All of us have our challenges living the Christian life. Some have difficulty truly believing God’s power to control things affecting our lives, others become proud of themselves and believe they can handle everything without God.

The apostle Paul had some problem in his life which he called his “thorn in the flesh.” The Bible does not tell us what this was, but he describes the affect in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” NLT

So whatever this “thorn in the flesh” weakness God allowed to affect Paul, it was there to weaken him and remind him to put his hope and faith in God’s power, not his own. For others of us, our “thorn” may be a lack of confidence, but in the same way, our hope, faith and confidence should be put in God’s power to bring us through our challenges.

Dear Lord, it is a great source of peace and joy to know that You are the power in our lives. Help us remember this when we are weak or troubled, and put our hope and faith in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Click Here – to Receive These Messages Every Morning In Your Email Box

At the end of most worship services, the pastor sends the congregation out with a blessing. In Numbers 6 God tells Moses how this blessing should go. You have probably heard these words many times. Verses 24-26 say, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” ESV

In the Living Bible, verse 27 says, “This is how Aaron and his sons shall call down my blessings upon the people of Israel; and I myself will personally bless them.”

We need to remember these amazing words when receiving this blessing. God said, “and I myself will personally bless them.” What a comfort this can be to those who believe, that God has personally blessed each of us.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the blessing of your love and care for each of us. Help us live lives in bold faith, knowing that you are always there to guide and protect us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Click Here – to Receive These Messages Every Morning In Your Email Box

Psalm 73 tells a story to which many of us could relate. It deals with envy and how the author, Asaph, started down the path to envy, but corrected himself.

Verse 3, “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives, their bodies are so healthy and strong.” Isn’t it difficult sometimes to see these people who are obviously not living godly lives, and everything seems to be just fine and dandy for them. At the same time we are doing our best to follow God’s will, but scratching and scrimping to get by. His questions, just like ours, verse 11, “Does God realize what is going on?” and 13, “Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure?”

Then he stops and realizes how wrong this line of thought is. verse 21, “Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was torn up inside…but even so, you love me! you are holding my right hand! You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel…..Whom have I in heaven but you? And I desire no one on earth as much as you!”

How silly it is for us to worry about the prosperity of others. God gives us all that we need if we trust him. Finally in verse 26 he says, “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”

Earthly prosperity will never satisfy the longing God built into us that can only be satisfied by our relationship with him. Our true joy comes from being connected to God and keeping our life anchored in him and his teaching.

Dear Lord, Thank you for being there for us when we need to be reminded of what is important. Help us keep our focus on you and you will give us the things we need in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Click Here – to Receive These Messages Every Morning In Your Email Box

You may have heard it said that the fear of something is often as bad or worse than the thing itself; Like a child worrying about getting a shot at the doctor’s office, or the fear of speaking or performing in front of a crowd; Fearing the difficult professional exam, driver’s test, or flying checkride. The fear can sometimes immobilize us from thinking or doing anything.

It is interesting how David writes Psalm 34:4. “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.” He doesn’t say that God prevented the bad things from happening; He says God freed him from his fears. We don’t know why God allows some bad things to happen to us, but knowing that he will take away the fear is a blessing in itself. It allows us to endure our struggles with peace, which can be an amazing witness to others.

Dear Lord, free us from the fears we have that prevent us from moving forward in faith. Help have the peace that comes when we do not have fear because we are putting our trust in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Click Here – to Receive These Messages Every Morning In Your Email Box

In Bible days people didn’t have paper and pencil to write notes, or journals to jot down important facts and information. Important information was shared with others and these stories would be handed down from parents to children across generations. One other way that they remembered important events was to build altars and landmarks at the sites the events happened.

Joshua 4 tells the story of the Jews finally crossing the Jordan river after wandering in the desert for 40 years. God parts the river and the people walk across on dry land. In verses 2,3 God tells them, “Tell the twelve men chosen for a special task, one from each tribe, each to take a stone from where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan, and to carry them out and pile them up as a monument at the place where you camp tonight.” and verse 6,7 say, “We will use them to build a monument so that in the future, when your children ask, ‘What is this monument for?’ you can tell them, ‘It is to remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of God went across!’ The monument will be a permanent reminder to the people of Israel of this amazing miracle.”

Having the monument allowed the people to remember the powerful miracle God did and remind them to believe he is able to do miracles for them, again. In the same way, we should have a way to remember times and events when God did exceptional things for us; saving us or a loved one from a terrible accident, the unexpected “snow day” when we were not quite prepared for a test, a terrible medical diagnosis that turns out to be a just something simple. I keep a simple list of times things occurred that cannot be explained by natural causes, but these occurrences prevented disasters, or created tremendous opportunities. I occasionally review the list to remind myself that God is there looking out for me. You might find it helpful as well.

Dear Lord, help us remember those times that your hand was clearly guiding or protecting our lives, and reflect on those times when we need reinforcement of our faith in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Click Here – to Receive These Messages Every Morning In Your Email Box