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Troubled? Try Praise!

Psalm 34


A lot of negative emotions accompany hardship; frustration, despair, fear and doubt.  People ruled by these feelings will often make poor choices.  This is why I recommend that you decide now to respond to troubled times the way the psalmist did: with a heart of praise.  Even in the darkest hours, worshipping God fills the heart with joy and the mind with peace.  A believer who is filled in this way can wisely keep a commitment to obey the Lord no matter what.

Worshipping the Lord enlarges our vision.  By doing so, we begin to see how He is at work in the world, perhaps in ways and places we've never noticed before.  More particularly, we see what God is doing in our situation and detect areas where He requires obedience from us

Our human tendency is to plot a course through a situation toward the easiest solution.   But believers who strike out on their do not mature in their faith.  Moreover, they miss out on the blessings of following the Lord 's plan.  Stopping to praise can keep us from taking the easy way out and direct us to the right path -  namely,  the way of God's will.  Taking a step forward  in faith can be frightening .  However, we can confidently  take a risk,  knowing our omniscient, omnipotent God has His children's best interest  in mind ( Isa. 64:4; Jer. 29:11).  
It's hard to despair  while honoring the Lord for His love and strength .  We can dispel doubt  by recalling  His past faithfulness to us - and ease frustration  by committing our future plans to Him.  Praise is not the obvious reaction to hardship,  but it is the wisest response.


By  Dr. Charles Stanley
IN TOUCH Ministries

A Church that Cares

Luke 10: 29- 37

- By Chiamaka O.

Beloved, we all know the story of the good Samaritan, and if you do not, I encourage you to read the above-listed scripture text. Today, I want us to understand that portion of scripture or story is the state of the church today. Are we a church that cares? When I say "Church" of course I mean the Body of Christ (believers). How many of us can say we are truly our "Brother's keeper"? How many of us show compassion and empathy for our fellow brother or sister passing through tough times or even genuinely rejoice with them when they are going through a time of rejoicing for what God has done in their lives. 

Let us ponder on this for just a moment! 

In the story of the good Samaritan, we see three individuals traveled down a road in which they all encountered a seriously injured lying almost dead on the side of the road and all reacted in different ways. Brethren, the first 2 individuals who came upon this injured man were supposedly men of the cloth ( godly men) and the last individual was a man whose people were treated as outcasts in the society. The first 2 men saw this injured individual and kept going without looking back, you would have expected any one of them to show compassion and pity to this person as it has been taught in God's Word right! 

The first man, a priest was someone who probably stood at the altar and read God's laws and commands to the people of God day in day out preaching and teaching on loving thy neighbor. "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself " etc. When it came to putting it into practice, what did he now do? It was amazing that the one who did not profess to be a child of God, a man of God, or a follower of Christ was the one who now helped this wounded man, not only did he stop and clean up his wounds, vs 34 but he went a step further to find a place where he could stay until he was strong enough to continue his journey and even paid for the injured man's stay and assured the innkeeper that he will return and pay any additional expenses. What a remarkable man he was!  What a wonderful example of being your brother's keeper! 

This is genuine Christianity and God's love in action.  Brethren, in the church today, we see all kinds of evil being done under the sun. believers waging war against each other, seeds of discord being sown, fellow believers taking each other to court, falsely accusing one another, selfishness, unforgiveness, and the list goes on.   

 It is time for us to repent and put on the fruit of the spirit Galatians 5:22-23. Without the fruit of the spirit operating in our lives, we cannot be the loving and caring church that our Lord and Savior designed for us to be. We must show the world that we are a Church that has its foundation built on the love of Christ and wherever we are or go, God's love must be paramount. Matthew 5:16 reminds us that we should let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.

Let us be a Church that cares, showing compassion and kindness to our fellow brothers and sisters and also to the world.

I pray you are blessed by this message!