Need or Desire?
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19When we read the above passage and apply it to our daily lives, we must be careful to interpret it correctly. For that to happen, we must understand the difference between "needs" and "desires."A need is something that is essential for us to develop into who God wants us to be or to accomplish the things He calls us to do. On the other hand, a desire is something we think will bring enjoyment to our lives. The key word here is "enjoyment." It describes a temporary pleasure. We tend to want things that will bring us happiness for

Thanksgiving - Every Day!
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalms 100:4The Bible instructs us, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) That directive might seem easy when life is going well. But if painful circumstances arise, expressing gratitude can become difficult.It’s interesting to note that this instruction to thank the Lord in all things was written by Paul—the apostle whose loyalty to Christ earned him severe persecution. You might wonder how he was able to be grateful to God.While

Don't Give Up!
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9Various thoughts run through our minds every day—some good, some bad. Our natural temptation is to focus on the bad, so accepting them doesn’t take any effort. The effort comes in being determined to take a firm hold of the positive ones, while letting go of the negative.Positive minds are full of faith and hope, and they produce positive lives. The opposite is also true—negative minds full of fear and doubt produce negative lives, which can ultimately destroy your life. Some people have been hurt so many times that they d

Rivers of Life
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38Deep inside each of us, there is a river of life. This river is a wonderful gift given to each of us by God. It refreshes, renews and revitalizes our lives. I'm sure all of us have known people from time to time who defied all logic and stayed alive years longer than they should have. Or you may have known people who have been able to keep a positive outlook on life even though terrible things happened to them. Their river ran strong and did not stop flowing.On the other hand, there are those who always seem to be down, wh

Loving Yourself
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1Do you like yourself? I have come to understand that most people really don’t like themselves. Some of them know it, while others don’t even have a clue. This self-loathing is the root of so many other problems in their lives. God wants us to have great relationships, but self-rejection and even self-hatred are the roots of many relationship problems. In fact, God's Word is a book about relationships, providing valuable advice about my relationship with God, other people and even myse