To maintain his strong faith during 40 years of wandering surrounded by faithless grumblers, Joshua must have been good at seeing God’s daily blessings. That’s the daily challenge for us, too—search for the blessings and avoid the naysayers. Today’s combative political environment and the constant barrage of social media makes that difficult. But God’s blessings are still there to be found. It’s worth the effort.


Questions for further thought:
1. As a general rule, do you tend to more easily see the negative or the positive?

2. Can you think of a time when an event you first saw as negative ultimately turned out to be positive? 


Challenge: Do two things this coming week. First, watch carefully for God’s blessings. They may come in the form of things we take for granted. Write these down. Second, think back over the past year. Were there any events or circumstances which seemed negative at the time that ultimately turned out to be a positive? Write these down too. Make these practices habits.

As the Israelites end their wilderness wandering and prepare to enter the promised land, Moses asks them to renew their covenant with God. As a part of that process, he reminds them of all that God has done for them during the past 40 years. The God they are once again promising to serve has shown who He is by His actions. Now the Israelites will have a new opportunity to respond to his faithfulness.


Questions for further thought:
1. Do you tend to expect God to come through for you or to let you down when you need Him most? Where does this belief come from?

2. How has God shown his faithfulness to you this past year? This past month? This past week? 


Challenge: The Israelites used to build monuments to help them remember God’s faithful acts. There are ways for us to do the same ranging from the very creative to the extremely simple. If you haven’t already established this practice, consider how you and your family can keep a record of God’s faithfulness you can draw upon when facing future challenges.

This is a classic wedding verse, but it was written to describe the benefits of close relationships in dealing with the challenges of everyday life. In building and maintaining a strong and flexible faith, there is great value in the friendship and guidance of other believers. Whether it’s connecting with a mentor who has walked the road before or surrounding ourselves with those who share our beliefs, spiritual relationships are essential in successfully navigating life’s changes.


Questions for further thought:
1. Do you have strong relationships with other believers right now? 

2. Maintaining close relationships has been challenging during COVID. Are you in good shape in this area, or do you need to find some creative ways to stay connected?


Challenge: Examine your closest relationships. Are they encouraging you to grow in your faith, a neutral influence or leading you in a negative direction? Make an intentional effort to strengthen your most positive relationships.

Having a strong faith doesn’t mean that we sail right through tough times. It means that while we may struggle, we ultimately turn to God to give us encouragement and strength. A strong faith doesn’t snap, but flexes with life’s demands. Moses is rightly seen as a great spiritual leader, one who sought after God. But in this passage, he expresses his frustration and discouragement with the people he is called to lead. God hears his complaint and, rather than rebuking him, gives him what he needs to lead the people through the wilderness. 


Questions for further thought:
1. In your mind, what does a strong faith look like? Which individual in the Bible (Jesus doesn’t count) is the best example of that kind of faith?

2. Assuming you’re not perfect, how do you work through your faith struggles? Do you give yourself some grace and turn to God, or do troubles tend to isolate you from Him for a time?  


Challenge: A strong faith comes when we know and study the scriptures. Do you have a faith verse you cling to, have memorized for those times when you feel yourself faltering? If not, ask God to give you one, share it with someone, and memorize it. 
 

To say that the events of 2020 were unexpected would be an understatement. But while we did not anticipate a pandemic, God was not surprised. He writes the stories of our lives. The Bible is full of people whose lives were radically altered as they learned to follow God’s plan. Pastor Doug shared about Mary and Joseph in his Christmas series, but the list also includes Moses, Job, Jonah, Paul and others. We can draw strength from their faith journeys as we continue our own. 


Questions for further thought:
1. How did the events of 2020 impact your faith? 

2. To put a slight spin on that, how did your faith affect how you handled this past year?  


Challenge: As you consider this past year, write down how your faith was made stronger in 2020. At the same time, write down some of the faith struggles you had in the past 12 months. How can you continue your progress and what steps can you take to address your spiritual challenges?

Pastor Doug talked about three ways to learn in our information-overloaded world, Recall, Feynman Technique, and Spaced Repetition. Recall may not be the most effective but it is quick, easy, and is a great start to moving ideas and concepts to your long-term memory. All you do is pause after a chapter in a book, or after a short YouTube video, and try to recall the point, teaching, or arguments made. Doing this for just 30 seconds will increase your remembering the material four times more than if you didn’t practice recall.

​Question 1: What methods have you used to remember and learn?
Question 2: Which of the methods Pastor Doug talked about are new to you or interest you?

Challenge:
Try it! Read or watch something short, practice recall, and 24 hours later, try to remember. You’ll be shocked at how well it works!

On Sunday, Pastor Doug talked about how the information streams out there are exploiting our psychology and they rely on our need for a dopamine hit to keep checking and going back to them like Pavlov’s dogs. He also talked about the overload of our working memory that keeps things from entering our long-term memory. God designed us with a natural way to learn that is being short-circuited by the method of information being offered. It is our job to recognize this and make the necessary adjustments to our mode of learning.

​Question 1: In what ways are you guilty of information overload?
Question 2: What streams of information are guilty of overloading you (even if you enjoy them)?

Challenge:
Pick one piece of information you’ve read, heard, or watched in the last 24 hours and see if you can explain it to someone who has not seen it. If you have trouble doing it, you have information overload!

It doesn’t seem like it should be but it’s hard to determine if we really know something for ourselves or if we are just parroting something someone told us. The easiest way to determine this is to try and explain it to someone. As we explain and as we answer clarifying questions we quickly learn if we have any depth of knowledge or if our understanding is only an inch deep. When it comes to our faith, a deep understanding will weather the storms of life without faith intact. Without that depth, we will be tossed by the wind and waves and lose what little faith we had.

​Question 1: What areas of Christianity do you think you have some depth of understanding?
Question 2: What areas or questions do you feel your understanding is shallow?

Challenge:
One of the most foundational questions of Christianity is, why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Test your knowledge of this question by telling someone the answer or writing out the answer.

Two days ago, Pastor Doug talked about his own struggle with memory issues and how that struggle took him on a journey of examining the medical, emotional, and spiritual possibilities of his struggle. To struggle is to be human but to be healthy has more to do with what you do with your struggles. If you take an honest assessment of your mental state, are you in a good place or could you use a tune-up or even a major overhaul? Again, the struggle is normal but you get to choose what you’re going to do about it.

​Question 1: If you were to assess your mind, what would be your assessment?
Question 2: What are the options or resources available to address your assessment?

Challenge:
Do something about it! Find a book, talk with someone you trust, make an appointment with a Christian counselor, talk with a pastor or visit with your doctor. Depending on what you need, take a step to address what you need.

The most important questions to answer in life are the questions we don’t want to answer. It’s easier to just stick our head in the sand and act like everything is just fine. The data suggests that the person willing to assess their life, and the areas of life they know they need to improve, have an overwhelmingly high probability of improving those areas. When it comes to your understanding of your faith, do you feel competent or do you feel you need to shore up some things and develop a better understanding of your faith? The first step toward improving is seeing and admitting the need for improvement.

​Question 1: What have been the primary ways you have learned about Christianity?
Question 2: What are two strengths and two weaknesses of these educational streams?

Challenge:
Find a Bible resource that can help you answer questions you may have by search Google or Amazon. Use keywords like apologetics, systematic theology, and Bible reference.