What's your soundtrack?

         What's your soundtrack?
         Seriously, what's the soundtrack that tends to play over and over again in your mind?
         This question has captured my attention and convicted my heart after listening to some powerful sermons via podcast by Louie Giglio (pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta).  In one of those sermons, he spoke of how many of us have an internal soundtrack that plays an endless loop of fear and failure.  That voice of doom speaks words of defeat and destruction--"This will not end well...You will never make it...The worst will happen...Nobody loves you...You will always be alone...The future will be bleak and full of failure and suffering...It's hopeless, they (or you) will never change..." and on and on it drones.
          Haven't we all been there at one time or another?  I confess to my shame that I tend to "catastrophize"--assuming the absolute worst possibility as the outcome.  (For instance--"this isn't just a minor headache...it's a brain tumor....or my child isn't just late getting home--he's been in a terrible accident or been kidnapped by terrorists...or..."  Sigh).  This tendency would be laughable if it weren't so terribly destructive and joy annihilating.      
        Yes, we all know it's true that sometimes, just sometimes, things do turn out for the worst...but then, won't God be there too?  Of course He will!  Our God promises to be with us in the storms of life, but when we catastrophize (yes, I realize that may be a made-up word, but I'm hoping you get my meaning), we're completely missing out at both ends of the spectrum.  First on one hand, we're forgetting the wonderful possibility that our God--Who is the Giver of all good gifts--can, and often does, bestow tremendous blessings and work things out in an incredibly positive and beneficial way.  Because He is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. (Eph.3:20)
         But on the other hand, if the worst does in fact occur, well then, our  Lord has promised to never ever leave us nor forsake us. (Heb.13:5)  He will be right there with us in the storm and will use it all for our greater good and His greater glory.  After all, since He works ALL things out for the good of those who love Him (Rom.8:28), why should we cloak the unknown future with fear and dread?  What good does that do us?   And when we do that, we're utterly removing Almighty God from the equation! But He's promised--and the Lord always keeps His every promise--to always be with us, to strengthen us, to give us all that we need to get through whatever it is, and to use it all, all, all for our good.
         Words of self-condemnation, discouragement, defeat, and doom--these are the soundtrack of fear.   It all ultimately comes from a place of fear, doesn't it?  Fear that God isn't really good. Fear that His plans and ways really won't be for our good and His glory.  Fear that we will not have what it takes to get through life.  Fear of the future...which means we're factoring that future without God.
         But Louie said something that really struck me.  "Fear is faith in the enemy."  Think about that.  When we fear, we're actually placing our faith in the enemy and in his lies and deceptions.  We're believing what the enemy says rather than believing what our Almighty Lord says.
         We all have faith...but the question is--in Whom are we placing our faith?  If we put our faith in the enemy's lies of defeat and death, we will be listening to an endless, hopeless soundtrack of darkness and despair.  But that's just it--it's all lies.
         But we have the choice!  We can choose in Whom we'll place our faith and in which soundtrack we will listen.  We can change the soundtrack and replace those dark, despairing lies with Truth.  Real Truth.  The Truth of God's Word. The Truth of Who He is.  The Truth of what He has done.  The Truth of His powerful promises.  The Truth of the Gospel.  The Truth of all He has in store for those who love Him.
         We can and must set our hearts and minds to the soundtrack of God's Truth and listen to His words filled with Life.  His Words of Love. Of Grace.  Of Joy.  Of Peace.  Of Forgiveness.  Of Power.  Of Redemption.  Of Hope.
          Make your soundtrack today.  Choose  to stop listening to the lies.  Reject and shut down that soundtrack.  And instead fill your heart and mind with the soundtrack of God's Word.  "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." (Rom.10:17)  Read it.  Meditate on it.  Memorize it.  Pick one verse that speaks to your fears, and write it down. Carry it with you.  Repeat it throughout the day.  There's nothing more powerful than God's supernatural Word.
          But also make a literal soundtrack!  Go onto itunes or Pandora or whatever technology you use and choose some hymns and worship songs that lift your heart and mind to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  I can still remember certain praise songs that we played in Janie's ICU room in those darkest of days, and I cannot tell you how they strengthened and encouraged our battered, frightened hearts.  Truly, to this day, when I hear one of those songs, I weep, because I remember and know how God powerfully ministered to us through the words and music.  Oh what a priceless gift music is to us!  As Giglio says, "The antidote to fear is faith, and the soundtrack of faith is worship."  And if you ask me, there's nothing like worshipping with music.
        "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody!" (Ps.57:7)
       Change the soundtrack today.  In the words of the great old hymn, "Tune my heart to sing Your praise."  Tune your heart to the soundtrack of Truth.  Tune your heart to the soundtrack of worship and praise.  Tune your heart to the beautiful soundtrack of your great and glorious God.
       To God be the glory.