Matthew 16:23-26

"You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[a] Is anything worth more than your soul?"

WHAT IS IT THAT THE LORD IS ASKING YOU TO GIVE UP SO THAT YOU CAN MORE FULLY FOLLOW HIM? WHAT ARE YOU SPENDING YOUR TIME THINKING ABOUT AND PLANNING FOR? WHAT IS YOUR FOCUS ON? PRAY FOR EYES TO SEE THINGS FROM GODS PERSPECTIVE AND NOT MANS AND GIVE UP YOUR LIFE FOR CHRIST SO THAT YOU MAY GAIN IT FULLY!

Ephesians 3:14-19

"When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." ~Ephesians 3:14-19

What brings complete fullness of life and power? It is a true understanding of God love for us. While his love for us is so great that we will never be able to completely understand the extend of it, as our understanding grows, so will our freedom to truly live life, alive. We will loose the burdens that bring us down and prevent us from experiencing all of the life and power that God has for us. So many times we have misconceptions of who God is and we put limits on his love. We believe that He must love the same way that we love, which is imperfect. We believe that His love much change based on what we do or don't do. But Gods love is perfect, and it is limitless, and is it unconditional, it never changes, it never wavers, it is always constant. What is preventing you from knowing Gods love deeper? What is the next step for you to take to go to that deeper knowledge of Gods love?

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to endure." Romans 5:3

What is your attitude when you run into a problem or trial? Do you first ask, "Why would God let this happen to me"? "Why is life so hard?" "God please take this away from me."

The Bible is very clear over and over again that we will go through trails and that they are good for us. Instead of praying or pleading for God to take a trial or problem away from us we need to allow God to use it for our good. We need to get out of God way and stop resisting the good work that he wants to do through this trial or problem, to help us learn to endure, to become more like Christ and to bring Him glory!