The devil likes to paint a gloomy picture when things don't go as we've planned. When this happens, we need to take them to the Lord in prayer. Letting things discourage us is very easy. If we're not careful, we can get a bad attitude about different circumstances that happen and let those things depress us. Most have heard the saying, "Every cloud has a silver lining." We need to look at the positive side of things rather than the negative side. The devil would have us to look at the negative side of things.

The Word of God says to be thankful for the little things. We need to look for the positive in every situation we face. We shouldn't sit around and feel sorry for ourself; we'll only become depressed. Let's look at all the good things we have. When we start thinking about the good things God has done, it gets our mind off the negative and on the positive.

The attitudes we take in situations of life, have a great bearing on whether or not we will be victorious! Often we have no control over many situations we face in life, but we do have complete control over how WE react to situations. If we have the right attitude and live right, the Lord will work things out. We can spend all day looking at the negative side of things or WE can choose to look at the positive.

One songwriter wrote, "Little is much when God is in it." We may have little, but it is much when we give it to God to use. He would rather have quality than quantity. God would rather have perfect unity among the saints, than to have strife and division working. God loves His church so much that He allowed His only Son to come and shed His blood. Let's not think He doesn't care when people work division and strife. He knows, and He is concerned. The Bible says that few are going to make it through; therefore, we shouldn't be surprised if few are willing to press on.

We thank God for those who are willing to keep pressing on!

God is going to bless His people. Habakkuk 3:17-18 says: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: [ That sounds bad, doesn't it? But what does the next verse say? ] Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

We can't control what people do around us or when people work against us, but we can control how we react. We can say, "No matter what happens around us or what others choose to do, we will rejoice in the Lord." Too many times, people look at the negative side of life. God wants us to look on the positive side.

If our heart's not right, we can't uphold the standard of God's Word. We may try in the flesh, but if we don't have the Word and the Spirit working together, though we may have understanding, we can't uphold it! It will quickly fade away. We thank God for men who preach the Truth, and we thank God for the Truth. Also, we thank God that we each can have a pure heart. If we maintain a pure heart, God will honor that.

Friend, none of us knows how much time we have left on this earth, before the Lord comes again. The way things are looking, causes us to think it won't be long. However, we can't just sit around and wait for the Lord to come back. We need to continue to work for God.

We once read a story about a king and his kingdom. The king called in two servants. He told the first servant, "I want you to go throughout the kingdom and gather weeds of all different varieties and bring them back to me." Then the king told the other servant, "I want you to go around the kingdom and gather flowers of all different kinds and bring them back to me." He told them that they each had one week, and then the two servants went out. The first servant came back after a week with armfuls of all different kinds of weeds. He said, "I never knew there were so many weeds. I am convinced that all we have in this kingdom is weeds."

Soon the other servant returned and said, "Look at all these flowers. I didn't realize we had so many flowers. We have flowers of every variety imaginable. The way I see it, all we have in this kingdom is flowers." One servant saw only weeds; the other one saw only flowers. Why was that? That was what they were looking for. The man who was looking for weeds found weeds, and the man who was looking for flowers found flowers.

Likewise, if we look for negative things, that's what we're going to see. On the other hand, if we look for positive things, and look to help others, we will be lifted. We find what we look for. God is faithful to His people. If we seek Him for help and divine direction, He will give us what we need.

When we first joined the Army, people told us, "It's going to be rough. Those drill sergeants are going to scream and yell at you and break you down." So we prepared our mind. We determined that we were going to be ready. It pays to prepare ourself. Sometimes we know what to expect, and we can't let those things get us down.

Let's look for positive things and be thankful!