Online House of Prayer

Do you believe Jesus is the way to eternal life? If you do, then wouldn't you want your friends to receive eternal life too?

We often blame God when things go wrong in our relationships, with our careers, even our health, and get mad with him when he doesn’t give us an instant fix to our problem. But here is the point we often forget: we never involved God in our decisions when we made them!

When we have been trying to achieve something for a long time and don’t seem to be getting anywhere, it is easy for discouragement to set in and make us want to give up. This is not the path children of God take. 

Have you heard the saying, “Nice guys finish last”? This might be true in the world, but it isn't true for heaven. Jesus said, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30). 

Everyone is afraid of something or the other. Why are we so afraid? The believer need not fear anything! 

We all have enemies. They can make it their life’s purpose to take us down, and it can get pretty scary. However, we need not worry because not only do we have God’s assurance of protection, we have his assurance of vindication as well.

As we deepen relationships, we discover that people are not quite what we imagine them to be. They do things to annoy us, possess some terrible habits, and have this unpleasant practice of disagreeing with us. So we try to change them. This is doomed to failure.

People are not always good to us. However, before we give in to bitterness and resentment and mistreat them in turn, we might want to ask a question: Do I want other people’s actions to define me, or do I want to be defined by my own actions? 

We have a habit of coming up with excuses to get out of difficult and unpleasant situations. All of us have done this, some with dazzling creativity. However, making excuses can keep us from fulfilling our destiny.

We are often tempted to give up pursuing our goals after we meet with failure, especially when we keep failing. Giving up can take us away from our destiny so it doesn’t matter how many times we fail; we must keep trying until we succeed. 

We all want to be great. God doesn't have any problem with this; it is the *method* he takes exception to. Greatness doesn't come from exalting oneself or having others exalt us; God, himself, will exalt us if we do the right things! 

People are in a lot of pain. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our misery, we fail to see that almost everybody around us is miserable as well. If we can focus our attention on somebody else, it would serve several purposes.

Life can get monotonous. When it looks like we are playing the same old tune day after day, and have become tired of it, perhaps it is time to stop the music and ask God for a new song. 

Does it sometimes feel like God is deaf to our prayers? We should resist the temptation to give up because God has not only heard our prayer; he has answered it as well. So, why the delay then, you might ask? Daniel might have an answer.

Discontentment is another adjective that well describes the human race. There are very few truly contented human beings on this planet because almost every single one of us appears dissatisfied with life. But if we are to be happy, we need to be content.

We are generally reactive people. There is usually very little to be gained by this; on the contrary, reacting often worsens a bad situation. Being reflective, instead, gives us a chance to look at whatever has transpired and learn from the situation.

We all have experienced anger, fear, desire—and several other emotions—and felt guilty about feeling many of them. However, we need to realize that all our feelings are God-given and, by definition, good. If we think about it, we will see why.

Life can wear us down, especially when we seem to get stuck in a rut. Consequently, all the joy we once may have felt evaporates, leaving only weariness in its wake. What can we do?

Have you noticed how people are fine as long as we are on the same level as them, but the moment we move up the ladder, their attitude changes? They start pecking at us like crows. What are we to do?

Every once in a while, we will encounter a challenge that  will stare down at us as arrogantly as a giant named Goliath once stared down at the Israelite army. We can be daunted like King Saul and his soldiers were. Or we can look at it as the route God is mapping for us toward our destiny.

Friends are important in our lives. However, we can become dependent on friends to the point where we cannot function without them. Therefore, God might sometimes take them away for a season so that we can learn to stand on our own two feet.

We all do things we shouldn’t do, and we all regret doing them. However, from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep, a voice in our head reminds us of all our mistakes, failures, and sins. That's the voice of the Accuser. Listen, instead, to the voice of the Advocate.

God allows challenges in our lives because he needs us to be equipped to fulfill the great plans he has for us. He wouldn’t let anything come our way if he didn’t have a purpose for it.

We are not slaves but children of God, and need to walk in the freedom this brings.

We may run away from God, but God won't run away from us.