How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

Proverbs 6:9 (AMPC)

Too much activity and no rest definitely is the culprit behind most stress, but no activity is also a problem. I am sure you have heard that exercise is a great stress reliever, and it is very true. I would rather be physically tired from exercise and movement than tired in my soul from doing nothing and being bored.

Work is good for all of us. As a matter of fact, God said we should work six days and rest one. That shows how important work and activity are in God’s eyes. God has created us to work, not to sit idly by and do nothing. There are several good stories in the Bible about people who had serious problems and when they asked Jesus for help He told them to “Get up!”

In the fifth chapter of John we see one example. A man was crippled, and he lay by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years waiting for his miracle. When Jesus came to the man and asked him how long he had been in that condition, the man gave the length of time and then continued to tell Jesus how he had nobody to put him into the pool at the right time and how others always got ahead of him. Jesus told the man to get up! pick up your bed…and walk! (John 5:8).

Get up and start doing whatever you can do to clean up the messes in your life. If they are marriage messes, then do your part. Don’t worry about what your spouse is not doing; just do your part and God will reward you. If you have a financial mess, then stop spending and start paying off your debts. Get an extra job for a period of time if you need to. If you are not able to do that, then ask God to show you what you can do. Remember, “If you do what you can do, then God will do what you cannot do.”

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me take action in my life. Help me to step up to work with purpose, trust You for the rest, and honor Your design for balance, amen.

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When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV)

Psalm 56 begins with David crying out to God because his enemies are in hot pursuit of him and all day long they press their attack (v. 1). In the midst of such pressure, David declares to God: When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Notice that he says when I am afraid, not if I am afraid. This tells me that David accepts the fact that fear is a human emotion; we all experience fear to some degree at some time. But he adds, I put my trust in you. He did not trust himself or other people; he trusted God alone. David lived boldly and courageously because he knew God was always with him. We can live this same way. We can choose not to live according to the fear we feel, but according to God’s Word.

Years ago, God taught me to use what I call the “power twins” to help me defeat fear in my life. They are “I pray” and “I say.” When I feel fear, I begin to pray and ask for God’s help; then I say, “I will not fear!” I encourage you to also use these power twins as soon as you feel fear about anything. This will help you manage the emotion of fear instead of allowing it to control you.

Prayer of the Day: When I am afraid, Lord, I will trust in You. I will pray for Your help and declare, “I will not fear!”

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Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Proverbs 14:29 (ESV)

Most of us could find a reason each day to be angry with someone or about something. Life is filled with imperfections and injustices, but anger doesn’t solve them. It only makes us miserable. The Word of God instructs us not to let the sun go down on our anger, because if we do, we give the devil a foothold in our lives (Ephesians 4:26–27).

Anger is an emotion that can and should be controlled. Love is not touchy or easily offended, but it is long-suffering and generous in mercy. One of the best ways to stay happy is to avoid anger. According to the writer of today’s scripture, the person who is hasty to become angry is foolish, but the one who is slow to anger is wise and has great understanding.

If you are angry with anyone, I urge you to completely forgive that person. By doing so, you will set yourself free to enjoy the day. Remember that anger doesn’t make any situation better; it only makes you miserable.

Prayer of the Day: Father, help me to be slow to get angry and always quick to forgive. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

John 2:25 (NIV)

When Jesus’ disciples disappointed Him, He was not devastated, because He already knew and fully understood human nature, as today’s scripture teaches us. A major reason people get upset and disappointed in relationships is that they have unrealistic expectations of others. We should expect the best from people, but at the same time we should remember that they are human beings with imperfections, just as we are.

People tend to want perfection in others. They want the perfect spouse, perfect friend, perfect family, perfect neighbors, perfect coworkers, perfect pastor, and so on. But perfect people don’t exist. Only Jesus is perfect. As long as we live in earthly bodies, we will manifest imperfection. God knows this, so His Word teaches us how to handle people who irritate or disappoint us. Among other things, we are to be loving (John 13:34), forgiving (Luke 17:1–4), and kind (Ephesians 4:32), and we should bear patiently with people (Colossians 3:13).

People are not perfect and expecting them to be without fault only leads to frustration. Instead, we need to have realistic expectations of others and set our minds to be patient and merciful toward them with God’s help, as we would want them to be toward us.

It is important to expect good things to happen in your life while also knowing that no person and no situation is perfect. When we find ourselves growing frustrated with people, we should realize that our attitude in these trying situations greatly hinders our enjoyment of life. We can be realistic and still have a positive attitude as we deal with our own imperfections and those of the people around us.

Prayer of the Day: Holy Spirit, help me not to set unrealistic expectations only to be disappointed. Help me to be realistic while also staying positive about myself and those around me.

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For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

1 Corinthians 3:3 (AMPC)

Paul teaches in today’s scripture that we are unspiritual if we are controlled by ordinary human impulses, such as emotions and feelings. Are you in control of your emotions, or do they control you? Feelings are fickle and ever-changing, and thus unreliable. I believe the number one way the enemy harasses and tries to hinder Christians is through our emotions.

We cannot always control how we feel, but we can control what we do. Mature Christians don’t walk by feelings; they order their conduct according to God’s Word. Emotions are fueled by our thoughts and words, so it is necessary to pay attention to what we think and say if we hope to walk by the Spirit instead of our emotions. What is right doesn’t change just because we don’t feel like doing it. People who are spiritually mature live beyond their feelings and do God’s will no matter how they feel.

Paul specifically mentions jealousy and factions (dissension or strife) as indicators of a lack of spiritual maturity. Ask God to help you in these areas. Be content with what you have, not jealous of others, knowing that God will give you more when the time is right. Do your best to live in peace with all people.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to control my emotions and live according to Your Word. Help me continue to grow in spiritual maturity and live in peace.

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For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

1 Corinthians 3:3 (AMPC)

Paul teaches in today’s scripture that we are unspiritual if we are controlled by ordinary human impulses, such as emotions and feelings. Are you in control of your emotions, or do they control you? Feelings are fickle and ever-changing, and thus unreliable. I believe the number one way the enemy harasses and tries to hinder Christians is through our emotions.

We cannot always control how we feel, but we can control what we do. Mature Christians don’t walk by feelings; they order their conduct according to God’s Word. Emotions are fueled by our thoughts and words, so it is necessary to pay attention to what we think and say if we hope to walk by the Spirit instead of our emotions. What is right doesn’t change just because we don’t feel like doing it. People who are spiritually mature live beyond their feelings and do God’s will no matter how they feel.

Paul specifically mentions jealousy and factions (dissension or strife) as indicators of a lack of spiritual maturity. Ask God to help you in these areas. Be content with what you have, not jealous of others, knowing that God will give you more when the time is right. Do your best to live in peace with all people.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to control my emotions and live according to Your Word. Help me continue to grow in spiritual maturity and live in peace.

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Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMPC)

“I’ve always had a bad temper. That’s just the way I am.” “I’m a straightforward person. That’s who I am, and that’s how people need to accept me.” “I call things as I see them. I don’t sugarcoat anything.”

This list could go on endlessly, but the one thing these excuses have in common is that each is meant to justify the people being the way they are. It’s a way of resisting change.

It’s also a way for Satan to creep into our minds. The great deceiver tells us that we’re not rude—we are just being honest, and people need to respect that quality in us. We think we speak the truth as we see it, and we’re not cowards or hypocrites. If the devil can convince us that we don’t have to change—that we’re fine exactly the way we are—he has won a serious battle in our lives.

In fact, the devil can give us a lot of excuses for not changing. That may be the problem. If he convinces us that other people are at fault because “they are just too sensitive” or “they don’t want to hear the truth and face reality,” we don’t feel responsible, and we think we’re all right.

Another thing is that no matter how negative we may be in our thinking, most of us wouldn’t call ourselves “negative.” We prefer words like logical, realistic, forthright, or candid. Not facing the truth about ourselves is part of Satan’s deceptive work.

When I went through a period of extreme negativity, I wouldn’t have thought of myself as being negative. I was just being honest. If I saw something wrong, I spoke up. I offered my counsel on ways for people to change. I could see the weaknesses and problems of others, and I was quite happy to show them how they could overcome. On my worst days, I found things wrong with all my friends and everything they did. I didn’t have to look for things to criticize—I did it without effort. I didn’t consider it negative because I thought I was merely trying to be helpful. It never occurred to me in my prideful state that people didn’t really want my help. They wanted acceptance and encouragement, not judgment and criticism.

As I said, I never thought of myself as being negative—that is, until God dealt with me and convicted me.

I’m not trying to condemn anyone for being negative, frank, blunt, candid, or whatever term you may use for it, because condemning is in itself being negative. Instead, I want to help believers recognize their attitude problems and help them realize that God is able to deliver them.

We start the Christian life as new creations of God. Our past is wiped away. The Christian life is one of change—of growth—of moving onward.

The pathway to freedom begins when we face our problems and face them without excuses. “Yes, I’m negative, but if you had come from the kind of family, I did, you’d—”

Stop! No excuses. We know what we were in the past, but we also know that we don’t have to remain that way now or in the future. With the help of Jesus Christ, we can have our minds renewed according to the Word of God.

The most difficult part may be to say to God, “I’m a negative person, but I want to change.” Remember that a negative mind produces a negative life. You’ve probably tried to change yourself many times in the past, but it didn’t work. Now you can begin to win the battle over Satan’s stronghold by admitting who you are and acknowledging that you must depend on God to change you.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, forgive me for all my negative thinking. You want me to be loving and filled with Your joy. Help me so that Satan has no stronghold over my mind. Please destroy every negative aspect of my thinking, through Jesus my Lord, amen.

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So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 (AMPC)

Most of us have enough to handle today without worrying about tomorrow. God will give you grace for today, but He will not give you grace for tomorrow until tomorrow arrives.

So often people worry about something that never happens. When you begin to think about the “what ifs,” the door opens for fear and worry. Some people worry so much that their worries become fear, and often the things people fear manifest in their life.

Do not allow yourself to dread tomorrow. Just know that God is faithful. It is comforting to know that whatever tomorrow may hold, He holds tomorrow. His grace is sufficient to meet the need. Do not waste today’s grace by worrying about tomorrow. Live one day at a time and you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish for Christ.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me trust You fully, release my anxieties, and embrace each day’s blessings without fear of the future.

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So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:20 (AMPC)

One time while I was reading about a famous minister and his great faith, I was deeply impressed by all the wonderful things he did in his ministry. I thought, Lord, I know I’m called, but I could never do anything like that. Just that quickly, I sensed the Lord speak to my heart, “Why not? Aren’t you as big a mess as anybody else?”

You see, we often have it backward. We think God is looking for people who “have it all together.” But that is not true. The Word of God says that God in His grace and favor chooses the weak and foolish things of the world in order to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27). He is looking for those who will humble themselves and allow Him to work His will through them.

If you will be careful not to get prideful, the Lord can use you just as mightily as any of the other great men and women of God. He doesn’t choose us because we are able, but simply because we are available. That too is part of God’s grace and favor that He pours out upon us when He chooses us to be Christ’s personal ambassadors.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me embrace Your grace and recognize that You choose to use me despite my weaknesses. Help me remain humble and available for Your will to work through me, amen.

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The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward.

Genesis 13:14 (AMPC)

In Genesis 13, we see that Abram (whom God later renamed Abraham) had a good attitude—a generous and giving attitude— toward his nephew, Lot. Abram had a right to the land, but he told Lot to choose his portion, and Lot chose the best land for himself. God then told Abram to look from the place where he was. God didn’t say to look at where he was; He said to look from it—beyond it—to all God had in store for him. God had a plan for Abram, even though he had just experienced great loss.

Anytime you need encouragement, you can turn to Jeremiah 29:11 and get it: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (NIV). God wants you to have hope. He’s got a good plan for your life.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to trust in Your plans for my life. Even when faced with loss, give me hope and the faith to see beyond my current situation, amen.

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The children of Your servants shall dwell safely and continue, and their descendants shall be established before You.

Psalm 102:28 (AMPC)

For many people, their security, peace, and joy are connected to their circumstances. If things are going well, they feel loved, but if they are not going well, then they think God doesn’t love them or that they are being punished for some sin they committed.

We are called to be led by the Word of God and the Spirit, especially concerning our thought life. We are not to be led by our soul (mind, will, and emotions). We may not be able to control what thoughts pop into our minds or what feelings arise in our hearts, but we can control what we do with those thoughts or feelings. We can be led by the Holy Spirit.

We don’t have to let negative, destructive feelings rule our lives; instead, we can take authority over our emotions, submit them to God, and choose to stand on the Word of God.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to trust in Your Word and Spirit, not in my circumstances or emotions. Guide my thoughts and feelings to align with Your peace and love. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, amen.

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Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, be merciful and gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge and finds shelter and confidence in You; yes, in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge and be confident until calamities and destructive storms are passed.

Psalm 57:1 (AMPC)

Life isn’t one big, long sunny day. At some point, we all face storms—whether they come in the form of unexpected illness, job loss, financial crisis, marital difficulties, problems with children, or any number of other scenarios that are stressful, intense, and important. I have faced many storms in my life—some like the quick afternoon storms that are common in summertime and some that seemed like category four hurricanes. If I have learned anything about weathering the storms of life, I have learned that they don’t last forever, and that, if at all possible, I do not need to make major decisions in the midst of them.

When the storms of life arise, it’s best to keep your mind and emotions as still as possible. Thoughts and feelings often run wild in the midst of crises, but those are exactly the times we need to be careful about making decisions. We must remain calm and discipline ourselves to focus on doing what we can do and trusting God to do what we cannot do.

Next time you face a storm or crisis in your life, I hope you’ll remember these words, which I often say: “Let your emotions subside before you decide.” Do your best to let things settle down before you make major decisions. You may not always have that choice, but as much as possible, put significant decisions on hold until your storm passes. Just as the wind blows about wildly during a storm, our thoughts can become quite wild and frantic, and that is not the best time to make major decisions.

Making this commitment will protect you from making quick, unwise decisions that could take you off the course God has for you.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me stay calm in the middle of life’s storms. Teach me to wait for clarity before making decisions, as I You to guide me through the crisis, amen.

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The hope of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) is gladness, but the expectation of the wicked (those who are out of harmony with God) comes to nothing.

Proverbs 10:28 (AMPC)

We can be thankful that it is God’s will for us to enjoy the life He has provided. The joy of the Lord is our strength. With that knowledge, we can make the decision to enjoy life every day.

Enjoying life does not mean we have something exciting going on all the time; it simply means enjoying the simple, everyday things. Most of life is rather ordinary, but we are supernaturally equipped with the power of God to live ordinary, everyday life in an extraordinary way.

Yes, it takes God’s power to enjoy life because all of life is not easy. Many things happen that we do not plan, and some of them are difficult. But Jesus said, “Cheer up, I have overcome the world and deprived it of the power to harm you” (see John 16:33).

Prayer of the Day: Father, when I am faced with a difficult situation, help me to choose joy in spite of my circumstance. I thank You that Your joy is my strength each and every day.

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“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 55:8 (AMP)

We want things to work out in our lives in certain ways, but experience teaches us that we don’t always get what we want. We have a plan for the day, and suddenly something unexpected and unwanted happens—and our plan must change. At times like this, we can choose to trust God or to be upset.

Since being upset won’t change anything, why waste time doing it? Choose to trust that God can work out the change for your good and do something even better than what you had planned. Ask Him for anything you want to ask Him for but trust Him to give you what is best.

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for directing my life according to Your plan, not mine. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Ephesians 4:26 (NIV)

No one will ever reach a point in life where they don’t experience a wide variety of feelings. One of those is anger. Being angry causes many people to feel guilt and condemnation because they have the false idea that Christians should not be angry but be peaceful all the time.

Yet the Bible doesn’t teach that we are never to feel anger. It teaches that when we do get angry, we are not to sin. Rather, we are to manage or control our anger properly.

God gave me a revelation about this verse one time when I had been angry at my husband, Dave, as I was about to leave home to go preach. Guilt and condemnation whispered to me, How can you go out and preach to others after getting so angry this morning?

Of course, I was still angry, so even that question bothered me. But God caused me to understand that anger is just an emotion. Like all emotions, God gave it to us for a reason. Without the capacity to become angry, we would never know when someone mistreats us. We feel appropriate indignation when others suffer injustice. Without anger, we wouldn’t be moved to act or take a stand against wrongdoing and evil. Anger, like pain, is there to warn us that something is wrong. This motivates us to try to make it right or improve the situation.

As with all emotions, Satan tries to use and abuse our anger and lead us into sin. But we have the power to resist him.

Prayer of the Day: Help me, God, to manage my anger wisely, in a positive way so I will not sin. Show me how to manage my emotions in a way that honors You.

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For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.

Isaiah 64:4 (AMPC)

The Holy Spirit will lead us into amazing exploits in prayer if we simply ask Him what to pray, wait for Him to answer, and then obey. We are unwise if we say we don’t have time to wait on God and allow Him to speak to us and lead us as we pray. We will wait 45 minutes for a table at a restaurant but say we do not have time to wait on God. When we wait on God, turning our hearts toward Him for direction, we honor Him. By our willingness to wait He knows that we want His will and that we are dependent upon Him for guidance. We save a lot of time by turning our hearts toward God and waiting on Him.

As the verse for today says, God shows Himself active on behalf of those who wait on Him. Start your prayers by simply saying, “I love you Lord and I wait on you for direction in my prayers today.” Then begin to pray what is in your heart rather than what is in your own mind or will. I was recently praying for someone to do a certain thing that I knew they needed to do, but God showed me that I needed to pray for them to develop discipline because the lack of it was affecting many areas of their life. I would have prayed for the one area I saw, but God saw much more deeply than I did. Another time I was praying for someone concerning some problem behavior that I saw, but God showed me that the root of their problem was self-rejection and that I needed to pray for them to know how much God loved them. You can see that we often pray for what we see, but God will lead us deeper if we will wait on Him.

A good way to start each day would be to pray for Jesus to gently guide you in the way He would have you go and to help you hear and obey His voice.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, I ask for Your direction in my prayers. Help me wait on You and trust Your guidance, and please help me to always know that You will show me the deeper needs to pray for, amen.

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We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

Romans 8:28 (AMPC)

After John 3:16, Romans 8:28 is probably the most-quoted Bible verse among Christians. Paul’s words bring comfort and peace to many of us in our difficulties and hardships. They give us hope that no matter what hurts and disappointments come in our lives, everything will eventually work out for our good.

The two verses preceding Romans 8:28 talk about prayer. They say that when we don’t know how to pray as we ought to, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and prays through us. It is through these Holy Spirit-filled prayers that all things work together for good, no matter what they are. Not all things that happen to us are good in and of themselves, but God is good, and He can cause them to work toward our good if we trust Him.

Continuing to trust God is the key to victory in painful and seemingly unjust situations. Faith and prayer move the hand of God. If we continue believing, He promises to continue moving on our behalf to work everything out for good.

God makes this promise to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We must love God with all of our hearts, and we must want His will. We must be willing to submit to His plan at all times.

The plan that God has for us eventually changes us into His image. We are destined to be molded into His image. That may sound spiritual, but in reality, it usually hurts. I often think of clay being pressed into a mold and wonder how the clay would feel if it had feelings. Being changed into an entirely different shape would probably be painful. If we take a lump of clay and press it into a mold, there is always too much clay to fit, and some pieces must be discarded. I found that there was more of me than would fit into the mold of Jesus Christ, so many of my thoughts, words, and actions had to be discarded.

We must go through things that are difficult and learn how to respond to them the way Jesus would. We must not give way to the fearful thoughts and feelings that attack us. We must learn to remain steadfast, knowing that no matter how things appear now, God will work them out for our good—and in the process, He will use them to make us better people.

God’s purpose in everything that happens is to make us more like Jesus Christ. Jesus was the totally obedient one. “Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

We also learn through what we suffer. We learn from God’s Word and life’s experiences. Because of our sinful nature, we tend to fight God at every point, but this only makes the process longer and more painful. Learn to surrender quickly and save yourself a lot of agony. I’ve learned that God gets His way in the end, so why prolong the process?

Where the mind goes the man follows. Keep your mind going in the right direction, and your life will catch up with it. A person who has their faith firmly planted in God cannot be defeated. The Bible says that Joseph’s brothers hated him, but God was with him. God gave him favor and promoted him, so we see that his faith in God lifted him above his circumstances.

Some terrible things happened to Joseph. His brothers sold him to slave traders and told his father a wild animal had killed him. He was betrayed by those whom he served and tried to help, but God was watching him all the time. God had a good plan for Joseph, and it came to pass. He ultimately said that although the things that happened to him were originally meant for harm, God intended it for good.

This same thing is true for all of us. Satan cannot defeat us if we keep believing that God is working for our good, and that we are being continually transformed into His image.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, please make me more like Jesus. I don’t like to suffer, and I hate to fail, but through Jesus Christ, I ask You to teach me and enable me to understand that, because of You, everything truly works together for my good, amen.

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Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

Psalm 1:1 (NKJV)

Today’s scripture says that we are not to take counsel from the ungodly. I believe that taking advice from our feelings fits into the category of “the ungodly” and is a big mistake. Feelings are simply fickle; they change frequently, and you just can’t trust them.

We can hear a good speaker talk about the volunteers needed at church and be so inspired that we sign up to help. But that doesn’t mean we’ll feel like showing up when it’s our turn to work. If we sign up and then don’t show up because we don’t feel like it, our actions don’t have integrity or honor God. When we don’t keep our word, we know it isn’t right. And no matter how many excuses we make, the fact that we were not dependable sits on our conscience like a weight.

If we desire to follow the Holy Spirit, our actions must be governed by principles—a precise standard of right and wrong. How we feel does not alter that standard. We should always count the cost to see if we have what it takes to finish a thing before we begin it (Luke 14:28). If we begin and find we cannot finish, then we need to communicate openly and honestly with all parties involved. Our emotions will help us commit, but people who honor their commitments and finish the job must eventually press on without feelings to support them.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to trust You while I wait. Give me patience, strength, and a positive heart. I trust Your timing and believe You will always show me the way.

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God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMPC)

There are times you just can’t see through the darkness that seems to be closing in around you. It is in those times of endurance and patience that your faith is stretched, and you learn to trust God even when you can’t hear His voice.

You can grow in your confidence level to the point where “knowing” is even better than “hearing.” You may not know what to do, but it is sufficient to know the one who does know. Everyone likes specific direction; however, when you don’t have it, knowing God is faithful and ever true to His promise, and that He has promised to be with us always, is comforting and keeps us stable until His timing comes to illuminate the situation.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me trust in Your faithfulness when I can’t see the way forward. Strengthen my confidence in You, knowing You are always with me, amen.

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She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat.

Proverbs 31:27 (AMPC)

Our friend in Proverbs is a responsible woman. She stays alert to how things go in her household, she refuses to be idle, and she doesn’t waste her time in things such as sitting around gossiping or wallowing in self-pity. She is not discontented. She appreciates life, and I believe she celebrates it fully each day. Idleness, waste, self-pity, gossip, and discontentment are thieves of the great life Jesus died to give you.

The apostle Paul gave this exhortation to some members in the church in Thessalonica, Indeed, we hear that some among you are disorderly [that they are passing their lives in idleness, neglectful of duty], being busy with other people’s affairs instead of their own and doing no work (2 Thessalonians 3:11 AMPC). Don’t allow these sins to rule you. When you maintain a positive attitude, you will enjoy more confidence.

Doing what one believes to be right will always increase confidence. You can’t go wrong when you keep God as the focus of your life. Follow the example of the Proverbs 31 woman. She gives us tremendous insight in how to be the best and most confident homemaker, wife, and mother we can be.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, I never want to waste my life and all the blessings You have given me. Help me to find my contentment in walking with You and following hard after You in service, amen.

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