Day by Day - Mar. 15, 2010

I don't know where you are today, but I have a sneaky suspicion that you, like me, might have a few intruders crowding into your life and could use some divine reinforcements. If so, don't hesitate to call for help. Tell your Father that you are running out of hope and energy and ideas . . . that you need "not . . . words taught by human wisdom, but . . . those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. . . . For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:13, 16).

You may have cancer. So what can you do? You dial Heaven 911 and you tell God you have an emergency need: "I have cancer, Lord, and I need wisdom." And at that very moment He will begin to make His deliveries.

Amazingly, you soon discover that your greatest enemy is not the disease but subtle, slippery feelings of despair, the thief of peace. And so you rely on God's daily delivery service to get you through that one day. And then the next.

When Dan Richardson, an enthusiastic believer in Christ, lost his battle with cancer, the following piece was distributed at his memorial service.

Cancer is limited . . .

It cannot cripple love,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the Spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

You cannot deny that you have the disease, but you can deny despair from taking control. Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances, call for God's daily delivery of wisdom, strength, and grace.

Each morning, slam the door on despair. If you don't, it will slip in and rob you. 
And you'll soon find a peace missing.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.