you called me irresponsible.”

–“I felt belittled when you told me I wasn’t smart enough to understand that concept.”

–“I felt defensive when you told me that I never cared about anyone but myself.”

“You broke the rule” has a way of shaming the other person because it is a “you” statement rather than an “I” statement. It would be better to say, “I would like us to work as hard as we can to follow our rules. I feel that it really hurts us when we don’t.”

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary (Luke 1:26–27, esv).

Times were tough in the nation of Israel. Occupied by the Romans, tyrannized by a capricious lunatic King Herod, they never knew what a day would bring. Helpless to change the situation or protect their own families from all of the dangerous, frightening uncertainties, the people of Israel faced a fearful future. These were desperate times.

Hope meets us where we are.

So when you come to Luke 1:26, where “the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,” it’s important not to gloss over this Christmas moment and fail to see its true historical setting.

Don’t view it through the lens of a modern-day nativity scene, everyone with glowing faces and embroidered clothing.

Mary lived among common, ordinary people who were overwhelmed by challenging and difficult circumstances. They were left with only one thing to hang onto: the promise of the Messiah.

Just as today we’re waiting for Christ’s return, they too were waiting. All the prophets had talked about it—Isaiah, Micah, Malachi, and many more.

All the hope of Israel was tied to the coming Messiah, a promise they could only wait for. But then Gabriel came with the announcement—Jesus was coming.

Hope meets us where we are. Hope finds us.

I mean, look where it touched down: Nazareth. Remember Nathanael’s question? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth” (John 1:46)?

Nazareth was seventy miles away from Jerusalem and Bethlehem, a small, rural place known mostly for being the nondescript, disrespected home to fewer than two thousand people. Why would God choose to send the Messiah by way of Nazareth? How could that be?

It’s because God meets us where we are. We don’t have to make our own dreams come true. All we’re told is to be faithful, to do what God has given us to do. Then, even with all the things our heart may look and long for, hope can find us. Like hope found Mary.

Where are you this Christmas? What are your fears? What are the things about which you’re secretly in anguish? What’s causing you to feel . . . hopeless?

Maybe you fear time, not knowing how much longer you can keep doing what you’re doing.

Maybe you fear loss of control, watching something slip out of your hands that you’ve tried to make happen, realizing now that you can’t orchestrate it on your own.

Maybe you fear something that would be irreparable, a series of events that, if the dominoes keep falling, can never be fixed or made right again.

But hope says God can still make things right. God can make amazing things out of ashes and clay. The great unknowns that are troubling you and your family the most right now have not escaped His notice or attention. Unlike us, He sees the future perfectly. So let Him meet you where you are.

Mary was a poor woman from an obscure town who found hope because God found her. He sent word to this faithful betrothed girl, announcing that He had not forgotten His promises.

God pursues us.

He comes after us.

Hope finds us.

Blessings,

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stout-hearted. – Psalm 138:3

About five seconds outside the womb I think we all discover that this life isn’t easy. And it seems that the older we get the tougher it becomes. Some people have problems or are attracted to difficulties like fleas to a dog. Others make it through life with relatively little difficulty.

But most likely, you’ll face some tough times in life, and it’s not important how your challenges stack up to the challenges of others. Sometimes you might wonder if you are going to be able to make it through, and you will if you hold onto God. He’s promised to see you through.

Are you weighed down? Do you feel overcome with grief or alone in your struggle?

You can choose to take steps to walk through your challenges and come through them a stronger person.

Remember, believing in God and in Jesus Christ doesn’t mean you won’t have problems. But it does mean you have resources, people, and God’s Spirit who will see you through your problems. What could be better?

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. – William A. Ward

Blessings,

Ch. Dunbar

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:11-12

In his lifetime Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting. Today he’s known for his passion and artistic genius. And he’s remembered as a lonely soul. In a letter to his beloved brother, Theo, Vincent wrote:

‘Our inward thoughts, do they ever show outwardly? There may be a great fire in our soul, and no one ever comes to warm himself at it; the passers-by see only a little bit of smoke coming through the chimney and pass on their way. Now, look you, what must be done? Must one tend that inward fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down near it, to stay there maybe?’

What great fire has God impressed upon your soul? Do passers-by see more than just a little bit of smoke? Are you tending the fire?

Van Gogh expressed his passion in his art. Look for the best expression of your passion that will honor and glorify God.

The passions are the winds that fill the ship’s sails. Sometimes they submerge the ship, but without them, the ship could not sail.- Voltaire

Blessings,

Chaplain Dunbar

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:3-5

In 1741 George Frederic Handel wrote Messiah, one of the finest and most inspiring musical scores ever composed. In the time leading up to his greatest accomplishment, Handel’s health and fortunes had reached a low ebb. A stroke had left the right side of his body paralyzed: and he worked under the threat of imprisonment on account of crushing financial debt.

I can’t help but wonder whether Handel would’ve chosen the tenuous life of a composer had he known ahead of time the suffering he’d endure. If not, the world would’ve missed the blessing of this timeless and beautiful composition of praise.

Like Handel, we don’t know what our future holds. But we can be confident that God does, and that He uses every hardship to mold our character and accomplish a plan that remains perfect despite our inability to comprehend it. I pray that today you persevere in that certain hope. And you find trust that you are always in God’s hands.

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. – John Quincy Adams

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:18, esv).

The world is a cold place, and life on this earth can lend itself naturally to miserable attitudes. There will always be enough injustice and irritation to keep us in the wilderness if we choose to murmur, complain, criticize, covet, doubt, and rebel.

“The very same circumstance in life can feel like the Promised Land or the wilderness—depending on your attitude.”

On the flip side, though, life also offers plenty of people and situations to generate thankfulness, love, faith, submission, and contentment—attitudes that cause life to flow with the “milk and honey” of God’s blessing and abiding presence. The choice is truly ours.

Of course, some of our choices are limited. At different times, we reach forks in the road of life where we cannot control much. Sometimes we can’t control where we work, where we live, who the authorities in our lives are, and how they treat us. The only thing we can control is our attitude.

You choose your attitude. Sometimes it is the only thing you can choose—and it dwarfs your circumstances. The very same circumstance in life can feel like the Promised Land or the wilderness—depending on your perspective.

God’s Word teaches us some clear truths about the power of our attitudes.

First, the attitude reveals the true person. “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,” Jesus said (Matthew 15:18a). Your attitude reveals who you truly are. You can get your external behavior in order but still be a mess inside. God isn’t interested in soldiers that just look the part; He wants His followers to be the part, for real. When God looks at you, He sees through to your heart, because that’s where the true person resides. His goal is not a makeover but real heart transformation—changed attitudes.

Second, the attitude predicts the future. “For as [a person] thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, nkjv). Attitudes are patterns of thinking formed over a long period of time. You can’t think in critical, negative, faultfinding, complaining ways without becoming that person. In spiritual terms, you are what you think! God is fired up about this, because how you think foretells who you become.

Third, the attitude is primarily vertical. Most sin has a horizontal dimension. Stealing and lying, for example, affect personal relationships, though those choices are against God as well. But attitudes are clearly vertical—implicit accusations against and rejections of God and His provision. God considers our attitudes to be directed at Him, which is why He takes them so seriously.

So what are you choosing? Are you following your feelings or deferring to a default attitude based on your circumstances? Negative, critical attitudes make life feel like a wilderness—desolate, dry, barren, hard, and joyless. In contrast, positive, grateful, God-honoring attitudes make life feel like the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. The choice is yours. Check your attitude.

Prayer
Lord, forgive me for what often comes out of my mouth, flowing from ingratitude and selfishness in my heart. Please forgive me for the rebellion against You that is ultimately revealed by these murmuring, complaining, faultfinding attitudes. Father, You have given me new life. I pray that You would fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and empower me to see the choices before me through Your eyes. Thank You for saving me, giving me breath, and guarding my steps. Thank You for Your provision, for new mercies every morning, and for the love You continually lavish on my life. Help me to never stop thanking You, and grant that my attitudes would increasingly shine with Your goodness and grace. In Jesus’ matchless name I pray, amen.

Rob Dunbar, Chaplain, Maj, TN ANG