1 Corinthians 16:13 – Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (NIV)

When the flu bug gets us, we feel like just staying in bed and not doing anything. Our strength is drained and our heads ache. Sometimes just lying in bed is also painful, yet we must rest in order to overcome the virus which has overtaken us. I hate it when I am sick and I must still go to work. It makes the day very long because the body is aching so much. Yet somehow I still get through the days. When I get home all I want to do is sleep. When we are ill it is very natural to give up our activities so that we may overcome our illness. It is very easy to stay in bed and sleep because we are not at 100{8395b6ce96fcf25a14d80edc3b65c36a8995b6c1ba5f8c16ac11d8adaa79f35b}.

While this works when we are sick, it does not work with our Christian faith. It should never be easy to just give up on God and let things happen. Today's verse tells us: "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." With our faith we may have difficult times but we are not to just give up. We are to stand firm in our faith. We are to be strong. We must trust in God. When we let that trust take a second seat to our pain then our faith suffers. For faith to grow there must be testing. To become stronger one must overcome, not submit. We must keep our trust in God and not in our own abilities, for when we do that we weaken our faith.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for giving us situations that cause our faith to grow instead of just sitting and stagnating. We thank you for being the Good Gardner that cuts back branches that hinder the fruit from growing. You are our strength and our life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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