Testing of our faith

Greetings:
I don't know about you, but sometimes when difficult things come into my life, I wonder why.
I try to question God.
How do you think that works out?
God has a way of humbling us and show us that we must be willing to trust and obey even if we don’t know why or aren’t given that answer for some time.
We do need to know that God does test and he knows how it will all work out.
Testing makes our faith stronger.
Testing reveals to us where we are in terms of our faith as God already knows whether or not we will pass a given test. It is as we go through the fire of testing and trial that we can be strengthened, sanctified, and purified.
James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Let us discern between testing through various trials and the tempting of the devil.
Scripture denounces tempting in James 1:13 which says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."
God does allow Satan to tempt us, but we can take hope that we will not be tempted beyond what we can handle and escape from by faith as it says 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Look at Genesis 22 and you'll see a big test for Abraham.
Remember God had promised Abraham descendants through Isaac that would be numerous. Yet, out of the blue, God commanded Abraham to do something that totally contradicted His promised blessing to him. He was to take his son Isaac and offer him up to God as a sacrifice.
Certainly Abraham must have been initially baffled at this stunning directive, wondering why. But Abraham had great faith, and so he obeyed God, even going as far as binding up his son and taking the knife up in readiness to slaughter his only son we read in Genesis 22:9-10.
Abraham’s faith was evident.
There was no denying it and God suddenly told Abraham to stop and provided instead a ram to sacrifice. This was merely a test of Abraham’s heart.
How many of us would have passed that test like Abraham?
We need not fear the tests that God brings to us. Rather, we need only trust Him to bring us through them. Why? Because God is always good, faithful, and true, knowing that we will end up better than we were before.
Be blessed.
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Standing the test of time

Greetings:
Standing the test of time. There is no greater measure of a man than that.
Real greatness is not measurable until the ravages of time have made their mark, and the glamor of personality has given way to the timelessness of character. Then, and only then, can we determine whether or not a person is a success.
In the New Testament, Paul wanted to know if men were so grounded in the Word that the winds of adversity would only make them stronger. He was looking for a few good men. And those would have to be men who would still be standing when the storms had passed, and the years had melted away. He was looking for men whose lives would stand the test of time.
If you take the Old Testament and watch carefully the manner in which God destined men for greatness, you cannot help but notice one common ingredient. Some had great talent; some had none. Some had authority; they were princes and kings, others were shepherds, or farmers. Some were learned men, students of the great teachers of their age; others were taken from the back side of the desert with no formal education at all.
They all had one thing in common. Time.
God seemingly always called them, often exposed them to failure, then let them settle into those seemingly endless stretches of time when it appeared they were washed up, forgotten, or  unusable.
Moses in the desert herding his father-in-law's sheep. Joseph rotting in prison. Abraham waiting, waiting, waiting for the promise. Elijah was by that drying brook. Job sitting on that rock pile, seeming to die a second at a time while the clock ticked on, his pain went on, and nothing seemed to be happening.
God was taking his tender plants and setting them in the sunlight to ripen. Sometimes the heat seemed unbearable. Sometimes the wait seemed interminable. But always the results were predictable. Once they had gained God's perspective of time, they were ready to be placed on the firing lines of eternity. Not before.
And almost always, God's perception of time was far different than theirs. They didn't live in this jet age we live in, where microwaves cook in seconds what used to take hours, and planes take us in hours where it once took us days to go.
They lived in an era of slowness, yet even then God seemed to be taking forever.
Valleys, trials, tribulations, conflicts, and adversities are all a part of this life and all a part of our walk with the Lord.
Let us be grounded in our faith, strong in our knowledge of the Word and intent on standing the test of time.
Be blessed.
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Staying up when the world is down

Greetings:
A question looms in my mind this morning, how can we, as Christians, stay “up” when everyone around us is down?
How can we keep our spirits high in a negative environment?
God wants us to be an enthusiastic happy people. He purposed for us to be “up” .
Happiness is a choice.
When we get up each morning – no matter how early – we can choose to be happy or we can choose to be miserable and dissatisfied with everything. It’s entirely up to us. It’s our life – it’s our choice.
Happiness is a quality decision we decide to make, not an emotion we feel. If we are constantly listening to our emotions we will never stay “up.” We must make up our mind that we are going to be happy, in spite of our emotions. Many people live in constant turmoil. They're  always upset at something or someone; or they are always frustrated at not getting the results they desire.
God wants us to be happy right where we are, right now.
Even scientific research agrees that one of the healthiest things we can do is laugh. So why not start by learning to smile more often. We may be going through some tough times, and feel that we have good reason to be unhappy. Yet, being unhappy won’t change anything.
Things only change when we agree with God’s Word, and not with our circumstances.
We can laugh in the face of defeat, and in the face of potential disaster if we know and follow God's Word.
In 1 John 4:4 we read, “For, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
There is something truly magnetic and attractive about a happy and enthusiastic person.
We want what they've got.
We’ll never rise above the image we have of ourself.  We need to stop looking at our lacks, frailties and weaknesses and be thankful for all the gifts God has placed in us. Thank Him every day for the natural abilities we have – no matter how undeveloped they are. In this way we will focus on them all the more and produce a clear picture of being successful.
Have you ever said, “I don’t know what’s been wrong with me. I’ve lost my drive and my enthusiasm. I feel like I’m just going through the motions.”
Well, regardless of our stressful situation, our financial status, past failures or how we’re feeling – we can remain “up” and enthusiastic because God provided a blueprint for life that will keep us in victory mode – spiritually, emotionally and materially.
The blueprint is mapped out in God's Word. We need to read it, study it and believe it – then put it into action.
Psalm 144:15 declares, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”
Happiness is following the right path towards our God given destiny. We cannot expect to stay enthusiastic about anything we’re involved in if it’s not God’s intended plan for us.  So we must never stay where God has not assigned us. Seek God and then we will find our peace and happiness.
 Be blessed.

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Just keep on walking

Greetings:
I experienced a day at the office yesterday that would be considered in kind words to be a crappy day.
It was one of those days when any thing that could go wrong, did. It was a day of technological challenges with computer woes and tension heaped hours of frustration.
The words didn't bounce easily from the keyboard. It was a struggle.
It's one of those days that you'd like to get a 'do-over'. It was a day once the end of the work shift came, you'd like to forget it ever happened.
It was a dreary Monday to top it off with chilly rain and gray skies.
It was blah.
As I sat down in my easy chair last evening and thought back on the horrid day just past, God spoke to my heart a simple truth.
“Don't look back, you are not going that way,” I heard him say to me.
It was simple, but the truth.
Even on a bad day, we can praise God and be thankful that we are moving forward.
We read in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight”.
How many of you know God has a way of taking the blinders off and getting our attention focused on the things that really matter.
It was not the time to fret and beat myself up on my personal shortcomings and woes of the day, but a time to look forward with hope that there won't be a repeat of such a day. It was time to look at the big picture and not focus on this one speck in time when things were not so good.
The day was done.  It was time to forget it.
An old proverb states that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to. We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.
We don't worry about the potholes, the cracks and the dips in the road.
Indiana native John Wooden was perhaps the greatest college basketball coach in the history of the game. He had four full undefeated seasons. His UCLA teams won 10 national championships. At one point, he had a streak of 88 consecutive wins.
One of the first things Coach Wooden drilled into his players when they arrived on campus was something his father had taught him when he was a boy growing up on a small Indiana farm.
“Don’t worry much about trying to be better than someone else,” his father said. “Learn from others, yes. But don’t just try to be better than they are. You have no control over that. Instead try, and try very hard, to be the best that you can be. That, you have control over.”
What a great piece of advice for those ball players and advice we can all learn to follow in our spiritual lives.
As we read about the great souls in the Bible who have preceded us, we learn that they too had times of discouragement and sorrow. We learn that they persevered in spite of hardship, in spite of adversity, sometimes even in spite of their own weaknesses.  We learn that they also had a few crappy days, like I experienced yesterday, but they continued to press forward, one step after another.
So yesterday is gone as a memory.
Sometimes we just have to smile. Pretend that everything is okay, hold back our  tears, know that God is with us and just keep walking.
 Be blessed.

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Encourage one another

Greetings:
Encouragement.
Most of us need encouragement.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:11,  Paul wrote to that church stating, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are now doing."
Sometimes we might get worn down such that we could use a little encouragement to keep us going. As Isaiah 35:3 (Amplified Bible) says, “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble and tottering knees.”
The message of encouragement is also found in the New Testament.
Hebrews 3:13 (Amplified Bible) says, “But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].”
There is not a day that goes by that we couldn’t benefit from some encouragement or that we should be lacking in giving some encouragement to others.
Encouraging one another matters because it keeps us from being deceived into sinning. When we get exhausted and in a weakened, worn down state, it is easy to give into sin and stop resisting the devil’s temptation. When we are tired, sometimes we decide that we don’t care anymore, and our sensitivity to wrongdoing lessens. Encouragement keeps our focus right. It lets us know that we are not alone but that others are supportive of us, praying for us, and caring for us.
Romans 15:4 also says, “For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope.”
We need to be active in encouraging one another so that we can keep motivating one another toward love and good deeds.
God’s call to us is that we encourage one another regularly. Even when others fail to encourage us or are unavailable to encourage us, God and His Word are available and sufficient to encourage us. Let us take care that we stay in the Word to be encouraged ourselves so that we can be an encouragement to others. We never know when even a small gesture of encouragement might make a very significant difference in the lives of those around us.
Encouraging one another is so important whether you're talking about a family, a person, a ministry or a church. The real question is what role are we playing.  Are we building up or tearing down?
Be blessed.
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Walking in God's courage

Greetings:
How many of us have the willingness to say and do the right thing regardless of the earthly consequences?
Having Christian courage is key to our walk.
God promises to help us, be with us, but still we fear and lack courage at times.
The pain we experience may be physical, as in war and rescue operations. Or the pain may be mental as in confrontation and controversy.
Courage is indispensable for both spreading and preserving the truth of Christ.
In Matthew 24:9 (Amplified Bible), Jesus promised that spreading the gospel would meet resistance: “Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”
Therefore, true evangelism and true teaching of The Word will take courage.
Do we tell only the truths that are safe to tell?
Nobody respects a coward. We admire people who are courageous. In every movie that has a hero we admire, it is because of their courage. The bad guys nearly always turn out to be cowards.
Some of us can remember when we were still a kid in school and someone would dare us to do something dangerous. Some of us probably did some of the stupidest, most dangerous life threatening things we've ever done. Why? So that we wouldn’t be labeled with that dreaded word 'chicken'!
We wanted to come off in the eyes of our peers as courageous…not as a coward.
In our Christian walk,  every one of us faces choices every day in which we come out either courageous or a coward. It takes a great deal of courage to face the daily challenges of life without becoming considered a wimp.
It takes enormous courage to be a Christian when most unbelieving people automatically despise you when you openly reveal that you are a person of faith in Jesus Christ.
Even though I am a journalist by trade, I can tell you the elite mainstream media in America hates Christians with a passion in terms that they are threatened by those who have an absolute moral standard and they punish them, belittle them, and try to discredit them at every opportunity.
But you know, it's doesn't matter what they say, or what they write about us as Christians. God knows our heart and he will get us through it all.
We must remain steadfast in our love for God and deserve to serve him by spreading the good news of God's salvation no matter what is said or written about us.
We must remain constant in our morals and stand up for what is right and confirmed in the Word of God.
An amazing amount of courage comes from settling in your heart and mind that our beliefs and values are right and line up with the Word of God.
We must humbly ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding as we study and meditate on God's Word. We are strengthened when the rightness of our beliefs are reconfirmed in the experiences of everyday life.
We should increasingly feel and express our dependence on our Lord, ask Him to empower us and accomplish His purposes in us and through us in all we do and in all we face… and believe Him to do it. We will find ourselves living with the supernatural courage that only God can give   May each of us learn to live with the courage God wants us to have.
Be blessed.

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God's grace is amazing

Greetings:
There isn't a song or a hymn that speaks to my heart more than Amazing Grace.
The tune keeps repeating in my head as I am reminded of God's mercy and his amazing grace for teaching down and touching me at a time when I needed it the most.
Each day, I thank God enough for loving me, even when I didn't deserve it
The song “Amazing Grace”, which my pastor friend The Rev. John T. Parish, of Benton, KY, has labeled the National Anthem of the Kingdom of God, has stood the test of time with a message that is as fresh today as when it was written and published in 1779.
The song brings tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat every time I hear it and realize God's goodness and grace in my life.
It's humbling to understand how God works.
With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the grace of God, the song was written by Englishman John Newton, who once was the captain of a slave ship. He converted to Christianity after an encounter with God during a violent storm at sea. He eventually became an ordained minister in the Church of England.
Through this song, I've realized that the Lord is looking for people who are weak enough to be used. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. The key to experiencing liberating strength is personal weakness and then ability to admit we are weak and he is strong.
Understand that personal weakness does not mean weak character or faulty Biblical knowledge.
On the contrary, God is looking for a people who have come to the place where they have lost confidence in their fleshly power to accomplish the work of the Spirit. Only when we embrace the weakness of ourselves apart from Christ can we become strong and "graced"enough to accomplish things for the true advancing of God's glorious Kingdom.
The song sings to me a melody of opportunity, of obedience and service.
I am in awe that God would save a wretch like me. I can do nothing to pay for the debt of salvation.
Thank you Lord seems so short and shallow, but it's all I have to offer.  I am without words on this snowy morning that can express the amount of gratitude that is in my heart.
God, let me be a better person today than I was yesterday.  Let me strive to put a smile on someone's face by what I write, say and do.
God's grace is truly amazing.
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my daily blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.