"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Joy. It's not a warm, happy feeling you're supposed to have now and then when things are going well. It's much more than that. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world.

Look again at Nehemiah 8:10 and I'll show you why. If you were to diagram that scripture and remove the phrase, "of the Lord," you would find what it's truly saying is this: Joy is strength. The two are interchangeable. That's what makes joy so crucial. You can't live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord--and when God wants to make you strong, joy is what He uses to do the job!

Whatever circumstances you are facing today, you can be full of joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top.

Rejoice!

READ: Psalm 18:28-50

"And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

Inside, you're perfect--born again in the image of Jesus Himself. But outwardly do you find yourself falling frustratingly short of that perfection? Is there a solution?

Yes! The secret lies in "the renewing of your mind."
Take time to get away from the world and study God's Word. Meditate on it and let it change you from the inside out. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and release the beautiful spiritual butterfly that's living in you!

READ: 2 Corinthians 3:6-18

"I am the Lord, I change not." Malachi 3:6

The world's order of things is unsure and indefinite. Desperate words of uncertainty are crying out daily from radio, television, and newspapers. Everything around us seems to be in turmoil.

But, praise God, if you're a believer you have something you can depend on: the unchanging Word of God!

God has no double standard. He doesn't say one thing today and something else tomorrow. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

READ: Psalm 9:1-10

"If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with every one." Romans 12:18

When I was a new Christian, it was almost impossible for me to live at peace with anyone! Almost every time I opened my mouth, I said something ugly. I was constantly hurting the people I was close to. In fact, I spoke more harshly to them than to anyone else.

If you've developed the habit of speaking harshly, start changing that habit today. When someone crosses you on the job, at school, or wherever, and you're tempted to tear into them with cruel words, stop!

Then take a few moments to give thanks and praise to God. Once you begin thinking about how good God is, more often than not, those harsh, angry words will just slip away unspoken.

Instead of using your tongue to tear people down, train it to lift God's praises up. Then living at peace with others will come easily to you!

READ: Ephesians 4:26-32

"But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." Philippians 3:13

Failures and disappointments. Aches and pains from the past that just won't seem to go away. Most of us know what it's like to suffer from them but too few of us know just what to do about them. So we limp along, hoping somehow they'll magically stop
hurting.

If depression has driven you into a spiritual nosedive, break out of it by getting your eyes off the past and onto your future,a future that's been guaranteed by Christ Jesus through the great and precious promises in His Word.

Forget about those failures in the past! That's what God has done (Heb. 8:12). And if He doesn't remember them any more, why should you?

READ: Philippians 3:1-14

"Attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes." 4:20-21

Once you've made the Word of God final authority in your life, your first step to victory over the attacks of the enemy is to go to the Word and lay hold of God's promises concerning your situation.

Notice I said, "Go to the Word." So don't just think about the Word today, read it. Go to the promises that cover your situation.

Feed on those promises and grow strong!

READ: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4

Do you know what Jesus was really talking about when He said those words? He was talking about the mourning of the intercessor. He was teaching about the comfort that comes to the intercessor when he is assured by the Holy Spirit that he has prayed through.

To pray through means "to break through the barriers that have stopped the work of God in the lives of others." It means using your spiritual armor to push back the forces of darkness that surround them.Somewhere in the world, someone needs you to pray them through.

Spend some time on your knees today.

READ: Luke 2:1-38