ANCHORED TO THE LORD  

Life is always better when God is in control, but He won’t take control unless you give it to Him.  God has given you free will and He will not take it away from you.  His way is best, but He won’t force it on you.  If you want God to be in control of your life you have to ask Him to take over.  This isn’t just a one time thing where you say: “God, please take control of my life.” and then continue to do things the way you always have.  Turning control of your life over to God is a constant ongoing practice.  In order for God to have control of your life you must be anchored to Him, and it is you who casts the anchors, not God.  

Notice that it says anchors, not just one anchor.  Think of casting an anchor from a boat to keep the boat from drifting in the water.  If you cast only one anchor off the bow of the boat it can still drift in a circle, 360 degrees around where the anchor is placed in the water.  If you cast another anchor from the stern of the boat then the boat cannot drift in a circle.  It can, however, still drift from side to side.  Cast two more anchors from the sides of the boat and it will be much more stable.  The more anchors you put in the water, the more stable the boat will be.  The anchors give control of the boat to the floor of the ocean that is fixed, and reduce the effect of the unstable water on the movements of the boat.

 In the same way, you can take the control of your life away from the whims of the world and give the control to God.  In the above analogy, you are the boat, the world is the water and God is the ocean floor.   The anchors are your thoughts, your words and your deeds and you cast them to God with time spent contemplating the kingdom of God, speaking about it and acting in accordance with the laws and principles of the Lord.  The more you keep the Lord in your thoughts, the more you speak of the Lord and His ways, and the more you do the work of the Lord, the more you anchor yourself to Him and give Him control over the events of your life.

 Time is a major factor.  There are 24 hours in a day, or 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds.  The more of these seconds you devote to the Lord each day, the more He will be in control of your life, and the more peace, joy, good health and prosperity you will experience.  Of course we all have obligations and responsibilities in the world, and we can’t spend all day in our prayer closets.  God knows this, and He is not asking that we spend all day isolated from the world.  However, we all should have some time set aside for the Lord each day.  A morning devotional or prayer time, and an evening one are a good way to start and finish the day.   

If you can spend twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening in some kind of prayer or spiritual study, you have a good start.  That adds up to forty minutes, or 2400 seconds out of the 86,400 seconds in the day.  That is about 2.8%.  Since God asks for 10% of our increase as a tithe, it is reasonable to expect that He would also like 10% of our time.  With your two devotionals of twenty minutes each, you still need another 7.2%, or about 104 minutes, or 6,240 seconds.  So let’s look at some ways to capture those needed minutes and seconds away from the world and give them to God.

 ******************* part two *********************

 Start Your Day With God

 To start, when you wake up in the morning you want God to be the first thing on your mind.  One way to do this is to use an alarm that can wake you up with your favorite praise and worship songs on tape or CD.  These kinds of alarm clocks are available in many consumer electronics stores and they are not very expensive.  Not only will this give you another 5, 10 or 15 minutes of anchor time, but quite often it will cause some of the praise and worship lyrics to float around in your mind all day long.  That makes for a good anchor to the Lord throughout the day.  Surely you have had times when there was a song or a jingle stuck in you mind and you just kept repeating it over and over.  Make it a praise and worship song or jingle and you have an anchor that will help you keep God in control of your life.  It is much better to have something like “Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place” running through your mind than something like “Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat.”

 Another great time to anchor yourself to the Lord with praise and worship is when you take a shower.  Singing in the shower is something that many people do, and if you are one of them you are already half way there.  Just select some of your favorite praise and worship songs and sing them while you are taking a shower.  It is best to pick one and sing it over and over rather than trying to do several songs in one shower.  This will help keep the lyrics in the back of your mind throughout the day, so you are not just getting the 10 or 20 minute anchor in the shower, but you may even find yourself singing praises at various times during the day, and that makes for a great anchor.

 ***************** part three **********************

 Do It With The Lord On Your Mind

 There are many things that you do every day that are mundane and habitual.  You can select fitting scriptures to some of these daily tasks and make them a part of the task.  One of my favorite anchors is what I call my toothbrush prayer.  It consists of a series of scriptures that I have personalized and attached to the task of brushing my teeth.  It takes just about as long to say them to myself as it takes me to brush my teeth.  Sometimes I try to say them out loud, which is difficult with a toothbrush in the way, but most times I just review them in my mind.  I will share this anchor with you now.

 Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits:  He forgives all my iniquities, He heals all my diseases,

He redeems my life from destruction,

He crowns me with loving kindness and tender mercies, And He satisfies my mouth with good things, So that my youth is renewed like the eagles.  (Psalm 103:1-5)

I dwell in the secret place of the Most High, I abide under the shadow of the Almighty, I say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust.  (Psalm 91:1-2)

No weapon formed against me shall prosper.  (Isaiah 54:17)

By His strips I am healed.  (Isaiah 53:5)

My needs are met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  (Phil 4:19)

I am the head and not the tail.  (Deut 28:13)

Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.  (1 John 4:4)

My sins are washed away by the blood of the lamb.  (1 John 1:7)

I am redeemed from the curse of the law.  (Gal 3:13)

I am blessed in the city, I am blessed in the country.  (Duet 28:3)

I’m blessed coming in and I’m blessed going out.  (Deut 28:6)

The blessings of the Lord overtake me.  (Duet 28:2)

I thank you Father that Jesus is Lord.  Hallelujah!

 It takes about 3 minutes to brush my teeth with this prayer, times twice a day, that is another 6 minutes of anchor time.  This is the first anchor that I started with and it has served me well for many years.  It has become so automatic that as soon as the toothbrush hits my mouth, the scriptures start rolling through my mind.  Sometimes it is just a mechanical thing, and sometimes it has more depth and meaning than others, but it is always there, every time I brush my teeth.  It is a habit and it would take a lot of effort to stop doing it.  In fact once, a few years ago, I got in a real despondent mood.  I was mad at God and I stopped doing my daily devotions and bible reading.  I hope you have never and will never feel that way, but I did for a short time, and it was my toothbrush prayer that helped me pull out of it.  When I went to brush my teeth the prayer just started running through my mind.  I would have had to force my self not to do it, but instead I just let the habit remain.  If I hadn’t I probably would have really been lost for a long time, but that anchor wouldn’t let me drift too far from the Lord.

 ******************** part four ********************

 Putting On God’s Armor

Getting dressed is something that you do at lease once every day.  While you are putting on your clothes, you can also be putting on the full armor of God described in the sixth chapter of Ephesians.

 Therefore put on the full armor of God,

so that when the day of evil comes

you may be able to stand your ground.

And after you have done everything,

to stand.  Stand firm then,

with the belt of truth buckled

around your waist,

with the breastplate of righteousness

in place,

and with your feet fitted

with the readiness

that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this,

take up the shield of faith,

with which you can extinguish

all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation

and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God. (Eph 6:13-17)

 With your armor in place, a praise in your heart and the word of God on your tongue, you will be ready to face whatever the day brings as more than a conqueror.  You will be well anchored to the Lord.

 Do It For The Lord

 There is a saying that I am particularly fond of, and it goes like this:  “Always do the right thing, do it because it is right, then do it right.”  The only way that I know of to follow this saying is to do everything God’s way.  Whatever you do, do it for the Lord. 

 Recently I met someone who was wearing a pin that had the letters WWJD.  I asked what it stands for and she said it stands for: “What Would Jesus Do?”  This is a good thing to keep in mind as you go about your daily affairs.  Whenever you are faced with any situations, before you act, ask yourself: “What Would Jesus Do in this situation?”  For example, if someone were to lash out at you with a string of harsh words you might be tempted to lash back with more harsh words.  But if you have been casting your anchors and you are trying to walk in God’s ways you will probably hesitate before you say something you would regret later.  In this brief hesitation you can ask yourself WWJD and you are more likely to be forgiving and want to pray for the offender.  

Perhaps the best example that Jesus gave us of how to behave in adverse circumstances is when he learned that John the Baptist had been beheaded.  Jesus loved John.  He was his cousin and this bad news hurt Jesus deeply.  He just wanted to go off and be by himself for a while.  Unfortunately the crowds wouldn’t allow him to be alone, they followed him.  

When Jesus heard what had happened,

he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  (Matt 14:13 NIV)

 How did Jesus react?  Even though he was hurt by the bad news and wanted some solitude, he still had compassion for the people, and he acted on that compassion.

 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd,

he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  (Matt 14:14 NIV)  

How was Jesus able to pull this compassion out of his grief?  He was anchored to God.  He stayed anchored to God all of the time.  And you can too!  Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute and second by second, you can cast your anchors to the Lord and He will keep you safe and full of His love.  You might want to make a list of your daily tasks, and another list of fitting scriptures to attach to these tasks.  Then, one by one, make the scriptures a part of the tasks.  Try it, it works!