Be Strong and Courageous
Joshua 1
Building a Community centered on Love
This blog is where I do a Bible Reading. I read a passage from the Bible and then I write down my own thoughts on what I read. I would love to know your thoughts as well!
Showing posts with label discourage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discourage. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 May 2016
Bible Reading #175 - Be Strong and Courageous
Sunday, 21 February 2016
Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #152
A Downcast Soul
Psalm 42
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| I pray blessings on you as you read. |
(v. 2) "My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When may I come to see God's face?" (v.11) "Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him. He is my savior and my God."
My Thoughts
What do you do when you are downcast or discouraged? Look up to God of course. God is our Rock and we can stand firm in Him. Let God encourage you again. Whenever you are feeling discouraged, just talk to God. Give it to Him and ask for courage.
There have been many times I feel discouraged about things. I always talk to God. He helps me to feel better. Not always to I feel better about the specific situation, but I definitely feel better in general. Just ask God to pour over you His grace and His peace. You may be surprised how much better you feel after.
Of course, you can always talk to a good friend, mentor or family member, whether or not you've talked to God already. Talk to God before if you want and you'll feel a bit better for when you talk to whoever else. If you talk to them first, they'll probably pray with you anyway.
This feeling doesn't last forever, unless you let it. It does get better. Feelings of discouragement or anything else for that matter--depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, or any other negative feelings. They don't last forever. The sooner you deal with them, the better it will be and the less time they will last.
Whenever you have strong feelings, you should share it with someone. Positive or negative feelings, you should share it. Especially negative, so that it can be dealt with. Don't forget to talk to God though. Share your positive and negative feelings with God as well!
There have been many times I feel discouraged about things. I always talk to God. He helps me to feel better. Not always to I feel better about the specific situation, but I definitely feel better in general. Just ask God to pour over you His grace and His peace. You may be surprised how much better you feel after.
Of course, you can always talk to a good friend, mentor or family member, whether or not you've talked to God already. Talk to God before if you want and you'll feel a bit better for when you talk to whoever else. If you talk to them first, they'll probably pray with you anyway.
This feeling doesn't last forever, unless you let it. It does get better. Feelings of discouragement or anything else for that matter--depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, or any other negative feelings. They don't last forever. The sooner you deal with them, the better it will be and the less time they will last.
Whenever you have strong feelings, you should share it with someone. Positive or negative feelings, you should share it. Especially negative, so that it can be dealt with. Don't forget to talk to God though. Share your positive and negative feelings with God as well!
Prayer Time
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
Friday, 13 November 2015
Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #54
Stand Firm in Your Faith
1 Corinthians 16
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| I pray blessings on you as you read. |
(v. 13-14) "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
My Thoughts
Paul is telling us here of ways we can maintain, and even increase, our spiritual strength. It is very important for us to continue to grow spiritually because the stronger we are in God, the stronger God will be in us. We are God's doors in this world for His love to walk through. Just like the song,
Be on your guard against the enemy, Satan. Satan will try to discourage us and hurt us and break us down. He will whisper lies in our ears to make us believe that we are worthless, or sometimes even to elevate us. Who doesn't like being elevated right? Don't let it go to your head or change who you really are in Christ. That leads us into the next one, to stand firm in the faith.
To stand firm in the faith means to not let anything or anyone take your faith in God away. No matter what happens, hold onto God because He is all powerful. Nothing else can ever truly hurt us. Hold on to your convictions as well. Don't let anything change who you are, as I said above, and don't let your values change. Whether you are in a mediocre position or in one of authority, your values should not change, but your attitude should reflect them.
The next is to be courageous. Have courage to do what is right even when it may be hard. There are going to be times when you will want to speak up about something, but you will be discouraged. There will be times were you be starting something, and you will be discouraged. The people you expect to get the most support from may very well be the ones you get the least support from. If that isn't discouraging, I don't know what is. Don't let it stop you though. Especially if it something that you have talked to God about about and He is leading you towards. Push even harder and those people will be kicking themselves later on for not supporting you.
Be strong. Be strong in everything. That's vague isn't it? It's true though. Be strong in the things mentioned above, be strong in who you are, be strong in God and in what you believe in. You need big muscles or toned muscles to be strong. You don't need to not cry or laugh or feel hurt by others' words. To be strong means that you don't let it stop you and that you let it weigh you down. When you think of strong, you'd think that it would mean to be able to carry all those burdens. It is, in fact, the other way around: to drop all those burdens.
Lastly, do everything in love. God is love and Jesus lives in your heart. So put your heart into everything that you do and center your actions on God. By doing this, you are putting love into everything that you do, which means that God is there and that means that you are making it easy for God to act in what you are doing. Put your heart into everything that you do rather than just doing it. Even if it is something that you need to do, but don't necessarily want to do, put your heart into it. You will feel much better about doing it than you would otherwise.
Be on your guard against the enemy, Satan. Satan will try to discourage us and hurt us and break us down. He will whisper lies in our ears to make us believe that we are worthless, or sometimes even to elevate us. Who doesn't like being elevated right? Don't let it go to your head or change who you really are in Christ. That leads us into the next one, to stand firm in the faith.
To stand firm in the faith means to not let anything or anyone take your faith in God away. No matter what happens, hold onto God because He is all powerful. Nothing else can ever truly hurt us. Hold on to your convictions as well. Don't let anything change who you are, as I said above, and don't let your values change. Whether you are in a mediocre position or in one of authority, your values should not change, but your attitude should reflect them.
The next is to be courageous. Have courage to do what is right even when it may be hard. There are going to be times when you will want to speak up about something, but you will be discouraged. There will be times were you be starting something, and you will be discouraged. The people you expect to get the most support from may very well be the ones you get the least support from. If that isn't discouraging, I don't know what is. Don't let it stop you though. Especially if it something that you have talked to God about about and He is leading you towards. Push even harder and those people will be kicking themselves later on for not supporting you.
Be strong. Be strong in everything. That's vague isn't it? It's true though. Be strong in the things mentioned above, be strong in who you are, be strong in God and in what you believe in. You need big muscles or toned muscles to be strong. You don't need to not cry or laugh or feel hurt by others' words. To be strong means that you don't let it stop you and that you let it weigh you down. When you think of strong, you'd think that it would mean to be able to carry all those burdens. It is, in fact, the other way around: to drop all those burdens.
Lastly, do everything in love. God is love and Jesus lives in your heart. So put your heart into everything that you do and center your actions on God. By doing this, you are putting love into everything that you do, which means that God is there and that means that you are making it easy for God to act in what you are doing. Put your heart into everything that you do rather than just doing it. Even if it is something that you need to do, but don't necessarily want to do, put your heart into it. You will feel much better about doing it than you would otherwise.
Prayer Time
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
