Encouragement is such a great gift we can give someone.  We have a hard time finding things to be positive about sometimes.  If you feel the urge to compliment someone, do it.  Especially when we are in the gym and we feel like we are struggling.  Sometimes hearing, “you can do it”  makes you go harder. We all have strengths and weaknesses.  It is so awesome to have someone cheer you on when you feel like giving up.  We strive to be better and we want to others be better.

“As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.”
 Proverbs 27:17

Take time to start your day off in the word and asking God for direction.  If you don’t, you open the door for confusion and lack of judgement.  Life just keeps getting more busy and technology has allowed us to micromanage our time so well that the one thing that doesn’t need micromanaged is our quiet time reading the Bible and praying.  It will be a light unto your path for the day and won’t regret the time you spend doing it.

Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis~
The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush
at you like wild animals.  And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back;
in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other
larger, stronger, quieter life coming flowing in.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
   Psalm 46:10

Do you beleive God cares about you? The bible says he does. God’s word is truth. If we are not reading his Word and taking the truth that it gives us we will allow anxiety and depression to take over.  It seems like it gets harder to overcome the battlefield in our minds when we look around us and see how bad things are sometimes.  The NIV version says to cast your anxiety upon him and in the next verse it says, Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Satan is looking for a loop hole, don’t give him one.

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Do you ever feel bogged down by emotions that are due to overwhelming circumstance? Sometimes you feel like you are going to have an anxiety attack and see no light at the end of the tunnel. What is our best response to this? Your thoughts can cause you great harm emotionally and physically. Your best defense is to focus on God and honor him by your actions. Have faith and believe in Him. Turn your eyes upon Jesus! Here are the lyrics to the chorus of that wonderful hymn. Sing this when you are down and God will lift your burden. Think about this fact. When we are in heaven there will be no sun or moon, God will be our shining light! ” The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Revelation 21:23

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-3

In the Garden of Gethesemane is where Jesus and his disciples would go and pray. In Matthew 26:41 Jesus asked three of his disciples to watch over him so he could pray. What did they do? They fell asleep. Are spending the time with Jesus or falling asleep? We let life take over and put Jesus on the back burner then wonder why our life is a mess. Are we praying or sleeping? The average Christian spend five minutes praying and we wonder why we have stress and anxiety.

Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:38-41

Do you spend your day worrying about tomorrow? We focus so much what is down the road instead of what faces us now. We fail to live each day to its fullest. We are to live in the now and take each day as a gift because we never know what tomorrow will bring. Satan uses worry to deter us from being thankful and forget our blessings. Don’t allow this way of thinking to keep you living in the abundance that God has planned for us.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15