“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14).

God gets His greatest victories out of apparent defeats. Very often the enemy seems to triumph for a little, and God lets it be so; but then He comes in and upsets all the work of the enemy, overthrows the apparent victory, and as the Bible says, “turns the way of the wicked upside down.” Thus He gives a great deal larger victory than we would have known if He had not allowed the enemy, seemingly, to triumph in the first place.

The story of the three Hebrew children being cast into the fiery furnace is a familiar one. Here was an apparent victory for the enemy. It looked as if the servants of the living God were going to have a terrible defeat. We have all been in places where it seemed as though we were defeated, and the enemy rejoiced. We can imagine what a complete defeat this looked to be. They fell down into the flames, and their enemies watched them to see them burn up in that awful fire, but were greatly astonished to see them walking around in the fire enjoying themselves. Nebuchadnezzar told them to “come forth out of the midst of the fire.” Not even a hair was singed, nor was the smell of fire on their garments, “because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.”

This apparent defeat resulted in a marvelous victory.

Suppose that these three men had lost their faith and courage, and had complained, saying, “Why did not God keep us out of the furnace!” They would have been burned, and God would not have been glorified. If there is a great trial in your life today, do not own it as a defeat, but continue, by faith, to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror, and a glorious victory will soon be apparent. Let us learn that in all the hard places God brings us into, He is making opportunities for us to exercise such faith in Him as will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His name.
–Life of Praise

Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.-Romans 12:21

Can’t and won’t. Christians need to be very careful which one they choose. It seems that we prefer to use “can’t.”

“I just can’t get along with my wife.”
“My husband and I can’t communicate.”
“I can’t discipline the kids as I should.”
“I just can’t give up the affair I’m having.”
“I can’t stop overeating.”
“I can’t find time to pray.”

Any Christian who takes the Bible seriously will have to agree the word here really should be “won’t.” Why? Because we have been given the power, the ability to overcome. Literally!

Any good psychiatrist knows that “I can’t” and “I’ve tried” are merely lame excuses.

We’re really saying “I won’t,” because we don’t choose to say “With the help of God, I will!”

Now, go back and change all those “can’ts” on that internal list you carry around to “won’ts” and see how that makes you feel about yourself. Not very good, huh? It’s the same as “choosing” to disobey. Today you can choose to be an “I will” person.(By Charles Swindoll)

An excuse has been defined as the skin of reason stuffed with a lie 
(Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching).

The following statement was found in the belongings of a young African Christian martyred for his faith.

“I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lifted by prayer and labor by His power.

“My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, lamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.

“My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is Heaven. My road is narrow; my way rough; my companions few; my Guide reliable; my vision clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the face of an adversary, negotiate at the table of an enemy, and ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

“I won’t give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, HE WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM RECOGNIZING ME… MY BANNER WILL BE CLEAR!”

What about you? Can you say the same? Do you share this same commitment to Christ?

“Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.’– 2Co 4:17-18.

NOTICE THE marvellous antithesis of this chapter: light and darkness; life and death; pressure, perplexity, pursuit, and persecution; but side by side, victory, elastic hope, and the brightness of Christian faith. The decay of the outward man and the renewal of the inward; the light affliction and the weight of glory; the brief moment of earth’s pilgrimage contrasted with the eternity of reality and bliss.

It is very important that we should not miss the mighty blessing which is within the reach of every troubled soul. Of course it is quite possible to sit down before troubles and afflictions, hopeless and despairing, confessing that we are over-powered and defeated; it is also possible to be hard and stoical, bearing adversity because we cannot help or avoid it, bur the highest Christian way is to be thankful that the earthen vessel is breaking if only the torch will shine out; to be content that the dying of Jesus should be borne about in our mortal body, if only His life will thereby become manifest.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of grief shall not thee overflow; For I will be with thee in trouble to bless; And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

Fix my heart, O Lord, on Thyself, that amid the changes and chances of this mortal life I may be kept steadfast and unmoveable and ever abounding in Thy work. AMEN.–By F.B. Meyer

It was Ernest Hemingway who once said, “Time is the least thing we have of.” And he was right. How quickly time passes—and how often we lament this. If only we could tack an extra twenty-five or thirty years on to the usual span. There is so much more we want to see, to celebrate, to do. So many places to go, so much to enjoy, to feel, to read, to talk about, to participate in, to encounter. Yet, for each of us, this thing called time is in such short supply.

Our frustration is only compounded by the numerous unimportant, dumb things that steal our minutes and siphon the significance out of our hours. You know what I mean. Stuff like getting gas or a haircut, standing in the eternal line at the DMV, doing the laundry, washing all the dishes after every meal, mowing the lawn, and a dozen other time-consuming things that have to be done but keep you from doing the things that make life so invigorating and fulfilling.

Since “time is the least thing we have of” and since there is no way we’re going to escape all the stupid time-traps that accompany our earthly existence, seems to me that we’re left with two choices: Either we can fuss and whine about not having enough time, or we can take the time we’ve got left and spend it wisely. I mean really wisely, with our priorities in the right order.

Speaking of that, what are you doing with the rest of your life? I’m talking about cultivating relationships, building memories that will help lift the load of future trials, and the deliberate pursuit of activities that will yield eternal dividends.

Do you have a family? Rather than leaving them the leftovers and crumbs and giving your job your best hours and your most creative ideas, how about rethinking the value of strengthening those ties? And while we’re at it, let’s not leave out necessary time for quietness, for personal reflection and refreshment.

You say you don’t have time to add another week to your squirrel-cage lifestyle. Don’t kid yourself. You keep blowin’ and goin’ like you’ve been doing most of your adult life, and you’ll wind up mumbling to yourself in the twilight years, wondering how you could have stayed so busy yet accomplished so little.

Hey, maybe Hemingway wasn’t right after all. You and I have more time than we realize . . . once we get our priority ducks in a row.–By Charles Swindoll

Have you ever wondered how you can stay so busy yet accomplish so little? 
Think seriously about how you can reorder those priorities.