The Anchor - Lynne Phipps

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Hebrews 6:19 NIV

The windstorm was fierce. I was thankful for the anchor.

The howling awoke me from a sound sleep. As I lay cozy under the blankets, I heard a loud roaring and flapping, like some huge carpet shaken in the heavens. I rose and ventured outside to see where the noise was coming from. Everything seemed fine. Since the noise had decreased, I returned to my bed.

In the morning, my daughter came over and told me to look at something. The wind from the night’s ferocious windstorm had lifted our ten-by-twenty-foot steel hay shed and moved it several inches. This was the noise I had heard in the darkness, but could not see because of the tree barrier between my house and the shed.

Fortunately, our shed was anchored to the ground. Although it moved slightly, it did not flip over or move from its foundation. Within hours, my son-in-law had it pushed back squarely onto the foundation. He then proceeded to drive in even deeper anchors for protection against the next severe storm that might come our way.

Likewise, today’s scripture ensures that we also have an anchor for our souls, one that holds us firm and secure against life’s storms. Our belief in Jesus Christ is our hope now and for eternity. Our trust in Christ ties us to him as our Savior, who even now abides in heaven with God our Father and is busy preparing a place for us. This anchor of hope is secure because through God’s written word, God has said so, and he cannot lie. His word is true and firm now and forever.

Life will seek to beat against us with its often-ferocious winds of suffering, turmoil, confusion, and discouragement. It may even, at times, cause us to doubt God’s eternal love and care, threatening to shift us from our foundation of faith. Amidst it all, however, Christ, the anchor of our souls, will never leave nor forsake us. Through Scripture and his still small voice, the Holy Spirit will comfort, encourage, and remind us that we belong to him. He will gently move us back to our firm foundation of faith.

Pray that these truths might be more deeply anchored in your heart and mind. Then, no matter what may blow your way, your faith will not shake.

Father God, grant me a hunger and thirst to know the truth of both Your written and living Word. Remind me that Jesus Christ is the hope that anchors my soul. Keep my faith from shaking or moving. In Christ’s name, amen.

Lynne Phipps and her family live on a small hobby farm in the heart of Alberta, Canada’s farming country. She has been writing devotions for forty years and never tires of the spiritual correlation the Holy Spirit blesses her with. He uses normal everyday events and the behaviors of the multitude of glorious creatures He has brought across her path to point her to the truths of God. Lynne is a devotion writer for VineWords: Devotions and More, Christian Devotions, and Love Lines from God.

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Held by the Anchor - Martin Wiles

Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your instructions. Psalm 119:61 NLT

She may have drifted a tad, but overall her anchor held.

My maternal grandmother loved to fish in the Santee River, but not in the big open water. She hunted the nooks and crannies. Places where the bream bedded and the catfish trolled. And with one small and one large cane pole, she spent most of her days fishing for fish she’d never eat.

Her anchor was often a bush. With a piece of string, she tied on. The waves from passing boats rocked her small craft, but it would never move from the spot she anchored it.

Occasionally she’d fish in the open areas, and when she did, she used another anchor. Not a fancy one, or one even shaped like an anchor. Her anchors were pieces of heavy metal tied to a string and then secured to her boat. This anchor didn’t hold as fast as the string, but her boat drifted little, if at all.

Regardless of which anchor my grandmother used, the purpose was the same: keeping her boat where she had it so she could catch fish to sell to her neighbors.

Others attempted to drag the psalmist into sinful behavior, but God’s principles kept him firmly anchored.

Growing up with a dad who was a preacher, I had God’s commands and principles instilled in me from an early age. Before I could read the Bible, Dad read Bible stories to me. And when I learned to read, he encouraged me to read the Bible for myself—and I did. And I’ve continued doing it for the past fifty years.

While I can’t say I’ve come across anything new in God’s Word, God’s Spirit takes what I already know and shows me different applications and understandings for it and then helps me relate it to the world’s ever-changing culture. This practice keeps my thoughts and actions anchored in obedience to Christ.

If I don’t stay anchored in the teachings of God’s Word, I’ll do what my grandmother’s boat would have done had she not anchored it: drift. Drift into patterns of thinking or acting that displease God and prevent Him from accomplishing His best for me. His word holds me in His will.

Tie on to God’s Word so you won’t drift into forbidden actions or thoughts that prevent you from enjoying the abundant life Christ wants you to have.

Prayer: Father, keep us tied to Your Word so others won’t be able to drag us into sin.

Tweetable: What are you anchored to?

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