I once talked with a woman who said she tried very hard to think only positive thoughts, but she was never able to keep it up for long. Even when she managed to appear optimistic, inwardly she was often in turmoil. Her self-help approach to positive thinking excluded God, so when things went wrong, she didn’t have anything solid to hold on to.
That may seem paradoxical—faith in God being something substantial—but it’s true. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the face of difficulty and disappointment, faith is far more effective than mere mental exercise because it is backed by promises that God has made in His Word—promises that bring about tangible results when believed and applied to real-life situations.
These promises not only have the power to change problem situations; they also have the power to change us. The Bible tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” It is through those “exceedingly great and precious promises” that we “may be partakers of the divine nature.”
We can, by an act of our will, take our mind off of negative thoughts. Unless we fill that void, however, the negative thoughts will rush back in. What should we replace those negative thoughts with? What is more positive or more powerful than the living Word of the living God? When coupled with prayer, the uplifting, transforming Word of God can give you victory over every ugly, negative thought and its consequences.
As you make a consistent effort to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts from God’s Word, it will become a habit; you will learn to—as the Bible puts it—“bring your thoughts into captivity.”
This is very difficult to accomplish in the tumult of the world. We don’t find the mind of God on the streets of social life or in the hobby shop. To connect with Him, find a place where there are no distractions. “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
There is no place where the mind can be as fully renewed as in the secret place of prayer, alone with God. When we come aside from the temporal things that distract and harass us, and there in the presence of God we put our mind on the things of God, the transforming power of God then begins to work in us, and we are changed, renewed.

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Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Peter 1:4 (ESV) by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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In The Horse and His Boy, one of the seven novels in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series, a boy named Shasta dreams of traveling to the unknown north, which turns out to include the magical land of Narnia. One night Shasta overhears the fisherman he has been led to believe is his father sell him to a noble from a neighboring kingdom. (We find out much later that Shasta had been shipwrecked as a baby and was found by the fisherman.) As Shasta awaits his new master in the stable, he is surprised to find out that the noble’s stallion, Bree, is a talking horse from Narnia. Bree explains that he was kidnapped as a foal and sold as a warhorse, and suggests that they escape together. Their journey north is long and perilous, and they have several encounters with lions along the way.
During the first, Shasta and Bree meet two others who are trying to escape to Narnia—Aravis, a young aristocrat who is being pressured into marrying an unsavory character, and her talking mare, Hwin, who was also kidnapped from Narnia. The four decide to travel together.
When Shasta is separated from the others, he arrives first at their prearranged meeting place and must spend the night alone at the spooky ancient tombs. He is awakened by a rustling in the brush, but it is only a cat, who settles in at Shasta’s side. When Shasta is awakened again by the cry of jackals, followed by the terrifying roar of a lion, he opens his eyes and is relieved to find only the cat.
After meeting up and learning of a plot by evildoers to invade Archenland, a small kingdom that borders Narnia, and then conquer Narnia itself, the four are off to warn Archenland’s King Lune when another lion comes upon them. This causes the horses to run even faster, but the lion overtakes them and attacks Aravis. Shasta drives the lion away. The horses are exhausted, so Shasta leaves them and Aravis in the care of a kindly hermit and runs on foot to warn the king.
Shasta meets up with King Lune and his hunting party, delivers the message, and heads off with them on a borrowed horse, but gets separated in the fog. Lost and downcast, Shasta senses a presence walking beside him in the darkness. Eventually the two get into a conversation, and Shasta recounts what he sees as his many misfortunes, including his recent encounters with lions. The presence turns out to be Aslan, the “Great Lion” from the other Narnia books, who reveals that he was the single lion Shasta has encountered on his journey:
“I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis,” Aslan tells Shasta. “I was the cat who comforted you among the tombs. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the [lifeboat] in which you lay, a child near death, so it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”
A golden light breaks through the fog, and Shasta turns to see “pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion. It was from the Lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.”
Aslan vanishes, Shasta finds his way to Archenland, and King Lune then recognizes him as his own son Cor, the long lost elder twin of Prince Corin and therefore heir to the throne. Cor and Aravis eventually marry. “And after King Lune’s death they made a good King and Queen of Archenland.”

This children’s fantasy contains some timeless truths: The difficulties we face in life are not left to chance. God allows each one for a specific purpose, all can ultimately work out for our good, and none are too great for us to overcome with God’s help. The “lions” that we fear are actually our salvation, because without them we wouldn’t reach our destination; we’d never become the people God wants us to be.
From our vantage point, troubles hardly seem like good things, but God knows what He’s doing. He knows where we should be in every sphere of our lives, and He will help us get there if we will do our part, which begins with trusting Him that whatever troubles we encounter on the way are within His benevolent control.
God often lets us get to a point where our own resources aren’t enough, but He never brings us to a point where our only choice is to give up. We always have the choice to turn to Him and draw on His resources to get us through, to depend more on Him. When we choose that, He never fails to come through for us one way or another.

God uses our external problems and our inner torments; He uses our failures and our successes, our trials and our temptations to achieve His purposes for our lives. If we are His, we are held by Him in a love that will never let us go. We need never fear the circumstances around us.—Coty Pinckney

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Romans 12:21 ESV / Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

James 1:19-20 ESV / Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

I was awakened early by a choir of birds. Singing, chirping, chanting, chiming, and conversing, their melodies were loud, joyful, and everywhere—nature’s own surround sound. Some friends and I were camping in a wooded area near Mostar, the 600-year-old city that was often in the news during the Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s.
The birds’ notes rose in pitch and volume, then swung to a whisper, then reached a crescendo again, victorious, full of inspiration and joy. The difficulties facing this ethnically divided country were clearly the furthest thing from their little minds. Nearly 15 years after the official end of the war, Croatian Catholics, Bosnian Muslims, and Serb Orthodox are still learning how to live in the same cities, how to work together, and how to forgive.
I went for a walk along the narrow river and took in the scene—the potholed asphalt road lined with bench frames with no seats, the bridge that had been all but destroyed, the small café without doors or glass in the windows, the flowerbeds overrun with weeds. Don’t step onto the grass, I reminded myself. There could be mines! For a few moments I forgot about the birds. Why did this happen? Who was responsible for this mess?
As I neared the teetering remains of the bridge, I saw a bird on one of the rails. Could she remember? Could she have seen someone die here, or have heard the shooting?
Then the bird began to sing, and I forgot about all those questions. Her tiny body quaked as her song burst forth. The music seemed to come from all of her. The sounds poured out with such force and conviction that I wanted to sing too. She seemed to be singing about the rising sun, about a new morning, about the blue sky, about a new day full of hope, about beautiful flowers and the gentle forest, about cool, flowing, sparkling waters that wash the old away. She wasn’t thinking about how she looked or her performance. She was just singing with all of her being.
I don’t know how long I sat there watching her, but I forgot about everything else. I listened and sang along. I sang about the feeling of freedom I felt rising in me, about new possibilities, about new ways of looking at life, about a new day full of hope, about the beauty of creation and its gentle Creator, about a great love that washes away mistakes of the past. It felt good, it felt great, and it felt liberating.
Forget about ethnic differences. Forget about broken relationships. Forget about the other guy’s mistake that never ended in an apology. Learn from the birds. With all your being, with all your strength, just sing!

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Psalm 45:7 ESV / You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

Isaiah 40:8 ESV / The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV / Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

A group of social scientists asked this question to a group of children: “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone
could have imagined. See what you think.

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
“Love is that first feeling you feel before all the bad stuff gets in the way.”
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”
“Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad but you don’t yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings.”
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”
“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My mommy and daddy are like that.”
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”
“When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you’re scared they won’t love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more.”
“There are two kinds of love—our love and God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them.”
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”
“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”
“Love is when your puppy is so glad to see you even though you left him alone all day.”
“Love cards say stuff on them that we’d like to say ourselves, but we wouldn’t be caught dead saying.”
“You really shouldn’t say I love you unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
“When they crucified Jesus, God could have said magic words to make the nails fall off the cross, but He didn’t. That’s love.”

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Proverbs 17:17 ESV / A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Lasting, genuine love is based on a more enduring foundation than mere fleshly gratification. It must be an unselfish desire to protect and to help and to make
someone else happy.

As my mother used to tell me, don’t marry the girl you can live with—marry the girl you can’t live without!

Marriage should be as equal as possible, as sharing as possible. You should talk together, pray together, love together, discuss together, and then decide and
agree together.

One very important thing that is often overlooked in a marriage is for both partners to have faith in God and Jesus Christ. When you have faith, everything is
possible, and you can do all things through Christ.

In marriage you die to self, but you find new life.

Don’t forget to thank her; don’t forget to thank him. Gratitude is a great thing in married life. Show appreciation!

Two of the greatest assets to a good marriage are honesty and a sense of humor.

“Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things!” That applies to
your spouse as well. Try to remind yourself constantly of his or her good qualities—the good things—and try not to think about the bad things.

Say “I love you” a hundred times a day!

Marriage is more than sex or friendship or a business partnership. It is the most intimate, humbling, loving, and self-sacrificial relationship between human
beings in all of life. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This is love, real love, true love—the willingness of a
husband to sacrifice himself for his wife, the eagerness of a wife to lay down her life for her husband. This is supernatural love, divine love, God’s love, more
than human.

Marriage is so difficult in today’s society. There are countless temptations—not just to cheat on your spouse, but to be selfish, to assert your independence, to
insist on your so-called rights over another individual. All of these stem from people’s desires to promote themselves, and they run counter to God’s idea that
self-sacrifice is the way to happiness.

Thinking of your spouse first is the secret to married happiness. You give up old habits, old preferences, and old ways in favor of the new, in favor of this
wonderful person God has put in your life. In doing so out of love, you find great happiness because God blesses unselfishness; He blesses your sacrificially
yielding to another person’s needs and wishes and seeking their well-being, even above your own.

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Matthew 17:20 (ESV) He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Philippians 4:13 (ESV) I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:8 (ESV) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

This story proves no matter what it looks like on the outside there is life on the inside.

Avocados are one of my favorite fruits—delicious and nutritious. I have various herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill, and decided to use the little remaining space to try to grow an avocado plant.
Following the tips I found online at wikihow.com, I held the seed pointed side up and stuck four toothpicks into the middle section of the seed at even intervals so it could rest half-submerged on the mouth of a small jar filled to the brim with water—and waited. Weeks went by, and there was no sign of life. By all appearances, it could have been a stone rather than a seed! When a month had gone by I considered giving up. Perhaps there was no life in this dull brown seed.
Then a tiny crack appeared at its base. I thought at this point that the seed might simply be drying out, but I was willing to wait a little longer. I changed the water, and a few more weeks passed. Finally a tiny root emerged from the crack. Then another crack appeared, this time at the top of the seed. Slowly but surely a small shoot peeked out hopefully.
Transplanted to a pot of soil, the seed that had appeared lifeless is now growing into a small but healthy plant. Tender green leaves sprout day by day, each growing to several times the size of the seed. This baby tree is proof that there was life inside the seed, despite outward appearances.
As Easter approaches, I am reminded of my avocado-growing experience. How hopeless Jesus’ followers must have felt when they saw Him die on the cross! They watched His lifeless body be carried off and sealed in a stone-cold tomb. They must have felt as though their hopes and dreams were being buried too. I can picture them now, forlorn and seemingly forsaken. Yet hope was not dead! Three days later Jesus would rise triumphant, the victor over death and the grave.
The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection is of course a far greater miracle than my little avocado plant, but what an example that plant is. Even when the outlook seems hopeless, wait on the Lord, and He will work miracles—new life, new hope, new beginnings!

Life after life
What reason have atheists for saying that we cannot rise again? Which is the more difficult, to be born or to rise again? That what has never been, should be, or that what has been, should be again?—Blaise Pascal

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John 11:25 ESV / Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

1 Thessalonians 4:14 ESV / For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

John 6:40 ESV / For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Jesus came to make salvation as easy as He could. That’s one reason why the religious leaders of His day wanted to see Him crucified, because their religious system as good as said that nobody could be saved without following their complicated laws, traditions, and religious rigmarole. Jesus taught that all we need to do to be saved is believe that He is the Christ, the Savior, and that we are sinners in need of salvation, and then ask Him for salvation.
We can’t completely understand salvation, any more than we can understand the depth of God’s love, which is why Jesus said that receiving salvation requires childlike faith. “Unless you become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven.” It’s impossible to fully comprehend either one. All we can do is receive them.
Does a baby understand the love of its mother or father? No, he just feels it, accepts it, and receives it. Even before he understands language, before he learns to talk, he understands love, he feels love, and he trusts his parents because he knows they love him. Likewise, you don’t have to understand everything about God to experience His love and salvation; all you have to do is receive Jesus, God’s Son, as your Savior by asking Him into your heart.
You can do that right now if you want God’s answer to all of your problems and His love and happiness to fill your heart and life with joy and with a new plan and purpose in living. He’ll meet all your needs and solve all your problems. He’s just that wonderful, and it’s all just that simple!
Jesus said, “I am the door” into the Father’s house, the kingdom of God. “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” If you want to get into Heaven, all you have to do is believe that the door is there and walk through it.

Saved and forgiven
Why is forgiveness an integral part of salvation? Because sin separates us from God, and no one is perfect; we are all sinners. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
So-called good people pride themselves on being better than others. “I don’t do this, and I don’t do that!” But it’s impossible to get into Heaven by being good, because no one can be good enough. We all need to recognize and honestly admit, “I’m a sinner like everyone else. I make mistakes. I need a Savior.”
That’s why Jesus died for us, because we’re all sinners and it’s impossible for us to earn or be worthy of salvation. But Jesus was perfect, and that’s why He could pay the price of our sins so God could forgive us. We all need God’s love and mercy to be saved, and we find that love and mercy in Jesus Christ.
Salvation is like receiving a pardon. God has offered pardon to the guilty, and it doesn’t matter how bad you are or what you’ve done. If you believe that Jesus died for your salvation, you will be saved and forgiven. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” no matter what you’ve done! “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
You can’t be too bad, but you also can’t be good enough. You cannot save yourself, no matter how good you try to be, because you can never be good enough; you can never earn or deserve salvation. “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Many people are too proud to accept a gift. They want to work for everything they receive. But no amount of good works or anything else can save them. Only Jesus saves! “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Once saved, forever saved
Once you have received Jesus, He will never let go of you. “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” If you have Jesus, then you have eternal life. You may lose your physical life, but never your eternal life!
Salvation is forever. God doesn’t change His mind or go back on His word. Once you’ve received Jesus Christ, you’re going to live forever. “He who believes on the Son has everlasting life.” Right now! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!
Jesus said, “I am with you alway[s], even unto the end of the world.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
You can have peace of mind knowing that you don’t have to worry about whether you’re going to make it to Heaven. Jesus paid for your salvation once and forever, and it’s His gift to you. Grace plus faith plus nothing—that’s salvation! You don’t have to be good to get saved, and you don’t have to be good to stay saved.
But this doesn’t mean that you can then live as you please. Once you’re saved, you’ll always be saved, but if you wilfully commit sins and don’t repent, you will suffer for them in some way. “The Lord disciplines those He loves.” And once in Heaven, you’ll be rewarded (or not) according to how you lived on earth. Salvation is a gift, but you can keep yourself in line for God’s other blessings, both in this life and the next, by doing your best to live as He would have you live. And if you appreciate that gift as you should, you’ll love and want to please Him in return.

A new you
Jesus likened salvation to being born again. It’s that big of a change spiritually. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Don’t be surprised if you actually feel different and think differently and are happier than you have ever been before!
Jesus’ coming into your life not only renews and purifies and regenerates your spirit, but it also renews your mind, breaking old connections and gradually rewiring you with a new outlook on life and new reactions to nearly everything around you. It’s impossible for you to make such a total change yourself, but it’s possible for God—and it’s possible for you to ask Him for it.
When Jesus comes into your heart, expect things to be different. It may not happen all at once, but as you continue to hunger for truth and take in more of God’s Word, it will happen. You’ll find a change in your spirit, your thoughts, and in your direction. You’ll be happy and overflowing with love, because “God is love!”

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Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 2:16 (ESV) yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

1 John 1:7 (ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

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