Daily Devotionals

There’s a spiritual law all of us would do well to remember: When hard times come, they’re never as hard as they look. That’s important. Hard times are not as hard as they look—unless you are looking in the wrong place, through the wrong eyes, thinking the wrong thoughts, and imitating the wrong people.

            At the onset, some problems look absolutely hopeless and insurmountable. But with a little changing of your thinking, they’ll shrink back to a realistic size.

            You see, wrong thoughts will paint the wrong pictures in your mind. They’ll tell you things are worse than they are. They’ll tell you that you don’t have what it takes to succeed in life, or that the right opportunity won’t come to you. But I’m here to tell you, you can succeed!

            It doesn’t matter how bad the economy is. People who understand money aren’t afraid of hard times. In fact, it’s the ungodly people who are money-minded who actually wish for hard times. Such people made great fortunes back during the Depression years. They bought up goods at about 10 cents on the dollar and ended up rich while others went broke.

            But, of course, as believers, that’s not our motive for prospering during hard times. We want to prosper in order to help others get back on top. We want to say, “Hey friend, let me teach you how to prosper. Come on over here in the kingdom of God. Get over here in my house. No flood of recession or depression is going to tear it down. It’s built on the Rock!” (Matthew 7:24-26).

            If people are sick, we can say to them, “Don’t let sickness and disease knock your feet out from under you, friend. Come on over here to my house. It’s a healing house. By the power of God, we can show you how to be well!”

            That’s what the good news is really all about.

            So how do we change our thinking? Isaiah 55:6-11 tells us. We’re to take up God’s thoughts and God’s ways. If we want to live the kind of life God has in mind for us, we must exchange our thoughts for His thoughts. We must lay down the perspectives we’ve gained through past experiences and instead pick up the wisdom of God—His Word. Through the Word of God we’ll learn what reality is. We’ll learn what is really going on in the world. And we’ll learn His plan for getting through it in victory.

            So the answer to every problem is in the Word. Let the Word change your thinking. Remember, time are not as hard a they look when you look from God’s viewpoint!

Speak the Word 

I live the kind of life God intends for me to love by exchanging my thoughts and ways for His.   (Isaiah 55:6-11)