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Have you ever felt completely alone in this busy world? Perhaps you have people around you, things you're involved in, but that sense of detachment, of isolation, nevertheless eats away at you. So, you think to yourself, Why am I going through this? Why do I feel this way?

It's not an uncommon feeling. Stuff just seems to be happening to you without rhyme or reason; as though you've been dropped into the whirlpool of life, with things (good and bad) coming at you randomly from every direction.

We especially get to thinking about our sense of isolation, about the apparent randomness of events, of people's attitudes and behaviour, when our spirits are down; when we're hurting.

So, speaking into that place of suffering, God has this to say to you through the Apostle Paul writing to the Roman church in the 1st Century AD:

Romans 8:28-29 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan. God knew them before he made the world. And he decided that they would be like his Son. Then Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

American pastor and theologian Tim Keller put it like this: "Christianity teaches that, contrary to fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contrary to Buddhism, suffering is real; contrary to karma, suffering is often unfair; and contrary to secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us deeply into the love of God and provide more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine."

Everything works together for the good of those who love God. Everything.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

One in five young people globally have seriously considered ending their lives. Elena was one of them—until she found an anchor that held.

Without doubt, gratitude is one of the most transformative forces in the universe. The problem is, when our spirits are down, it seems virtually impossible to come by.

As a young Dutch Jewish woman during World War II, Etty Hillesum wrestled with deep regret over her past relationships and a gnawing fear of the Nazi terror tightening around her. But while imprisoned at Westerbork transit camp, she cultivated an extraordinary gratitude for nature, for human kindness, even for God's presence amidst her suffering.

Her diaries reflect a profound inner transformation: "The misery here is quite terrible... and yet—late at night... I thank God for having let me live so richly." Gratitude became her lifeline, redeeming her days before perishing at Auschwitz in 1943.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.

Well, good on Etty Hillesum. Amazing! But you read this Scripture, and you think to yourself … that's impossible. How can I always be full of joy, given what I have to deal with? How can I always be thankful … no matter what happens?

Look, no amount of regret will change your past. No amount of anxiety will change your future. But the smallest grain of gratitude will utterly transform your present.

Because there's Holy Spirit power, resurrection power, in the Word of God. So, take this Scripture, embrace it, meditate on it, pray over it … and watch the power of God transform your life, because this is how He wants you to live in Christ Jesus.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

I remember how hard it was for me to give up smoking all those years ago. And in the same way, giving up other bad things in our lives can be hard. Do I or don't I? And if I do – how do I give them up?

I remember how hard it was for me to give up smoking. I was sharing with a couple of builders who were smoking outside my house the other day. I used to smoke three packets a day, that's seventy five cigarettes every day, I mean I was so super addicted I'd be sitting at my desk and light up one cigarette before I'd finished the last one.

What did it for me was when I was with someone when they died of lung cancer. I watched them breathe their last breath and when I walked out of that hospital room, just over thirty years ago now, I threw my packet of cigarettes in the bin and I haven't smoked one cigarette since that time.

But it wasn't easy. It was a day by day proposition, a craving by craving proposition. Letting go of that habit actually took years and can I tell you there are still some days today when I feel I could smoke a cigarette but I figure I can go just one more day. Giving up bad things can be really, really hard.

This week and in fact over the next few weeks we're going through a little series that I've called Discover Your Destiny. And over the week I guess we've looked at the fact that if indeed we're made in God's image and if He actually does have the most amazing plan for our lives and yet when we follow our plans instead of His plans somehow it ends up being hollow and empty.

Now I've heard people protest and say that's not the case, "I'm a happy atheist" for instance. But one by one we all eventually come to that conclusion that there's got to be something more. Am I really being the "me" I was meant to be? You know you have this sense of a destiny and somehow you're not quite living that destiny out yet.

Yesterday we chatted about how when we go our own way, when we leave the me, me, me, anything goes philosophy we end up facing a dilemma. On the one hand we generally come to the conclusion that it's not working, I did it in my life, I'm a pretty smart guy, I'm also short so there's no pride in that. I just happen to be a very intelligent person and I had everything going for me but it wasn't working on the inside and we know when it's not working.

So on the one side we want to go our own way and it's not working and on the other sometimes we believe in God, we want to have a relationship with Him, a relationship that's awesome and amazing and fulfilling and exciting and tender and wonderful but we know there are some things in life that He's going to want us to give up.

With me it was my ego. It was huge. I'd speak at conferences all around the world in the IT industry and I was, frankly, full of myself and had an ego the size of a small planet. Then I read the bit in the Bible that says:

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Gulp, looks like He wants me to do something with my pride. So there was a crunch time for me there, there always is, there's always one or two things. Often that's all there is that we really need to give up and there are inevitably things that are so important to us that we want to hang on to them for dear life or for grim death because they're bad for us, they poison our lives.

When you have a strong pride addiction, a pride that dominates who you are, you can't have close relationships. Pride is always worrying about how other people see you and you never have any peace. Life's always a competition to be the best, it's one-upmanship, but I knew I had to give it up and it was just like giving up smoking. There were two parts.

The first part was that deep down decision, throwing the pack of cigarettes in the bin. You see you can't be double minded, you can't have your cake and eat it too, you can't be a smoker and a n

In the Bible, honesty and honor go hand in hand. 

It's stating the obvious to say that suffering is universally part of the human condition. It's impossible to imagine our lives without it, even though that's what we'd hope for. But life just ain't like that.

So, why does God allow it? More to the point, why does He let you and me suffer? That's what we really want to know! Back in the 1st Century AD, Jesus' brother, James, wrote this to persecuted Jews scattered across the Roman Empire:

James 1:2-4 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (NRSV)

I was deeply impacted by something that my good friend and long-time Africa missionary Lowell Wertz wrote recently on this very thing:

Maybe there's no substitute for suffering. Experiences from God always have a purpose. Those disciples caught in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, in fear for their lives, saw Jesus walk on water and still the storm. 

Boats, wind, waves - when they were at the end of themselves, strong men of the sea were humbled. The failure of their strength built humility into their lives. They suffered the worst so they could experience God's best.

Or, as Franklin D Roosevelt put it, a smooth sea never made for a skilled sailor.

Embrace the struggles because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Let's say that God has a plan for each one of us. For our lives. Now – is that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe He has a good plan. But – what if we don't like that plan? Does it become a straitjacket?

Over the years something I've thought a lot about is whether the idea of that this God I happen to believe in has a plan for my life is a good thing or a bad thing. I mean on the one hand the idea that a good God could have a good plan for my life, sounds pretty good. On the other, well what if I don't like the plan? I mean what if I want to make some changes or go my own way?

Is the whole idea of God having a plan for our lives an awesome thing or is it a crutch or worse still, is it a straight jacket? Well today on the program this is kind of what we're going to explore and take a look at it from a different perspective, maybe from God's perspective and then it's up to each one of us to make up our own mind.

Remember that old Frank Sinatra song "I Did It My Way"? There was a time in the 1970's I think that on every talent show on television some man and it was always a man would get up and sing it:

I Did It My WayAnd now the end is near and so I face the final curtain, my friend I'll say it clear, I'll state my case of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full, I've travelled each and every highway and more, much more than this I did it my way.

Ha, I don't know about your experiences in life but I've got to tell you I tried doing it my way and as we talked earlier this week on the program what I discovered was it didn't work so well. You know what; I suspect that God actually designed it to be that way.

The other day we took a look at Psalm 139 and we actually looked at the second half but I'd like to begin with the first half of that Psalm so have a listen. It says:

Lord you've searched me and you know me really well. You know when I sit down and when I stand up. You know what I'm thinking from a long way off. You see my going in and lying down, you're familiar with all my ways but even before a word is on my tongue you know it completely Lord."

You hem me in, behind me, before me. You've laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty to attain. Where can I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence? If I go to heaven you are there, if I make my bed in the depths you're there as well. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the farthest side of the sea even there your hand will guide me and your right hand will hold me fast."

If I say 'surely the darkness will hide me and the light with become night around me' even the darkness won't be dark to you. The night will shine like the day because darkness is as light to you.

That's profound. You know what David's saying here, (it's King David who wrote this Psalm) he's saying that God is on this journey with us. We can't flee, wrestle, fight and run, we can do what we like but He is on our journey with us.

One of the things I wrestled with in the early days was Christian jargon. "Sin" was one of them, "repent" was another. I must have seen an old western movie, black and white, when I was a kid – I remember some fire and brimstone preacher on one of those covered wagons standing up and yelling, "Repent!" and I thought "Oh yuck".

But as I come to grips with that concept this is what ended up meaning to me, admitting somehow that my way and my choices, as good as they seemed at the time, ended up being hollow. Admitting somehow that my way was empty.

I remember buying this really expensive, I mean really expensive huge car years ago. It had everything, it had this beautiful burgundy duco, this l

Beyond meeting our needs, the God of the Bible is the God that takes us deeper—to give us Himself.