I believe God has given me thoughts to help Christians and non Christians have a place to go for help when trials, tests, hurts, and when day to day activities overwhelm them.
God can give daily strength, understanding, and most of all peace to face each day and its trials. I believe He has a message for each of us. The message from God: Matthew 22: 37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind".
Matthew 22: 39, "Love your neighbor as yourself".
We all live in a world which gives us what seem to be valleys we have to walk across. Psalm 23: 4; “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me.” God walks with us when we go through these valleys. The rod and staff are a reference to a shepherd’s staff used by the shepherd to guide and keep the sheep going in the correct path. God promises to be guiding us always.
He gave Joshua this message when Joshua had just taken over leading the Israelites into the Promised Land after the death of Moses.
Joshua 1:9 {Living Bible); “Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God wants us to live a positive life and to lean on Him through each moment. It is with His messages in this book that I believe that can be done.
There are many things this year, 2020, that has caused us to be anxious and confused. We wonder what the future has to offer us and our families. I have heard many referring to 2 Chronicles 7:14,”If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
First, there is nothing wrong with our land. It is beautiful from sea to sea, from north to south. What is wrong with our land is the attitude of those privileged to live in such a wonderful place. There is a loss of respect for others, for the laws put in place to keep them free, respect for the God who made everything. We need to accept the fact that we live in a world of sin. What sin you ask? The sin of thinking they deserve everything without working for it, the sin of blaming everyone and everything that happens on someone else, the sin of selfishness, anger, adultery, and the sin of sexual immorality.
God is real and wants people to be at peace, to live a happy life, to love our neighbors, to respect others and to be thankful for all we have. Satan is also real, but he wants to keep everyone up in arms over everything, to keep people thinking they deserve whatever they want. He wants to control the world so everyone bows down to him and he can influence everything they do. He is showing his true colors by putting his demons in charge to make people angry, to take whatever they want illegally, by causing people to question the laws made to protect them, by telling people only the negative things going on and keeping the positive things hidden. He doesn’t want you to be happy and at peace. He wants to keep you in turmoil, confused, and fearful.
Christians have become passive over time, they have forgotten to stand up and be the light God asks them to be. They have become like the church in Ephesus. Revelation 2: 4-5, “I hold this against you; you have forgotten your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen, repent.”
Then what he tells the church in Laodicea, Revelation 3: 15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Who is the church? It is everyone who calls themselves a Christian. The church isn’t a church without the people. It’s is not the name above the door, it is everyone who enters through the door.
Christians need to become hot for their God, they need to stand up and tell others they are following their father, Satan. Christians need to start reading Scripture and start doing the things Gods asks His people to do. To love our God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. They need to stand up and be the light in a dark world, not just a passive Christian, doing nothing but complaining about how things are.