Be Thankful for the Problems

Life is full of problems but every problem has a solution. You just may have to search harder for solutions to some than others.  How you look at your problems determines how they are going to affect your life.

If you look at your problems as punishments then you are already defeated.  Your problem has already won the battle and you have not enriched your life from this problem one iota. You have the negative and defeated attitude and the battle is already lost.

If you face the problem as a challenge and know that good is going to come from it somehow then you have already defeated the problem.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

who have been called according to his purpose.”

~Romans 8:28~

There is good that can come out of any situation if we look hard enough.  It may not come immediately but eventually you will see what good has come from the challenge.  You will be able to look back and say now I see why that had to happen and I am so thankful that it did because otherwise this good would never have came to pass. 

It takes these challenges or problems to open our eyes many times to other things in life that are more important but we are not seeing them because we are not looking past the problem. It takes focusing on God and looking beyond the problem is what it takes to get us through many challenges.

We are not promised a life of only good things happening to us we are promised that even through the bad things; such as, death, jail, disease, financial ruin, etc; we are promised that good will come from all of this to those who love and depend on God.

Our having these problems or challenges only makes the good things in our life better.  We tend to appreciate the good things so much more because of the challenges that are entwined in our lives.  We take the good with the bad knowing and trusting God is going to get us through.  Trusting that we will become a much better and more mature Christian through these trials and tribulations is using our faith as God intended.

Each challenge or trial that we face will pass. I did not say it will instantly be over with and done. No, there is no time limit on it only God’s time and His time is nothing compared to ours if you have not learned that yet. In God’s time the trial will be over and if we have depended on God and let God lead us through it there will be good that we see through the tribulations and we will be a better person for it.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way,

consider it an opportunity for great joy.

For you know that when your faith is tested,

your endurance has a chance to grow.

So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed,

you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4

So when we are faced with trials, tribulations, problems, challenges, hardships or whatever you want to call it; count it joy! Thanks God for these problems!  Praise His Holy Name for these challenges! I can hear you now, you are saying, ”Are you crazy? When I am facing a disease; death in the family; my family is falling apart; bankruptcy; addiction; whatever the challenge and you are telling me to be thankful!” Let’s read James 1:2-4 again. “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”James 1:2-4.  That is what it says, “Consider it an opportunity for great joy…” Yes, because you know you are going to learn from this experience and grow into a better Christian. God is not promising it is going to be easy. He is not saying it is going to be “a piece of cake.” He is saying,

“With God, nothing is impossible.” ~ Luke 1:37

This is saying no matter how hard the trials seem you can make it through it. How? “With God...” You are not alone in this matter,

“… because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

~Hebrews 13:5~

God will always be there with you. It is you that has to depend on Him and let Him help you through each crisis. Let Him carry you when you feel you can no long take another step. When you feel you can walk a while, then let Him hold your hand and guide you in the way He wants you to go.
Go through each trial, tribulation, crisis, hardship with the attitude God has intended for us to have and the challenge will not be near as bad and we will make it through it and see the good that has come from this problem.

“Be thankful in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

~I Thessalonians 5:18~

Keeping Sane in an Insane World

I just saw this sign on the side of the road yesterday and it dawned on me what it was saying. Stay Sane Inside Insanity. With all that is going on in this world today and in our minds it is hard to stay focused and sane. All the bad news that is reported these days and all the bad things that we ourselves are seeing day to day is e0heads every single moment is enough to drive us insane.

We have the choice to let all this  get to us and constantly dwell on these bad happenings and bad thoughts or we can choose to keep our focus on God and constantly stay in prayer and keep looking up to God for our guidance.

God tells us in His Word in Phillipians 4:8,  “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” All the things mentioned here are good things not bad. Let’s look at some other verses.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!...”

 Psalm 136:1

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

 I John 4:8

In conclusion of these four verses mentioned above, we are to think on good things; God is to abide in us; God is good; and God is love.  All four of these things mention nothing about bad but right the opposite.  If we are thinking on all these good things; constantly remembering that God is good then we will have no room for the bad thoughts and bad happenings to drag us down.

 God can abide in us and constantly growing stronger inside us when we study His Word, pray, and meditate on His Word.  Also as we think on His goodness and the good things of this world the bad thoughts and happenings tend to take a backseat in our lives.  We have the strength to push those negative and bad thoughts out of our minds and to rid our hearts of those bad feelings because we know where to find the goodness and love that needs to be shared in this world today.

We just cannot overlook all the bad things happening in this world today by ignoring them but we can pray and ask God if there is some way we can help change this world.  We cannot change this world all by ourselves but we can be a part of the change. This world can be changed for the better one person at a time.

I have mentioned before the “domino effect”. You can smile at a person and that tends to cheer up their day and they will smile at another person and it will continue to pass on through the day to those each one meets. You can see someone needing an extra hand, whether it is a mom with children and her arms full or an elderly that needs a door opened for them.  You can offer your assistance in so many little ways.  It doesn’t take big steps to start changing the world it only takes small steps and one step at a time.

There are so many things that we can do to encourage or help someone if only we will keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to see those opportunities. Yes, there is much insanity in this world today, so many bad and unbelievable things going on in this world but we can turn it around.  Do not concentrate on the bad things but counteract those bad things with complimenting the good, noticing the good, finding the good in everyone.  Everyone has something good you can find in them, you just may have to look harder in some than others.

One small step at a time and one day at a time let’s try to change this world for the better by committing to do one good deed for someone every day; to pass a smile on to a person every day; to find something good in every person we meet.  I can hear you now saying that one is almost impossible to do. No, it is not impossible, but it may be difficult.  There is good inside everyone because God created all of us. Yes, many have and are making the wrong choices but they are still God’s creations and God still loves them.

We have to find good in this world and magnify it and give God all the honor and praise for the good and love that we do see shared in this world today in order to keep sanity.  This will take a total turnabout for many of us or insanity because we have dwelled and only saw the bad in this world and now we are going to look only for the good and we are going to talk about the good; share the good; share the love; and live out God’s purpose for our lives which is to encourage one another and to bring God all honor and glory.

You Just Have To Seek God

Joel Osteen said yesterday that we do not have to FIND God to be rewarded. He just wants us seeking Him continually.   This really got me to thinking on this subject and wondered how many out there really did not realize they only had to attempt, try, put forth an effort or seek God.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 

What does seek mean?  

•  To make an attempt  
•  look for
• to go in search of
• to try to discover.

Hebrews 11:6, “….He (God)  rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

What is the result of seeking God?  As in Matthew 6:33, “…and all these things will be given to you as well.” And in Hebrews 11:6, “He (God)  rewards those….”.

How do you seek? 

John 15:7, “But if  you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” 

How do we do this?  We meditate on His promises and we read His promises in the Bible and claim them daily, or even more by the minute. We pray without ceasing asking God to direct our paths and our decisions in everything.  Notice, I didn’t say in the big stuff I said in everything.  Even the little stuff that you feel isn’t big enough to bother Jesus with?  Yes, even the little stuff.  He wants to be Lord over ALL of our life.

I Thessalonians 5:17, ~~“Never stop praying.”

” Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, (The Message)

So this is very easy to understand.  No matter what is going on in your life, PRAY! Pray for others, you can always find things to pray for.  God wants us to pray to him in the tiny things.  For example, I use coupons and love to find deals and sales. So it is not wrong for me to ask God to direct me to these good deals and sales. Ask God what He wants you to do today whether you are working at home or at public work. 

God will richly bless you when you seek Him.  When you don’t feel like reading your Bible, reading your daily devotion, praying to God, going to church, teaching that Sunday School, visiting the sick, visiting the lonely, giving your offerings, - should I go on?- just do it anyway.  God will bless you for your attempting to do these things.  If you have noticed that during those times you didn’t feel like doing any of the mentioned above, how you were blessed and felt so much better after you did them. Just keep keeping on! Don’t give up!  Keep on going and trying to learn more about Jesus, He will richly reward your efforts.

How will God reward you?  Oh my, in too many ways to mention.  As I have said so many times, YOU CANNOT OUT GIVE GOD! No matter what you give to God, whether it is your time, talent, money, love, food, etc. God will bless you abundantly.  He never ceases to amaze me in how He give back way more than I ever could have given just because we “seek” and “try” to do His work. We may not do a job like we think we should but if we attempt or try to do it God will take it and “run” with it and make those seeds grow!  All we have to do is plant those seeks and God will water and cause to grow. So don’t worry if you feel inadequate in reading the Bible, understanding the Bible, teaching that class, sharing the Gospel, sitting with a lonely person, visiting a sick person, or whatever it is, just make the effort to do it and God will bless!

Ahhhh! My Mind is More at Peace

Why do you do the things that you do? Do you do them because they are what God would want you to do or do you do them to please people? Do you find yourself doing things and expecting a “thank you”, “good job”, “great job”, “you are doing a great job” or any other compliment?  Let’s be honest about this.

Doesn’t it make you feel good when someone compliments something you are doing? When someone notices what you are doing and comments on it, doesn’t it give you a boost?  Yes, it does and God teaches us to encourage one another.

“So encourage each other and build each other up,

 just as you are already doing.”~~I Thessalonians 5:11

This is so true but it is our job to compliment and notice the good things others do and tell them.  In other words, “give them their roses before they die”. We are not to compliment ourselves or brag about what we are doing it is the other person’s job.

We are not to expect this encouragement and compliments from others.  Yes, the Bible tells us in the above verse to encourage one another but we cannot do things for that reason to get the compliments.  Our motive to do good things for God is ONLY to be because it is to give God all the honor and glory. Leave it at that.  That is enough to do it for God’s honor and glory.  How God can bless us and take care of us for what we do for Him is more than any compliment or recognition could mean to our lives.

You have to be careful to keep God in the center of your life and keep your eyes on Him.

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” ~~ I Corinthians 10:31

Please read that verse again.  It says to do it ALL for the glory of God! Not for your glory or for the glory from another person.  We can easily fall into that awful pit of expecting someone to notice what we are saying or doing and if they don’t we get all down in the dumps and say, “Nobody appreciates anything that I do.”  Well, to be blunt, it doesn’t matter what other people think.  If we are constantly expecting others to compliment us then we are not able to be at peace because our insides will be all in turmoil. We will be fretting because no one is seeing what we are doing and no one cares about what we are doing. We are pulling ourselves down and causing depression, anger, bitterness, dissention to build inside us. This will cause more of these negative feelings to build inside each time you thing about no one noticing what you are doing. Therefore, your peace of mind is destroyed because you are depending on people to do what only God can do. All that matters is that we are doing it from the heart; with a love for Jesus; for the honor and glory of God; to show others the love of God; and to point others to Jesus.

If we get our eyes off of God and start looking at what we are doing then we are not pointing to Jesus; but saying “Look what I am doing or saying!” Our focus has been taken off of God and being put on ourselves leading to our work being done in vain.

Let’s don’t waste our lives living for other people and trying to please other people. If we do this we have not lived out our purpose in life that God intended for us to live.  Our purpose in life is to bring God honor and glory and make him happy and proud he made us. We are to point other to Jesus and let them see Jesus in our lives and we can do that by be careful to do everything we do for God’s honor and glory.