Keep Calm and Carry On

“In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and confidence is your strength”
(Isaiah 30:15).

May is Military Appreciation month, and in David Jeremiah’s May devotional booklet, he relates the story of a signboard that was used in Great Britain during World War II to boost morale.  “Keep Calm and Carry On” was rediscovered a few years ago and is impacting people again.

We may not be in a physical war, but all believers are in a war against sin and evil.  Those of us with health issues also “battle” with our pain and its repercussions on a regular basis.  This signboard is appropriate for us as we relate it to our faith.

In my battles with pain, panic easily come upon me, and this verse in Isaiah is one I have repeated to myself many times.  When I become fearful, anxious, worried, or negative, I need to repent of that sin.  I am not trusting that God is in control of my life and will bring me through whatever I am facing.  I then need to rest in that truth.  The Lord has not only saved me eternally, but He also saves me continually from my lack of faith and trust in Him and the problems those weaknesses bring.

When I am losing my battle with pain due to stress and fear, I become an easy target for Satan and his lies.  But if I remain quietly confident in God’s love and power, I am filled with the same power that raised Christ from the dead.  When I keep calm in the Lord and His Word, I truly can carry on.   

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, I praise You that I can keep calm and carry on because:  “There is nothing – no circumstance, no trouble, no testing – that can ever touch me until first of all it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me.  If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment.  But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes to him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret.” (taken from Victorious Christian Living by Alan Redpath).