Christianity is a lifestyle of self-denial and discipline: one of total surrender and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Some view this as a constraining, boring, and old fashioned way of life. But we only have one life to live. We can seek to find our own way of life, or we can give our life back to God and discover true abundance.

“Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all His benefits”  — Psalm 103:2

These words were spoken by King David of Israel. He knew God and followed after the heart of God. He was a frail, flawed human like all of us, but because he kept God first on the throne of his heart, he experienced a life full of God’s presence and intervention. I would like to mention several of the benefits of living the Christian life in an effort to persuade some and challenge others:

God gives me lasting peace in a tumultuous world. It guards my heart and mind from fear, worry and anxiety. It is not fragile and fleeting, but beyond my understanding and stronger than life’s storms and uncertainties. He gives rest for the weary soul.

His joy is my strength – not just physical strength, but the part of me which will outlast this aging body. Jesus delivers from depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. He renews my mind, which can be so easily polluted with all the things I see and hear. He gives a sound mind that is not tormented with suicidal thoughts.

God gives wonderful counsel free of charge in His Word. When I apply it to my life, the result is that I live a more abundant life. I have great help in my relationships, such as marriage, children, parents, co-workers, friends, and yes, even enemies. That’s what life is really made up of – relationships – and having a personal one with Jesus makes all earthly ones even better. His office is always open, and He is never on vacation.

Jesus is ready, willing, and able to give all types of healing – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I don’t need a psychic, medium, or holistic therapist to overcharge me for their services. I can activate my God-given faith and access His healing power.

God has knowledge of and provides for all of my needs. He supplies them from His great resources and riches. Most of the time I am unaware of how He is constantly doing this, and often I have to trade my worries in for a whole-hearted trust in Him.

I choose to indulge in good, clean fun. There may be many other self-indulging options available that offer unrestrained but temporary pleasures, but God lets me choose – and when I choose, I also live with the consequences. Consequently, I’ve chosen to live a life free of regrets, guilt, hurt relationships, or punishment. When I also confess and turn from wickedness, I will be given an escape from God’s judgment against sin.

I experience pure love from its very source, which is God. Love that never fails and is so deep, so wide, and so forgiving that it’s difficult to understand, because there is nothing like it anywhere else in life. I know God as my heavenly father, which makes me one of His sons. Even if your father was abusive, neglectful or absent from the home, God is a kind and everlasting Father whose family is always growing because He keeps adopting more children.

Jesus has empowered me to live a lifestyle free from self-destructive addictions like smoking, alcohol, drugs, pornography, gossip, and complaining. I reap the benefits of a moral lifestyle with no regrets. God has cleaned the proverbial skeletons out of the closet of my life. And when new ones die and want to make their grave in my heart, Jesus comes with resurrection power over past hurts, pain, guilt, and shame.

There are many more examples, but perhaps this sampling will give you an idea of why I am convinced that being a Christian, not just claiming the title, is the best life possible!

Wouldn’t it be nice if hurting people were so easy to spot? They know their burdens are heavy, but do others know they are carrying heavy baggage? Maybe we should begin to wear brightly colored stickers on difficult days: HEAVY BURDENS, get help to lift! We are commanded to help each other in this way Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” How do we obey this without bright tags to identify those who need help with their burdens?

Ask God to help you have a Christ-like attitude as described in Philippians 2, looking out for others. Take advantage of an opportunity to do something good for someone else, as we are instructed in Galatians 6:10. Bright tags would make it easier to spot hurting people around you, but God has provided a better option. Obey God’s commands for burden lifting, follow His example, and let Him lead you as you help others lift their heavy burdens!

Current conditions cause many people to revisit old questions of purpose and life after death. Everyone wants to be sure of something — something greater than this life can hold. Do you just die and nothing happens? If that’s the case, why spend time on earth at all? To gain earthly things that are of no benefit? What is my purpose in living?

Well, if you’re raising your hands, or even if you don’t want to admit having those feelings, I will be honest and tell you that I’ve had those thoughts. Sure, I have my whole life ahead of me, but I used to wonder what my purpose in life is. I wondered whether I had a better reason to live, something greater to achieve than just an education or a good job. Don’t get me wrong: I still wonder at times, but the emptiness I felt when I thought about that question doesn’t haunt me anymore. Life changed forever when I discovered my purpose in life.

I’m not some guru is talking about an explosion or an earthquake that happened and revealed my purpose. No, I’m talking about something small, something that didn’t push me and didn’t make a big show of things. It was just a gentle pulling on my heart that molded who I am today. Today I don’t have to worry about changes in the economy, wars around the world, or any other disturbance — it doesn’t scare me, because I have this great inner peace. Even more than peace, I have a sense of purpose. I realize that I was created for a reason. Every feature of was molded the way it should be. I’m not a cast-off or an accident. I was created and molded to be someone that would live their life effectively for God.

Everyone has a purpose! It doesn’t matter who you are or how you are feeling. It doesn’t matter if you have perfect relationships or if your family is falling apart. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t popular, young, or old. You were created uniquely and wonderfully by the artistic hand of God, and no one can take that away from you. We are God’s Creation, His portraits, created in His image. Once we realize that we are His Creation, that we do have a purpose, we gain this joy and peace in ourselves. No longer do we try to fit in with everyone else, but we shine to be exactly who God designed us to be.

It’s not just for me or a select few: it’s for everybody. Every baby, every toddler, every child, teen, and adult! And it’s worth getting excited about! We were designed and created to be great. We have a greater purpose to live this life. So hold your head up high, have a smile on your face, because we are all loved, we all have a purpose, and we are all made by the Creator of the Universe! “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalm 139:14)

How much could a pair of shoelaces matter? Not much, right? Their only purpose is to hold your shoes together. Still, I think shoelaces are pretty important. Just try tying your laces too tight for a few days and see if it makes a difference! Normally that’s what I do: tie the laces as tight as possible so the shoe doesn’t slide around. The problem with that approach is that once I sit down to work for a few hours, extra blood goes to my feet and they get bigger while the shoes don’t. Since I don’t enjoy being uncomfortable like that, the other day I tried tying the laces a bit looser . . . and had a wonderful day. Shoelaces made the difference between a bad day and a good day.

There are hundreds of little things that affect us like shoelaces do. In some sense, you can decide what kind of day you’re going to have by adjusting these “shoelaces” in your life. Can you think of what they might be for you? Here are a few ideas:

• Setting aside time to pray
• Reading the Bible in the morning
• Talking to family members or coworkers
• Driving a little slower to work instead of fighting traffic
• Listening to music that encourages you

As you can see, “shoelaces” take on many forms, but they always affect the way we think and interact with the world around us. Here’s some even better news: we have the ability to affect other people as well. Actually, that’s both good news and bad news, we can affect them positively or negatively, but let’s focus on the positive ways we can affect others. Here’s a hint from the book of James: “Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (James 3:4-5)

What we say can change how someone feels about their day or even their life. Proverbs 15:23 reminds us that “a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” How much could ‘a word spoken in due season’ matter? I think it could matter a great deal. The video clip embedded below is an example of that. The story is fictional, but human nature is the same. Take a few minutes to brighten up your day and get inspired about helping others with the power of a good word!

Now it’s your turn to validate somebody, because you — you are great. You have the ability to take someone’s day and make it better with only a word. You have enormous potential just waiting to be used. How about practicing on someone right now? Leave a comment on this post to let us know how it goes!

Continue reading in Part 2 of this series!

The Bible talks about joy; in Job 8:21 the writer says “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” That means that God wants us to laugh and be filled with His joy! His joy is never-ending. It will never run dry! Jesus is the source of joy! Be honest again — if you think about it, is it more fun to frown or to smile? I know if I try to frown, I end up smiling anyway because it’s so funny to try to force yourself to do something so revolting! Did you know that it takes 13 muscles to smile and 33 to frown? Why overwork yourself?

When God fills us with His Holy Spirit, that in itself is a reason for joy. Some people dance when they have God’s joy in their hearts just like the song says: “when the spirit of the Lord moves upon my heart I will dance.” Just like King David, we are to dance when we have the Lord in our lives, for He is great and greatly to be praised. It’s just like the joy we have when we see the person we most care about.

God wants us to have joy not only when we are with Him in prayer, but every second of every day. We are to let God’s joy fill our entire hearts to overflowing! Why not smile? Don’t we have enough to smile about? If you think you don’t, let God’s joy fill your heart and mind so that you can’t contain it in yourself. When we let Jesus be our source of joy, it truly does become so great that it is unspeakable. Once you have His joy, let it bubble out to the people around you!

Can you think of some other reasons to be joyful? How about ways to express your joy that will brighten someone else’s day? Share them with us in the comments section!

What do you do when it’s time to pray and you don’t have anything to pray for? If you don’t have any emotion left to give? If you’re just plain worn out? Well, you just pray anyway. Or that’s what I did. After a few introductory comments, our group began with praise and worship. Like a sprinter who has just run for miles to reach the actual event, I felt as though I lacked everything necessary for true prayer. I hobbled on as best I could, trying to figure out what to do next.

Prayer – even standing in an atmosphere of prayer – can change your situation. As my fellow prayer warriors began to lift up Jesus’ name, the atmosphere of the room changed. I stopped struggling to find words and started to let them bubble up from my heart instead. When I felt God responding to their prayers and ministering to them, I gained hope and faith that He would still respond to my prayers.

Since our meetings began, this situation has been repeated often. It’s not an overstatement to say that none of the young men who agreed to hold weekly prayer meetings truly understood how it would change our lives. We may arrive with no direction, no faith, and no emotion, but we rarely leave without new inspiration, devotion, and purpose.

There is much to be said for becoming part of a group of people with whom you can worship God. When an atmosphere of encouragement and edification is encouraged, fellow believers can do much to strengthen your walk with God simply by continuing their own walk with Him – and you can strengthen theirs. Whether it’s a young men’s prayer meeting, a prayer group, a church, or a Bible study, I encourage you to seek out the people of God and provide Him with one more way to enrich your life.

Have others encouraged you in a group setting? Do you want to help fellow Christians by organizing a prayer meeting or Bible study group? Would you like to find a group like that in your area? Drop us a line in the comments!