Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. – Psalm 55:22 (NLT)

Have you ever been really lost? I remember a time on a missions trip where I was in a country and I didn’t speak the language. My goal was to get to a bus, but I didn’t exactly know where the bus stop was.

That was such a scary feeling. I didn’t know where to go and how to get there.

That might be a little how you feel right now. Lost. Not sure what the future holds. Upset about the things you see right now in the news.

Today’s Truth: I’m Not Lost

The truth is God cares about you. He’s not forgotten you, and you’re not lost. He never leaves us without help.

So if you’ve felt lost, take comfort. God really does care for you. He will see you through this and you’ll come out better and stronger in the end. So don’t let the things going on around you rob your relationship with God. Use this time to draw close to Him and see that you’re not lost, God cares for you!

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. – 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

Where I live, many places have cancelled spring and summer sports. For some of you, school being cancelled wasn’t a huge deal, but now that your activities are being cancelled, you’re probably upset.

Maybe you’re healthy, so you feel bad for being upset that your sports are canceled. You know that others are facing some really bad things.

You might even wonder if in the middle of a pandemic, does God even have time for me? And does He even care?

Today’s Truth: I’m Not Alone

The truth is, you might be isolated, but you’re not alone. God has not left you. He’s not going to leave you. And He is certainly not too busy with other things that He can’t be there for you.

Don’t believe the lie that God doesn’t have time for you or that He doesn’t care. Even in the midst of everything going on in the world, He has time for you.

So give God your cares, give God your worries. Tell Him what’s going on, and know this truth: you’re not alone, God cares about you!

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. – Mark 11:23 (NIV)

This week we’ve talked a lot about monsters. Today we have one last monster to think about, doubt. Doubt is a monster because if it’s left to grow, it can destroy your faith.

Today’s Monster: Doubt

It’s really easy in difficult times to begin to doubt. You might doubt if God really cares about you. It’s easy to wonder if things will ever get better or change.

All these feelings are natural. So don’t feel bad for having them. However, don’t stop here. Don’t spend too much time dwelling on your doubts.

Here’s the truth. God cares about you. He tells us time and time in His word that He loves us. He shows us again and again through stories in the Bible that He takes care of and protects those who place their trust in Him. That’s the truth.

However, when things get tough, it’s easy to lose focus on the truth. It’s easy to let our current circumstances be more real to us that God’s love.

So today, if you’ve been guilty of focusing on your problems and difficulties instead of God, determine to do something different. Choose to focus your attention on the goodness of God. Read scriptures about how much God loves you. As you do, you’ll find that your doubts become less real.

Don’t believe the lie that God doesn’t care or doesn’t love you. Nothing could be farther from the truth! God cares and He hasn’t left you alone.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. – Ephesians 4:31 (NLT)

If you like movies or video games, you’re probably familiar with fighting monsters. Monsters can appear out of nowhere and create all kinds of destruction.

Monsters aren’t just in movies or video games, however. We can deal with monsters in our lives too. Yes, they might not be destroying buildings and hurting people, but they are dangerous. If we don’t stop the monsters in our lives, they can keep us from doing everything God has in store for us.

Today’s Monster: Bitterness

The monster we’re looking at today is the monster of bitterness. Bitterness is so sneaky. It can show up in our lives in ways we’ve never expected. Perhaps all the time you’ve been spending with your family right now due to social distancing, is making you bitter at your mom.

It snuck up so quietly, and now, you realize that you’ve really began to resent your mom.

Bitterness can show up in our lives in all kinds of ways. The thing about bitterness is that if we let it grow, it will destroy our happiness. It’s hard to be happy when you’re upset and bitter at someone or something.

Even though things are probably less than ideal in your life right now, you need to make a decision to not become bitter. Bitterness in your life will only cause heartache and destruction.

So today, if bitterness has grown in your life, ask God for His help. He’s ready and willing to help you in any way He can. Ask Him to show you how you can begin to let God’s love shine through you and put bitterness aside.

With God’s help, you can destroy the monster of bitterness in your life!

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. – Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)

This week, we’ve been talking about monsters. The monsters we’ve discussed aren’t literal or those in movies. Instead, these monsters are things in our lives that if we don’t stop, will grow really big.

Today’s Monster: Envy.

It’s so easy to envy others, isn’t it? Especially because in the age of social media, other people’s lives just look so much better than yours. You might have a friend that has a way better house than yours and it makes you envy them. Or maybe it just seems like they’re just always doing bigger and better things than you.

And the more you watch their lives on social media, the more unhappy you begin to feel.

The thing about envy is that it’s a monster that is never satisfied. For example, you might think if you had the newest shoes that your friend has, then you’d be happy. But once you get those shoes, you see that your friend got newer ones and yours no longer satisfy you.

The Bible tells us in today’s verse that envy is bad. It rots the bones, meaning that it brings no fulfillment, only destruction. Instead of envy, choose to practice peace. Choose to thank God for what you do have.

To live at peace, you might have to put some limits on how much time you spend on social media if it brings you unhappiness. Instead, use that time to take a walk outside, send a friend an encouraging note, or spend a little more time in God’s Word. Peace takes work, but it’s worth it. Choose to put the monster of envy aside and walk in peace today!

If you have watched any superhero movie or cartoon, you probably know all about monsters. You know, the ones that just keep growing and getting more and more destructive, if you don’t deal with them, the whole world will be destroyed.

That might be a little extreme, but we know from superhero movies that monsters never just go away. They keep getting bigger and more advanced, and you’ve got to deal with them.

In our lives we face monsters too. Not giant world ending ones, but things that if we don’t stop, will one day destroy our lives.

Today’s Monster: Fear

One of the biggest monsters we face today is fear. And it makes total sense. In this pandemic, our natural response to everything is fear. We’ve never faced something like this in our lifetime, so it’s unknown and scary.

If we don’t stop fear in our lives, it can destroy us!

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” – Mark 4:38 (NIV)

In this scripture, the disciples were afraid. But the interesting thing about it all was the way they spoke. They questioned whether Jesus cared about them.

When we get into fear, it’s often because we’ve forgotten that Jesus really does care about us. He loves us and hasn’t left us alone. Even in a storm, he’s right there.

So if you’ve allowed the monster of fear to grow in your life, take some time to focus on Jesus. Spend extra time reading your Bible. Realize that Jesus cares. He wants to take care of everything that you fear. Let Him bring peace to your heart in the middle of this storm!

I was watching TV with friends one day, and the only thing on was Teen Titans. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched it, but I hadn’t before. It was pretty good, but the interesting thing was the teens in the episode had to defeat a monster. The interesting thing about the monster was that it kept getting bigger as the show progressed.

Finally, they realized they had to do something about the monster. Then all the characters banned together to fight and defeat the monster.

In life, we sometimes face monsters. No, they’re not literal cartoon monsters. Instead, they are areas in our lives that if we leave unchecked will grow really out of control. So let’s look at one of these monsters.

Today’s Monster: Disappointment.

Disappointment was something that Jesus’ disciples faced.

We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. – Luke 24:21 (NLT)

After Jesus died, the disciples had to deal with disappointment. They had thought that things would turn out differently than they did. They expected Jesus to free them from Roman rule. Instead, Jesus was dead. (They didn’t realize that He had already risen). At this moment, the disciples were understandably disappointed. They had expected one thing to happen and it didn’t.

You can probably relate to how the disciples felt. Maybe you were hoping to get your driver’s license, and since you can’t attend driver’s ed at school, you’re not sure that’s going to happen. And because of that, you’re dealing with a lot of disappointment.

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The truth is, disappointment can be a monster in our lives if we leave it unchecked. It will grow and grow, leaving us miserable. If we’re going to walk in the joy that Jesus provided for us, we’re going to need to learn to deal with disappointment.

So if you’re struggling with disappointment, don’t let go of your hope. Things will get better. Don’t be discouraged and don’t give up, God is not finished with you yet!

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. – John 8:36 (NLT)

Putting your faith in Jesus is the best decision you can make. When you put your trust in Him, then you’re truly free.

That freedom brings with it freedom from the cares and worries of the world around you. You’re free because instead of lack, in Christ you have plenty. True freedom comes when you realize all that God has is now yours in Christ.

Today’s Truth: Faith Is Freedom

When you put your faith in Jesus it moves you out of yourself. Before Jesus, you were limited by what you could do, how smart you were, and what you could accomplish. With Jesus, you’ve got all God is on your side.

When you discover this truth, you experience freedom.

So regardless of what you see going on in the world. In the middle of sickness, fear and all kinds of opposition, you can walk in freedom. You know that Jesus has provided you with everything you need!

“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. – Matthew 14:29 (NIV)

The story of Peter walking on the water is so crazy. Peter had an insane amount of faith to walk on the water. Yes, Peter fell, but for a short time, he walked on the water.

The reason Peter fell was that he lost focus on Jesus. He took his eyes off his savior and looked at the circumstances around him. The storm and the waves caused fear to rise up in his heart and he began to sink.

Today’s Truth: Faith Is Focused

Faith is most effective in our lives when it’s focused on Jesus. You can listen to a great sermon on YouTube, but if 15 minutes later, you’re hearing a news report about how many people are dying from Coronavirus, it’s hard to stay in faith.

If you’re going to have faith that weathers the storm, you’ve got to choose to be focused on Jesus. Keep worship music playing. Read your Bible. You may need to tune out friends or family that cause fear to grow in your life.

To be a person of faith, it’s going to take your focus in difficult times like these. So today, choose to place your focus on Jesus. Make Him the center of your life and focus on His goodness. He will always see you through!

If you’re struggling with fear in these times, we have a 5-day e-devotion with powerful truths from God’s word. It will challenge you each day to not let fear rule your life!

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. – Hebrews 11:8 (NLT)

There are so many stories of people of faith in the Bible. People that did amazing things for God. Abraham left his home. He didn’t even know where God was calling Him to go, yet he obeyed what God told him to do.

Faith like that takes guts. To leave everything that was comfortable and step into the unknown. That’s exactly what Abraham did. He stepped out of what was comfortable and followed God’s call on his life.

Today’s Truth: Faith Is Fearless

God probably isn’t calling you to leave your house and move into a tent in a new country. However, He’s probably speaking to your heart to do something.

Maybe it’s taking your allowance and buying your brother lunch, or sharing your testimony with your friend that is really scared. There’s something that God can use you to do in these times.

However, what God calls you to isn’t always comfortable. Usually, it’s easier to just ignore it, stay home and spend the afternoon watching TikTok videos.

Being a person of faith means you ignore fear and what feels easy and you step out into what God is calling you to do. So today, be fearless. God has good things in store for you, if you just step out in faith!

See how living fearless can help you reach the dreams God has placed in your heart in this devotion.