1 Cor 15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Today's society sees independence and self reliance as a virtue and strength. We look up to those who beat the odds and overcame their limits. The problem is that God did not design us that way, and He actually considers independence and self reliance a sin! In realty, nothing we have came from ourselves, so even "pulling ourselves up by our own boot-straps" necessitates someone giving us the arms with enough strength and boot straps strong enough to pull ourselves up with. It is only by the grace of God we can do anything, including drawing our next breath. Don't allow yourself to believe the lies of Satan and the praises of this world. You are not the one responsible for anything in your life that is good, only God. Thank Him and praise Him for His goodness and power. Then, you will not sin in pride and fall into the trap of many; relying on yourself to accomplish what only God can.

Mark 9:5-6

Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.

In this part of the Gospel of Mark, Peter, John and James are taken aside with Jesus and witness an amazing sight; Jesus, Moses and Elijah, with Jesus transformed into the image of a glorious king rather than the humble servant of mankind, all right before their eyes. This, clearly, terrified all three of them. However, Peter, true to his nature, says something silly. He was excited because he saw the Jesus he had expected to see Him all along and in a state mixed with fear (the now obvious power of Jesus was frightening) and excitement (all of his hopes might now be met) he speaks. "Yes! This is how it should be! Let's stay like this forever!" The problem was that this isn't what God wanted for the world. Jesus, on a hill, with Moses and Elijah... What would that solve? It might have solved the temporary problems of Rome and the Pharisees, but it would only bring condemnation and death to the world, not life. God's plan wouldn't solve the problems of Rome or the Pharisees the way Peter wanted, but it would solve the eternal problem of sin. We need to remember that our plans are not always what God wants. Don't be like Peter and try to stay in the times of glorious revelation. Rather, allow God to move you to the next stage; testing and trials, for it is there that you will be shaped into His image and there that His power can change the World.

Jeremiah 14:13-14

"Ah, Lord GOD!" I said, "Look, the prophets are telling them, 'You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.'" Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds."

The prophets of Jeremiah's day were saying a lot of things about God, but none of them were true. They were promising prosperity and safety from trouble, but God was saying just the opposite to Jeremiah! Jeremiah asks God about this problem and God's response is simply that He didn't send them. Later, He predicts that they will die by the very things they were predicting wouldn't come. Guess who was right? The point was the false prophets were promising good things, even though the people were in rebellion to God. Jeremiah was warning of problems because of their rebellion. One was a false message of comfort and security in sin, the other was a warning of the consequences of staying in sin. Never forget that God loves us and His grace is what saves us for eternity, but there is no safety or security promised for us in the temporal world when we are in sin. God will not speak words of comfort or love when you are slapping Him in the face and rebelling against Him. He desires to love you, but if you will not accept it, then beware of the consequences of your sins. You might be saved from hell, but if you stab yourself in the leg, you will still bleed. This is the difference between the words of false prophets and the words of God; God seeks to keep you from stabbing yourself, the world attempts to cover the wound and allow you to bleed to death.

Job 30:26

When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came.

Does it surprise you when bad things happen in your life? Did you believe that when you accepted God, everything would be easy and pain-free? Did you know that Jesus never promised that? Not only this, but He actually promised persecution and even death! God is not a spiritual piggy-bank and becoming a Christian doesn't create a savings account in God's bank. When we do good things or obey God, it doesn't add a credit to our account which we can use to get what we want later. Our good works do not produce wealth and comfort in this life, but eternal rewards in heaven. We need to remember this and not be discouraged when bad things happen, even when we are doing everything we can to please the Lord. God is not punishing us by allowing tragedy and pain in our lives, but giving us the opportunity to demonstrate to those around us that there truly is something different about us, something they need. This often cannot be seen when everything is going smoothly and we are happy and content. Don't be afraid when trials or troubles come, trust the Lord, and know that He is working both in you and through you in every situation.

Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?

How much do you long to be with the Lord? Do you thirst for His presence the way you thirst for a swim in some cool water on a hot day? If not, then do you want it to change? Jesus promised to the woman at the well that He could give living water, and once she drank, she wouldn't thirst again. Are you in a place where worshiping the Lord has become dry and wearisome? Do you no longer desire to be with the Lord with all your heart? Seek again that living water and ask God to give you a renewed desire for it. As you do, you will find yourself fulfilled, no longer focusing on what you are not receiving or not able to do, but simply content to be with Him and enjoying His presence. Remember, Jesus alone is the living water, and only when you seek Him will you no longer thirst again.

1 Samuel 22:17-19

And the king said to the guards who were attending him, "Turn around and put the priests of the LORD to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me." But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the LORD. Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn around and attack the priests." And Doeg the Edomite turned around and attacked the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.

Here we see one of many examples of why God rejected Saul as king. David, the man God had chosen to replace Saul, was helped by a priest. When Saul finds out, he wants to kill the priest and all his family! Talk about overkill! Saul's servants were wise in that they didn't want to obey Saul for these men were not enemies of Israel, (or even common men,) but the faithful servants of God! That didn't stop Saul though. He searched until he found someone who would do as he said, and he eventually found this person in a non-Israelite. This man not only did what Saul wanted, but he was cruel and unjust in his obedience. He killed the men, their women, children, animals, and even burned the town. We can look at this and agree with God that this is a horrible thing, but we can do something similar. When we want to do something, do we seek those who will tell us the truth or simply those who agree with us. If we only seek those who agree with us, we do the same thing as Saul, and it will always result in destruction and suffering. Don't surround yourself with people who agree with you, but seek the council of those who will speak plainly what God thinks, no matter what. Then you will be spared from making destructive mistakes and God will be present in your life in a mighty way.

Exodus 7:10-13

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

God had told Moses to go and perform signs and miracles before Pharaoh so that he might let the people go and worship Him in the wilderness. One of these miracles was to turn his staff into a snake. While miraculous, it seems that Pharaoh's magicians could duplicate the effect, taking away the impact of the miracle on Pharaoh. However, note that they did not remove the one snake, but made more snakes. If you think about it, it doesn't really help the situation very much. The one snake could have bitten someone and killed them, but more snakes just added to the problem! Isn't it interesting that often times, man can duplicate many of the things that God can do, but most of the time, it just adds to the noise and confusion rather than makes it clearer? It's only when God's work produces fruit of righteousness that we can truly see clearly what is from God and what isn't. While God's work created the initial problem for Pharaoh and the magicians only added to it, it was God's work that cleared up the problem and protected Pharaoh in the end. Likewise, it is God's work alone that will eventually clear up the confusion and reveal the truth of God's greatness. The work of man will simply confuse and muddy the waters of our search for truth. Don't be fooled by things that appear to be from God. Test it, and only if it proves true, then believe it.