We say we believe in God.  We say the Bible is God’s Word.  We say this changes our lives.  What a lot of people really mean is:  I hope there is a God.  Some of the Bible could be His Word.  I would like for my life to be better!

If we really believe that God is real, that He has spoken to us through our Bibles and that our lives can change both now and for eternity, then that has to mean a life lived differently every moment of every day.

I am not talking about being a “Holy Roller”!  I simply saying:  If we really believe what we say we believe, then what matters to God will matter to us!  When reading the Bible, it does not take you very long to start figuring out what God cares and is concerned about.

Take for an example just a small part of the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17:20-23   “20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  Jesus is praying for people who believe and He is praying for UNITY – that they be ONE, because when we allow God to bring us together, it brings great glory to Him and blessings to all!

Jesus would not have prayed for UNITY if it was not very important!  It would not be in our Bibles, if it did not matter!  Jesus prayed it and the Holy Spirit put it into print, because this is the goal of our lives here on this earth!

If we really believe, we will stop playing the games that we tend to love to pray and come together to accomplish something supernatural and glorious for our God and King!  Do you really believe?  Prove it!

Some of you may be in need of a little extra supernatural power flowing into and through your lives today.  As I spent a little time with God this morning, the Holy Spirit gave me these words to assist us in claiming the victory that God has secured for us.  Read them with the faith that God has given and claim what is rightfully yours, not because you deserve it, but because our gracious God chooses to give it to you!

Being a Christian means something and I will not allow the Devil to cause me to forget what it means.  I am tempted to give into the fears of the flesh, but as a Christian I am not bound to the flesh, but set free by the Spirit to live in the life, power and freedom of the Spirit.  I claim today based on the promises of God the victory that He secured for me and make my choice to live for His glory!

His holy Word tells me:  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  2 Timothy 1:7  I kick fear off of the road I am traveling and choose power, love and a sound mind as my traveling companions.

I live not just with any power flowing into and through my life.  I live with the power of the Most High God!  My life has meaning and purpose because I am loved by Him and I am enabled by that love to love Him and others!  I am confident and sure that my God will keep His promise to not leave me or forsake me and I love Him all the more for it!  My mind is sound, my faith is sure and my glory is His!

To God be the glory for the great things He has done, is doing and will do!

Sometimes life is so hard.  And sometimes the hardness of life makes you want to throw up your hands and in exasperation just give it all up.  There is a big part of us that thinks that life is supposed to be easy and we want it to be easy.  I am not sure where the idea that life was easy ever came from, but I am very sure that wherever it came from, it was a big fat lie.  Life is not easy, it’s rough, tough and hard.  Sometimes life just gets to be more than we can handle.  And when life gets this way it is important for us to get our thinking right!

We want life to be comfortable.  Multiple millions of dollars are made each and every year by businesses that promise to make life easier and more comfortable.  We will pay big bucks for comfort, but there is some comfort that no amount of money will ever be able to buy!

Our problem is not that life is sometimes uncomfortable, but that we have this wrong thought in the first place!  We want life to be comfortable, we think life can and should be comfortable and we do everything we can in our power to make sure that life is comfortable, but still uncomfortable always seems to find where we are living and has no problem knocking on our door and inviting itself right on in.

I was reading through the Gospel of John and it was interesting to me that in three different places Jesus said:  “I am going, so that I can send the comforter!”  Here read it for yourself:

 ¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments.  ¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  -John 14:16-17

 ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:  ²⁷And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.  -John 15:26-27

⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  ⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  ⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me;  ¹⁰Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ¹¹Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.  -John 16:7-11

Now one simple question:  Why would Jesus need to leave, so that He could send us a comforter?  How about a simple answer:  Because He knew that we were going to be uncomfortable and need help!

We expect comfort when Jesus plainly told us that we were going to be uncomfortable, but that He would send a comforter to help us.  The Simple Bottom Line:  Stop focusing on your uncomfortable situation and start focusing on your Comforter and you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your life!