Encouragement

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I have a lot of problems in my life.
There I said it!

Everybody has problems in life. EVERYBODY!!!
And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a born again Christian or not.
Life is NOT fair and it’s fraught with lots of problems.

The only difference is Christians know how to get through the problems and we have
an escape plan.
We even have an advocate to handle them for us.
We’re still accountable for how we deal with all our problems.
Yet, amazingly, there’s a manual for life so we know how to deal with that, too.
It’s the Bible.
The Bible is true.
The Bible is perfect.
The Bible will last forever.
The Bible gives us wisdom.
The Bible can be trusted.
The Bible gives us truth.
The Bible is authoritative.
The Bible helps us grow.
Apparently, I have to tell you that because I know “Christians” that only read some of it a few times a year
and, then, don’t understand why they fall apart when times get tough.

How can you have trust in your advocate if you don’t really know Him?
How can you even find the escape plan?
How can you rise above the problems in life?

Take the Bible off display.
Dust it off.
Crack the Bible open and read it!
All the time----everyday-----with consistency.
Turn off the soap opera, the reality show, even the local news and read!
Not just a couple verses, either.
Cover to cover.
There’s all kinds of sites on the internet to get you a schedule for reading through the Bible in a
year. Ask a friend. Ask your pastor. Ask the clerk at the bookstore. There may even be one in the front section of your Bible.
Oh, you might want to get one you can understand, too.

Am I expecting too much?

If you don’t, life will hand you an entire bowlful of lemons, my friend, and, sadly,
you won’t know what to do.
It probably already has.
You’re confused. You’re hurting.
You can start learning what to do.
The choice is yours and yours alone.
You can keep focusing on the problems or look for the answer.
You can react to the problems or rise above them.

You won’t get rid of the problems right away but you Will get rid of them.
One of the neat things the Bible does is get you to turn your focus to the answer, not the problem.
As that focus shifts, answers come.
Suddenly, you won’t be concentrating all your efforts on self. You’ll be learning about Jesus and what He gave us and you’ll want to get actively involved in others. You’ll want to know more
and more.
You’ll want to sit at the feet of Jesus.
You’ll get hungry for the Word. You’ll start to become a changed person.
Your head will start to be held high again. There will be a spring in your step. A smile will be
on your face, all the time. And your friends will ask “what’s up with you?”
That’s when you know you’re finding the answers. That’s when you know you’ve got an escape plan.

Welcome to the good life, friend.

Here we can have heaven on earth. That’s one of the things He promised us. It’s ours if we want it.
And all that’s required: Sit at His feet. Learn from the Master.

“...Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall
find rest unto your souls...” Matthew 12:29 (King James Version)

How?
I just told you how to do that.

Will the problems go away? No. Life will still be unfair. Life will still be fraught with all sorts of
problems.
But now when life hands us a bowlful of lemons we make lemonade.

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