Staff -founder / president Melissa Pearce
-copy editor Laurie Hamby
-contributing writers Jamie Clawson Katie Cline Pastor Chuck Hamby Toni Hembree Maureen Kurp Melissa Pearce Ronald Pearce Mary Beth Pecora
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What do you do when you feel like everything within your life is spinning out of control? your first instinct to panic and/or fret?
Is
Or when utter chaos is surrounding you, do you look
to God to give you strength, direction, and peace? I recently found myself in this situation and the harder I tried to find God, He seemed so far away from me. of our lives.
Yet, in reality, He is always right there in the midst of the darkest storms
So, why couldn’t I see God through the whole process?
Could it be my eyes
were swayed by what was happening around me? As I sat quietly before Him once more, I heard Him say, “I am here. nor forsake you.
Even in your darkest moments, I Am is right with you.”
I will never leave you God’s peace flooded
my heart. As I continued to be still before Him, God continued to reassure me that He and I were entering into a new season together. faith and not by sight.
It was one of utter dependence upon Him, truly walking by
Walking by faith would require me to be utterly dependent upon the
character of God. I would either trust in the character of God or I would not.
Trust would
place me in a position of security and rest, while not trusting would throw me into absolute fear, doubt, and insecurity. Just as I have been called by God to go into a deeper relationship with Him, I believe God is asking the same of His Church. With treacherous times looming, He needs us to be secure
in Him.
We cannot allow our surrounding circumstances to sway our faith journey.
God
needs us to rest in His identity and the love He has for us. We have to rest knowing Him to be the Great Shepherd. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. righteousness for his name’s sake.
He guides me in the paths of
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me (NIV- Psalm 23:1-4). His character as the Great Shepherd is one of protection, provision, and direction. never contradict Himself, but will always prove Himself faithful to you and me.
He will
Even in our
darkest hours, we need to rest assured that He will never leave us nor forsake us but will always be the Light to direct our steps down a path of righteousness for His name’s sake. Is God calling you to a greater faith walk with Him?
Instead of being consumed by your
circumstances around you, allow Him to reveal Himself mightily through your situations.
Rest
in His love for you, realizing no matter what you are facing, He will enable you to persevere. He never called you to defeat but victory! Stay strong in the Lord and in His mighty power! In Him, ~Rev. Melissa Pearce
Imagine for a moment that you are on your way to someplace wonderful. You've packed up the car with all that you'll need, and you've set out on your journey. You begin with excitement and dream of your destination. Yet hundreds of miles down the road your excitement gets replaced by the monotony of passing trees and highway markers.
Your destination may not seem as exciting when
you realize that you are stuck in the now of your situation – in this case, on a seemingly endless journey of mundane concrete and nothing more exotic. You may wonder if you'll ever arrive at your destination. Are we there yet?
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14, NIV).
Similar to the scenario, in Christ we are very much on
a journey. It
has
a starting
point – the moment you put your faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life. In Him, everything we need for the journey is all packed up for us – He's given us His Word (the Bible) to guide us, and He's placed the Holy Spirit within us to lead us. The destination, however, is two-fold: a physical place – Heaven – which we will attain because of Christ's precious sacrifice and our faith in Him. And a less tangible, second part of the destination which is the maturation that happens within us as we become more and more like Him. The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, ...the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Cor. 3:18, NLT). That part of the destination spans our entire lives and is where we can become downtrodden, feeling like the road goes on and on with no end in sight. Are we there yet? The fact of the matter is that we aren't there yet; and we won't be until we are in His presence (see 1 John 3:2). lot, pull over, and give up?
In the meantime, should we just find a parking
No! Paul tells us in the very next verse, Therefore,
since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up (2 Cor. 4:1, NLT, emphasis mine).
In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul explains
what his old life was like, what he gave up to follow Christ, and all that he wished to achieve in this new life with and for Him. He then wrote, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12-14, NIV).
Let's take a look at two key points from those verses: ...to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. What was Christ looking to do when He took hold of you? Certainly God has a good plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11) and has assignments for you to fulfill (Ephesians 2:10).
But that's not what Paul is talking
about here. There is a maturity that God wants all of His children to reach. It's becoming like His Son and emulating His whole character.
It is a lifelong process of growth until we
all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13, NIV). It encompasses all that God has for us. It's an intimate knowledge of Him, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's all His power. It's all of HIM. And it takes a journey of time and growth to attain it. If your journey feels daunting and out of reach, think of how a child grows. The people who are with him daily can't see that he is constantly growing. When someone comes to visit, though, they point out how big he has gotten. The same thing happens to us when we are striving to follow Jesus. We are constantly with ourselves, so we can't always see the growth. In the moments that seem stagnant, the journey can be unbearable. But just like snapshots of a child's life show that he has grown, look back over your years of walking with the Lord. When you are on the road of faith, following hard after Christ, yet you still feel like you're just passing trees and passing time – take heart! You are growing – you just may be the last one to notice it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind... Paul was just like you and me; ever aware of his past and his failures. But he made a decision to “forget what is behind.”
If we are
to attain the maturity that Christ desires, we must let go of our pasts and our mess-ups. Focusing on those is a sure way to stunt our growth. God's grace covers our mistakes, and it is His will that we “press on” to attain all He desires. Enjoy your journey, and let's keep pressing on! Determined to get there, Jamie Clawson
“It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3: 26 – NIV) Waiting? Yuk! Who likes to wait?
It is the hardest thing that anyone is ever asked to do!
We, as Americans, do not like waiting. We want things yesterday. We are self-sufficient and are taught to go after what we want. Yet God tells us it is GOOD to wait. Good for whom? For us, of course. Think of times in your life when you have waited for something, and then it was finally given. Oh, what gratitude we have when we have waited for something and finally receive it. As parents, we know that we can never give our kids everything they want when they ask for it. For example, we cannot give a child a ten-speed bicycle to ride when they are only three years old. They have to learn to peddle a tricycle first before they can master and balance an adult- size bicycle. After the tricycle, training wheels are next. While in the training process, they are learning how to balance, ride, and maintain while learning. There is a process in developing and growing that must take place before one gets to experience the joy of riding and moving ahead to bigger and better opportunities. An advancement must occur. A growth must happen for us to reach the time of maturing before being released for bigger things. There are stages of advancing, as well, to achieve the goal…from tricycle to 10-speed. The different stages of growing are called ‘The Time of Waiting’. Waiting allows us to grow; allows us to advance and allows us to be released in the perfect time. Yes, there is a perfect time for the answer to be released but it is
not our timing; it’s God’s timing. I have had
to tell myself many times:
Father knows best….He always has our best interest at heart
and He is always working to groom our hearts. In our waiting, we often experience frustration and loss of hope because we think our prayers orrequests are not being heard. Let’s look at an example in scripture about waiting and how it benefits us. “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3: 26 – NIV) The scripture listed above was taken from the book of Lamentations. A man named Jeremiah, a prophet, was lamenting (grieving deeply) over the loss of the city, the temple, and the people of Jerusalem, which were all destroyed. Jeremiah, in his grieving, was experiencing an overwhelming sense of loss. However, in that loss he had learned the beauty of God in how to mix together anguish with hope… The story reveals that man can feel great anguish, at times, when suffering loss. From the very beginning of Jeremiah’s life, conflict surrounded him. His message was to warn folks to submit and not rebel as he tried to reveal God’s will for them.
This is always the most sensible prospect under any circumstance – asking what God’s will is in a situation. However, as we all know, submitting is very hard and rising above the circumstance is very difficult. Along with that, waiting makes us weary… So, if waiting makes us weary, frustrated and at times discouraged, is it truly good for us to wait? Yes! It’s good for us to wait! (Did I say that?) Let’s take a look at WHY it is good to wait and HOW to wait. I love dissect scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to highlight things. Let us dissect the passages and learn to listen and apply those things He wants to change in us. As we take apart that scripture let’s look at the first part:
“It is good to wait quietly…”
Sometimes waiting quietly is just between you and God, and no one else knows of the situation. If that’s the case, I encourage you to continue to pour your heart out to Him in your quiet times, and quietly wait (trust) for Him to answer you.
Here are the references for the first part:
“…for the salvation of the Lord.” The first
Isaiah 7: 4 - “Be careful, keep calm and don’t
reference for this part is: Psalm 37: 7 – “Be
be afraid.”
still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do NOT LOSE HEART!
Waiting quietly is being calm and not losing
do not fret…when men succeed in their ways,
heart.
when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
Isaiah 26: 3 - “You will keep in perfect
When we are waiting for the salvation—for
peace him whose mind is steadfast, because
the deliverance – we must be still and not fret!
he trusts in you.”
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FRET?
Waiting quietly is having a steadfast mind.
Our peace leaves and our waiting seems
Don’t let your thoughts wonder; place all your
longer!
trust in the Lord. Isaiah 30: 15 - “This is what the Sovereign
Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy, Satan, loves this. He loves to disrupt our peace.
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says, ‘In
Learn to let peace be the stronghold around
repentance and rest is your salvation, in
you!
quietness AND trust is your strength.’”
This next verse is my very favorite verse on
Waiting quietly is trusting in God—in His help
waiting: Psalm 40: 1 - “I waited patiently for
and in His strength. Let trust be your
the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.”
strength! If you are in a situation of trying to
The LORD, YOUR GOD, IS TURNING TO
change someone’s heart and mind… If you
YOU WHEN YOU CRY OUT! You have His
have talked until you are blue in the face (out
undivided attention! Of all the people on the
of air)… The Lord says, “Only I can do that;
earth that He is hearing cry out in some way,
only I can change a heart and mind!”
His love is so great for you that He turns toward you and gives YOU His eyes and His
Therefore, wait quietly for the deliverance of
ears.
the Lord—for the salvation of that one. Wait for that person to be removed from the anger
The next time you think that God is not
and the hurt. God changes hearts and
hearing you, or not understanding how you
changes minds! We cannot! We must learn
feel, remember this verse and His
to Trust God With It.
attentiveness to you! How personal our God is!
Let’s look at the second part of that scripture:
As I read on a little further, I learned this as
well: Not only does God turn to us and hear us, He does this: Psalm 40:2 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
HIM.” Portion - The Lord Himself is our Sustainer, our Preserver, our Very Life. Is the lord your very life?
When the Lord turns to you, He is lifting you up and out and placing you on a rock.
Do you know that
you know that He is your Sustainer, the one Who preserves you and your very life?
Standing upon His rock means standing upon
“Therefore I will wait,” is a Hebrew phrase
Him, for He is the rock. He is our rock of
that means:
ages. When you stand upon Him, you are standing on His promises.
“Therefore I have hope!”
This is why when we wait, we acquire hope!! If we don’t need hope, we won’t need Him
In my mind’s eye, while reading this scripture,
to sustain us! If we don’t wait for the perfect
I saw a picture of a child that was in the muck
timing of something being released to us, we
and mire. I saw the hand of the Father
will not experience the fullness of what was
reach down to the one who needed to be
intended to be released…
lifted up. He then placed His hands underneath his arms and lifted him UP AND OUT, and then placed him on the firm
“Those who wait shall receive His strength…” We need His strength to wait. Perhaps the
foundation, our rock, Jesus Christ! He will
waiting was always intended to keep us
never let us go!
close…close to Him, and close in hope and
Listen to the exhortation of Lam. 3: 21-24:
trust to receive His strength, to receive Him in His fullness…
Vs. 21 “Yet this I call to mind and therefore The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 130: 5-6:
I have hope. Vs. 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions
And as we
wait, let’s…“Put our trust in His Word”….He is the Word and He has given us His written
never fail.
word. It’s where our hope is to be.
Vs. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Vs. 24 I say to myself
“My soul waits for the Lord…”
Hoping & Trusting With You, Mary Beth Pecora
THE LORD IS MY
PORTION; THEREFORE I WILL WAIT FOR
Prayer is the garden soil in which our relationship with God grows. It is not a ritual: it is not a liturgy.
It is the foundation of knowing God
and His amazing plan for our lives.
2 Chronicles 7:
12
Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him,
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
14
and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and
seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15
“Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
16
“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. Solomon’s prayer was masterful.
What would you expect from the wisest man
in the world? Here is some of it from chapter 6: 13
Now Solomon … knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of
Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14
He said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on
earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart; 15
who has kept with Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised
him; indeed You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Solomon continues by requesting that God be mindful of that Temple and make it a special place by living there. God responded in chapter 7: 12Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
13
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour
the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
14
and My people who are called by My
name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15
“Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
16
“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever,
and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17
“As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to
all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 18
then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You
shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’ The Temple in Jerusalem is long gone. But Paul tells us that we, that is our bodies, are Temples of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us and Who owns us. In 1 Corinthians 6:
19
Or do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. Remember what God told Solomon? As God was observant and attentive to the Temple
in Jerusalem, how much more will He be aware of the Temple of our bodies that have been purchased with the precious blood of His own dear Son. A
MAJOR FACTOR IN POWERLESS PRAYERS IS OUR FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PRESENCE
OF THE ALMIGHTY IN THESE MORTAL TEMPLES.
In Matthew 1 we read Isaiah’s prophecy, 23
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” When we pray, we are not talking to the open, empty; we are talking to the Creator of the Universe Who lives in these earthen containers. We do not have to hope; we do not have to conjure up emotion; we do not have to psyche ourselves into believing that things will change after we pray. We simply talk to the Creator and ask Him to do what we cannot.
My friend Bill Finke was called to be a missionary. He was told by God to not join an organization or a denomination for support; his was to be a faith mission. God had promised to use him mightily. He was to pray for the sick, cast out demons and exhibit an apostolic calling. In one of his early meetings, Bill announced that he would pray for the sick. There were a number of people who came forward, among them a man who was blind. Bill prayed for everyone else before the blind man, hoping that he would go away. He didn’t. Bill, riddled with uncertainty, dutifully anointed the man with oil and began to pray for him. After a very few words of prayer, the man shouted, “I can see!” At which Bill shouted, “You can??!!” Bill learned that day that God meant what he said when he promised to use him mightily. Throughout his ministry,Bill stayed in constant conversation with the One Who lived in him, learning to obey and trust His Maker. God is in you! Prayer is not to get Him to do something. Prayer is for you to see what He sees, experience what He is experiencing, and react the way He would react! The power that is at work in us is the same power that God exerted when He raised Jesus from the dead. That was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians: 1
18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in
accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at
His right hand in the heavenly places, 21
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in the one to come. We are not orphans; we are a living place of God Almighty. When we come together, when we bind our hearts and lives together, we are unstoppable. The power of our prayer does not lie in the words we use; it is in the confidence we have in the One to Whom we speak.
HERE IS THE STRATEGY: 1. Believe what He said! Prayer and the Golden Rule “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will
7
be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who
8
knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give
9
him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
10
11
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat
you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. We don’t have to answer the prayer. We have to ask Him. 2. Trust Him. Proverbs 3:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on
your own understanding. 6
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths
straight. Stop looking at the wind and the waves. Peter was distracted by them and he began to sink. Leave the performance up to God; He knows how to do it. 3. Live in Gratitude. I Thessalonians 5 18in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. The power of prayer is always about the One Who is at work in you. Release your cares to Him. Trust Him with your life and watch Him perform miracles. ~Pastor Chuck Hamby
Have you ever said something to someone and wished you could take those words right back?
Or perhaps you reacted to a
particular situation but your actions were not very godly?
I think we all have been there.
So how do we get there? The first step is allowing God to reveal His principles to you through His Word.
As you
spend more time discovering the heart of God,
It is in those moments we open our big mouths and spew venom to those who would
He will reveal how He desires for you to
be considered our victims.
be holy, too.
So what causes us to react in such a way?
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be
Is it because our feelings were hurt?
Are we
self-controlled; set your hope fully on the
feeling insecure about the circumstances? Or
grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is
perhaps our response is rooted to something deep within our own hearts that needs to be
revealed.
changed.
lived in ignorance.
No matter the response, we need
to realize we are in a hidden battle from within between our flesh and our Spirit man.
behave.
God is Holy and desires for us to
As obedient children, do not
conform to the evil desires you had when you But just as he who called
you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy�
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not
(NIV-1 Peter 1:13-16).
gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
God desires for His holiness to reign within
For
the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.
They are in conflict with
each other, so that you do not do what you
your hearts and minds.
He longs for it to be
displayed to those around you.
We need to
realize our actions of communication and conduct are a representation of Him.
There
want (NIV- Galatians 5:16-17).
are those around us who do not know Christ
Our flesh known as the sinful nature is in
and when we act ungodly, we are not being
constant conflict with our Spirit man. In other
effective for the Kingdom of God.
words, God desires for us to respond, act,
Light that is within us and we are called to
and address certain situations within our lives
be a light to those around us.
through His principles of conduct.
The
conflict between the two will not cease until we learn to die to ourselves and give Him full
He is the
Secondly, we are to prepare our minds for action. In other words, we have a choice as
reign over the throne of our hearts.
to our response to those around us and/or
God does not want us struggling between
within our circumstances.
acting hastily and responding godly.
you hostage but will give you free will to make
He
God will not hold
desires for our conversations and conduct to
the correct decision.
be fully covered in His grace, love, and mercy.
Thirdly, we are to be self-controlled.
Webster dictionary defines self-control as
love, can be very damaging.
restraint exercised over one's own impulses,
With the tongue we praise our Lord and
emotions, or desires.
Father, and with it we curse men, who have
Self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit that God is trying to cultivate within all of our lives.
been made in God’s likeness.
Out of the
same mouth come praise and cursing.
My
brothers, this should not be (NIV-James But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 3:9-10). patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Since
we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with
God desires for us to be persons of influence and not destruction.
So the next time you
find yourself in a position of compromise, ask yourself these questions.
Will my response
to this person be destructive to him or her? Will my behavior reflect Christ Jesus?
the Spirit (NIV-Galatians 5:22-25).
Is my
response causing me to be an influencer for When we exercise restraint from responding
the Kingdom of God?
in an ungodly manner, we are staying in step with the Spirit.
We are responding as
obedient children to the Most High King.
We
are no longer being swayed by the evil desires but motivated by the love we have towards God to conduct ourselves in an honorable manner.
Our love for God
If you find yourself struggling with your mouth and spewing hurtful words towards others, pray Psalm 141:3-4 as a personal prayer request to God. Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my
motivates our hearts to act righteously.
heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part When we exercise control over our own emotions and impulses, people take notice of our actions. Instead of opening our big
in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies (NIV).
mouths and causing destruction with hurtful
God will continue to reveal His truths to your
and demoralizing
heart.
words, we allow
the
righteousness of God to be reflected in our conversations and conduct. realize
what
a
powerful
We need to and
He will give you the grace to respond
appropriately, but you have to make the choice to do so.
effective
testimony this can be for the Kingdom of God. Our words, if not guarded by self-control and
Remember, God desires for you to be an influencer! Rev. Melissa Pearce
Feelings can be wonderful, like the rush that wells up inside of you when you are reunited with someone you love or the excitement you feel on Christmas. Feelings can also be very fickle, not reflecting reality at all. When it comes to our faith, the latter is generally the case. In fact, when searching the scriptures, it is difficult to even find the word “feel” or “feelings” other than in association with the sense of touch. The word “emotion(s)” is even more rare. The reason is that faith is not based on feelings – it's based on God and His Word. There are certainly times in life when we can feel God's presence. That intensity is a wonderful gift from Him, and it helps us to keep going. Those times can be called “mountaintop experiences,” like when Moses was on Mount Sinai meeting face to face with God (Exodus 24).
But in our day to day life, depending on feelings will certainly lead us
astray. For example, if you do not feel God's presence, does that mean He's left you?
If
you base your faith on feelings then you will probably think so. But God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you' (Hebrews 13:5, NIV).
It is wise to base our faith
only on what God says, never on how we feel. So how can we do that? Here are a few S.I.M.P.L.E Tips to live with faith beyond feeling: 1. Realize that feelings can have a huge impact on our lives. Be aware of how your feelings make you think and act. 2. Remember that Satan is a liar, and he will use feelings to lie to you about God's truth. 3. Memorize scripture and use it as a weapon against feelings when they contradict God's Word. 4. Ask God to strengthen your faith even when you don't feel. “Faith is like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets.” In Him, Jamie Clawson
(Ron Hembree)