courage

Naturally speaking, this is a terrifying world we’re living in today. A world that staggers from one disaster to another. Almost daily we hear about wars, about the dangers of nuclear weapons and chemical warfare, about oil spills and earthquakes and floods, about diseases on the rise and crime sweeping through our cities.

But in the midst of it all, God is promising to be a refuge and a fortress to those who will trust and dwell in Him.

“But, Gloria,” you might say, “He made that promise thousands of years ago when things weren’t in as desperate shape as they are today!”

What happens when you hesitate to do something God has told you to do? Your adversary takes the first step. The devil gets the jump on you.

If you want to live by faith, hesitation is one of the most hazardous habits you could ever have. It comes from being indecisive. The Bible says a man like that is “unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides” (The Amplified Bible).

It’s easy to be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get around to stepping out on faith. You can spend all your time wondering, Is this faith? Or is it presumption? What if I exercise my faith for something and find out later I’ve missed God’s will?

Don’t worry. God can handle any mistake you can make. I know because I’ve made plenty of them. When I did, I’d just go to the Lord and He’d tell me, Stay on the Word, son. Together we’ll overcome this thing. And we always did.

You’ve been walking by faith. You’ve been believing God to meet your need. But what do you do when the results seem slow in coming and you are tempted to give up?

Be patient!

There is not much said about patience these days. But, when it comes to receiving from God, it is just as important as faith.

It will make the difference between success and failure for you.

If you've been standing around wringing your hands and worrying about what the devil is doing, it's time you made a switch. It's time you put that devil under your feet!

God is vehemently against worry. Jesus preached against it. Paul preached against it. The whole Bible preaches against worry because it was designed by Satan to produce stress, strain and death.

Yet many of us still act as if it's an option, as if we're free to worry if we want to. But we're not! Worrying is a sin. It's one of those things the Word of God directly commands us not to do.

If there's any way the devil can get your eyes away from the Word, he'll do it. He'll cause trouble. He'll make the circumstances around you pitch and roll like a rowboat in a hurricane. He'll do anything he can to get you to concentrate on the realm of the physical senses and the situation around you instead of on the promise of God—because he knows that if he doesn't, you'll take that promise and beat his brains out with it.