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God is merciful, trustworthy, and kind; we are to reflect His character with our thoughts and actions. On occasion, people share private matters and expect us to keep quiet. Although we respect their wishes, we often fail to keep quiet. We must look to our Heavenly Father as an example for our actions. God follows through with every promise, and when asked to keep a harmless matter confidential, we will honor our word.

Our souls are lost, broken, and afraid; we unknowing hunger and thirst for the Lord. When we spent our days searching, He made Himself known to us. Our creator loves us unconditionally and is always eager for the invite to dwell inside our hearts. We are fed with Scripture and nourished by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We have an ongoing desire to grow closer to our Lord and Savior.

We are confident when we speak of the Lord! He is present with us each moment and floods our lives with infinite love; we will never understand the depth of His love or why we deserve it. When we witness for the Lord, we do so with a clear conscience and assurance that we are speaking the truth. We know that His promise of salvation extends to everyone, and we will continue to minister to those who do not know Him with courage and determination.

We cannot surrender part of our lives to serve the Lord; we must surrender it all. We see multiple occurrences in the New Testament when Jesus says, 'follow me,' met with an excuse or other business that needed to be taken care of first. We like to think that, given the opportunity, we would follow immediately, but that may not be true. We put many earthly activities before the Lord. We make idols of technology, sports, and other activities or people. These secondary priorities cause us to wander away from the Lord instead of closer to Him. We must analyze our walk closely and remove all stumbling blocks that distract us from the Lord.

We are curious about the last days, even though we understand the timing is only known to God. In the meantime, it is crucial that we remain alert and focused. Procrastination is dangerous; we must act now and keep our hearts prepared for Christ's return. We do this by living our lives according to God's will and inviting others to know Him. We will not be anxious! Instead, we will remain hopeful, carrying joy in our hearts at the thought of meeting our Savior face to face.

God commissioned Paul to share the Gospel with the nations. He experienced great persecution along the way, yet the Lord encouraged him to remain courageous as he continued his ministry into Rome. We also surrender our lives to the Lord and complete many works in His name. People ignore or reject us, but the Holy Spirit never fails to guide and encourage us along the way.

God is willing to provide wisdom regarding the Word to anyone who asks. When we ask, we must do so with confidence that He is all-knowing and trustworthy. We cannot request His guidance if we do not genuinely believe. We must trust God; and no one else. In doing so, we will be ready to act on His words instead of doubting or seeking a second opinion from a friend.

We do not like to be wrong, and our egos become bruised when we stand corrected. The Bible provides details as to how we should conduct our lives so that we align with the will of God. We read the Word of God and gain wisdom regarding sins we need to remove from our lives. People who enjoy their sinful lifestyles don't want to hear they are wrong; they deflect from the truth and do what they want to do instead of what God asks of them. We will continue to study the Word and understand truth from false prophecy.

We must remain prepared to teach nonbelievers about Christ whether we feel it is convenient or not. We will face difficulty and resistance when we share the Truth, yet we will continue. We will connect with those who misunderstand or confuse the Word of God with myths. In sharing the Truth, we yearn to correct and discipline our brothers and sisters in Christ lovingly, as to reflect the grace of God with our actions.

We humble ourselves before the Lord when we come to Him with earthly burdens. We understand we do not have the power to control or fix our problems alone, so we lay our egos down and align our lives with the will of God. We are proud to be His servants and accept His help throughout our struggles. His love is unconditional, and His wisdom parallels none other.

We can trust the Lord with all our hearts! Sometimes, we fall on hardships, and life seems to be a neverending struggle. Thankfully, we know God always has our best interest in mind, even when life's circumstances are not going well. We have hope in God's plan for our lives because He will not lead us astray; aligning our lives with the will of God will bring us peace and comfort even in the darkest hour.

Though we're all aware of the potentially positive aspects of education, of work, and of being proactive, with these words Jesus does two things: He reminds us of how important we are to God, and He invites us to acquire a different perspective of our work. He's not saying to stop working, but He is literally saying that if we think our job success is fundamentally equivalent to securing the payment of our bills each month, then we have the 'cart before the horse'. Our job is not synonymous with security, nor does it prove God's love. God’s promise to provide for us does! Truth.