Day 29 - Hang in There - Daily Inspirational Verses from Real Life

Philippians 3:20-21 - (ESV): "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."

Want some really good news?  

Your a citizen of Heaven, and the man in charge is God.  He and his angel armies will guide you, guard you and eventually you will get your new Body, as a right of being a citizen of Heaven.

Seriously, what problem could possible overcome you and what fear could hold you down, when all you have to do is remember where you are from.

So, whatever is bothering you, be brave, and hang in there.

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For information on be certain of your Status with God, overcoming your actions that keep you from God, and allowing you to accept his free gift of eternal life, Click Here.

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Book Review: Good News for Those Trying Harder by Alan Kraft

I came to this book because I longed for an emotional & spiritual experience which I perceived that other followers of Jesus the Christ all had, or said they had, when they became followers of Jesus. I was literally crying out for something more, something deeper, something real from my faith.  If you would like to know more about my spiritual journey, and why "crying out," is not something that would surprise me, read my article on my conversion experience called Diving In, an Act of Faith.

It was actually recommended by Amazon when I finished another book, The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin Raphael McManus, so I bought it. It rocked my world.  It rocked my spiritual world first, but it ripped the foundations off of my life in the "World."  I will never be the same again.  

Before I tell you what I learned and what else I thought of the book, let me tell you a little about the author.   Alan Kraft is the lead pastor of Christ Community Church, Greenly, Colorado, and he is both a husband of many years and a father of several ages of children.  He has lived life, made mistakes, admits them, and is willing to share what he has learned with us. 


I recommend this book  to anyone who does not believe that they have not yet experienced “brokenness, faith or a personal relationship with Jesus" at the levels they once expected or hoped for. If you long for the “Peace of God that surpasses all understanding,” (Philippians 4:7) then this book is for you.

I recommend this book with even more urgency if your life is full of fear.  I don't mean spiritual fear, (like fearing God, fearing you are not worthy, fear of death), though it will help with that too.  I mean fear of anything in your life that is tangible or not.  If you are tired of being chased by the same anxiety; if you think a lot, "I can not catch a break," or you are having trouble sleeping because of the pressure in your life, this is a MUST READ.

If you have the world by the tail, and you really are "all that," you won't like this book.

In the reading of "Good News for Those Trying Harder,"  I discovered three things that I was lacking and looking for.

1) A personal relationship with Jesus.  I had asked friends at two churches in two states what a "personal relationship with Jesus," was, and what it felt like, because I was tired of the "Jesus Speak," I always heard from Christians like myself when speaking about Jesus.  I really did not know what it meant.  One church, only members answered.  Even though it was a monitored page and the pastors read it, no one who was trained answered.  The people said things like, "it's just like your relationship with other people." and the like.  NO IT IS NOT.  It is mind blowing and emotional, and it is all over the Gospel and can even be found throughout the old testament.  This book tells you where it is in the Bible and even shows you how to start down the path.  It will make you cry.  It will make you happy.  It will make you safe.

2) An Emotional Recognition of my Brokenness beyond the technical definition of sin we have all heard so many times before.  I discovered just exactly how I could discover what my sins really were, and that brought me to the floor, face down, several times.  Way past mind blowing.  Deeply soul stretching.


3)  An understanding of the roles of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God the Father in my prayer life and in my mortal life.  I have always wondered what the deal was with the Trinity.  Why the doctrine was created by man, justified by scripture and memorized by millions, but not understood by anybody.  I discovered the sameness of God.  I discovered the Power of grace in the three parts of God, and most importantly to me, I discovered the universality of the Gospel.  How it applies to my life in all its aspects, every moment of the day, and just how amazing grace really is.

I don't know if these things were the intended messages of the book, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit and the Bible support the messages that I got for my life, and I suspect it will in your life as well.

Remember, David was a Sinner Too!

There are 2 things you have to remember about David.

1) David was a Sinner too.

What sin means to you, however, might not be the same that Sin means to God. The way I keep it straight in my mind, to keep me humble but also to keep me under the protection that David enjoyed, is that if you break a Law of God, you have sinned. To keep in simple, when Jesus was asked what the most important law to follow, instead of saying, ALL of them, which I would expect, he said something else altogether.

In Luke 10:27. "He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

So keeping it simple, your first thought should be about God, then right after that you should be worried about other people. If your first thought is about how anything impacts your life, your emotions, your finances, your anything, you are sinning. Self Centered actions are the center of Jesus' answers.

That is a tad scary for me. I most definatly sin.

So did David, yet in Psalm 27: (NLT) David says with confidence and faith, "The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?"

He does not say, Please Be My Fortress, he says the Lord is his fortress, and yet he was a sinner. When I read this psalm today, I saw hope.

Normally, I don't like reading the psalms. They are either too difficult for me to integrate into my life, or they are to simplistic. Today I was reading "Good News for Those Trying Harder," by Alan Kraft,  I discovered this biblical explanation for sin.(I will review this book when I finish it.) When I read it, a crisis in my daily life prevented me from continuting in my reading, so all got, until I read Psalm 27, was that I was a far worse sinner than I had thought.

But then I read what David counted on from the Lord, and hope surrounded my being. He too was a sinner, and yet he continued Psalm 27 with: "When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident."

I want some of that.  I am a sinner who loves the Lord, but today I feel attacked, beat down and nearly hopeless.  So What is the secret.  What did David had that I do not?


First, you have Jesus.  So you are ahead.  Way ahead.  But yet, David has this scary weird confidence. Verse 4 clears it up, and it is the second thing that you have to remember about David.

Pslam 27:4 "The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple."

2) David had  as his first and only request  the desire to live with the Lord all the days of his life.  That is goal 1 for him.  

Does your prayer life always start with the absolute feeling and expression of gratitude that you do get to spend the rest of forever with the Lord?  Do you love the fact that you are saved, or has that become a secondary part of your Christian Life?

I know my gratitude frequently comes after the situation.  I need to reach into my life and express my gratitude for the forever I have already be given, then I too can share David's confidence.