When I can't take any more ...

Have you ever faced a situation that seemed impossible? You felt like you couldn't take it any more? Then today's devotion is for you.
I have been in such situations many times. I just wanted to quit, lay down and give up everything; I have even wanted to die.
But fortunately that was never the end of it. I have always come through these situations or periods in my life with God. Never on my own, but with God.
Paul was a man who knew many sorrows and difficulties, and in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4 and vers 13, he says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".
"How many things, Paul?"
"All things."
"You mean all the good things?"
"No, I mean all things, both good and bad. I can do all things, meaning, I can come through in victory no matter how dark it may seem or how difficult it may appear. With God everything is possible."
Do you feel that you've reached the end of your tether? You have NOT. God is not over, and you are not over. As long as God lives, there's hope for you, there's victory for you, there's strength to come through every day for you.
Go to Him with your situation today, ask Him to be your guide through the difficulties you experience, and give yourself to Him, and you'll find that you can do all things through Christ, because He stengthens you.

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God loves you!

Today I just want to say one short sentence;

GOD LOVES YOU!

That's why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for you, and that's why He upholds everything. He wants you to have the best life you can ever have, and He wants you to live your life through Jesus Christ.

Are you about to give up on life? Don't quit - cling to Jesus! He's the only sure foundation for your life, and HE LOVES YOU!

When it seems like everything is shifting, God's Word stands firm

These are volatile times. You never know from one day to the next what's going to happen, weather conditions shift like they never seem to have done before in thousands of years, and there seems to be uproar and wars everywhere. Is there anything that is stable and firm? What is there to hold fast to that does not shift, change and turn?
The answer is GOD'S WORD. God never changes and His Word never changes. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Bible, and many people don't want to read it because it's too long. However, Psalm 119 contains the most profound truths about God's Word and God's faithfulness. Let's look at just a few verses,
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v 105). Don't know where to turn? Follow God's Word, it will show you the path to take like a flashlight shows you the path in a dark forest.
"The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (v.130). Is it difficult to understand what's going on around you? God's Words give you light, they give you understanding. It has nothing to do with mental capacity, it has to do with HIM giving Himself to you through His Word.
"This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life" (v.50). Are you afflicted? Are you afraid of the shifting tides and volatile situations around you? God is your comfort. Let His Word fill you, (meaning; read His Word daily), let Him speak to you through His Word, and life will come back to you. Fear, uneasiness and restlessness have to flee for God's Word.
This Holiday Season, let God's Word, the one who was born on Christmas Day, Jesus Christ, fill you with His peace.
Let God's Word fill you with faith and steadfastness, and you can look any circumstance in the eye with confidence and peace.

How to become a success

Do you want to become a success in life? I'm sure you do. Everybody does. The question is, however, how do I become a success? What does it take to succeed in this world? What do I have to do to become successfull?
The question is not so much what you do, as how you do it.
God has a plan for everybody's life, yours and mine as well. You might be well endowed by nature to do a specific job, like working with children, teaching, engineering, carpenting or nursing. But how do you really become a success in your profession? Is it enough to have a natural ability and/or an education in your field to succeed?
To really become a success at anything you do, you need to "Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. (Prov.16:3, King James). The NIV translation says it this way, "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. To really succeed, we need to commit everything we do to the Lord. Then our plans will succeed, or as the King James translation puts it, thy thoughts shall be established. When my thoughts are established, I am at peace, I know there's nothing to fret and worry about, because my work is committed to the Lord. I will succeed.
So today, if you haven't done so before, committ your way to the Lord. Give Him all you are and all you do, and He will make you a success.

You shall draw water with joy!

What was your first thought when you saw today's headline? Maybe you thought, "Joy, wish I had it!" I believe many Christians lack joy in their lives. Joy is a commodity in short supply, to put it that way. Yet, we strive to be happy and we long for joy in our lives. However, the sad thing is that many people don't know how to get joy in their lives.
Today's text is from Isaiah 12:3, "... with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation". According to this Scripture, where do we find joy? In the wells of salvation! Wells is in plural, and the meaning is that each one of us has his or her own well of salvation. If Jesus lives in you, you have a spring of water inside you. Jesus said so in John 4:14, "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Salvation is the admission ticket to joy. Salvation means that Jesus comes to live inside you, and Jesus IS the living water that we find in the well of salvation. And with Him living inside you, you have the joy that comes with Him.
Think about it - you'll never be thirsty again with Jesus living in you!  "Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water (the natural water from a natural well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14, my emphasis).
Yield to Him today, and let Him fill you with His joy.

Want change? Make a change!

It's this time of year - again; a time for New Year's resolutions and wishes for a better life next year. How many New Year's resolutions have you not kept? I stopped making those resolutions many years ago. They never worked. And breaking a promise I made to myself was not a good thing to do.
It is legitimate to want to change things. And many things in our lives need to be changed; overeating, too little exercise, complaining, murmuring, grumbling, backbiting, laziness, cheating on your spouse, etc, etc.
It's not easy to change the way we live. We may know that things need to be changed, but we don't seem to have the wisdom, will or power to change. What do we do?
First of all; wishing doesn't change anything. And New Year's resolutions are often just that - wishes for a better life.
Someone has put it this way: The life you live today, is the result of the choices you made yesterday. The choices you make today, determine the life you will live tomorrow. It's foolish to believe that living the same way today as you did yesterday, will give another result than what you see today.
How true! If we want to see changes in our lives, we need to make changes in the way we live.
If you want to lose ten pounds or five kilos, then you need to eat and excercise differently than you did yesterday. If you want to stop cheating on your spouse, you need to stop seeing the other person. If you want to save more money, you need to spend less than you used to spend.
Change doesn't come by it self. To change things, we need to make changes. It requires that we're active, it requires that we do things differently.
It sounds difficult, but it's not impossible. If Jesus lives on the inside of us, we have an all-powerful, allmighty and omniscient Person right there with us and in us all the time. He knows what changes we need to make in our lives, and how we can make them. Ask Him! "You (and I) can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you (and me)" (Phil.4:13). All things! That includes change.
This Christmas season, don't make a New Year's resolutions, make a change!

Want to become new?

There are many people who want to become new. They go throu plastic surgery to get the "right" features, they spend thousands of dollars or pounds on apparel, make-up, jewelry and accessories. "Been there, done that" might be your reply.
I guess most people, and especially women, have tried some of this to renew themselves. And a good figure, nice clothes, and other things are fine. There's nothing wrong about that. It's when these things are the only way to improve yourself that it gets wrong.
The Bible has a quite different approach to becoming new, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor 5:17).
All things are new! Wouldn't you like that? ALL THINGS! Not only your nose or your thighs or whatever you want to change, but ALL THINGS!
"Does my nose change when I become a Christian?" you might ask. No, of course not. But the way you see you nose, or any other thing about you, changes. Your nose is no longer the focus of your attention, Jesus has become the most important aspect of your life. That doesn't mean that Christians cannot go through plastic surgery, buy nice clothes and wear make-up. It simply means that these things are no longer the most important thing in your life. You can live without these things, you have become new inside. When Jesus gains more and more territory in your soul, your thinking changes and your priorities change.
You become more satisfied and focus more on the spiritual side of life than the physical.
Want to become new? Let Jesus change you, inside out! He's the great Transformer!