Where To Find hope When Your Problems Are About to Conquer You

Sometimes, we feel like we are in a losing battle where our problems are going to beat us

"No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:38.

The Biblical passage before this verse lists many adversities, trials, afflictions, and tests.

We are conquerors over...
     * Sin,
     * The devil,
     * The world,
     * Test
     * Afflictions
     * Persecutions
     * Trials.

MORE THAN
We not only overcome our trials but also overcome them abundantly to the point that we are made better off for having been in the trial. The lessons we learn and the character we develop far exceed the price paid by going through the tests. We can rejoice in trials and afflictions in ways that the world can only guess at.  Our test actually deepens our faith and joy.

Being more than conquerors is more than not being overcome by our afflictions but understanding that those afflictions actually cause us to know our Lord better. We are drawn closer to him and are made more like him.

Because we are conquerors, we can face trials and afflictions with joy and courage.

THE SOURCE OF CONQUEST
It is not by a program, education, church, or determination that we can overcome. It is through him who loved us, by the Blood of the Lamb. Victory is achieved through Jesus, whose death has already won the victory. He is the victor because he has overcome. He has defeated sin, death, the world, and Satan- that victory is one of the things we share in Jesus' death and resurrection.

The trials we face are nothing compared to his victory in his death and resurrection.

If we can trust him to deliver us from sin and its judgment, it should be a small thing to trust him to give us victory over our trials.

We come to Him by faith for salvation, for through him we are saved, and in the same way, we come to him by faith for victory.

LOVE
If he loved us enough to die to redeem us, he surely loves us enough to give us victory over the afflictions of our daily lives.

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(c)Adron Dozat 12/6/14

How To Handle Hard Times, James 5:11

Sometimes things are too hard and we just want to give up. We wonder if there is any good in our going on.

"As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance, and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." James 5:11, NIV.

PERSEVERE
To persevere is to endure a time of trial or test without compromising or giving up. It means to not turn away from the course but to keep moving ahead, and it is to remain constant no matter how big the obstacle or daunting the test.

JOB
The story of Job tells how he was tested and experienced one disaster after another. First, he lost his possessions, next he lost his family, and then his health.  His friends came and misunderstood his righteous stand of being faithful to God. After his time of testing, he was rewarded with greater blessing than he had before.

THE LORD
He is not just God the creator of everything he is the Lord, the one who rules and commands all. His word is obeyed by angels and even demons. The test Job went through did as much to show the nature of God as it showed Job's character, and in it, we see God is full of compassion and mercy, not just a little but all of God contains these qualities of his loving goodness.

COMPASSION
God sees our struggles through and he cares, he is understanding and has sympathy for all we are going through. He not only cares but he acts, his compassion is not just a good feeling of love and well-wishing it takes action for our benefit.

MERCY
The Lord has mercy. He gives good to those who cannot obtain it, or even do not deserve it. He is forgiving and kind. He gives aid. We are in his power since he is supreme and he exercises his power for our good.

DON'T GIVE UP
Don't give up on the Lord. If you give up it is not just that the bad situation wins but that we are making a statement that we do not believe the Lord will come through. Do not forget the Lord brought about blessings and good in the life of Job. When we are tempted to give up and turn away from doing right we must remember that our God, the Lord Almighty, is compassionate and merciful toward us.

To Learn more about finding God's mercy in your life read my other blog at this link: Click Here.

(c) Adron Dozat

What are the Best Thoughts To Think? Psalm 111:1-3

It is easy to get caught up in our own lives, our dreams, and problems. We spend a lot of time worrying about things like houses, kids, family, job, future, and so on. We turn these worries over and over again in our mind until we see them from every which way: in short, we ponder these things and find no relief, but these verses from the Bible give us a gentle reminder of what to focus on.

"Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the counsel of the upright and the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever." Psalm 111:1-3, NIV.*

I WILL
The words of this psalm start with a commitment; he says, "I will." We need to resolve to set our thoughts on things above and consider God, not ourselves. To resolve is to make a firm action of change that is often public and declarative. It would include steps of action to make it happen.

GREAT
We might have great worries but, "Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them." We need to ponder the things of Our Creator more and ponder ourselves less.

We can ponder His greatness by:

     * Setting aside times to meditate on Him.
     * Reading His Word, reflectively.
     * Memorizing a Scripture verse about Him.
     * Writing in a journal His activity in your life.
     * Talking to other believers about His greatness.

NOT HALF-WAY
"I will extol the Lord with all my heart." We need to follow that example and give our hearts to a deeper and more passionate attitude of praise and worship to the Lord. This pondering is a total thing for it needs a heart and the mind in it too.

FOCUS
The verses progress to a peon of praise, the author so absorbed he seems to burst out with the words, "Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever." You almost get the sense that he can't keep from shouting this. These are positive uplifting words that imply hope and promise.

We need to be like the psalmist and give our thoughts to Our Heavenly Father and reject the doom and gloom of our own minds.  What a cure it would be for so much bitterness, fretting, worry, frustration, and other mental stresses if we would not focus on ourselves and our problems but instead focus our hearts and minds on the greatness and majesty of God our Savior!

© Adron 1/1/13

What Does The Bible Say About Success? Proverbs 16:2

How do we become successful, and what is the key?

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3, NIV.

At first, that looks like a clear, and simple verse.  It looks like a formula for easy success, but if you look deeper you find there's more to it because to commit something to the Lord is hard.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COMMIT
Commit is not a word you hear every day.  You might hear someone had committed a crime, meaning it happened. You might say, I made a commitment, meaning a promise you will surely keep.  You may say I will commit something to memory, meaning I will put it to memory for good. You might say, I am committed to a cause, meaning you are given over to it.

To commit something to the Lord is all of this and it will also be...

• To honor the Lord.
• That the end will please Him.
• That He will be in charge.
• That I will be submissive to His instructions.
• That the cause of the Lord will be advanced.
• That people will look and see God, not me.
• And that He might (and probably will) change the plans.

A WAY OF LIFE
This is a way of life verse; it says, "whatever you do;" so it could be anything: a job, career, school, housework, or marriage. This verse is so totally open-ended it is like saying commit to the Lord anything you do; or maybe we should say, commit to the Lord everything we do. That might change everything for us!

OUR PROBLEM
We find we are very committed to ourselves. We need to begin with prayer and confession. We need to search our motivations because we know we cannot commit sinful plans to the Lord. We remember, he must increase and I must decrease.

WHAT HAPPENS
When we commit our plans to the Lord something will happen, we get more of the Lord.  We find him there and discover more about him, for his plan is that we know him.

GOD WILL SUCCEED
God's idea of success may not be what we had in mind. We may want a bigger paycheck, he may want us to have more trust; we may want loving relationships, he may want us to be forgiving; we may want a big title, he may want us to wash the disciple's feet. If we commit our plans to the Lord we are committed to his definition of success. When we are committed to allowing God to work our success as he sees fit we will find greater success than we originally envisioned.

To compare this verse in other translations visit this link: Proverbs 16:3.

If you want to find out more about how to have God in your life follow this link: Click Here.

© Adron 11/24/12

How Can You Tell If Someone Is From God 3 John 11

Our world is full of wickedness. We want to do good but how do we get away from the evil around us to be a positive influence?

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God, anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." 3 John: 11.

IS THIS A COMMAND FROM THE BIBLE?
It begins with the command, "Do not imitate..." A command is an imperative which must be followed. This command is simple, but we must still pay attention to it. Clearly, we can choose to "not do" evil and resolve to do "good;" we must not live reactionary lives where we act without weighing Gods opinion.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IMITATE?
To imitate is to reproduce the actions of another in yourself. A student learns how to play the piano by watching the teacher put their fingers here and there and moves them so; the student then repeats all those movements and creates the same sound. With practice, the teacher's actions become the students. It is the same when we imitate evil or imitate good, we become what we imitate. We must make doing good daily practice and avoid reproducing the actions that God does not approve of.

RESOLVE
There are thousands of opportunities to "imitate evil" every day, so there are thousands of opportunities to "do good." Opportunities like a saying a kind word, a smile, a gift, a donation, a minute spent in prayer, a hug, or a warm handshake, a little note, or a helping hand. We tend to slip into doing evil, but must resolve to do "good." It takes effort and concentration and awareness.

IS GOOD FROM GOD?
Only God is good, "Anyone who does what is good is from God." Evil is not true of God's people. We should pray for God to show us the good to do and look for it. We must not let our gaze rest on evil, but fill our vision with good- with God.

WARNING
The acid test is that "Anyone who does evil has not seen God." Do we make a habit of doing evil? If we do it maybe we have never come to God in faith in the saving work of his son on the cross, and our salvation is in doubt.

Resolved to take this verse to heart and really refuse to "do evil but what is good?"

To learn more about finding a personal relationship with God then follow this link to my other blog.\

(c)Adron Dozat 5/11/11

Where is God When You Need Him. Psalm 121:3-4

In our darkest times and deepest trials, we are tempted to demand of God that He pay attention. We wonder if God knows about our suffering. We ask "Does He see?"

"He will not let your foot slip- He who watches over you will not slumber: indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." Psalm 121:3,4, NIV

GOD IS ACTIVE
This verse from the Bible is full of activity. It uses words like, "He will not..." and,"He who watches..." and," Will neither ..." God is involved and active during our trials. He is not absent or distracted.

HE WATCHES
Twice it says, "He who watches." This double emphasis leaves no doubt that God is watching our troubles. He is the God who is already watching, we don't have to get His attention, He already is the God "who watches."

When we say God watches we don't just mean he sees, but like a guard on a city wall, He is watching to protect the city, ready to call the alarm and defend against a foe. God is watching over our trials ready to defend and protect.

A WATCHMAN
The watchman made the city safe and the watchfulness of our God keeps us safe. While others are asleep the watchman may turn back an enemy attack. We in our earthly state do not know or see the battles fought outside our vision on spiritual battlefields.

A watchman who slept while on duty was no good and was even a danger to the city, but our God is ever alert. Three times it uses the personal pronoun, "He," and three times it says our God will not slumber or sleep. Our Father in Heaven is watching, the Holy Spirit in us is counseling and comforting, and the Son is standing as our intercessor. We are protected, we are guarded, and we are covered!

STAND
We may receive wounds and blows in this wicked world but we still stand secure because "He will not let your foot slip." We stand on our feet and it speaks of our standing before the All-Seeing Ruler of All Time. Our standing before Him does change and our eternal salvation is secure.

If this post is helpful you also might like to read more encouragement from Psalm 121, CLICK HERE.

(c) Adron Dozat