Though trials and struggles will come our way, God's got a purpose in everything: to make us holy. Christ's death paid our debt and made us free, but God desires for us to choose to stay with Him. There is no one who will take better care of us than the Lord when we give ourselves as slaves to Him.

The nature of sin means that as soon as we're born, our lives are headed into a nosedive. As we grow, we can make the choice to continue in that downward spiral, telling ourselves the lie that we can fix it on our own. Or, we can realize that only Jesus can give us the power to turn "nose up" and head in a different direction by allowing Him to work in us.

The story of Job depicts the epitome of extreme hardship and loss. Yet he chose to worship God in the midst of his trials, and God restored even greater blessings to him and his wife. It doesn't change the pain Job suffered, but God carried him through, and He offers His same companionship to us in all that we endure.

As Christians, we live in a fallen world that's constantly drawing us away from God and His design for our lives. The devil's always trying to take us out -- but God's given us the armor to fight back. When we arm ourselves with Scripture and start each day strengthened by His Word, we're better able to resist the schemes and attacks of the enemy.

Racism isn't a government problem or a culture problem -- it's a Church problem. It's our job as Christians to treat all believers as family; there is no distinction between brothers and sisters. No matter our differences, love triumphs over all things in the body of Christ.

When we consider that the Bible is God's Living Word to us, it becomes more apparent why it's so important for us to read it over, and over, and over again! It takes effort to understand Scripture and develop a love for studying it. But none of it will make sense unless we ask Him to reveal Himself within its pages, and when He does, we discover ways to help others learn about Him, too.

God chooses people who are humble and willing to obey Him, no matter how ignorant they might feel. He doesn't want to use us because of all the great knowledge we can obtain, He wants to use us so that He gets the glory. The only qualification we need in order to do His work is a spirit of humility -- He'll take care of the rest.

God wants to use us to do His work, but we get so busy doing our own thing that we wind up exhausted! When we obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we do the things that He gives us strength to do. Not only that, but He'll lead us into times of rest, too -- times that allows us to focus on who we are in Him.

We all have dates in our lives that are etched in our memories forever -- whether it's for better or for worse. And when it comes to the grief, sorrow, and pain that some of those more difficult days hold, it's especially important for us to remember that it's still a day that the Lord's made, and therefore, that we can rejoice in it. When we're tempted to allow Satan to rule over those tough dates, let's remember the Spirit that God's given us -- and then let's take back those dates and give them to the Lord!

Repentance happens when we not only confess our sin, but we also change our behavior. And that can't happen without God. We all make mistakes, but true repentance starts with confession and continues with a changed heart and a changed mind.