Good morning. First I wanted to look at a verse that I read this morning. It describes perfectly these Christians I've been talking about. And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Sadly that does describe a lot of Christians today. Back to the handout sheet: The Lord will keep me in perfect peace because my mind is stayed on Him – my thoughts turning often to Him, and I trust Him. When our minds are on Him instead of our problems, then we will have perfect peace. The world has the peace of "things are OK". We have the peace of "things are not OK, but I have peace anyway, because my mind is on God instead of my problems". We have to trust Him in the midst of the storm. Remember Jesus asleep in the boat. The disciples were looking at the storm and were afraid. Jesus' mind and confidence were on God, and He was asleep. I'm sure if He needed to be awake, God would have had Him awake. He wasn't even aware that there was a problem. When we are trusting in God, there is no need to worry. He is in control. We need to be like the seed in good soil that we hear the word in an honest and good heart, hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. There's that word perseverance again. He never said it would be easy. Father help the reader to keep his/her mind stayed on You; to trust that You will take care of things. Help him/her to persevere and bear a hundredfold fruit.

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