It has been said that if you stand for something worthwhile, you will have some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will not have anybody against you, but neither will have anyone for you.

In today’s society there is tremendous pressure to be open-minded and politically correct. That is, to accept just about every belief except for Christianity—and for what Christians stand for. To agree with the latter means to be identified as narrow-minded, rigid and fanatical.

What many don’t realize is that if you stand for nothing, you can fall for anything. Or as E. Stanley Jones put it, “The difference between a swamp and a river is that a river has banks, and a swamp has none—it spreads over everything. Some people are rivers: they know where they want to go, and they confine themselves to the banks that lead to that goal. But some people are swamps: they spread over everything; their minds are so open they cannot hold a conviction.”

I’d much rather be a “river for God” and know where I stand and where I’m headed and be labeled narrow-minded than be a swamp for “anything goes” and be politically correct and popular with the crowd.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to always live to please you and not the crowd. Give me the courage to stand for what you teach as moral and right, and stand against that which you condemn. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. James 1:8.

“These boys won’t make it. Go back to Liverpool, Mr. Epstein, you have a good business there.” This is what a recording company executive told the Beatles’ manager at their first audition!

“That kid can’t play baseball. He can’t pull the ball,” is what the manager of the Brave’s Triple A team said about Hank Aaron in 1952. Aaron went on to hit 755 home runs, breaking all previous records.

Remember, no matter what the critics say, in God’s economy, everybody has a purpose and everybody has something of value to offer. Never give up until you know what your talent is; then sharpen it, dedicate it to God, and give it all you’ve got. Take courage. Nothing you do for God will ever be in vain. Remember, too, that one of the greatest ways we can serve God is by helping others—and every one of us can do that every day.

Also, as long as what you are choosing to do is in harmony with God’s will, then dream big dreams, work hard, trust God and in time you will reap what you sow and be richly rewarded. Know your God-given dreams and keep hope alive no matter what the setbacks and never ever give up.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know my God-given life purpose and dream. Help me to be faithful to this calling and keep hope alive so that I will never give up and in due course will receive the reward that comes from serving you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. Proverbs 13:12 (TLB)(NLT).

A young man, accepted for the African missionary field, reported at New York for “passage,” but found on further examination that his wife could not stand the climate in Africa. He was heartbroken, but he prayerfully returned to his home and determined to make all the money he could to be used on spreading the Kingdom of God over the world. His father, a dentist, had started to make, on the side, an unfermented wine for the [church] communion service. The young man took the business over and developed it until it assumed vast proportions—his name was “Welch,” whose family still manufactures “grape juice.”²

As the old saying goes, “When God closes one door, he opens another.” True, it can be a challenging time “waiting in the hallway” for the next door to open, but as long as we commit and trust our life and way to God every day, in good time the next door will open. Of this we can be sure—during the waiting time there is always a lesson of some kind that God is seeking to teach us and wanting us to learn.

Sometimes it takes a crushing disappointment to make us effective and fruitful and ready for the next door to open.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see in every disappointment and setback what you are seeking to teach me. Help me to learn that lesson so that I will be ready and prepared for any new door or opportunity you may open for me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. Gal. 6:10 (NIV).

2. The Presbyterian Advance, cited in Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Paul Lee Tan, p. 479.

“Down the streets of Portsmouth [more than two] hundred years ago,” said Lt. General Ira C. Eaker in a speech he was making, “walked a sailor with one arm, one eye, a persistent state of nerves, and unable to tread a ship’s deck without being seasick. Indeed he would probably have been in a home for the incurable were not his name Admiral Lord Nelson. The man’s spirit drove the flesh. The point is, when weighing the characteristics of a leader, remember a stout spirit can drive a weak body a long way.”

I believe this same principle applies to all who seek to live in harmony with God’s will and serve him; that is to people with the right attitude and a determined spirit.

When God says that not many of those he uses to do his work are wise or influential by the world’s standard, I don’t believe he is saying that we shouldn’t be prepared or well qualified. What he is saying is that he uses ordinary people who are available, who use the gifts they have and have stick-ability, a stout spirit, and hang in and hang on when the going gets tough, but don’t hang up! These are those who trust in God, who believe in a noble cause—God’s cause—and dedicate their lives to help fulfill it; and who know at the end they will be welcomed into Heaven by Jesus himself with his words, “Well done good and faithful servant . . . enter into the joy of your Lord!”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you choose and use ordinary people to do extra-ordinary as well as ordinary tasks for your Kingdom. I am available and pray that you will use me to be a part of what you are doing in the world today. No matter how small or large my calling may be, help me to be faithful, and give me a stout, determined spirit so that I will never give up. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NIV).

2. Matthew 25:23.

Brennan Manning, in his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, tells about a child caught on the second floor of his house when it was on fire. The family members were all running out of the house when the smallest boy panicked and ran back upstairs.

Terrified, he screamed from a smoke-filled window. Below his father could see him and cried out, “Jump, Son, jump! I’ll catch you.”

“But I can’t see you,” the boy cried.

“I know,” the father called, “but I can see you.”

Many a time when we are in difficult situations and panic on the inside, if not on the outside, we long for God to help us. Not being able to see him or sense his presence, we don’t know what to do. However, let us always remember that God is there regardless of our sight or our feelings, and he can see and hear us. When we call on him for help and choose to put our trust in him, he hears our prayer no matter how feeble it is, and will help us. Underneath are his everlasting arms and he “is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”²

And that may be all we need to know.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to trust you when darkness surrounds me and I am lost and do not know the way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV).

2. Psalm 46:1 (KJV).

A store manager overheard a clerk saying to a customer, “No, ma’am, we haven’t had any for some weeks now, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon.”

Alarmed by what was being said, the manager rushed over to the customer who was walking out the door and said, “That isn’t true, ma’am. Of course, we’ll have some soon. In fact, we placed an order for it a couple of weeks ago.”

Then the manager drew the clerk aside and growled, “Never, never, never, never say we don’t have something. If we don’t have it, say we ordered it and it’s on its way. Now, what was it she wanted?”

The clerk smiled and said, “Rain.”²

Job, in the midst of all his sufferings, understandably questioned God and, like most of the rest of us, had to learn the hard way that there are many things we can’t order, change, fix, or do. Job began to get on top of his painful circumstances only as he accepted his situation and chose to trust God. “Though He [God] slay me,” Job said, “yet will I trust Him.”³

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know what I can do, but also be aware of my human limitations while all the while appreciating more and more your unfathomable greatness, goodness, mercy and love. And please help me to remember that honesty is still and always will be the best policy. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Job 38:12, 32, 34-35; 39:19 (NIV).

2. Alan Smith, White House, Tennessee. www.TFTD-online.com.

3. Job 13:15 (NKJV).