Have you ever had one of those days where you just felt as though you couldn’t take just one more day?  I am sure we have all been there at some point in our life and yet here we are.  What you are facing today will not stay forever, no matter what it may seem like.  God didn’t bring you this far to leave you there!  He has a plan to bring you out better if you will just stick close to Him.  Closeness is the key!  Don’t try going it alone.  Your strength to see you through will be found in Him!

Maybe today the task in front of you seems daunting and you just aren’t sure you are up to it or even qualified for it!  If you are following God and He has brought you to this, then He has put within you all that you need to fulfill the task.  “God doesn’t call the ‘qualified’, He qualifies the called.”  He loves you and He will give you what you need to fulfill all He created you to be if you ask and you follow His leading.  Do your part to the best of your abilities and then trust Him to do the rest.  The results are not your responsibility, obedience is.  You can do it!  Sometimes the best thing to do when you don’t know what to do is the task at hand and that may be folding the laundry, but do what is front of you.  Ask God to show you what you can or should be doing but don’t overwhelm yourself with details that you should leave to Him.  

Are you facing serious illness?  God is the God who heals.  If He hasn’t told you that He isn’t going to heal you then keep pressing in and allow Him to show you what you need to do!  Don’t give up!  Cling to Him and ask Him for the strength you need.  Don’t be afraid to ask for the elders of your church to pray for you.  James 5:14 says, “Is anyone among you sick?  Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”  Maybe you need to be open to the idea of changing your diet.  As crazy as that sounds to most people, it really isn’t.  It’s just like I told my grandsons the other day; ‘you wouldn’t pour Mountain Dew in the gas tank of your car and expect it to run right and the same thing goes for your body.  You have to give your body what it needs in order for it to heal.  Fast food isn’t the answer.  (Ok, well I will get off my bandstand, but I have seen a difference in my own health since I changed what I eat.  I have been through cancer, fibromyalgia and a deadly parasite, so I get it.).   Pray for God’s guidance and don’t give up unless He tells you to.

So, as the verse above says:  “I can do ALL things!”  You can make it.  You can do it.  You don’t have to have the strength, He has it for you.  Don’t give up!  The God of All is behind you and He wants to show Himself mighty in your life!  His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.”  ~ Mac Anderson

Nehemiah had been granted not only the time away from serving the king of Babylon, but also protection and any materials he would need to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall.  The people were obviously excited and ready to do the work and along came Sanballat and Tobiah, to try to stop what they were doing.  If you read the rest of this chapter you see that they weren’t just trying to cause problems, they were out to kill them to stop them.  Once their plot was found out the people didn’t stop, they got creative and they worked and carried weapons at the same time.  They all worked together to protect each other and to get the job done.

When you have something God has put in your heart to do you can usually count on opposition.  This is one reason we need to have other godly people to walk through life with.  We need each other!  When opposition comes it is pertinent to have others who can have your back in prayer and sometimes even just for the encouragement to keep pressing forward.  These men worked side by side and when the shofar was blown they all rushed there to help, they didn’t attempt to do it alone.  Ask God to guide you to those people if you don’t have someone like that.

Don’t get discouraged when opposition comes, that is often a clear sign that you are on the right track and satan doesn’t like it!  He isn’t going to fight something that isn’t a concern.  The more he comes after what you are doing the more determined you need to be.  Gather those people who will pray for you to have wisdom and strength and just keep pressing into what God has given you to do.  Spend time in His Word and in prayer.  God will give you all you need to accomplish what He calls you to do so continue in confidence.  Satan likes to wear us out with concerns, “what ifs”, and sometimes continual attacks so just keep your eyes on God and His promises and He will bring it all to pass.  Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”  So, commit what you are doing if He has led you to it, and trust Him to take care of all the things you can do nothing about, including the results.  He sees and He protects His plans for your life when you give them to Him and as you follow His leading.  Trust Him ~ He is faithful!   

What a great moment in Israel’s history that shows once again that there’s nothing God can’t do!  There’s no mountain too high, valley or pit too low and there are absolutely no walls you may face that are too big for Him to move!

I love this too because even though the song we all sang as children says that the walls came tumbling down, the walls didn’t crumble, they fell out flat to provide a ramp for the people to be able to go up into the city to conquer it.  These were huge walls that fortified this city!  The Israelites couldn’t just climb over the walls, they would have been killed in the process.  So God took care of just exactly how those walls were going to come down!  What once fortified the city now became the ramp to destroy it.  It is so amazing how God takes the very thing that is meant to destroy us or hold us back and He uses it to provide the way!  The enemy is no match for Him ~ ever!

I can just imagine how unnerving it had to be for the people of Jericho especially on that first day, wondering “what are they doing ~ Is this the day?”  But then day after day all they did was march around the city one time and then they went back to their camp.  The confusion and for some torment of it all and yet there were probably those who thought, “Here we go again, are they thinking marching around the city is going to draw us out?  We just harvested our grain we have a spring of water…we can sit this out for years” and yet in the back of their mind was everything they had heard about all that God had done for the Israelites over the last forty years and how He brought them out of Egypt.  Sometimes God’s timing and tactics can leave us wondering if He is ever going to move, but His timing is perfect and that seventh day came and brought victory that only God could bring!  You cannot lose hope because that wall is still there, you just need to be faithful to what He is telling you to do. Just keep marching forward and trust Him!  He isn’t sitting there wondering what to do, He is already at work.  You may see one thing or maybe you feel you don’t see Him working on anything in your life and yet He is working on multitudes of things in YOUR life because He sees and He cares and He is able!

Just like those walls that fell out flat, God is working out every single detail.  He knows what is best so while it may seem as though you can’t take one more day or you have just waited so long, don’t lose hope.  What if the Israelites had told Joshua after that first time around the city on the seventh day, “ya know, we are not seeing how all of this going around and around this city is really helping and that wall is not looking a bit different and you want us to go around it seven times and then have the energy to go in there and take over the city?  This just seems to be a waste of time and energy!”  You cannot allow satan to make you feel weary or doubt! God is ready and willing to give you what you need to make it around that wall one more time if that is what is necessary.  You just never know though, today may be your seventh day.   Remember the old saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”  It is often when things really seem to be at the worst that God comes through and you don’t want to look back and think that you probably could have had a better attitude and more trust.  Believe me, I know how difficult some days can be but that is when you have to dig in and trust Him and Who He is!  When you can’t see Him working ~ Trust His Heart and Character!  Ask Him for the faith and trust you need to make it through another day!  Think about that ~ what if the Israelite army decided that they didn’t want to wait they would just march around the city thirteen times all at once because waiting until the seventh day seemed to be too long and they wanted victory now!  Don’t you think too that just maybe by the seventh day some of the people inside those walls thought, “Oh for Pete’s sake there they go again” and maybe some had let their guard down because this had gone on for days with nothing happening.  Who knows ~ only God knows what the reason was for the wait. Only God knows what He was doing in the mind of the enemy. Trust Him! That Wall is no match for Your God!!

Quote:  What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.  

There’s no way for one person to reach everyone, it takes everyone striving to become more like Christ and sharing His love and salvation with the world to make a difference.  We are all called to one thing in different ways and there’s no room for jealousy and strife.  We each need to focus on the race God set before us, and not allow anything hinder that.

Your goal should be to use the gifts and talents that God has given you to reach the world around you.  Be the best you can be for Him.  It doesn’t matter what someone else is called to do or what their talents are, we are called to use the gifts God has given us to fulfill His plan.  We can’t all be doing the same thing, think of how messy that would be, it would be like having hands everywhere and no feet, ears, or eyes…That doesn’t work!  To God, every person, every gift, and every calling is important or He wouldn’t have given it.  No matter what your job may be we are all called to use our gifts and talents for God.

Maybe you and someone you know have the same gifts.  How do you feel about it?  Do you allow jealousy to creep in when you see that person succeed or does it motivate you to think you can do more with God’s help and direction as well?  Don’t allow jealousy to keep you from God’s best.  When you are jealous it consumes you and it’s difficult to focus on anything else.  It is a ploy of satan to get your focus off God and on another person and it will keep you from accomplishing all that you need to do.  Focus on Him.  Rejoice in other’s successes because God is working in them and allow that to open your heart and mind to His doing a mighty work in and through you as well.  Glean what you can from each other, if you are both in love with Jesus and following God then don’t allow satan to keep you from helping each other become all God created you to be. None of us “know it all”. The depths of God’s Word are way beyond what we can fathom so we should constantly be looking for other people we can learn from. We need to dig into who we are in Christ because once we are firm in our understanding of that then we have confidence and those feelings of jealousy will fade. Believe me, I understand this well because I have had to fight it over the years myself and there’s just no reason to allow satan to put that wall between believers. We need to be encouraging and cheering each other on.

As the body of Christ, we need to be striving to further the cause of Christ and reach more people.  We should not be trying to hinder what God is doing in any way.  God loves you and He wants to work in your life in a way that others will see Him through you.  He has placed within you talents and gifts so ask Him how He would like you to use them!  Focus on your purpose in His plan because you have a place there!  Don’t look at anyone else thinking you can’t do that. Stop putting other people on pedestals, God wants you to pursue Him.  As you get to know Him more and His plan for your life you will get excited about what other people are doing for Him as well.  Ask God today what His dreams are for your life!  What is His plan for you today?  Remember Jeremiah 29:11-13 ~ carry it with you!  Pursue His plan for your life and support those around you in their calling as well.  It takes every one of us pursuing God and His plan to be the difference this lost world needs!

 Even though Bildad was being judgmental and maybe even a bit sarcastic in these verses, there was truth for us in what he was saying.  He was accusing Job of having committed some great secret sin and that everything that had happened was God punishing him when that wasn’t the case at all.  Let’s face it, Job’s friends and family weren’t very kind, all they did was try to figure out what was wrong with Job.  Instead of just listening and allowing him to “speak rashly” as it says in Job 6:2-3, “Oh that my vexation was weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!  For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.”, his friends were judgmental jerks!  Job had been through more than any of us can imagine and he poured his heart out, out of his pain, and instead of just allowing him to rant, they judged him and his words and they believed the lies from satan.  We are to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) by listening, caring, and praying, but no one needs our judgment on top of their pain.  Pray before you speak.  Make sure that what you are saying is from God, not just your frustration.  God will give you the grace you need to be a listening ear, ask Him for wisdom and love and His words to help you lift that burden a bit for those you love. There are times to speak the truth in love to others, just make sure that is what you are doing and that it is from God, satan loves to cause pain by using other Christians saying, “God told me to tell you..…”. There are times He does and there are times when we need to pray for discernment and God’s timing and that it is truly God and not just us wanting to get a point across that we feel needs to be said.   My Dad always used to say, “Think twice before you say anything!”

If you are the one today who is carrying way more on your shoulders than you can bear, hold on!  The words in the above verses are true!  Just because all Hell has come against you doesn’t always mean that you are living in sin, if you are then you know it and you need to confess it and make it right and run from that sin in your life!  Ask God to forgive you and free you from it!  But if you have been living, walking, talking, and breathing God and you just can’t figure out why…….., then know that He will fulfill all that He has promised!  Ignore those who want to judge and condemn you, they don’t know your heart and satan is just trying to heap up more sorrow and pain on your situation!  Do your best to avoid those who are dragging you down and hold on to God, know that He loves you and He is always good!  He will come through!  Seek Him with all your heart and know that even “if your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great!”  Truly His best is yet to come!

Let’s all keep this verse in mind today, no matter which side of this we are on Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”  If the words and meditations of your heart are right, then the words that come out of your mouth will be too!  

The holidays are fast approaching ~ what will your focus be?  If you have lost someone close to you, maybe you can set aside some family time to honor that person by talking about them and all of the fun times and great memories you had with them.  Go ahead and let the tears flow and allow God to heal your heart year by year.  Allow it to be a time of healing for the whole family.

I love this verse and I know I have used it before, but as we go through life and face all the things that life throws at us, the only way to stand through it all is to keep The Lord as your focus.  The human tendency is to get angry with God or often people just shut themselves in that pit of despair and shut God and everyone else out thinking that maybe that will make it all go away.  As tempting as that may be, don’t go there. There is always hope and it is found in Him!  The one who loves you and calls you by name sees all that you have faced, are facing and what you will face and He wants to walk with you through it all and heal your wounded heart!  Don’t allow satan to try to deceive you into believing that “God doesn’t care or your life wouldn’t be like it is.”  The reason the world is such a mess is because of satan and his lies.  He wants you to be angry with God and he wants you to feel alone and hopeless.  You have a choice to either draw close to God or to buy satan’s lies, so make the best choice.  God always cares!

We miss out on God’s best so often because we take our eyes off of Him.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many people who are perfect strangers lately that God has put in my path, some in the strangest scenarios, to remind me that God is so good and He is always our answer!  God wants to confirm that for you as well.  

Through my studying lately, I have been reminded of how the Israelites used to live when they weren’t rebelling.  The Jewish Rabbis would sit and discuss and dig deep into the Torah portion of the Word of God (that’s all they had at the time) to search out the meanings of it all.  The Israelites included God in every aspect of life.  He was their main focus, not just on the Sabbath, but all week long, all day, every day and they taught their children about Him continuously.  It was when they would get away from doing that that they went their own ways and would be disciplined by God for their rebellion.  You cannot spend too much time focussing on Him.  You could never learn too much about who He is.  There are a lot of distractions out there so you must be intentional about focussing on Him.  

God wants to share your life with you through the good times and the bad.  Don’t leave Him out.  Is there someone you can reach out to this holiday season who could maybe use some encouragement?  Is there someone you can show the love of God to?  I would encourage you to enjoy this holiday season by keeping your eyes fixed on Him and by asking Him to show you His love for you and to help you see ways to allow that love to flow through you to those around you.

One day I had to run to the store for a few things and Abby went along.  We knew it would be busy because so many people were shopping this weekend for their Thanksgiving meal.  When we got to the section where the butter, eggs, etc., were, I saw a woman who was also headed for the butter so since we got there first I opened the cooler door for her and told her to go ahead and she was livid.  She snapped at me and told me to “just go ahead!” Uhmmm, okay, I was a bit confused, but I did and she stood there shaking her head the entire time.  Abby was horrified and made a comment about how angry the woman was when we walked away, so I told her, “We don’t know what she is facing, or what she is going through, so all we can do is show her kindness and pray that whatever it is that is hurting her so badly will be soothed by God.”  When we got to the self-checkout one of our friends that works there made the comment that so many people are angry even more than usual this year.  It’s heartbreaking that there is so much anger in the world. God has called those of us who have accepted Him as our Savior to be the light, be the love, show the hope, that is only found in Him!  Prepare yourself, Black Friday is coming so if you plan on going ask yourself if that thing you are going to get a deal on is worth a fight or if are you willing to go and take the chance that there may be one left and you are going to need to show God’s love and grace to someone else and let them have it?  It’s crazy that we have gotten to a point in life when one of our daily struggles is needing to be able to show love and kindness where there seems to be so much hate and anger.  People are hurting and unresolved hurt usually turns into anger ~ choose to show God’s love to those around you, you don’t know the loss, or heartache of what that person may be facing.

On a whole other note…. I am already hearing people complain because some people have chosen to decorate for Christmas and here in America we haven’t made it past Thanksgiving.  It’s ok!  You don’t have to decorate for Christmas yet if you want to keep your Fall and Thanksgiving decorations up and enjoy them a bit longer, but even though someone else does that doesn’t mean that they aren’t Thankful.  Maybe they want to show their Thankfulness for the fact that Jesus came to earth and they are combining the two together.  Whatever the case may be, it just isn’t worth your getting worked up over, let it go.  Enjoy Thanksgiving and be thankful regardless of whether or not you have Fall decor up or you have chosen to put your Christmas decor up or maybe you don’t celebrate either so you don’t have either up.  Just be thankful this season, regardless of where you are in the world.  Praise God for who He is and the grace and love He has shown us and make sure you are sharing that with those around you and those you encounter, even in the grocery store.  Focus on Jesus and His love for you and every single person that crosses your path.  How would He have you treat them?  Walk with Him through these holidays so others will come to know Him through you.  

 Now, before Ahasuerus was king, King Cyrus had decreed that any of the Jews who felt led were to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of God.  Thousands of Jews went back but many of them stayed in Babylon.  Too often we may jump to questioning the reasoning behind a decision like that but if we just keep studying and reading we can see the hand of God moving in their lives.  That is true in your life when you follow God and His plan for your life as well.  Some decisions you make may not make sense to others but if you are doing what you know in your heart is what you are supposed to do then don’t give it another thought.  Mordecai and Esther were meant to stay in Babylon.  There could have been a number of reasons why so many chose to stay in Babylon, if you look at the history of the place and its wealth and beauty it was a great place, and whether or not they lived in Babylon or Jerusalem they were still under the same ruler.  

The book of Esther is often portrayed as sort of a Cinderella story, rags to riches, and a sweet, and beautiful Princess/Queen who is innocent and kind to everyone, maybe even a bit naive.  I think just like all women there was a lot more to her than meets the eye.  But here we find her in these verses shaken by the news that Uncle Mordecai who she respected and loved dearly was so distraught he was covered in sackcloth and ashes and mourning at the King’s gate.  Her response was one that said, “Everything is ok, here change your clothes, we don’t have to live like that”. She was comfortable and she had no idea the devastation of what had been decreed.  Her life was good and “Let’s not rock the boat or make a scene…”. Meanwhile, while she was living in her comfort all Hell was coming against the people of God.

It’s easy to get caught up in our comforts in life and become oblivious to the destruction going on and lose sight of all of the lost people around us.  Let’s face it, we all prefer comfort by far more than we may want to admit, but we aren’t called to seek “comfort”, we are called to live for God and sometimes that isn’t going to be comfortable.  Let me say this though, while “comfort” seems great, there is nothing in the world that can match walking with God and spending time in His presence even through the most difficult times of life.  

Mordecai’s response I am sure shook Queen Esther to her core.  She was called to rise above the comforts of those palace walls and not just rock the boat but stick her neck out doing it!  As he told her in verse 14 of chapter 4, “For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father’s family will perish.  Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this.”   How about you?  Has God been speaking to your heart about something that you aren’t too sure you want to do?  We are truly living in a very significant time ~ we are living when Jesus could come at any time, and there are signs all around us.  With everything going on in Israel and such a tremendous falling away from the things of God all around the world, there are multitudes of signs.  Who knows but what God hasn’t put you right where you are for “such a time as this”?  Don’t think for a moment that you can’t make a difference.  If you walk with God and allow Him to work in and through you the possibilities are endless.  Don’t underestimate what just being a godly example can do in the lives around you.  Not trying to fit in and be molded by what the world says, but by standing out by being molded by what the Word of God says, can be the biggest change ever!  I would just like to encourage you to allow God to use you to be His hands and feet.  Be someone who just overflows with His love so others wonder what (WHO) it is that makes you so different.  God loves you and He loves them.  Let’s set our sights on eternity and be determined to bring as many other people with us as we can by being a light in this dark world that draws others to Him!

This is probably one of the most well-known stories from Jewish history in the Bible.  I remember when my son was not quite two years old he kept asking me to read “Corn and Cheese” and it took me a hot minute to figure out that he had picked up on the fact that David’s dad had him take roasted corn, bread and cheese to his brothers.  Funny little guy, but he loved the story of David and Goliath!  Just as Brian picked up on some of the details outside of David killing the giant, I believe that there’s a lot we can apply to what we are facing in this day and all of the craziness going on in the world.  

So here was this young man, anointed by God but there he was out watching the sheep.  Being a shepherd wasn’t exactly a prominent position.  When Samuel had shown up to anoint one of Jessie’s sons David wasn’t even called in from the fields.  Now he was taking this food to his brothers who clearly didn’t appreciate him and Eliab was jealous.  You can tell when Eliab got angry and asked him, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?  I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”  Since David’s response was, “What have I done now?”  this was obviously a common attitude he dealt with from Eliab.  

Do you ever feel misjudged?  Have you maybe felt as though the people who should have your back lately are anything but supportive? I can tell you right now that if your heart is to follow God and serve Him in all you do satan is going to come after you with maybe even the most unlikely of people.  He will use whoever and whatever to discourage you and make you feel worthless or unequipped.  His goal is to discourage, destroy, and wear you out, but God created you to be an overcomer!  He put His Spirit in you when you accepted Him as your Savior and the powers of Hell cannot prevail against Him!  We need to stir up Godly confidence like David had.  Throughout David’s life, he fought battles when sometimes the odds were against him, sometimes his own family was against him, and sometimes he was worn out and weary, but he found his strength in who his God was.  He knew that the battles were all in God’s hands.  No matter how bad the situation looked, he sought God’s face and trusted Him.  

Think about it ~ it wasn’t like David was going out to face Goliath with any backup!  The warriors behind him were terrified and probably ready to run, but just like a bad accident, they couldn’t look away.  They had to watch it as horrified as they probably were at the thought of what was about to happen to this young foolish teenager.  His brothers were probably trying to figure out what they were going to tell their dad and so much for the little brat being anointed to be king one day.  Even King Saul acted like, “Well, okay ~ off ya go!  Good luck!”  He was surrounded by men who should have had more faith in God, but he stood alone.  Sometimes you may feel as though you are standing alone but let me encourage you that just like in the days of Elijah, God always has a remnant of people who are still standing and following Him.  Ask God to bring other godly men and women into your life so you can lift each other up in prayer and encourage each other.  

It is time to stand.  Christians have become too complacent for too long and the world is defying our God!  That should upset us all greatly just like it did David!  I have seen way too many Christians who are allowing the world to mold what they are standing on and that’s a dangerous place for a Christian to be.  Not only should it cause us to rise up because they are defying our God and the Word of God, but it should also break our hearts that so many people are lost and going to spend eternity in Hell if we don’t live any differently than they do.  God has called us to be set apart for Him and that means we must see what His Word says and then we need to stand.  God’s Word is powerful why would anyone want to water it down?  We have the best News ever but who is going to want it if we behave no differently and we have no higher standard than the world?  These days you really don’t need to beat them over the head with your Bible just stand for what is right and do it with a loving, godly, gracious heart!  Agreeing to fit in is like seeing a blind person trying to cross a busy street but before you do you stop to put a blindfold on so you can’t see either!  God has given us what we need to be strong, loving, gracious, and wise in a world that desperately needs Him.  Ask Him for His love and for Him to guide you every day in all you do.  Seek to be more like Him and to allow His Spirit to fill you to overflowing with who He is!  We don’t have much time and that giant, the devil, is defying the armies of the living God ~ that’s us.  Choose to rise up like David ~ “Is there not a cause” and lead the way in your part of the world so others will see that He is God and be drawn to Him!

Who are you walking through life with?  Are you surrounded by people who believe in you, people who help stretch you and push you to become all God created you to be and accomplish?  Are you better for having been around them and are there days when they are better for having been around you?  We are not called to walk through life alone, but it is important to choose wisely who you walk with.  There are times when God may weed some people out of your life, and while that can be painful, remember it may only be for a season and the best thing to do in those times is to stay open to God’s leading and who He may be bringing into your life to bring you into another level of walking with Him.  Don’t get so locked into what and who you know that you don’t allow God to do “something new” in your life and through you!  Keep an open hand and mind toward God and allow Him to lead you in every area of your life.  

We all have our days, believe me, I have had some days when we need someone else to come alongside us, boost us up, and remind us of Who God says we are.  Too often we stop there but it is more than that!  You need to walk with friends who help hold each other accountable.  While the world will do its best to beat you down and lead you down the wrong path, you need to be walking with other people who love you and are willing to boost you up and hold you accountable in your walk with God, in those seasons or days of your life.  When you fully grasp that if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior then you are a child of God, He is the King of Kings, the God of all creation, He is more than words can describe.  The more you get to know Him and understand who He is and the more time you spend with Him getting to know Him the more you will understand the life He has called each of us to live. It’s not just about us ~ it is all about Him because our lives should be lived with the purpose of becoming more like Him.  He loves you so much and He wants to guide you in all you do. So remember whose son or daughter you are, think about who He is, straighten that crown, and behave accordingly.  Let’s choose to honor Him in all we do and say.

It is important to be willing to be His hands and feet to those in your circle as well.  It says in this verse, “Iron sharpens iron”, you need to be made out of the same “stuff”, that God-centered “stuff”, in order to help lift those up around you.  If your focus is on you then you can’t serve God or anyone else.  Focus on Him!  Ask Him to help you to be His light, His hands, and feet to those around you so you can help them to become all He created them to be so they can reach out and help others become all He created them to be. Allow God to work in and through you to accomplish what only He can accomplish!  

Let’s all take a look around today and see who God has or is bringing into our lives to be that “iron” in our lives.  Ask God to help you be an encouragement to them as well.  As much as it can be comfortable at times to try to go it alone and seclude yourself, we all need other people in our lives to hold us accountable and to help us stretch to become all He created us to be so we can fully understand that His best is yet to come!