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Are You Taking The Hard Road Or Easy Street?

1 Peter 1:7 – That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

2 Corinthians 7:4 – Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

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When we begin to hear about the lives of others and the state of their condition, often we begin to get emotional towards ourselves without even helping it. Phrases like “well that must be nice” or “that is so terrible, must be sad for them” come out of our mouth without as much as a second thought. It is quite the same when it comes to the way we handle receiving word from modern day media. Once we gain knowledge of the news and immediately process it by discarding it there remains little affect upon us in any way. I have found this quality to be in me sometimes, especially when I find myself tired and worn from my long day, week or month of things that I have been dealing with. So what’s your point?

We are numb! We are discarding other people’s circumstances and tragedies with a common catchphrase and without as much as a prayer anymore. I am here to remind us to call out for them! Even if we have to get back to the basics of simply saying “help them God”, it is far better than the alternative of “that must be sad”. The word of God talks about the power of life and death being in the tongue we possess! Let us remember to speak life through our prayers for people when we cannot reach out to help them. Because when it finally hits home it truly hurts when all that someone says about your tragedies are, “gee, that’s really sad”. Let us step up and do better than that! Let us not take the hard road of cold hearts and zero compassion. Let us take the easy street where in the word of God it says “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light!” Speak life into others and lead them in a path of life!

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Put Into Practice:

I am not sure if it is possible to preach the words off of the page, but I am trying for the next two sentences. Come on lovers of God, stand in the gap today! Spend 10 more minutes in prayer for now on for others! Spend more time in the altar with those who come forward in your services! Give no regard for when it is that they do either! Stop letting a form and a fashion stand in the way of God’s intentions of starting a brand new life in the lives of others! Let us attempt to walk in the same love that Christ did and remember that each and every one of us must come to know God’s love. And for those of us who are aware of how wonderful it is, we should not be so selfish to give up on obeying God in areas of being a witness either! We WILL face persecution for executing the message of the love of God, but we will also save lives. Remember how you are continually in need each day, and never forget compassion. Do it for the behalf of others who are weak that look to you to be strong!

Do Not Be Surprised By Anything

Proverbs 4:23 – Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

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Although this sort of reminder is now becoming more popular in today’s world, I feel it necessary to give a reality check about preparation. There are going to be many situations that will come up in the months, weeks, or even days ahead that will take you by surprise! These occurrences may be good or bad, wonderful or tragic, or simply just something you could not have put together in your mind to ever happen. There are also going to be circumstances, objects, or people that will be involved. Now that I have presented the reality, I would like to also give the solution to this reality: We cannot always be prepared, but we can be guarded! Regardless of how you put it all together before it happens, you have to learn to get yourself in the mindset to always be on guard in your mind through prayer. God has began showing me that in theory thought I may be surprised I can still be on guard and protected by the covering of His spirit!

I have learned as of late that the only thing you can put your trust in is God. Some of the best things are learned the hard way, right? Wrong! I cannot stress enough that the hard way is not the best way! Do not wait until you are in a real bind with your guard down before you begin to trust in God. God is the only foundation that will be solid that gives you a place you can seek for peace over the worries of your mind. I believe that is why the word of God talks about watching and praying. It bears more significance now more than ever!

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Put Into Practice:

When it comes to testing yourself for being surprised, there are many things that came to mind that could be fun and silly and would more than likely leave you forgetting this quickly. What I would like to do instead is to go a step further than a physical activity.

Think and consider a time where you heard something that did not affect you at first but did over time. Think about another time where something you hear had an immediate effect on you, bringing forth emotions that are normally not exposed in an everyday scenario. Perhaps you may have opened a letter in the mail or read an email about something that affected your finances, or you were informed about the passing of a loved one. There are many things that you could get a hold of here, but I would just ask you not think about the event, but the reaction.

Begin to pray and seek God to prepare you for the “next time”. Sometimes we will have a good run for a while before something else will arise, but God wants us praying daily and continually so that we can abide in all of the benefits of the spirit. By doing this I can boldly guarantee that you will handle the situation much better than you would have without prayer and a guarded heart!