Rejection, failure, and unfair comparisons

Rejection is a cause of depression. To be rejected means to be thrown away as having no value or as being unwanted. We were created for acceptance, not rejection. The emotional pain of rejection is one of the deepest kinds, especially if the rejection comes from someone we love or expect to love us. "Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up" Psalm 27:10. When we are saved by Jesus from our sins, our emotions are not saved, so we may still feel many negative things. But at that moment of salvation, the time when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit. One of these fruits is self-control which will save us from negative emotions. As we learn God's Word and what it says about emotions we can begin to control the negative ones with the help of the Holy Spirit and not allow them expression through our body which now belongs to Jesus. Living by your feelings is to live in the carnal realm, when we ought to be getting our worth and value out of the fact that Jesus loved us enough to die for us. Overcoming the feeling of rejection is not easy but is perfectly possible through the love of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 3:18-19, Paul prayed that the church would know "the breadth and length and height and depth" of the love that God had for them and that they would experience it for themselves. If you start to focus on the love God shows you, you will realise how great his love is compared to the rejection. So often we let things that happen go by without realising that they are signs of God's love. Every time God gives us favour, he is showing us that he loves us. God shows his love for us in many different ways and having a revelation about his love will keep us from depression. When people reject us, Jesus takes it personally, "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16. Although rejection is an evil thing, we don't have to allow the devil to control our emotions and depress us, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21. Being mindfully joyful and smiling is a good thing as it will help overcome the evil of rejection. Society constantly impresses upon us that winning and success are everything. However, it could be said that failure is also part of true success. Humility is an essential part of our saved character, so a few failures and beatings of our pride will help instil in us a deeper humility. Failures can disappoint, discourage and depress us, but we need to realise that God will use our weaknesses, turning them into good, developing our character and making us a better person. We haven't truly failed until we stop trying, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18. Technically, it is not failure that causes depression but our attitude toward it. If we believe God is greater than our failures, then they have no power over us. "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more," Romans 5:20. Don't be depressed over weaknesses and failures. Rejoice in knowing that because of Jesus, you don't have to stay that way. People without the Lord in their lives only have depression to go to when they fail, but we can go to Jesus which is an excellent reason to rejoice. Comparing our lives with other people's lives can also cause depression. We look at other people, see what they have, own, do or don't do, but the devil never points out what they don't have, only what they do have. We need to believe that God equipped each of us with exactly what we need to fulfil His call on our lives. We look at other people as the standard for what should happen to us, but they cannot be the standard because God sets a new standard with each person. When our value as an individual is firmly rooted in Christ, we are free from the pain of comparisons and competition and this releases joy in our lives. Depression is the result of looking at what we don't have and can't do. Joy is the result of being thankful for every little thing we have and counting ourselves blessed just to be alive and to know Jesus our Lord.

Resist the devil at the onset

"Resist him, standing firm in the faith," 1 Peter 5:9. There are many causes of depression, but only one source: Satan. He wants us pressed down and feeling bad about ourselves so that we won't receive all that Jesus died to give us. One of the biggest tools the devil uses to make us feel bad about ourselves is condemnation, which is a cause of depression. The devil uses it to steal our joy as he knows that "the joy of the Lord is your strength" Nehemiah 8:10. He wants us in a state where we are weak and unable to do anything except put up with whatever he throws at us. People can also be depressed because of something that is wrong with them physically. A chemical imbalance or being too tired and worn out can also cause depression. If the body is depleted due to stress or lack of rest, the person may be restored simply by getting the needed rest and nutrition. However, if the depression is caused by a chemical imbalance then medical help must be sought. Depression can result from physical, mental, emotional or spiritual causes. King David was depressed because he had unconfessed sin in his life Psalm 51. Jonah was depressed because he was running from the call of God and living in disobedience Jonah 1, 2. Elijah was depressed because he was tired 1 Kings 19. So as you can see, the causes of depression are varied, which means there is no one solution. However, Jesus always is the right answer, and no matter what cause the devil has used to bring depression, Jesus will lead us to victory when we follow him. He will show us what we need to do in order to live a life filled with joy. Jesus gave us "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" to put on Isaiah 61:3. If we don't use what he has given us, we will sink lower and lower into the pit of depression and this will cause problems. When we know how to do right but don't do it, we are 'flirting with the devil' just as a man and woman would in the first stages of a love affair. We simply cannot play that game with the devil because once we open a door, he may get a foothold, and once he gets that he can obtain a stronghold. The devil is progressive and aggressive against us and we must be aggressive against him. God covers us to a greater degree when we're ignorant and really don't know what we are doing, but once we know what is right yet still wilfully do wrong, it changes things. God still loves is and still wants to help us, but we have a greater degree of accountability due to knowledge. If we flirt with the devil we will always get hurt. Refusing to put on the garment of praise because we don't feel like it or don't want to is a dangerous games as it opens a door for deeper problems that can cause serious consequences. Whereas if you resist the devil at the onset, extended bouts of depression will be stopped. We resist the devil by submitting ourselves to God and wielding the Sword of the Spirit, which is his Word Ephesians 6:17. We must remember that depression is not part of God's will for us, so anytime we feel anything that is not part of his will we need to pick up the sword of his Word. The Bible promises that if we do that, if we will resist the devil firmly at his onset then he will flee from us James 4. Stand on the Word of God and refuse to let the negative feelings weigh upon us and depress us. In Isaiah 61 we see that Jesus was anointed and sent by God to preach the gospel of good tidings to the poor in spirit, to heal the broken hearted, to set free captives and to grant joy to the mourning, to give them an ornament of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a heavy, burdened and failing spirit. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8. This Scripture tells us that we are no longer condemned, judged guilty or wrong, yet so often we judge and condemn ourselves. It is not uncommon for depressed people to carry a huge sense of guilt around with them, sometimes not even knowing why. In order to overcome this, a greater understanding of the Word of God is needed and from this we can learn what we must not only receive forgiveness from God, but that we must also forgive ourselves, stop punishing ourselves for something that God has forgiven and forgotten, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Acts 10:15. That does not mean that we are now perfect or incapable of error. It just means that we can go on with our lives without being weighed down with a constant burden of guilt and condemnation for what is in the past. As long as we are doing the best we can, we truly repent for our sins and our heart is right before God, we can stay out from under the burden of guilt and condemnation. God knows that if our heart is right then our actions will eventually come into line with our heart.

Sing and Shout for joy!

"Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" Psalm 32:11. One of the ways we can express our joy and rejoice is by singing psalms, hymns and other spiritual songs. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord," Ephesians 5:19, this is Paul's excellent advice to us. When the devil starts to bother us we can literally sing him out of our lives, or we can 'shout' him out, which means shouting praise and glory to God. There is no focus on the issue, problem, devil or depression; the attention is ALL on God. If you sing more and shout more you will notice that you will start to feel better as it creates a protective wall around us. These acts can also tear down walls and strongholds. In Joshua
6:20, God directed the people to shout and bring down a wall, they raised a great shout and Jericho's wall fell down and the Israelites passed through and took the city. An excellent way to use this tool is to get up every morning with a song on your lips and praise in your mouth for the Lord as a means of dispelling depression. Discipline yourself to make song and praise part of your morning routine, stop sitting in tired silence or staring at the television. Start your day the best way; sing and shout! Songs and shouts of deliverance can overcome downcast feelings and emotions. David battled with depression, and consequently many of his psalms are songs of praise to God to be sung in the midst of disturbing and unsettling situations. When you feel down, turn to the psalms and speak them out loud. Speaking out loud has a far greater impact on you than just silently reading and as long as we don't just read it and confess it, but actually do it then the promises in the Word of God will come to pass. Paul said that we must operate by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh. In Galatians 6:8 he warned that; "he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." This is why we need to learn to do as David did and speak to our soul, otherwise it will take control over us and lead us to decay, ruin and destruction. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my saviour and my God." Psalm 42:5. Our inner self can at times feel cast down just like David's did. When he felt that way he put his hope in God and waited expectantly for God, praising him. David knew that when he got down, his countenance went down with him. That is why he talked to himself, his soul, and encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord 1 Samuel 30:6. When we find ourselves in that same depressed state we should wait expectantly for the Lord, praise him and encourage and strengthen ourselves in him. "We who are righteous, in right standing with God, by believing in Jesus Christ, we who take refuge and put our trust in the Lord can sing and shout for joy! The Lord makes a covering over us and defends us, he fights our battles for us when we praise Him!" 2 Chronicles 20.

Smiling is serious business!

The ability to smile is one of the greatest and most powerful gifts that we have, yet look around, there are so many serious, stiff people out there. We all have a reason to smile every single day! We may have had a childhood that didn't give us much to smile about but, "rejoicing comes in the morning" Psalm 30:5. As a saved Christian you have joy in your heart, God knows it's there and he wants you to express it so that everyone can see it and benefit from it. You don't always feel joy until you purposely activate it by making the decision to smile. The beauty is that when joy is obvious in your life, it rubs off on other people but when it is kept inside of you, you can create a heavy, serious atmosphere around you. Joy and sorrow cannot dwell together so you need to decide whether to have light or dark in your life. Society works so much better when the population is smiling and joyful. Joy is infectious; get out there and spread a smiling infection! At times you reach a certain point in your walk with God in different areas and feel you're stuck there. You know that there is more to be had but you sense that something is blocking it reaching you. One of these blocks is a lack of joy. Joy is part of our receptacle to receive things from God and not outwardly showing joy creates this block. If the joy of the Lord is inside of you but you don't smile and express the brightness within you, life just won't go right. How people see you has a great deal to do with their willingness toward you in many areas. People don't usually want to bless or help someone do something if they appear to have a bad attitude. Every one of us knows how to smile, it's one of God's gifts to us. A new born baby can smile at around 4 weeks of age, long before they can walk and talk so this is an indicator of the importance that God places on joy. Expressing joy through the calm delight of smiling will bring good things into your life alongside you showing the light of Jesus to others. In the Bible, the Lord told his people to rejoice when they faced their enemies. He told them to rejoice when they went into battle or when it looked like death was imminent. In Chronicles 20, he told them to rejoice, sing and praise with a loud voice no matter what happened. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds," James 1:2. Sadly, most people truly do not understand how expressing joy in the Lord will get rid of circumstances that are not godly because they are full of the devil. The devil hates God's joy, so by being joyful will help keep him out of your life.

The Power of Rejoicing

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4. Throughout the Bible, God instructs people to be filled with joy and rejoice. Anytime that God tells us twice to do something, as Paul instructed the Philippians, we need to pay real close attention to what he is saying. There is power available to help people who are imprisoned by and shackled with depression. Rejoicing can release so much power just by smiling, laughing and having a good time, and often it can make problems go totally away. When people get depressed, they go for counselling, they start taking medication, but they don't rejoice. If they could just begin to smile, the depression will start to lift and their circumstances would begin to change. Change is often the result of a simple adjustment in how we respond in a given situation, and if we can do this as soon as we feel the beginnings of a depression then it won't have chance to move in. If you are saved, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit is in you, therefore joy is in you and you need to tap into it. We don't need to go searching for joy, it's already there, we just need to learn how to release it. In order for the joy of the Lord to be your strength, you must be joined with God which provokes joy in your life. But when you are not used to expressing joy it can feel like such hard work trying to be joyful and you may not feel like it is doing any good, but if you keep it up you will soon start to feel the joy. To clarify, joyful doesn't mean laughing hysterically, bouncing around, it is usually much more subtle and often silent. We rejoice by being glad and calmly happy or even simply living in a state of calm delight.

Phases of Depression

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." Psalm 40:1-2. People in all walks of life can suffer from depression. It is not an exclusive illness. The Bible tells of kings and prophets who became depressed, 3 of those being King David, Jonah and Elijah. It is believed that disappointment is the first phase of depression. We all have to deal with disappointment at one time or another, no one has everything happen in life the way they expect it to. There is nothing wrong with feeling this way but we need to know what to do with that feeling. Paul said, "...but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." Philippians 3:13. Paul knew that one important thing to him was to let go of what lay behind and press on towards the things that were ahead. When we get disappointed, Jesus can re-appoint us and that is what happened to Paul. When this happens we are letting go of the causes of the disappointment and pressing toward what God has for us: a new vision, plan, mindset. If we are willing, God is willing to do new things in our lives but too often we hold onto things from the past. Some people seem to prefer to talk about their life disappointments rather than their dreams and visions for the future. Every day is a brand new start which gives us the opportunity to let of go of yesterday's disappointments and give God a chance to do something awesome for us today. Sadly, some people refuse to hope any longer due to having had lots of disappointment in the past, but a life without hope is a really sad place to dwell. It surely would be far better to hope all of your life and receive nothing than to live with perpetual disappointment. Hope costs nothing but disappointment costs you your joy and your dreams. God promises those who place their hope in him that they will never be disappointed or put to shame, and keeping our hope in Jesus will in time produce positive results. Unfulfilled expectations cause disappointment. We have many expectations every single day, big and small, from expecting to get a promotion at work right down to expecting the newspaper to come through the door on a morning. We also have expectations about other people. We don't expect our friends to gossip about us, but they sometimes do. We expect things from ourselves that we don't carry out, we have all let ourselves down this way many times. This is perhaps because we all expect more from ourselves than we can give. Also, we expect things from God that are not in his plans for us, so they will never be fulfilled and we will feel let down by him. When we get disappointed, we need to decide what we are going to do, how will we respond. The danger is that if you choose to stay disappointed for too long, discouragement will enter which is at a whole deeper level. Discouragement is the opposite of courage. When we are discouraged we have lost our courage. God gives everyone who believes in him courage and the devil tries to steal it. If we are to succeed at anything, we need to remain strong and courageous, "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." 1 Peter 5:9. We need to understand the devil's tactics so that we can be ready to resist them at the onset. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12. When we become discouraged about something we are also hopeless about it and it is impossible to be discouraged and hopeful at the same time. Sometimes there is a battle in our mind between hope and discouragement. The Holy Spirit is leading us to be hopeful whilst the devil is attacking us with discouragement. It is so important at this point for the believer to get victory in the spiritual realm. To be victorious and keep our attitude hopeful we need to renew our mind to God's promises about our situation and stand in faith, believing God will be true to his Word. It is also important to get the victory early because someone who has become depressed can sink deeper. There is depression, then there are 2 deeper levels; despondency and despair. It is at the point of despair that a person will consider or even commit suicide. Mildly depressed people may feel sad and be reclusive, their thoughts are negative and their attitude is negative. They may still have small glimmers of hope and it is ultimately that hope which will help pull the person out of depression. A despondent person has all the similar symptoms of a depressed person but they are deeper. They are dejected in mind, failing in spirit, lost of all courage and are sinking due to a loss of hope. A person in despair is even deeper down. Despair is distinct from despondency in that despair is a total loss of hope whereas it isn't with despondency. Despair is the abandonment of effort, it is also sometimes connected to violent outbursts. Those who attempt to commit suicide are in this deepest state of depression - despair, and it is the devil's aim to lead us to that point.

The reason for everything

We are not just created by God, but for him too. The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. Without his glory, there would be nothing. The glory of God is who he is, his nature, his character and his power. His glory is everywhere around us. Everything created by God reflects his glory in some way. Creation reveals our Creator's glory. Through nature we learn that God is powerful, that he enjoys variety, loves beauty and is organised, wise and creative. The Bible says, "The heavens declare the glory of God" Psalm 19:1. Throughout history, God has revealed his glory to people in different settings, but God's clearest picture of what he is really like is seen in his son, Jesus Christ, "The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like" Hebrews 1:3. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12, and because of this, we are no longer in the dark about what God is really like. Jesus' presence on earth has allowed us so many insights into God, "The Word became human and lived among us and we saw his glory...a glory full of grace and truth." John 1:14. As humans created by God we are commanded to recognise God's glory, honour his glory, praise his glory, reflect his glory and live for his glory. God deserves this so much and we owe him every honour we can possibly give. Only 2 of God's creations in the whole universe fail to bring glory to him: fallen angels and us. Not giving God his due glory is sin, in fact all sin at its root is failing to give God the glory he deserves. Refusing to bring glory to God is prideful rebellion and it is the sin that caused Satan's fall, and ours too. We are all guilty of having lived for our own glory instead of God's, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. This is the worst sin and the biggest mistake we can commit, whereas living for God's glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish in our lives. God says, "They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory." Isaiah 43:7. Jesus honoured God by fulfilling his purpose on earth. When anything in creation fulfils its purpose it brings glory to God. There are 5 ways how to fulfil God's purposes for your life:

1. Bring glory to God by getting to know and love him.

2. Bring God glory by learning to love other people in God's family

3. Bring God glory by becoming like Christ

4. Bring God glory by serving others

5. Bring God glory by telling others about him

Self-discovery or following?

There is absolutely nothing gained in going to church if all you are going to do is sit, listen and not act on what you hear and experience. God won't give you more until you start using some of what he has already put in you. We, as Christians need to make a concerted effort to walk around this earth actively seeking people who need our help, compassion and generosity. Sadly, far too few Christians do this and the need is great to get to the root of our bad attitude because God can't help us until we do. We must get grounded in God's love: A tree laden with big fruits but that has tiny roots will blow over in the wind. In Luke 15 we witness the elder brother's religious attitude when his brother had humbled himself and come home, pleading to his dad, "Make me". The dad decided to throw a party to celebrate his son's homecoming, but when the elder brother found out he was so resentful and angry. An 'angry Christian' is a bit of an oxymoron really given that the central theme of Christianity is love. We need to show the fruits of our faith, love, kindness and other positive attributes if the Church is to have power in the world. The elder brother refused to enter the party despite his dad begging him. He was jealous because his brother was having a party and he himself and never been given one. His dad pointed out that he could have had a party anytime if he had asked. The elder brother refused to enjoy the party and have fun on such a special occasion as it was wasn't a special occasion to him, he was jealous of his brother and his religious attitude was too great.

People tend to go about life in 1 of 2 different ways:

1. Self-discovery - they do what they want to do, try to 'find themselves' and live their own life

2. Followers - those that abide by rules and regulations keeping a moral, faithful lifestyle

There is nothing wrong with the 2nd option unless you are doing it for the wrong reasons, such as to be noticed, admired or to feel good about yourself. When we do a good deed, we should carry it out then wait in the shadows so that God gets the glory and not us. Religious Pharisees are like this. They do things just to be noticed, they will count exactly how many prayers they had said and how many verses they have read that day, they will forget the good things that you did but remember all the sinful things and hold a grudge against you over them believing that they are better than you. God really doesn't like this attitude. He abhors us not treating someone right who we don't deem to be as important as us because in God's eyes, the lowly are the most important and he will move these lowly people up when he feels ready to. Jesus chose his disciples and they were all lowly characters and look at the amazing things that occurred. Before you can be joyful you need to really learn how to love and before you can be glad for others you also need to really know how to love. When you are glad for others your own joy will begin to multiply. We need to be more like the prodigal son and ask God to make us what he wants us to be.

Ask God to take away any religious attitude that you might have. Be careful about judging and criticising and pray for those who are in sin and out of the fellowship of God.

God is having a party whether you are there or not!

Religious Attitudes

If we are to defeat a religious attitude we need a starting point of saying to God on a regular basis, 'God, make me what you want me to be' and stopping praying, 'I want this ... I want that...'. One of the very worst things is finding yourself in a situation that God has not anointed you to be in, with no grace on you to achieve and not struggle. We don't understand why God does what he does or what people are going through on the inside, they may seem happy on the outside and have everything that you want but that doesn't mean that they are happy on the inside. They may not have anointing on their life. Happy people know what the anointing on their life is and don't try to live outside of the grace on their life. In Luke 15, the younger brother's sin is obvious. However the elder son's sin was less obvious, he was lost, just as lost as his brother was but in a totally different way. There are two different kinds of lost; lost in sin and lost in self-righteousness (not God's righteousness). The younger brother was lost in sin, the elder, lost in his own righteousness. The minute we begin to judge someone critically or look down on them is when we really need to adjust our attitude. The attitude of the elder brother was dangerous and deceptive, and it alienated him from his father and brother. He had a religious attitude which told him that he was above others because he was doing more right than they were. Many of us are guilty of this though we may not realise it just yet. The Bible tells us to pray for these people, have mercy, sympathy and be concerned for their spiritual wellbeing. A religious attitude not only alienates us from those around us but from God too, and because of this we are unable to come into his presence like he wants us to. Anyone who has a religious attitude will not admit it. They probably know that their attitude is out of order but will not admit it as that is admitting a sin, a weakness and that is not part of having a religious attitude.

It's yet to be seen what God can do through any one man that is willing to give him all the glory, because once glory appears and we start to take it for ourselves, God stops using us. We need to pray to God for humility and help to assist us to change our religious attitude. A self-righteous attitude causes us to mistreat other people, be impatient about their flaws yet we refuse to see and admit our own faults. There is nothing godly about being harsh and hard on those who don't match up to your standards. The things that we can do, and do well are all by the grace of God who equips us with the tools we need to do what we need to do. We are only righteous through God (Luke 18:9) and the knowledge of this gift should humble us greatly. The Pharisee in the temple in Luke 18:10 was behaving in such an ostentatious self-righteous way in front of the non-religious person. The Pharisee was out to impress, but who was he trying to impress? He prayed to God, "God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men." His attitude towards sinners, in God's eyes, is worse than the actual sins that the sinners had committed. We should never, ever look at sinners in a critical way and say 'I would never do that', because we never know how we would be and what we would do if God left us for a while. It was the big sinners that God came to save, but very often they are the very people that the Church is reluctant to welcome. Members get comfortable and don't like anything to spoil the cosy situation they have got going on, and they don't want to inconvenience themselves. God is really displeased when he sees situations like this. The fact is that we all need to inconvenience ourselves in order to grow and situations like this provide the perfect arena for growth.

We have got life so wrong if we base our worth on how important others see us and pride ourselves on our religious attitude. The Apostle Paul said that he had had it all in his life but it was all worth absolutely nothing compared to knowing God and the power of the resurrection that raises us from the dead. The more time we spend building a relationship with Jesus, the smaller our religious attitude will become.

Overcoming sin

Other people can pray for you to be strong enough to endure the trials in your life, but you need to conquer your own Goliath. The Apostle Paul never prayed for his, or anyone else's problems to go away, instead he prayed that people would know God and his great love for them, and that they would be strengthened through the Holy Spirit to endure anything whilst maintaining a good temper. In Luke 4, Jesus outlasted the devil for forty days and forty nights. The devil threw everything he could at him but Jesus walked out of the wilderness victorious. The devil will try to do the same with us, to move us away from the will of God to try get us to prove something, like he did with Jesus. Nobody can ever be truly be free until you have absolutely nothing to prove and nobody to impress. When you reach the point where you can be the true you and know that you are genuinely loved and accepted for being that way then will you be free. With God's help we can all get through the devil's trials and come out victorious on the other side. At which point we can confess that we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. Growing is painful, it challenges our mind greatly, but we need to be happy with it and the changes it produces, some of which will be quite staggering. Every time we grow a little as God helps us the things that the devil throws at us become less painful. We need to keep in our mind that Jesus was tempted in every way possible and he never sinned. We need to aspire to be this strong, and we can do it if we put all our faith in the Lord but it will take a lifetime to achieve. The reason that Jesus told his disciples in Gethsemane that he would not be talking for much longer (John 14:30) was that he knew that anything we say when we are upset and frustrated is nothing that actually needs to be said. He knew that if he opened his mouth, the devil will dive in and take some of the power back off Jesus. The experiences that Jesus had ensured that he would understand every single trial that we would go through. We need to keep a real close check on our feelings. Anger, jealousy, bitterness and similar can ruin so much; our life, other people's lives, yet we persist in expressing negative feelings. The devil loves this, watching us go around and around the same mountain, time and time again. You must learn not to be ruled by your emotions.

Get rid of the flesh that is out of control! Stop feeding it. Constantly repeating bad behaviour gives your flesh strength instead of denying it so. Anything that you don't feed will get weaker and weaker until it dies and no longer has any power over you. The first few times will be hard and may hurt but it will get easier and easier each time that you do it successfully. You can change any bad habit if you have the will.

Kill the flesh by not feeding it!

Know your weaknesses!

Pray!

Devil on my your back

In order to stay one step ahead of the devil you need to understand temptation and successfully resist it because it is impossible to live in this world without being tempted, it's a part of life. We are tempted many times a day by things such as lust, greed, impatience and many more and it is so important that we conquer these enemies. We need to have enough faith without constantly praying for the rough, tempting times to be whisked away. We need to be strong enough and faithful enough to behave the same way in bad times as we do in good times. We need to put our feelings to one side at times and think more about how we behave. It is perfectly possible, and it is expected, that when you are upset, angry or frustrated that you still maintain your decorum. Christians behaving well in society is so important as it enables us to set an exemplary example to non-Christians. Everything that God tells us to do in his Word is intended for our benefit, it's not for him, for example he tells us to forgive others so that we don't have to live, locked in a prison of upset, anger and hatred. If you work with God to make his Word a reality in your life you will go from victory to victory having a life increasingly more full of joy, peace, victory and power. One of the problems many of us have is that we do and say a lot of power draining things and we need to learn to add power, not deduct it from our lives. In Matthew 6:13, Jesus said in his prayer, "Lead us not into temptation". He did not say, 'Let us not be tempted', so we are to be tempted but we must not give in to it. One of the main reasons we fall into temptation rather than overcoming and having success over it is that we quite simply don't do what Jesus tells us to do. Most of us don't pray regularly enough, but we should, so that we can recognise temptation and not fall into its trap and we should all be praying the words 'give me the strength to not give into temptation' or words to that effect. Temptation will happen. The devil knows exactly what pushes our buttons and when he pushes them, that's when we really need to behave the way that God wants us to and pray to him to help give us the strength to not give in to temptation. Jesus prayed so hard in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:40) that he began to sweat drops of blood when he was faced with temptation. He was also led into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights where he endured constant tempting by the devil. Jesus was strong and came out victorious (Luke 4). People try to overcome things such as temptation, they try, they hope, they want to overcome. There is no point praying for temptation not to come - it will come. We need to pray that when it does come, we will not be lured in. Sincere, focused prayer works. Challenges like temptation do have their uses in our lives though. If we didn't encounter challenges then we would be weak, foolish and unwise as we would have nothing to help build us up in these areas. It might seem to you that you go through periods of great temptation when the devil is constantly on your back and you feel like you want to give up as you can't cope. But you need to focus on the truth that God will never give you more than you can endure, and for every temptation, God always provides a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). When you encounter a trial, say to yourself, 'God knows how much I can take, there is a purpose in this trial'. Ask God to strengthen you so that you can make it through and be the person God wants you to be.

We are always wanting and expecting other people to change so that we are not aggravated and bothered by them, but the truth is that God wants us to change. This doesn't mean that God agrees with what others are doing but it highlights that we, ourselves, can't change those people. They need to go on their own journey but even if they refuse to do so, it doesn't mean that there isn't a way for you to enjoy your life - there is - Let God change you! We pray so often for God to change things in our lives, but how often do we actually ask him to change us? Generally, non-Christians don't handle temptation well, but Christians do as they are at various stages of learning how to rise above the flesh. The devil will continue to tempt you in your weak areas until we eventually ask God to change us. "GOD CHANGE ME!!!!!!!!!"

Life is a temporary assignment

The Bible is full of metaphors that teach the brief, temporary nature of life on earth. Life is described as a mist, a fast runner, a breath and a wisp of smoke. The Bible says, "For we were born but yesterday...Our days on earth are transient as a shadow." Job 8:9.

To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths. First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, earth is only a temporary residence. You won't be here long, ask God to help you see life on earth as he sees it. David prayed, "Lord, help me to realise how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for bit a moment more." Psalm 39:4. God's Word repeatedly compares life on earth to temporarily living in a foreign country. This is not your permanent home or final destination. The Bible uses terms like alien, pilgrim, stranger, visitor and traveller to describe our brief stay on earth. David said, "I am but a foreigner here on earth," Psalm
119:19. God says that his children are to think differently about life from the way unbelievers do, "All they think about is this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives." Philippians 3:19-20. Real believers realise that there will be far more to life than just the few years we live on this planet. Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven. God is very clear about the danger of living for here and now and adopting the priorities, values and lifestyles of the world around us. When we flirt with the temptations of our culture, God calls it 'spiritual adultery', "You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way." James 4:4. The Bible says that we are ambassadors of Christ, but sadly many people who think of themselves as followers of Christ often forget this spiritual truth. They have wrongly concluded that because they live on earth right now that it is their permanent home: It isn't. Peter said, "Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cosy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul." 1 Peter 2:11.

God warns us not to get too attached to what's around us, because it's all temporary, "Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away." 1 Corinthians 7:31. Modern day life is so easy. We are constantly entertained and catered for, but with all the attractions it's easy to forget that the pursuit of happiness is not what life is about. The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why we experience difficulty, sorrow and rejection in this world. It also explains why some of God's promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unfair. In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God ensures that we feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life, longings that will not be completely happy on earth because this is not our intended home. There will be many happy moments in this life but nothing compared to what God has planned for us. Realising that life on earth is just temporary should radically alter your values. Eternal values, not temporal ones, should become the deciding factors for your decisions. The Bible says, "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 1 Peter 2:11.

It is a big mistake to assume that God's goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. He's more interested in what you are becoming than in making this life easy for you. Paul was faithful to God yet he ended up in prison. John the Baptist was faithful to God and he was beheaded for it. Untold amounts of faithful people have been martyred, have lost everything, or have come to the end of life with nothing to show for it in the world's eyes. But the end of life is not the end! In God's eyes, the greatest heroes are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat this life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity. Once you get to heaven you will quickly wonder why you placed so much importance on temporary, earthly things that don't last. When life gets tough, when you're overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living God's way is worth the effort, remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home.

Life on earth is a trust

This is the second metaphor of life that we find in the Bible. Our time, energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships and resources are all gifts that God has entrusted to us. We are stewards of whatever God gives us. This concept of stewardship begins with the recognition that God is the owner of everything and everyone on earth, "The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are his." Psalm 24:1. We never really own anything during our brief stay on earth. God just loans it to us while we are here. It was God's property before you arrived and he will loan it to someone else after you die. You just get to enjoy it for a while. When God created Adam and Eve, he entrusted the care of his creation to them and appointed them stewards of his property, "God blessed them, and said, 'Have many children, so that your descendants will live over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge.' " Genesis 1:28.

The first job God gave humans was to manage and take care of earth and all it contains. It is still a part of our purpose today. Everything we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God placed in our hands, "What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?" 1 Corinthians 4:7. Our human nature says, 'If I don't own it, I don't have to take care of it.' But God expects us to live by a higher standard, in that we must take the best care of earth we possibly can. Jesus often referred to life as a trust and told many stories to illustrate our responsibility toward God. In the story of the talents in Matthew
25, a businessman entrusts his wealth to the care of his servants while he's away. When he returns, evaluates each servant's responsibility rewards them accordingly. The owner says, "Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness." Matthew 25:21. At the end of your life on earth you will be evaluated and then rewarded according to how well you handled what God entrusted to you. That means that everything you do, even simple chores have eternal implications. If you treat everything as a trust, God promises 3 rewards in heaven: affirmation, promotion and celebration.

Most people fail to realise that money is both a test and a trust from God. He uses finances to teach us to trust him, and for many people, money is the biggest test of all. God watches how we use money to test how trustworthy we are. Jesus said, "If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?" Luke 16:11. God says that there is a direct relationship between how you use your money and the quality of your spiritual life. How you manage your worldly wealth determines how much God can trust you with spiritual blessings. Life is a test and a trust, and the more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.

Life on earth is a test

God continually tests people's character, faith, obedience, love, integrity and loyalty. Words like trials, testing, temptation and refining occur more than 200 times in the Bible. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac. God also tested Jacob when he had to work extra years to earn Rachel as his wife. Adam and Eve failed their test in the Garden of Eden and King David failed tests from God on various occasions. But the Bibl also gives us many examples of people who passed personal tests of their character such as Joseph, Ruth, Esther and Daniel. Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested and God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, disappointment, illness and even the weather! God even watches the simplest actions such as when you open a door for others or pick up rubbish in the street. You can't know for certain what tests God will give you but you can make predictions based on the Bible. You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism and even senseless tragedies. A very important test is how you act when you can't feel God's presence in your life so sometimes, God purposely draws back and we can't sense his closeness. Hezekiah experienced this test, "God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him to see what was really in his heart." 2 Chronicles 32:31. Hezekiah had enjoyed a close fellowship with God, but at a crucial point in his life God left him alone to test his character, to reveal a weakness and to prepare him for more responsibility.

When you understand that life is a test, you realise that nothing is insignificant in your life, even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day and every second is an opportunity for growth to deepen your character, develop your love or to depend on God. Some tests will seem overwhelming to you whilst others will silently pass you by, but all of them have eternal implications. God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows them to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them, "God keeps his promise and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm so at the time you are put to the test he will give you the strength to endure it and to provide you with a way out." 1 Corinthians 10:13. Every time you pass a test, God notices and makes plans to reward you in eternity. The Bible says, "Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12

Seeing Life from God's View

The way you see your life shapes your life. How you define life determines your destiny. Your perspective will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents and value your relationships.

If you were asked how you picture life, the image that appears in your mind is your 'life metaphor.' It is the view of life that you hold in your mind whether consciously or subconsciously. It's your description of how life works and what you expect from it. People often express their life metaphors through clothes, jewellery, cars, hair styles and tattoos. Your unspoken life metaphor influences your life more than you realise. It determines your expectations, values, relationships, goals and priorities. For example, if you view life as a party then your primary value will be having fun, or if you see life as a battle or competition then winning will be very important to you. Have you stopped to consider that you may be basing your life on a faulty metaphor? You may have picked it up from a parent, friend, TV show or another fallible source, but to fulfil the purposes God made you for, you'll have to challenge conventional wisdom and replace it with God's metaphors of life. The Bible says, "Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God." Romans 12:2.

Made to last forever

This life is not all there is. Life on earth is just a dress rehearsal. You will spend far more time in eternity than you will here. Earth is a staging arena, the warm up for your life in eternity. This life is preparation for the next. At the most, you will live a 100 years on earth but you will spend forever in eternity, "God has planted eternity in the human heart." Ecclesiastes 3:11. You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality, this is because God designed you, in his image, to live for eternity. Even though we know that everyone eventually dies, death always seem unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire. The day your heart stops beating will signify the end of your body and your time on earth, but it will not be the end of you. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit.

While life on earth offers many choices, eternity only offers two: heaven or hell. Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity. If you learn to love and trust Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of eternity with him. On the other hand, if you reject his love, forgiveness and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God.

When you finally comprehend that there is more to life than just the here and now and you realise that this life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently on a daily basis. You will start 'living in the light of eternity' and that will colour how you handle every relationship, task and circumstance. When you live in light of eternity your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame, wealth, achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with fashions, trends and popular values just don't matter as much anymore. Paul said, "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done." Philippians 3:7.

The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. Yet, the capacity of our brain is unable to handle the wonder and greatness of heaven. Words have not been created that could possibly convey the experience of eternity, "No mere man has ever seen, heard of even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord." 1
Corinthians 4:9. However, God has given us glimpses of eternity in his Word and we know that he is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven we will be reunited with loved ones who are believers, released from all pain and suffering and rewarded for our faithfulness on earth. We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God and he will enjoy us for an endless forever. One day, Jesus will say to you, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Matthew 25:34.

God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. In the same way as being in your mother's womb prepared you for this life, this life prepares you for eternity. Death is not the end, it is beginning of your eternal life.

Purpose-driven Life

Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. We were made to have meaning. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without meaning, nothing is bearable. Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope. In the Bible, many different people expressed this hopelessness. Isaiah complained, "I have laboured to no purpose. I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing." Isaiah 49:4. Job said, "My life drags by, day after hopeless day." Job 7:6 and "I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense." Job 7:16. The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose. Hope is an essential part of life. You need hope to cope and this hope comes from having a purpose. If you have felt of feel hopeless, hang on in there! Awesome changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose. You may feel you are facing an impossible situation, but the Bible says, "God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes." Ephesians 3:20

Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and don't do. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren't to God's purpose in your life. Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which to base decisions, allocate your time and use your resources. We tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures and our current mood. People who don't know their purpose try to do too much, and that causes stress, fatigue and conflict. Knowing your purpose also focuses your life, it concentrates your effort and energy on what's important. You become effective by being selective. But without a clear purpose you will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships or churches hoping that each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart. The problem you have is a lack of purpose and focus, but none of these changes will solve that, "Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants." Ephesians 5:17. There is nothing quite as powerful as a focused, purpose-driven life. Paul, one of the most effective leaders in the Bible said, "Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead" Philippians 3:13. If you want your life to have impact, then you need to give it focus. Stop trying to do so much, do less and focus more. Knowing your purpose energises your life, it produces passion because a clear focus is motivating. When your life lacks purpose, small things can become a great chore, even getting out of bed. A meaningless life wears us down, saps our strength and steals our joy.

Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity. Many people spend their lives trying to make a lasting legacy on earth because they want to be remembered when they are gone. But, ultimately it doesn't matter what others say about your life but what God says. Living to create an earthly legacy is a short sighted goal. It is far better to focus on building an eternal legacy, after all, you weren't put on this earth to be remembered, you were put here to prepare for eternity. On the day that you stand before God, he will do an audit of your life, a final exam before you enter eternity, "Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God." Romans 14:12. God wants us to pass this test. He will not ask about your religious background and doctrinal views, but he very much wants to know if you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. God wants you to know, love and trust his son who he sent to earth to show us what God is like and to forgive and save us. God will also want to know what you did with the life that God gave you. He will want to learn if you used your talents, gifts, opportunities, relationships and resources on yourself to fulfil God's purpose in your life.

What drives your life?

Everybody's life is driven by something. Do you know what the driving force is in your life? Right now you may be driven by a problem, pressure or deadline. You may be driven by a painful memory, a huge fear or a belief. There are hundreds of circumstances, values and emotions that can drive your life, in particular these 5 common ones:

1. Guilt Many people spend their whole lives running from regrets and hiding shame. Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories, they allow their past to control their future and often subconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own success. When Cain killed his brother, his guilt disconnected him from feeling God's presence and God said, "You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Genesis 4:12. This describes most people today - wandering through life with no purpose. We are all products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. God's purpose is never limited by your past. Moses was a murderer and God turned him into a compassionate leader, he also turned Gideon, a coward, into a courageous hero. If God did this, he can do amazing things with your life too. God loves to give people a fresh start.

2. Resentment Lots of people hold onto their hurts and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they let the pain dominate their mind. Some resentment-driven people internalise their anger, while others explode with it in an uncontrolled way. Both responses are unhealthy and unhelpful. Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. While the offender has probably forgotten about the offence and is getting on with life, you continue to dwell on the past, perpetuating your pain. Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold onto the pain through resentment. Your past is your past and nothing will ever change it, "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do" Job 5:2

3. Fear Fears may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectation, living in an over-disciplined home, or other things. Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people often miss out on many opportunities because they're afraid to step out. Instead, they play it safe and avoid risks. Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. The only way to defeat fear is to move against it with the spiritual weapons of faith and love, "well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life, fear of death, fear of judgement, is one not yet fully formed in love." 1 John 4:18

4. Materialism The desire to acquire for many people becomes the main goal of their lives. This drive to always get more is based on the misconception that having more will make you more happy, important and secure. But all of these three are untrue. Possessions only provide temporary happiness, because things do not change and we eventually become bored with them and then want a newer, better version. It's also a myth that if you get more you will be more important. Your true value is not determined by your valuables and having more money will not make you more secure. Real security can only be found in things that can never be taken from you such as your relationship with God.

5. Need for approval Some people allow the expectations of those around them to control their lives. Many adults are still trying to earn the approval of dislikeable parents. Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. One of the sure ways to fail is to constantly try to please everyone. Being controlled by the opinions of others is a guaranteed way to miss God's purposes for your life.

There are also other forces that can drive your life, but they all lead to the same dead end; unused potential, unnecessary stress and an unfulfilled life. That's why there is nothing more important than knowing God's purpose for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing it, not success, wealth, fame or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial and pointless.

It all starts with God

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfilment, your peace of mind and your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career and your ambitions. You were born by God's purpose and for his purpose. The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years, because we typically begin at the wrong starting point - ourselves. We ask self-centred questions such as 'What do I want to be? What should I do?' and so on. But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life's purpose, "It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power." Job 12:10. You exist only because God wills you to exist. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, identity, meaning, purpose and destiny. Every other paths leads to a dead end. Many people try to use God for their own self-actualisation. They want God to be their own personal genie in a bottle who serves their self-centred desires, but that will always result in failure. You were made for God, not he for you, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not you using him for your own purposes, "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life." Romans 8:6. Being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not the same issue. You should reach all your personal goals, becoming a success by the world's standards, and still miss the purposes for which God created you. The easiest way to discover the purpose of your life is to ask your creator: God. You can find all answers in His word where he has clearly revealed his five purposes for our lives. The Bible explains why we are alive, how life works, what to avoid and what to expect in the future.

God is not just the starting point of your life, he is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life, turn to God's Word. You must build your life on unchanging eternal truths, not the opinions of talk shows, self-help seminars and such, "It 's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard from Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." Ephesians 1:11. This verse offers three insights into your purpose. First, you discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Second, God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him, and thirdly, the purpose of your life fits into a much larger purpose that God has designed for eternity.

You are not an accident

Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. You parents may not have planned you, but that doesn't mean God didn't plan you. He works even through human errors and failings, and he was not surprised by your birth, in fact he expected it. It is not by fate, chance or coincidence that you are here right now. You are alive because God wants to create you! "The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me." Psalm 138:8. God designed every detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the colour of your skin, your hair, and every other feature. He also determined the natural talents you would have and the uniqueness of your personality. "God, you know me inside out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something." Psalm 139:15. Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you will live. Your whole life was planned in advance, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe." Psalm 139:16. God also planned where you'd be born and where you'd live for his purpose. Your race and nationality are no accident. God left no detail to chance, he planned it all for his purpose. Nothing in your life is arbitrary, it's all for a purpose. Most amazingly, God decided how you would be born. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God has a plan in creating you. He knew the two individuals who had exactly the right genetics to create the customised you that he wanted for you. There may be illegitimate parents but there are no illegitimate children! Some children may be unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God. God's purposes take into account human mistakes, even sin. This doesn't mean that God causes or condones sin or evil, he doesn't, but it does mean that God is able to redeem all situations and use them for his own good if he so wishes. So regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can celebrate the fact that God created you to be YOU! God never does anything accidentally and he never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything he creates. God's motive for creating you is love. "Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love." Ephesians 1:4. God was thinking of you even before he made the world. In fact, that's why he created it. God designed this planet's environment just so we could live in it. We are the focus of his love and the most valuable of all his creation, "God decided to give us life through the word of truth so we might be the important of all the things he made." James 1:18. God is not haphazard, he planned it all with great precision and the more scientists learn about the universe, the better we understand how it is uniquely suited for our existence, custom-made with the exact specifications that make human life possible. So why did God do all this? Why did he bother to go to all the trouble of creating a universe for us? The answer is simple: He is a God of love and he made you so that he could love you! This is the foundation that you need to build your life upon.

The Bible tells us, "God is love" 1 John 4:8. It does not say God has love. He is love. Love is the essence of God's character and he wanted to create you so that he could express his love, "I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you." Isaiah 46:4. If there was no God we would not be here, it's as simple as that. But, there is a God, who made you for a reason, and your life has profound meaning. We only discover that meaning and purpose when we make God the reference point of our lives, "The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us." Romans 12:3.

Help I'm worried!

Our Refuge and Fortress - "I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I trust!" Psalm 91:2. This verse shows us that we do not need to be worried because we can put out trust and confidence in God. A refuge is different to a fortress. A refuge is a secret place of concealment where the enemy can't find us. If we are hidden in God, the devil cannot locate us, we can see him but he can't see us. Whereas a fortress is a visible place of defence. The devil knows we are there but he cannot get to us because of how a fortress is designed. We can choose to be in either and the Lord will give His angels charge over us.

Leaning on Him - "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints." Colossians 1:4. Faith is the leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness. We often don't trust in God fully, we lean on Him to a certain point but keep some of it to ourselves in case God doesn't come through for us, we have an alternative plan of our own. This is not trusting God totally and completely! God wants us to trust Him without reserve and with no thoughts or plans for failure.

He will deliver and cover you - "Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." Psalm 91:3-4. In these verses are the Lord's wonderful promises of deliverance and protection. The shield and rampart are forms of protection used during combat. Regardless of the situation in which we may find ourselves, God is for us. It may seem hopeless to us, but if the Lord is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. Focus your mind on the fact that God is around you, he is for you, he is with you, he is under you and he is over you. The devil is the only one who is against you, but as long as you are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, stable under the shadow of the Almighty, the devil has no way of finding you or getting to you.

Because we Love Him - "Because He loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him." Psalm 91:14-15. In order to qualify for God's blessings and protection we must have personal knowledge of His name, this cannot be done 'by association'. Deliverance is a process. When we have trouble, first of all God will be with us in that trouble. He will strengthen us and take us through it victoriously. Then He will deliver us and honour us. When we are having troubles we need to get out of the habit of running to people and instead turn to God. Learn to run to Him, to that secret place, learn to say, "God, nobody can help me but You. I am totally dependent upon You." Many times, God will anoint somebody else to help us, but we need to learn to go to God first.

Follow the Signposts - "But after I am raised, I will go before you..." Mark 14:28. So the 3 main signposts along the way are: 1. Trust God and don't worry. 2. Fear not and don't be anxious. 3. Cast all your care and avoid reasoning. In order not to veer off the path we need to pay attention to these signposts. On the Christian journey one of the main reasons for veering off the path is the issue of worry. Worry won't change your situation, but an attitude of faith does not worry and have anxiety about tomorrow because faith understands that wherever it needs to go, Jesus has already been there. It is not necessary to know and understand the reason behind everything that is going on in your life. Trust that the Lord will reveal to you anything you do need to know.

Trust in God

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4. We frequently get frustrated and needlessly upset about life situations, whilst believing that we are believing and trusting in God. But in fact all we are doing is worrying, talking negatively and trying to figure everything out on our own. We may think that we are trusting God because we are saying, "I trust God", but inside we are worried and anxious. Our trust in God is developing but there is still work to be done. Trust and confidence are built up over a period of time and it usually takes a while to overcome an ingrained habit of worry, anxiety and fear. That is why it is so important to 'hang in there' with God. Don't quit and give up, each hurdle you jump over gains you experience and spiritual strength. Each time, you become a little bit stronger than you were the last time, and if you don't give up, you will be more than the devil can handle! When you enter into a crisis or encounter a problem, the devil wants us to run to people and not to God as this stops our relationship with God strengthening. But, the truth is that God is the only one that can truly help us. We need to learn not to tell people all of our woes. We need to learn to suffer privately, in God, at times - "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth" Isaiah 53:7. Once you reach a certain point in your walk with God, this is one of the golden rules for gaining even more strength in Him. "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7. It would be great if we could get to the point where we had stability, did not worry, were not full of unnecessary reasoning and could cast all our care upon God. Trusting God is one of those areas in which we have to get experience for ourselves. We don't get it by going through a prayer line and it isn't something that anyone can just give us. We have to get it for ourselves by ensuring that we are heading in the right direction and that we are learning, willing to change and open to growing in order to overcome worry, anxiety and fear. Far too many of us spend years of our lives tormenting ourselves with worry and anxiety, trying to cope with things that we can't handle and as a result, those years are wasted. We would be wise to cast our care on the Lord and live our lives, but sometimes in trying situations our worry levels get in the way of us doing what we should. We function best when we have a calm, well-balanced mind without fear, worry or anxiety. When our mind is in this state we are able to look the situation over effectively and decide what to do about it. We get into trouble when our mind is out of balance as we either move into a state of total passivity, expecting God to do everything for us, or we become hyperactive and operate in the flesh. We need to become well-balanced so that we are able to handle any life situation appropriately, making correct use of our own responsibility and God's help. Believe in God to help you in your situation and be prepared for Him to expect you to do something, and whatever it is that God shows us to do about our problem, we need to be diligent enough to do it then trust Him with the outcome.

Conversations and Plans

"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say." Luke 12:11-12. As well as having a huge tendency to try to figure out what we ought to do, we also try to figure out what we ought to say. There may be an upcoming meeting at work with your boss and it is causing you to worry. Instead of planning and rehearsing the impending conversation over and over in your head, make a decision to trust God. God only wants you to focus on the present, not the future or the past. It may be necessary to do a little forward planning but a balance needs to be kept. If you become obsessive and keep going over the situation in your head, that is a sign you are not depending upon the anointing of the Lord. You are depending only on yourself and will fail. Sometimes we rack our brains trying to come up with a plan to handle a difficult situation and once we think we have finally decided what we are going to do we get troubling thoughts popping into our heads and we end up more confused than ever. What we need to do is come to a sense of peace and confidence about the situation. God's peace is always available, but we must choose 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." Jeremiah 29:11. God doesn't want us outlining all our conversations or trying to figure out the meaning of some casual remark made to us. It is a useless waste of time. God has a plan for our life. His thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways are above our ways and we will never, ever figure Him out. But we still end up getting worried due to fear. A fear that has been embedded in our thought processes, usually since childhood, especially if we have been abused.

God's Thoughts

Many of us have fallen into the trap of always trying to figure everything out. Instead of casting our care upon the Lord, we go through life carrying every bit of it. When we are trying to figure everything out, we are exalting our reasoning above God's thoughts and plans for our life as we are placing our ways higher than His ways. "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5. We need to always cast our cares to Christ. When we do that, we will stop trying to figure everything out and learn to cast our care upon the Lord and enter into His rest. "Now we who have believed enter that rest..." Hebrews 4:3. If we are not resting, then we are not really believing and trusting, because the fruit of belief and trust is rest. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..." Proverbs 3:5. In other words, we are told, 'Trust God and don't try to figure things out on the basis of what you see.' NOT 'Trust God while you are trying to figure everything out.' We may trust God with our mouths but do our minds reflect that? God never called us to figure everything out, He asked us to seek Him then obey what He tells us to do. He will bring everything to pass in accordance with His will and plan. When we worry, we lose our peace, and when we try to figure everything out, we fall into confusion. Staying in peace is abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Confusion is the consequence of reasoning with our own understanding when we should be trusting in the Lord with all our heart to make way for us according to His plan. When we trust that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, we can stop confusion before it even starts.

One at a time

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God." Ecclesiastes 5:1. The vast majority of us are unable to give ourselves to one thing because we are too concerned about getting to the next one. We need to develop mindfulness and focus on the moment. If we don't, we will lose our footing or balance in life. We need to make a decision to live in the here and now, not in the past or future, because getting into yesterday or tomorrow when we should be living in today causes us to lose our anointing for today. We have to take one day at a time because that is the only way we are going to get where we are going. We live in such an instant society that we want someone to just wave a magic wand and make everything better. But things don't happen that way; change comes one day at a time. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34. Giving ourselves to one thing at a time is not just physical, it is mental and emotional too. When our actions and thoughts are not lined up in the same time frame, it makes way for the devil to snatch our minds away and take us off somewhere so that we miss out on what is happening in the now. We don't need to be anxious about tomorrow when we have all we can handle today. Even if we solve all of today's problems, tomorrow will always bring new challenges. Don't waste time being anxious when it isn't going to solve anything. Don't be anxious about the past, or tomorrow which isn't here yet. Live in faith now. Don't be fearful and don't be anxious.

Glory and Gladness

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18. If the only time you decide to enjoy yourself is when everything is perfect, you are never going to have much fun. Don't make the mistake of waiting to enjoy yourself until you and everyone around you are all perfected and have arrived at the finish line. The Bible says that we are being changed into God's own image and are going from glory to glory, which means we are going through a lot of different stages. We need to learn how to enjoy the glory of our current stage while we are moving into the next one. Realise that you are not where you were and are going to enjoy each stage on the way to where you are heading. Don't wish any stage away and the enjoyment of it through a longing to move onto the next one. Some people spend their entire lives wishing every stage away and consequently lead a life with minimal enjoyment. They believe that the next stage will bring them joy so they ignore and don't fully participate in the current stage. Every phase we go through brings with it a certain amount of joy, but it also comes with its own little set of problems. We need to learn to be glad in spite of any circumstance.

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the work of your hands." Psalm 92:4. The doorway to true happiness is found in the presence of God. It's okay being happy if God is doing something that makes you glad, but you need to know to be glad because of Him. Don't be fooled into thinking that you are going to be glad when God does the next thing for you that you want Him to do. As soon as He does, there will be something else that you will want and you will think that you can't be glad until you get it. You will achieve nothing spending your life waiting until some other time to be happy. Enjoy happiness when it occurs and rejoice for all the things He has done to make you glad. If we are to live in the fullness of joy, we must find something to be glad about besides our circumstances.

"Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you are upright in heart! Psalm 32:11. Even if everyone of our circumstances suits us, we will eventually find a world full of people who don't suit us. We get rid of those who don't suit us, but others will come along who also don't suit us. The cycle is never ending. Even being around Christian people will not make us glad all the time. The only one who can make us glad all the time, every time is Jesus, and even He cannot do that for us unless we allow Him to.

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." 1 John 3:2. In reality, it is the choices we make today that determine whether we will enjoy the moment or waste it by worrying. Sometimes we end up missing the moment of today because we are too concerned about tomorrow. But God wants us to learn how to live in the moment, "...Behold, now is the day of salvation" 2 Corinthians 6:2, "...Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts." Hebrews
4:7. We spend too much mental time in the past or future. When we don't really give ourselves to what we are doing in the moment we become prone to anxiety and often over simple, everyday situations.

Fear Not

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down..." Proverbs 12:25. Anxiety, unlike worry, is an uneasy feeling that lingers even after we think we have dealt with it. Once we go in this direction we step out of faith and into fear, fear of tomorrow, fear of the unknown. The result is anxiety which brings a heaviness to our lives. Sometimes this uneasiness is vague and we can't put our finger on it. All we know is that we are anxious, often all day and all night. "All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil (by anxious thoughts and forebodings), but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast" Proverbs 15:15. Foreboding is a sense of impending misfortune or evil. It has nothing to do with anything that is happening right now, it is a negative feeling about the outcome of some event in the future. God wants us to get rid of evil forebodings so that we can enjoy life. However, the devil wants us to believe that we will always be misunderstood and unappreciated, that nobody will ever like us or want to be around us or care about us. He wants us to feel humiliated about the past, helpless about the present and hopeless about the future. He wants to thrust so much worry and anxiety on upon us that we will be drawn away from our relationship with God. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who He has delivered from the hand of the adversary." Psalm 107:2. Once you realise that the devil is trying to distract you, you need to fight against his negative thoughts and worry. Begin to confess your authority in Christ. Sometimes it helps to say out loud 'God is with me and everything is going to be okay' It acts as a preventative measure against evil forebodings which will keep us feeling anxious and worried and helps us take authority over evil.

Worry accomplishes...?

"And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure to his stature or to the span of his life?" Matthew 6:27. The answer is no one, but we can shorten our life span for sure if we continue to make worry a habit. Instead of worrying we need to be more dependent on the Lord to provide, instead of getting caught up in the works of the flesh. The problem with worry is that it causes us to start saying things like: 'What are we going to have for dinner? What shall I wear?', in other words 'What are we going to do if God doesn't come through for us?' We begin to fret and fuss with the words that we use. Instead of calming our fears and worries, it just makes them deeply ingrained. We need to act more like we know we have a heavenly Father. Unbelievers may not know how to rely on Him but we should. Jesus assures us that our Father knows all the things we need to know before we ask Him, so there is no need for us to worry. Instead, we need to focus our attention on more important things - the things of God. However, too often we spend all our time seeking God for answers to our problems and worries when what we should be doing is just seeking God. As long as we are seeking God, we are in the 'secret place', under the shadow of His wing. But when we start seeking answers to all the worries that confront us, trying to fulfil our desires rather than God's will, we get out from under the shadow of His wing. Just keep seeking and abiding in God and you will grow. We can never experience any real measure of success by our own human effort. Instead we must first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then we will get what we need from the Lord. In Philippians 4 the apostle Paul tells us in essence, 'Pray and don't worry'. When we pray and give our problems to God, that is a sign to God that we are trusting Him. If we take our concerns to God in prayer but still continue to worry, we are mixing a positive and a negative force together. Prayer is positive. Worry is negative. Make the decision to stay in the positive by always trusting God and refusing to worry.

Road of Life

On a regular road you will find different types of road markings. Sometimes there are double yellow lines down the centre that warn you not to cross them or you will be in danger of a head on collision. Sometimes there are broken white lines meaning that you can cross the line to overtake if you want but you need to keep an eye on oncoming traffic to make sure the way is clear. There are also many signposts on the road saying things like; stop, give way, one way, detour, bridge. If you observe these instructions they will help keep you from danger. In the same way, in life there are spiritual signposts too, and in order to stay under God's protection we must heed these signposts along the way that tell us to trust Him and not to worry, fear or be anxious and to cast our care on Him. Then, instead of trying to work out a solution, we need to turn our thoughts to things that are true, honest, pure and just, Philippians 4:8. If we heed these signposts and stay within the road markings we will remain on course. We will be protected and will experience the fulfilment of all the wonderful promises of God's Word in our lifetime.

"And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21. Imagine you are driving along the road of life, you start to veer off a little and notice that the road is getting bumpier. If you decide to continue on this path, you will veer further off and end up in a ditch, whereas if we pay attention to road signs such as 'Trust God and don't worry' then we would be wiser and retain our peace. "And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet" Hebrews 12:13. When you make a wrong decision, when you decide to worry rather than trust God, you will begin to get uncomfortable and start to lose your peace. You may also begin to sense that things are no longer working out right and that you have missed the way somewhere. Sometimes, as we are on the road we realise that deep down we are not at peace. This is a sign that we have travelled out from the protection of the shadow of God's wing. When this happens, ask God to show you why you are losing your peace so that you can take the necessary steps to sort things out.

Recognising a Religious Attitude

A religious attitude makes you think that you are better than not just sinners, but better than everyone out there in the world. In Luke 15, Jesus came for sinners, the weak, the sick and the needy, but all the religious people would have given those people a very wide berth due to their superiority complex. They wouldn't have dreamed of stopping to help anyone in need as neediness equates to inferiority. But in Christ there is no class system, everyone is equal and no one has the right to exclude anybody. Jesus included everyone and we need to ensure that our circle of inclusion is broad encompasses all types of people in the same way that any church should open its doors to anyone, especially to those in need. We, as Christians, striving to act like Jesus should be going out of our way to help others, to speak to those that seem to be lonely and out of place, not just in church but out on the street too. We have no right to exclude sinners, God didn't. People go about being religious but don't have the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them and it is clearly evident to a saved Christian. The religious have not fully surrendered so they cannot live the way that Jesus wants us to live. It is absolutely impossible to have a merciful, loving and forgiving attitude if the Holy Spirit is not running through you. It is not until a big crisis hits that many people fully consecrate themselves to God so that they can have more of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Ask God to help you fulfil your calling in life, ask Him to reveal it to you if you don't know what it is yet. And as you do what God has anointed you to do, regardless of opinion around you, when they see how you are, when they hear what you say, the crowds will bless you in your calling and stand by you. Allow yourself to be who God makes you to be and be happy with what God has called others to be.

Secret Place

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1. God has a secret place where we can dwell in peace and safety. The secret place is the place of rest in God, a place where we can find peace and comfort in Him. It is a spiritual place where there is no worry, and peace reigns in God's presence. When we spend time praying and seeking God, dwelling in His presence, we are in the secret place where we need to keep ourselves firmly planted. We need to know the Source of our help in every circumstance. We need to rely on God and trust Him completely. In Psalm 91, the psalmist says that he who dwells in the secret place will be settled and secure. The secret place is a hiding place, a private place, or a place of refuge where we can run to when we are hurting. It is the place we run to when we are being mistreated or persecuted, when we are in great need or when we feel we just cannot take it anymore. Some people in the world use drugs or alcohol as their hiding place, some get depressed and pull the covers over their heads. There are a lot of people out there hiding from a lot of things. But instead of looking to the world to hide us, God wants us to find our hiding place in Him. When we have problems and are in trouble, God wants us to take refuge under His wings. When we do that, we remain stable and fixed because no foe can withstand the power of God, so the devil can do us no harm. We need God all the time, constantly; not just occasionally. "apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5.

"...under the shadow of the Almighty" Psalm 91:1. It can be easy to sweep over this line without truly understanding its meaning. Firstly, shadow implies shelter or shade from the hot sun or heat of the world. Shadows have borders. The border is where the shade stops and the sunshine starts. If we are to stay under the shadow of God's wings, there are clear borders which we need to stay within. If we decide to stay in the shade under the shadow of God's wings, life will be much more comfortable. Instead of worrying about our problems, we will be resting in God. However, if we don't go in the shade and stand out in the sun, we will be miserable, uncomfortable and thirsty. It is our choice where we stand; in the shade trusting God or in the sun sweating it out. Do you want to be in Jesus or in the world with all its problems?

Patience

As a Christian we should learn and practise attributes that reflect the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Patience tends to be the hardest to learn in today's fast-paced society. Patience means endurance, forbearance, fortitude and long-suffering. These words infer the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty or inconvenience without complaint. In Galatians 5:22-23 patience is described as one of the fruits of the Spirit, perhaps because it emphasises calmness, self-control and the ability or willingness to tolerate delay. Beliefs of those who lack patience:

• I should be able to do this faster and better
  
• They should understand me the first time and not need me to repeat myself
  
• Why should it take so long and so much effort to change and grow?
  
• I will never be able to accomplish everything what I need to
  
• I want this done yesterday
  
• I can't stand things like diets, exercise and counselling, the results take too long to achieve
  
• I will never be able to accomplish my goal of growth and change so why bother trying?
  

Impatience produces so many negative feelings such as frustration, irritation and agitation which then lead to tension, stress and anxiety which can ultimately result in burnout. From a biblical perspective, patience is the ability to accept your human frailty in the pursuit of all areas of spiritual growth. Accepting setbacks can be a tough task. The apostle Paul was acutely aware of the battle going on inside him to try to follow God's law, and recognised how much he needed Christ's help in order to overcome his shortcomings. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Romans 7:15-16,25. He knew he could not do it all on his own without God's help.

Patience is also the ability to show tolerance, compassion, understanding and acceptance toward those who you may perceive as being slower than you are in developing maturity, emotional freedom and coping abilities. Christ expected a need for us to be concerned about the welfare of others. During a dispute between certain disciples who wanted positions of power, He advised, "Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10:43-45.

Another aspect of patience is the ability to believe in the concepts of commitment and permanence. It takes patience to learn to be calm and considerate as you handle the growth in your church, career, family and marriage. Patience is needed to maintain a relationship especially in troubled times that may not have an instant solution. Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:10.

We need to hold tight onto hope and the faithfulness of God during times requiring patience. Waiting for something patiently means that we have to let go of our need for immediate gratification. The Scriptures allows us to wait with eagerness as well as patient endurance. Twice Jesus counselled that "he who endures to the end will be saved" Matthew 10:22, 24:13. Patience allows us to realise that overnight transformations are rarely long lasting. Gradual change and growth have a greater durability, thus requiring patience.

Most people's lives comprise of troughs, peaks and plateaux. We all make mistakes from time to time, but we should not be discouraged. If we fall down, we need to get up, dust ourselves down and with the help of Christ move forward again. One of Solomon's proverbs says that a righteous person falls down seven times, but gets back up each and every time Proverbs 24:16. Patience most importantly is the ability to wait for God's promised outcome without experiencing anxiety, tension or frustration. In Lamentations, Jeremiah states, "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:24-26.

There are many ways in which we can increase our levels of patience:

• Accept the reality of your humanity, in that you need time, effort and energy to change and grow. God knows how much time each one of us needs.
  
• Do not dwell on past mistakes and sins but push forward toward the goal.
  
• Break big goals down into smaller manageable chunks so that you get some quick wins along the way.
  
• Realise that your journey will take a lifetime.
  
• Confront fears about attaining your goal.
  
• Be ready and willing to face challenges as you strive for personal and spiritual growth.
  

And finally, always, always ensure that it is God who is your guide.