Most of us have heard or read 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast your cares on Him for He cares for you.” This verse sometimes seems a little over simplified, like telling someone..”don’t worry about it, everything will work out.”

However, I recently read Romans 10:11, which the Living Bible translates, “For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed.”

I have experienced this, and maybe you have too. A situation appears to have no possible positive outcome, late for a meeting, behind in class, missed a flight, bills that you cannot cover, but when we fully give the concern over to God, unexpected events occur and things work out in ways we never imagined.

God will not disappoint us, if we trust Him.

Dear Lord, we often wait until, we think, we have no alternative before coming to you with our concerns. Help us remember to come to you first, and when we trust you, you will not let us down. What peace this knowledge provides. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Have you had the conversation with someone discussing and wondering if you would have accepted and followed Jesus if you had lived during Jesus’ time?

I kind of wondered what I would think or do, but looking at the following verses, I have more confidence that it would have been very difficult to ignore, write off, or rationalize what Jesus was doing at the time.

In Matthew 12:15, Matthew writes, “…with many following him. He healed all the sick among them.”

And in Matthew 14 after the story of the miracle of feeding the 5000, in verses 35 and 36, Matthew writes, “And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.”

The key word in both of these descriptions is “all.” Jesus didn’t heal some of those that were sick, he healed “all”, and it wasn’t just some of those that touched his cloak that were healed, in was “all.”

Finally John writes in John 21:25, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

We can only imagine what the media frenzy would be like today if someone was able to heal every illness of everyone he encountered, and do the many other miracles Jesus did. We would all have been amazed at the significance and magnitude of what Jesus was doing at the time. It was incredible.

Dear Lord, we thank you that you have sent your Holy Spirit into the world, so that we don’t have to figure out and prove you are the Messiah. We only need to drop our resistance and accept the free gift of your salvation. Help us share the opportunity for this gift with others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

You are probably familiar with the expression, “if you play with fire, eventually you will get burned.” This expression is very applicable to our lives as Christians. We cannot spend our time around activities we know are wrong, and think it will not influence us.

Paul writes in Ephesians 5:15-18, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

We need to stop and think about what we are doing, often. We should ask ourselves, if we saw someone else doing what we are considering would we think it wise and thoughtful?

Dear Lord, help us think before we act. Protect us from temptation when we might put ourselves at risk. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

I believe we can change the way we feel by how we think. If we are generally in good spirits, and someone does something mean or offensive, like cut us off on the road, or argue with us about some issue, we are likely to change from our good mood to a negative angry mood, at least for a few minutes. Why? It is because we started thinking about this bad experience and it changed our attitude and mood.

Ephesians 4:23-24 tells us, “let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”

When we open ourselves to God’s guidance and influence, and think about the hope, love, mercy, and peace that trusting God offers, we can change our thoughts which will change our attitudes and we will be renewed by the Spirit.

Dear Lord, we thank you that by keeping our focus on You and Your will, we can rise above the negative, and control our thoughts and our attitudes. When we live with peace and joy, we demonstrate what it truly means to be a Christian. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You may have heard this before, and if you haven’t, it is something worth thinking about. “Faith is the currency of heaven.” Wait, you might say, you can’t buy things with faith. However, Jesus said to the blind men in Matthew 9:29, “According to your faith let it be to you.” Or to the woman who touched Jesus’ robe believing it would heal her in Luke 8:48 Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.” On many other occasions in the Bible, Jesus tells people they are healed because of their faith. They obviously didn’t pay for the healing like purchasing a product, but the value of the faith is what Jesus said mattered.

Jesus also criticizes others on occasion saying, “you of little faith” in several passages where those involved needed Jesus to rescue them, like Peter walking on the water. So the size of the faith affects the outcome. Maybe this is partly what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6:20 in saying, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

It is a different way to look at faith.

Dear Lord, we know that you want us to have faith, hope and trust in you to guide, protect, and also do great things with us. Help us remember that if faith is a currency, our account is only limited by ourselves. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.