Life is tough. Sometimes we experience the hard consequences of our own bad decisions and sometimes we suffer because of what others do. Other times, there is no one to blame; we just live in a fallen world where bad things happen. Either way God is ready and waiting for us to cry out to Him for help. He wants to change our weeping into joy and our mourning into dancing.

Questions for further thought:
1. When you are suffering, how can you redirect your thoughts to God’s sovereignty?
2. What can you do to be supportive of someone who is mourning?  

​Challenge: The next time you are down, try sincerely praising God. See if your sadness is replaced by a deep joy in who He is and how much He loves you.

People love to celebrate! Whether in ancient times or our modern day, celebration is easily recognized by the gathering of people, sharing of good food and drink, and a general expression of joy. Although it might be surprising, God wants us to celebrate the good things in life. In old testament times there were several festivals throughout the year that He commanded the Israelites to observe. And when the Lord brings us through something difficult, we should celebrate with great joy to honor His provision!

Questions for further thought:
1. What event(s) have you not been celebrating that God would want you to?
2. What does “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (v. 10) mean to you?  

​Challenge: Find something to celebrate and then follow through! God provides so much for us in so many ways – we don’t have to search long to find a reason to have joy.

Saul should have been the furthest one from God’s mind when recruiting disciples to carry the Gospel—he persecuted Christians, right?  Through this amazing encounter in today’s passage, Saul becomes Paul and would go on to preach the Gospel on various mission trips and would set up new churches throughout the region.  God uses the broken, the hurting, and the lowly in order to further His kingdom.  God will use you too just like He did Paul.  He knows we are not perfect and He will use our imperfections to relate to others who are hurting or broken.  We only need to get out of our heads and rely on God.

Questions for further thought:
1. What is God possibly asking you to do that your head is telling you that you cannot do?
2. What does your head say will happen if you do what God is asking?

​Challenge: Fear of failure or not doing it right are reasons a lot of people never step up to serve or do what God is asking them to do.  Do not let this be you today.  Take action on what God is asking you to do.  If you are not sure what that is, pray for guidance and awareness of where God wants you to serve.  Then, get out of your head and just do it.

When life is tough, it easy to let our thoughts and worries rule our minds.  Notice I did not say “if life is tough.”  Life will be difficult.  There will be ups and downs and through it all, God is with us and for us.  These verses written by David are reminders of this promise from God.  When thoughts of anxiety or general life stresses happen, we need to be reminded of these promises and fix our minds on them versus the worries of life.  

Questions for further thought:
1. What is causing anxiety or stress in your life now?
2. Which promise in these verses today speaks to the anxiety or stress in your life?  

​Challenge: Write these verses on a notecard to carry with you or post in a prominent space where you will always see it.  Also, take time to memorize these verses so they come to mind easily when you begin to be anxious or stressed.

All of us have had individuals like King Nebuchadnezzar in our lives – self-absorbed, and self-centered and typically trying to get us to do something we should not be doing.  None of us probably had to worry about a fiery furnace as an end result, but we all have had to face doing what we know is right versus keeping our “Nebuchadnezzar” happy.  In this passage, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to a golden statue knowing that they should have no other gods before God (Exodus 20:3) and knowing they could be killed if they did not bow down.  They relied on God’s promise to always be with them (Psalm 23:4) and God protected them even when they were thrown in the fire.  So, when our thoughts or Nebuchadnezzars try to lead us astray, we must believe and rely on God to keep His promises when we follow and obey Him.

Questions for further thought:
1. Who is your “Nebuchadnezzar” and why?
2. If you had to give yourself a score from 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, how successfully have you been at doing what is right when it comes to your “Nebuchadnezzar?”

​Challenge: If you have not been as successful as you would like to be, pray to God for strength and guidance to be more successful in the future.  God will provide the means or the out in order to win against our “Nebuchadnezzar.”

An angel came to Joshua and said all you have to do is march around the wall of Jericho for 7 days and on the seventh day blow your horns and the city will be yours.  Jericho was known for being impenetrable so I would bet someone amongst the Israelites said “Really—just march around the wall and the wall will fall.  Are you kidding me?”  It seems impossible, right?  Well, the Israelites did exactly what God asked, even if they had some doubts, and just as God promised, He delivered Jericho to them.  He asks the same of us when we have battles (struggles).  We may not wage war with Jericho, but God promises to strengthen us and be with us when we go into “battle.”  Don’t let your thoughts or the fear of the impossible stop you; God is the God of Impossible. 

Questions for further thought:
1. When has God helped you in a “battle?”
2. What battles are you struggling with today?  

​Challenge: If you made the blessings list on Monday, add to that list the “wins” God has given you over the years.  Then, use that list as a reminder that God is for you and as a result, you do not need to fear (Psalm 27:1) as you fight your “battles.”

God promised Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars (Chapter 15); however, he did not have any children and he was 100 years old.  In a previous chapter (Chapter 16), Sarah lost faith as she grew older so she took things into her own hands and that did not end well.  God did what He said and Isaac was born.  We invented time and we forget sometimes that God is not restricted to the hours of a clock or days of the calendar.  He will deliver on His promises in His time and it will be the perfect time.  When your thoughts begin to lose faith, revisit this promise.

Questions for further thought:
1. When has God fulfilled a promise?
2. What promise might you be waiting for?  

​Challenge: Make a list of promises/blessings God has provided to you in the past.  When you start to doubt that He will fulfill His promise, review the list and remember that God keeps His promises.

By now, it should be obvious that the “new neural pathways” that we need to think correctly  cannot and won’t be done by our own power alone.  But, as always, our Father will be more than happy to help us to think and be more like Him.  All we need do is ask Him to “take over” our minds and guide them to His ways of thinking.

Questions for further thought:
1. Do we sometimes wish to keep control of our minds, even in service to God?
2. How does that work out when we don’t pray for God to lead us to think as He does?

​Challenge: Lord, we know that your ways are not our ways.  You’ve told us this.  Yet, we know that your ways of thinking and being are the BEST ways of all.  Please help us to remember to ask you to take over and help us form new ways of thinking by allowing your Spirit to guide us to both the correct thoughts AND the correct manner of thinking.  Thank you, Lord.  In your name, Amen!

As Pastor Doug has said time and time again, “You are the average of your five closest friends.”  Whom you associate with, what they think about, and how they do things profoundly affect your life and your walk with the Lord.  This is one of the most important things you can decide: what, exactly, do you think about and with whom?  

Questions for further thought:
1. What do you find yourself thinking about on a daily basis, and with whom?
2. Is the answer to the above question the things of God and with godly people?

​Challenge: God is peaceful and, although vengeance is His, it is not ours.  Please, Lord, help us to be careful about whom we spend our time with, and think about.  Give us godly friends and brothers and sisters to help us in our times of need and to think on the things you want us to and act as you would want us to.  In Jesus’s name, Amen!

God is pure and holy and right.  This we know.  We pray to Him, often, when we’re in trouble.  But we also need to remember to ask Him what we should think when we do.  Many spirits may try to confuse us as to what is right, but if we ask for clear minds and pure hearts, God Himself tells us and will keep telling us what is the true right way to think.

Questions for further thought:
1. Do we often get confused, or distracted by the things of this world?
2. What do we do when we’re not entirely sure the right thing to think (or do)?

​Challenge: Always remember that confusion, uncertainty, and ambiguity are not of God.  If we are not sure that we are reasoning right, let’s remember to go directly to Him and ask for His help in making sure to correct our thinking to His way of looking at things.  We need not be fearful of Him gently helping us think the right way.  That’s what He wants us to do every day.