“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

According to an article, Henry Ford asked some engineers to box the transmissions for his Model-T Fords in certain sized boxes. He gave meticulous dimensions and material instructions for these boxes. The builders were confused, but they did as they were told.

When the transmissions were delivered, the factory workers took apart the boxes and used them for the floorboards! Mr. Ford was thinking ahead!

That’s what God does. He knows what we need even before we ask Him. We may not understand all of His ways, just like those workers who were boxing up the transmissions did not understand.

We do not live by our understanding; we live by His promises.

Is there something happening in your life right now that you don’t understand? Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and trust in the promise that He will direct your path. (Adrian Rogers)

“And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas,(which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles feet.”-Acts 4:36-37   About 100 years ago a preacher said, “This is the most corrupt age the world has ever seen.” That echoed what many others had said many years before and it has been repeated many times since. So, who is right? Perhaps they were all right. All had a good reason for feeling as they did, because “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse”(2 Tim. 3:13). The world is on a downhill slide!   Regardless of the time in which a person lives, the world is wicked, days are difficult, and times are tough. That’s life– “of few days and full of trouble.”(Job 14:1).Our burdens are heavy and the battle is fierce. For many it is more shadow than sunshine, more winter than spring, and their hopes fade like the flowers after being touched by the frost. Many are driven to despair. So, how do we respond?   As bad as life is, here’s the good news–we always have an opportunity to be an encourager. There is always someone whose difficulty is our door of opportunity. Their misery becomes our means of serving God, by ministering to their needs. Let us not add to the burdens of others by treating them unkindly, nor neglect them with calloused indifference, nor join them in their pity party, by constantly harping about the difficulties and unfairness of life. May we instead come to their side as encouragers and helpers, pouring courage into their soul and hope into their heart, showing them the difference that Christ can make in a person’s life. We have more than enough discouragers. We need more encouragers–people who care enough to get involved in the lives of others, people who are focused on ministry rather than misery. How about it–will you sign-up for service today? Someone needs you! Go, encourage them in Jesus name.

“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.”–Jeremiah 5:25   A single loose thread, if neglected, can result in the ruin of a garment. Even so, a single sin can bring about the downfall of the most devout Christian.F.B. Cobbe put it like this: A single sin, however apparently trifling, however hidden in some obscure corner of our consciousness,–a sin which we do not intend to renounce,–is enough to render real prayer impracticable. A course of action not wholly upright and honorable, feelings not entirely kind and loving, habits not spotlessly chaste and temperate,–any of these are impassable obstacles. If we know of a kind act which we might, but do not intend to, perform,–if we be aware that our moral health requires the abandonment of some pleasure which yet we do not intend to abandon, here is cause enough for the loss of all spiritual power.
To conquer sin you must confess it!