#1

"In all we do, He's first..." - Trip Lee

Sometimes when we go through life, we forget the things, and people, that are most important to us. As Christians, we tend to even forget God and the love that He graciously shows us daily - the love that is like no other love that exists. Today's quote reminds us that we must keep God first in everything that we do, no matter how little or how small the task may be. If we forget Him, rest assured that He will do everything in His power to remind us of Him again. He never lets His people go astray, though we may suffer the consequences for our actions. Hardship is just one way that God brings us back to Him. It is through those dark times that we are reminded of how good He is and just how much we need Him. Therefore, we must make keeping Him first a priority.

Christians have once said in their lives that God is now first. When we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, He immediately takes up residence and replaces worldly desires with godly desires. Sure, we will still have to fight fleshly desires. That's why we must decide to die to ourselves daily. It's a CHOICE. We can choose to operate in accordance with fleshly lusts, but we can also choose to operate in accordance with the Holy Spirit. Once we accept Christ, we are no longer dominated by sin. We just have new, holy desires that conflict with those of the flesh. And when something needs to change, sometimes it takes a while for it to do so. That's why the Christian life is a PROCESS. We will never be perfect until the day we die or until the day He comes again. However, our spirits will live on, and we leave our bodies behind. They will live on with God. Since all of this is so, we always have something to improve upon. Keeping God first in our lives here on Earth will definitely allow us to completely experience the abundance life that Jesus promised us upon salvation (John 10:10).

Therefore, until your life is done, Christian, keep God #1.

A Secret to Success

"Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid." - John Keats

There are times and instances in life that will attempt to keep us down. We cannot control what happens or comes our way, but we can choose how we will respond to them. Life throws us many apples, but we can decide which ones we will eat and which ones we will just let rot. Ultimately, the ball is in our own court. We have been given free will by God to decide how we will respond to certain things that happen to us. If we are His followers, however, God will do whatever possible to keep us in line. We must stay in accordance with His will. Remember, we have plans in our hearts, but God decides the ending results.

Failure...Not everyone likes to hear or even say this word. Some people think of failure as a bad thing, but that is not always so. We all make mistakes, and sometimes our best lessons come from them. We just have to learn to look for such lessons, even in the midst of the difficulty. The majority of the time, it is people who test our patience and try to push our buttons, just to see how far they can push us. But God sees and knows this will happen, so we do not need to be afraid of them. Fear God alone if you are His follower because the thoughts and opinions of other people don't matter more than God the Father.

Simply put, let your failures propel you to success. Always remember that mistakes help us discern the things we do not want to do again, so never grow faint. Don't let anyone discourage you from continuing on. Your life is not centered around them; it is hidden in Christ. When life knocks you down, choose to get back up. Choose to be fighter. Stand firm, because God knows how to make all things work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28)!