Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

God brought His people out of Egypt where they were in slavery.  However, they did not go straightaway into the Promised Land.   God led them instead into the wilderness.  It took the Israelites forty years to make it to the edge of the Promised Land.  And even then, most did not enter in out of fear.  Joshua and Caleb scouted out the Promised Land for all of the Jews.  They reported back a land flowing with milk and honey. But they also told them about the giants that lived there. Like the Jews, we can either focus on all of the good that awaits us in God's Promised Land for us (milk and honey), or we can focus on the giants (the "giants" of challenges, spiritual warfare, temptations, and trials).  Will we enter excitedly knowing that God goes before us and is with us?  Or will we shrink back in fear and stay in our "comfort zones," even when we know that that season has ended for us?   God used the wilderness time to teach His peo...

Think you know best?  Think you can dream up a better plan than Almighty God?   I want only God's plan for my life. I don't want my way, I want His way. I don't know the way, only Jesus knows the way. Do you know how long it has taken me to reach this point?  Decades, friends, decades. So be careful because you can spend an entire life - even as a follower of Christ - seeking your own will, way, and plans.  Millions all over the world are doing just that.  How do I know?  I think the world would look completely different if we were all totally on board with God's plans.  Because His plans are good!  His plans are best!  His plans are beyond our wildest imaginations!  There would be many, many more souls won to Him. What's wrong with making plans, you may ask.  It's only wrong when done apart from God's will, without seeking Him or acknowledging Him.  If you bulldoze forward because you pride yourself that you are a "planne...