“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.” After you have suffered a while isn’t what we want to hear. It is through the sufferings we become more mature in Christ. No pain, no gain, has a truth about it. God allows us to suffer not to teach us a lesson the way we think, but the suffering is intended to build steadfast patience and endurance in us not otherwise obtained. We must allow the process to have its perfect work in us until completion. The Lord Himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To be securely established and grounded, settled in life, is a stability we can’t afford to live without in this world. We get pulled from every direction from time to time. But when the Lord has established you and grounded you, the experience of having gone through much suffering successfully, will be a mighty anchor holding you in place. The Lord is here to restore us to our default settings of peace in the storm, and the waters we go through won’t overtake us, and even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear nothing because our true anchor is God Himself.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” There’s a time coming when the Lord will not be found out for your salvation. Without salvation from our wrong doings, we will have to answer to justice without the previous blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus, being a sinless human being was the only way to redemption, and salvation for us all. We live in an ever moving fast paced world that doesn’t include you being informed about what happens after death. Since we are in the dispensation of grace according to the bible, there’s time for people to get it right with God. In the old testament of the bible, people got judgement for doing wrong right away, an eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth thing is no more in God’s overall plan for life on planet earth. Because we see people we know doing really bad things, and they seem to be getting away with it, the Lord is keeping track of their sins. If they die before making peace with God, they will be sent to a place after death where you can drop and roll and it won’t put out the fire. Before Jesus returns for His bride, the church, God can be found. Seek Him now, repent of your sins and know the final destiny for yourself. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved according to the bible. Do it now, there may not be a later for you.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being and with all your might.” It is a command to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, and with your entire being, and with all your might. Sounds like a lot of focused intent. It’s either all or nothing at all. God has said in His word, “if you are neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Wishy-washy people are like double-minded people who are unstable in all their ways. God wants all of us not a part time lover. Loving Him with all your strength requires the invoking of your will, because from time to time you’re not going to feel like doing the work. Once we engage with all of our heart, mind, and soul, our bodies will have no choice but to line up with the program. To love God basically means, keeping His commandments. The one commandment that sums up all of the ten, is the new commandment Jesus gave. It is the fulfilling of the ten by loving your neighbor as yourself. Your neighbor is everyone you come into contact with, not just the people dwelling next to your house. When your Heart soul, and strength are for God, your life will conform to the true meaning of your existence with purpose, and the conquest of fulfilling your destiny will be at hand. Puppy love isn’t enough. Give Him all you got.

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” The love of God in us does not kick a person when they’re down, even though they might deserve it in your eyes. The love of God working in you can handle a suffered wrong done to you without retaliation. God’s love in you believes the best of every person. His love bears up under anything and everything that comes. Intelligent love knows when to put a person in their place, and when to show mercy. Through understanding a person’s issues in life, and what they’re dealing with can make a huge difference in the way we respond to them. It’s easier to show the mercy side of love knowing another person is hurting badly. Without the love of God we’d all be doomed. It was God’s love that sent Jesus to die for our sins, and that put us in right standing with the Lord. True love runs deep, and when we get into that tight spot of affliction, the gates of heaven open up to either pour down grace so we can handle it, or His hand of deliverance comes to set us free. We’d never know God’s love without crisis, afflictions, or whatever else puts us to the test for maturity in wielding God’s word. Love never fails, whether it’s God Himself who is love, or the agape love of God working in us to make us better christians. There’s no law against love, it’s the answer to this world’s confusion, deception, wrong motives, and it helps correct the injustice that lives in our hearts, and minds. Love never fails.

“Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!” In this text the Lord is flexing a bit. He’s saying He will be exalted in the earth. Among the nations He will be exalted. Most people don’t realize the earth is the Lord’s and everything living on it belongs to Him. Satan runs things temporarily, but in the end, which is coming soon, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. As we become still, and begin to slow down, we position ourselves to know He is God. The busyness of this world is designed to keep you so busy you can’t acknowledge God, you ain’t got time. And that’s why you need to change your life habits to conform to a more conducive lifestyle which includes the Lord in your day. Knowing the Lord gives us an advantage when it comes to fulfilling our own calling and purpose in life. Spending even 10 or 15 minutes of alone time with God, (reading the bible, singing praise songs, a prayer for the day’s safety) will work wonders. The more you increase your time spent with God, the more you will know He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If after your last day on earth you haven’t confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, and you haven’t taken a knee physically or in your heart, He will force you to do it, before sending you to eternal punishment. Know He is God before you pass on to the other side. God is love, but He is also a God of justice, and justice must be satisfied.

“And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.” Once you become a christian that’s only the beginning of what’s expected of you. We start by renewing our minds with the word of God. We must disconnect the old ways of thinking and being. Everything around us is based on what we can see, touch, taste, hear, and smell. That’s our five natural senses which are very necessary while on planet earth. When you get to heaven you won’t be dependent upon them for basic living. In general we are naturally attuned to doing everything based on our five senses, but faith does not require them to move us along safely and even more sure footed in our endeavors. We include God when faith is the leading way. Some christians are so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good. That’s usually our super religious church folk who are mostly useless in winning people to Christ. Setting our minds on things above is indicative of including the Lord in our everyday plans, and life in general. Our emotions may be telling us that’s too hard, or what if we fail. Faith never speaks negatively or doubt or lack. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, it is the proof or evidence of what we ultimately are seeking, even though there’s no proof according to our senses. God honors faith, you can’t please Him without it. Renew your mind, study God’s word, and release your faith dealing with earthly things.

“Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.” The three elements that should form our posture during trials and storms of life are, being joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. When we don’t waver from these we are able to finish the course laid before us victoriously. This posture during troubled times takes practice. Once we’ve gotten a handle on knowing, no matter what things look like, no matter how bad things are, it’s going to be alright. God allows us to go through the trouble to help develop our trust in Him. He may not come on your time schedule to help, but He will be there for you before you go under. You may be starting to sink in your crisis but at the last minute boom, you will be delivered. Many times God will wait until the last minute so you will without a shadow of a doubt know it was the Lord’s hand that saved you. Being joyful in hope when you feel like your world is crashing down takes total dependence on trusting God. Having patience during a storm of life, or believing God for your mortgage payment which is already late, takes trust in Him. To be faithful in prayer is relying on what you’ve asked God for in prayer, has been answered even before you say amen. Unleash the fighter in you, he’s there, wake him up, fight and win!

“He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much.” To be faithful in general over whatever task is at hand, puts us on a level of tried integrity and strong character. The idea here is you’re going to be who you are when you are presented with any task or job to do. Consistency is the name of the game. Life pressures can sway a person of weak integrity and tainted character. But once you’ve found the secret of how important integrity and character are, there’s no other way to be. Smart people understand these two wonderful attributes. It is because of character and integrity you’ll get a better paying job position even when you’re not totally qualified for it. Showing God your faithfulness to His calling with integrity and strong character attached to it, there’s no limit for great opportunities and good success. Show the Lord you are faithful over the little things He has assigned you to, and in due season He will make you ruler over much larger things.

“Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised!” Beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. It’s not so much how your hair looks, although that’s important, it’s not so much about the nice clothes you wear, and that’s a good thing, but the referential worshipful fear of the Lord is of much greater value. And when our minds are mostly focused on self and the pride of life, then Houston, we have a problem. We can be charmed by smooth talking people, and if you’re not careful you could be led astray from the path you should stay on. We are still human beings, some more emotional than others. Once we become more aware of our three part makeup and begin to allow our new recreated human spirits to lead our life, and not our mortal bodies still full of the sin nature and inordinate desires, then we begin to understand life on a whole new level. Just imagine if women would use their influence over men to direct them to the Lord. Yes, your hair is on point, your clothes are very attractive, and you’re glowing with all the right shines, but have you put Jesus before all that?

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?” Sometimes if we could just keep quiet in those moments where silence will persuade the situation in a positive way. Even a fool is considered wise when he holds his peace, the bible says. Relief and deliverance will arise from an unexpected place as we learn to hold our peace in times of confrontations or uncomfortable situations. Ester is being talked about here in today’s writing, and she was being elevated to a royal position. Her mentor was preparing her for the Royal position of Queen, and keeping her mouth shut at the right times was vital. Those of us who have run off of the mouth need to check ourselves to be sure we don’t blow a good deal because we weren’t silent when we should have been. Many times the Lord has just sent deliverance to us, and we speak at a time we shouldn’t, now blocking the relief at hand. We should always strive to be quick to hear, and slow to speak, understanding the entire thought of another person before chiming in with a response. The next high position in life awaits you, don’t talk your way out of it.