“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.”
Psalm 28:7
In today’s society, it is so easy to become more tolerant of evil and more hardened towards good. I am here today to encourage you and remind you of the hope and strength that we can find in Jesus Christ. In Psalm 28:7, it says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.” Although, temptations hover over us on a daily basis, and evil is “the normal”, we can still find joy and strength in the Lord! He can be your shield when the temptations and evils of this world fight against you. We can trust in Him and know that He has our backs. One of the most important things to remember is that when our God is for us, nobody can be against us! We serve a Holy God who wants nothing more than to love and protect His children. When you truly grasp this concept, you can’t help but leap for joy!
I would like to challenge you today. Say no to evil, and say yes to God. Choose God for your shield and strength, not the temporary items on this earth. Choose joy instead of discouragement. Choose to trust in Him and not in the lies that Satan throws at you. Choose God today – choose God every day.
Morgan Drake
photo credit: http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/pixelstar-29540
Are you feeling discouraged today? Maybe you are at the point in life where you just don’t understand why these things keep happening to you? Let’s take a minute and reflect on one of the promise that God has given us. In John 10:28 it says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Doesn’t this bring peace into your life – knowing that you are a child of God and no one can pluck you out of His hand? Perhaps our reaction to situations that we go through are along the lines of “what did I do to deserve this,” or “why is this happening to me?” We must remember that God has a purpose for everything we go through. He could be saving you from something worse or teaching you a lesson that will benefit you later in life. No matter what we go through in this life, we must remember that God has promised us eternal life with Him, and that the things in this life are temporary. If God puts you in it, he will help you through it. We must rest in the wonderful truth that God will give us strength through our journey, and remember that God might let us bend, but he won’t let us break. Remember, He has our back, and we can always turn to Him for strength.
Have you ever been talking to someone and feel like they aren’t listening to a word you’re saying? Can you think of a time where you became quick to anger rather than taking a deep breath and remaining calm? What about saying something too quickly and then immediately regretting it? We have all been there, and I am here to tell you that the word of God provides wisdom on how to help us. In James, we are commanded to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. More often than not, when someone is speaking to us, we aren’t really listening to what they are saying, but rather thinking of what our response to them is going to be. God wants us to be better listeners rather than just “hearers”. As everyone knows, the tongue can get you into trouble, and we all know that once you say something you can’t take it back. This is why we are commanded to be slow to speak, so that we can be careful with the words that we choose to use. Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, I can be a better listener, and I can try to be slower to speak, but this slow to anger thing is going to be difficult.” Being angry is not a sin, it’s an emotion. With that being said, your anger can turn into a sin by the way that you handle it. God warns us to use wisdom in handling our anger, and through His word He encourages us to show love and grace instead of lashing out with emotion.