Where do you run for help? When you are in trouble, what is your first instinct? Do you run to others or to God? Is it usually the counsel of another rather than the counsel found in waiting upon God in prayer? Why is this the way it is? Why do we run to man before we run to God?

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In any trial, in any bitter situation, you are not alone, you are not helpless, you are not a victim. You have a tree, a cross, shown to you by the Sovereign God of Calvary. Whatever the trial or temptation, it is not more than you can bear. It is bearable. It can be handled. You can know as Joseph knew, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive" (Genesis 50:20).

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Pain and trials are almost constant companions, but never enemies. They drive me into His sovereign arms. There He takes my disappointments and works everything together for good.

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Really, then, our problem is not weakness, but independence! And in covenant, you die to independent living.

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God knows what each one of us is dealing with. He knows our pressures. He knows our conflicts. And He has made a provision for each and every one of them. That provision is Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit, indwelling us and empowering us to respond rightly.

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The will of God for your life is simply that you submit yourself to Him each day and say, 'Father, Your will for today is mine. You lead me today and I will follow.

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What is courage? It is the ability to be strong in trust, in conviction, in obedience. To be courageous is to step out in faith - to trust and obey, no matter what.

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I had a mink, and I had money and I was miserable.

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If you are God's child, you are no longer bound to your past or to what you were. You're a new creature in Jesus Christ.

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The problem is that so often we forget that we are in warfare and that Satan's target is our mind.

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