The apostle Paul wrote these timeless words,

Philippians 4:12-13
“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

The key to contentment is Jesus Christ. Instead of worrying about the temporary things of this world, we’ll do best by setting our minds on who Jesus is, and what He’s done for us! This new mindset will bring joy to your life, no matter what your circumstance or situation!

QUESTIONS:
1. Why is it difficult to be content with where you’re at in life?
2. What did Paul mean that he can do anything, or be content in any circumstance, because of Jesus Christ?

PRAYER:
“Jesus, help me to strive after you instead of the things of this world. I pray I would find strength to be content and enjoy life because of who you are, and what you’ve done for me! Amen.”

When asked which is the greatest commandment, Jesus said, “to LOVE the Lord your God…and LOVE your neighbor.” In Matthew 5:22-24, Jesus tells us that it is impossible to love God outside of loving our neighbor/brother/sister/humanity.

Mother Teresa once paraphrased Jesus saying, “At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in’. This is Christ in disguise.’” (Matthew 25:34-46)

So how do we preach the gospel always without words? By our love! It is as simple and as difficult as this… to love unconditionally.

It was once said that true compassion is, “to not reach down from our high position to pull up those less fortunate but to go and make our home with them. For we have a God who did not pull us up but came and made His home with us.”

The gospel is nothing but love. The good news of the Gospel is that God LOVED us enough (“God so loved the world”) to impart grace and mercy when we didn’t deserve it. Now we must show that same Gospel to others.

So, how do you show love to your neighbors, your co-workers, your family, and even complete strangers?

By living out the most important of all characteristics of the Christian faith. LOVE. Remember Jesus said you will be judged by, “Whatever you DID for the least of these you DID for me.” And what Jesus asked you to DO was to show LOVE! Wow, what an amazing God we have, a God of LOVE who judges with LOVE, concerning how we LOVED.

QUESTIONS:
1. Take an honest assessment of your life and the people God has surrounded you with. Do you show God’s kind of love to them through your attitudes, actions, patience, and generosity on a regular basis?
2. What is one are of your life where you can make some immediate changes that will help to better reflect the unconditional love of Christ?
3. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Reflect on the qualities of love listed and pray that God would help them to be evident in your life.

PRAYER:
“God, help me love others the way you love me. Amen.”

There is something inside of us that longs for change, adventure and variety. But while life does have majestic moments, it is more often made up of routine. We can fall into expecting both God and our lives to be one epic moment after another, and when things don’t pan out that way, we are left feeling disappointed.

2 Kings 19:11-13 (NLV)
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

We were created to be in connection with God. Therefore, it should not be a stupendous or unusual experience to relate to him. God is just as with us in the still, small, common moments of our lives, as He is in the bombastic or chaotic times. In fact, if we embrace the common hours, we will be able to hear His voice the most clearly in the balanced routine of daily life. The journey may seem dull and uneventful, but it is in these times that companionship with our Creator is taken to new depths, if we attune our hearts to hear His gentle whisper.

QUESTIONS:
1. Is there an area of your life where you are “waiting for lightning,” while God may be quietly speaking to you?
2. What can you do so that you can hear God more clearly in your common hours?

PRAYER:
“Dear Jesus, thank you for the common hours. Help me to hear your voice very clearly as you speak to me. Amen.”

God speaks to us in many ways; the most simple is through the Bible. It is the written record of God’s plans, ways, and directives for our lives. God also speaks directly to the hearts of men and women.

John 10:1-5 (NLV)
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

God often uses the analogy of shepherd and sheep to help us understand how to follow him. In this passage, we see that good shepherds have such a close relationship with their sheep that the sheep know their voice and follow them without question. In fact, they know the voice of the shepherd so well that when someone else tries to lead them astray, they run in the opposite direction.

This is a picture of the relationship God wants to have with us. He has the ability to speak to your heart and you have the ability to hear Him. He wants you to know and recognize his voice and his leading so that you can follow him.

The first step to hearing God’s voice is to be quiet. God will not shout above all the distractions in our lives. Talk to Him, share your worries and hopes. But take time to listen. God might lead you to a passage of scripture that directly answers your question. He might give you specific direction for action; if so, test it with the Bible. We can trust that God will never speak something to us that will contradict his written word. If you’re confused about something you think God might be telling you, confirm it with Scripture and run it past someone you trust who has been following God for a while.

QUESTIONS:
1. Take a quite minute to reflect. Has God been speaking something to you recently? What is He saying?
2. Find a verse or passage that agrees with and supports what you believe God is saying to you.
3. Share this with a friend. It is good to share what God is speaking to us!

PRAYER:
“God, I want to hear Your voice and I want to know it. Help me to clear the distractions from my life and find a quiet place where I can listen to You speak. Amen.”

What is your natural response when you face opposition in your life? Fight or flight? Or a third option – Embrace it. Realize that if you are ordering your life by God’s leading and by His standards you are under His protection.  Like a good coach, He may allow us to go through difficult seasons of life in order to deepen our faith, prioritize our lives correctly, and refocus us on the things that are truly important.  

When we think about the person we are aiming to become, the person God has called us to be, most of us quickly realize that growth needs to take place. Maybe we need to be more patient or selfless. How can that happen unless we are forced to wait longer than we want or give more that we felt we could?  

A young man remembers this about his high school wrestling coach:

My coach in high school would push me further than I wanted to go. Many times he even pushed me much further than I thought I was capable of going. I distinctly remember being in the weight room and my coach forcing me to bench press to the point where he would need to help me lift the weight.  I knew that if he let go, I’d be in trouble. In those moments, I learned two valuable lessons: 

1. I could never become stronger unless I embraced and fought through resistance.
2. When the weight was more than I could handle, I trusted in the strength and character of my coach.

Regardless of what you are going through, you can trust that God sees and cares. He promises that you are not alone and without help. Instead of asking God to help you “fight or flee,” take a moment and ask him to transform this opposition into an opportunity for growth. 

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NLT)
That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

QUESTIONS:
1. How do you respond when you face opposition?
2. What is something that God may want to teach you through your opposition?

PRAYER:
“God, as a good coach I know that you can use this hardship and opposition to develop strength in my life. Rather than fighting it or trying to escape it, help me to embrace it, because I want to grow into the person that you created and called me to be. Amen.”

Because of His perfection, we can depend on every word that He has spoken, and know that God will be faithful to fulfill it. That’s why it’s important to get to know Him and all of His promises – they are words to live by!

Hebrews 13:5-6 (NLT)
For God has said,“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

No matter what has happened in your life, who or what has left you feeling disappointed, hurt, devistated…there is hope. The God of the Universe will never fail you, never abandon you. He is here to help you so that you can walk through this life not just striving and struggling, but with purpose and wholeness!

QUESTIONS:
1. Why is it so easy to be hurt and disappointed by people?
2. Ask God to search your heart. Is there any hurt, pain, disappointment that you’ve been holding on to? Take
the time now and invite God in. You’ll never regret surrendering all of those burdens to the Lord, for He truly is our Healer!

Prayer:
“God, help me to trust you. Although I’ve been hurt, I choose to forgive. I want my heart to be whole, and so I ask you to help me in that process. Thank you for your promise to never fail me or abandon me. I love you, Lord.”

In 1 Samuel we read of a time when David, whom the Bible refers to as a “man after God’s own heart” questioned God.

1 Samuel 23:4 (NKJV)
Then David inquired of the LORD once again.

The Message version says, “So David went back to God in prayer.” In other words, he questioned God. God had already answered David’s prayer but, because the answer was going to put him and his men in danger, David wanted to make sure he heard right.

The actual conversation between David and God might have sounded something like this:

“I heard you tell me to go out and attack the Philistines. But before I put myself and my men in danger, I thought I would double check. Did I hear you correctly or did I misunderstand? LORD, will you please clarify this for me or help me to trust in you more, because in my humanity it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

David wasn’t doubting God, he was doubting whether he understood God or whether he trusted God enough. In this same way, you or I might ask God to help us have a better understanding of His ways, or to have the faith to trust Him even when we don’t understand completely. There is nothing wrong with questioning God, as a matter of fact, God welcome’s our questions and is there to answer us and comfort us in our greatest times of need.

Are there questions in your life right now that you have for God? If so, go ahead and ask Him. He is not afraid of hard questions. As a matter of fact, He would love the opportunity to help you navigate through your questions right now.

QUESTIONS:
1. Can you think of a time when you questioned God? Did you bring those questions to Him immediately? If not, what did you do with those questions?
2. Have you ever had a time in your life that you didn’t understand God completely, and yet you trusted Him anyway?

PRAYER:
“Thank you for being willing to hear me out as I sometimes bring question after question to you. Help me to stop and listen for your answer, and to have peace and clarity. Amen.”

The Bible speaks very clearly that everything works out for good for those who are surrendered to God’s will (Romans 8:28). No matter how the negative situation came about, God promises us that He will work His good through the situation. Sometimes it seems like the pain will never be worth the gain. The Bible makes us a very clear promise though:

1 Corinthians 10:13 (Message)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

Times of pain and confusion can seem never-ending; our feelings tell us we will never get out of them. But there is always a purpose for every difficulty we face. The question we should be asking is not, “God, why must I go through this?”, but rather, “God, what can I LEARN by going through this?”

You see there is a lesson to be learned in every painful, confusing situation. It can teach us something. It is up to us to discover what that lesson is. Sometimes it is obvious; other times, hidden. But the minute you discover the lesson and REALLY get it, you know your experience was not in vain. God brought something good out of it!

Life is about doing the things we are able to do and then surrendering the rest, letting God do the things only He is able to do. He promises to take our burdens and asks us to cast our cares on Him. Let’s take him at His word, and believe that if God says we can get through something, He’s going to give us the grace and the strength to get through it.

QUESTIONS:
1. Is there a painful or confusing situation you haven’t completely given to God yet?
2. Take a moment and surrender every part of your life, especially those you may not understand, to God and
believe that He will do what He says He will do.

PRAYER:
“Dear Jesus, I choose today to believe that You will do everything you promise in Your Word that you will do. Give me the grace and strength to get through each day and show me the lesson that can be learned through every situation. Amen.”

Hello Sweetie! I am praising God for what He is doing with you in these challenging days. If suffering really does produce perseverance and if perseverance really does produce character, and if character really does produce hope, then I am hugely optimistic about the effect of these difficulties upon you. Indeed, since your conception, this difficult situation has been part of your life. You are who you are today partly because of how God has shaped and coached you through the on-going difficulties of this situation. I salute you for your diligence in seeking the Lord and allowing Him to turn this pain into purpose in your life.

Her words were taken from this passage in the Bible,

Romans 5:2-5 (NLT)
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

God never promised us a perfect, pain-free life. In fact, He acknowledged that our lives would have times of trouble (John 16:33), but also taught that we can be thankful and joyful right in the middle of those hard times because we are not going through them alone. God is with us and His desire is to bring good into our lives, even through pain. Some of the most valuable things you will learn will learned through difficulty. We will all experience pain in life. The difference between the person who becomes wounded and bitter and the person who becomes stronger and more hope-filled is their reaction to the pain. We cannot avoid pain. We can only choose how we respond to it.

The Psalmist David understood pain with purpose. He spent many painful years in hiding from a man who very wrongly wanted to kill him. He wrote this:

Psalm 31:24 (NKJV)
Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

In the middle of pain, look to God. Take courage in the truth that He will bring something good out of even the worst of circumstances.

QUESTIONS:
1. How do you usually respond to painful circumstances?
2. How can you adjust that response to become more hope-filled?
3. What purpose, what good, can God bring from any painful circumstances you are, or have been, in the
middle of?

PRAYER:
“God, I choose trust that you will bring good out of any and all of the painful circumstances in my life. I take courage and I know that you will strengthen my heart and be with me as I walk through the ups and downs of life.”

It is important that we share this view that God has about our lives. That His love for us is immeasurable, and His plans for us are good! It is true that, “How you view your own life, will determine the course of it”. If you view your life as a party, your mission will be to have fun. If you view your life as a race, you will value speed and will probably be in a hurry much of the time.

You will learn a lot about someone, and even about yourself by asking the question, “How do you view life?”. That is why it is vital to challenge our default thinking and replace it with God’s perspective and purpose for our lives.

Romans 12:2
“Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God.”

This verse breaks down the simple and practical steps of how to make sure that our view point is in line with God’s, so that we can fulfill His purpose for our lives!

-Don’t conform to the standards of the world
-Allow God to transform you by changing how you think!

QUESTIONS:
1. Why is it often hard to believe the promise found in Jeremiah 29:11 (that God’s love for us is immeasurable, and His plans for us are good)?
2. Are there areas in your life that you’re living by the world’s standards instead of by God’s standards?
3. Take some time today and think about Romans 12:2. Are there mindsets that you need to get rid of, and replace with God’s Word? Go ahead, put it into practice! You won’t regret it!

PRAYER:
“God, I want to have Your perspective. Help me to understand and believe Your promises for my life, that I may bring You praise by living for Your purpose!”