Quick Take - We cannot let the pressures of this world break us.  If we cling to the person of Christ, He will help us through it.  How, you ask?  By His power and His love for you and me.  There is nothing in this world that can take away your salvation.  God is there for us when times are hard .
 
… we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
2 Cor 4:8-9 (NASB)

     Digging Deeper – Curiosity about God and your faith will never be enough to carry you through the hard times.  When we are negotiating our commitment to God, we are not going the find the kind of peace we need in this world.  We need to learn that trusting God comes first, before we see the blessings of it.  We cannot have the blessings of salvation until we place our full faith in Christ.  We cannot have the blessings of serving Him until we have the faith to start serving Him.
     More often than not, people want to see the results of believing God before they will actually do it.  Sometimes God does demonstrate His power to unbelieving people as He did in scripture, but that is different from His daily provision and care.  We spend so much of our life and service to God waiting for Him to prove Himself before we let go of all our safety nets.  We think we believe God, but we do not act on it.
     That was exactly what James was talking about when he said that faith without works is dead.  In other words, if we are not willing to act on our faith, then we really do not have it.  Too many Christians serve the god of circumstances.  They are more apt to act on what they see in front of them than on what God has promised to do for those He has called.  We sit by passively waiting for God to prove Himself and then congratulate ourselves for our caution.
     Read scripture again.  See the many men and women of God who acted on bold faith instead of timid fleshly caution.  Those who erred to the flesh were the ones God condemned as unbelieving and wicked.  What would happen if Christians really believed God?  I don’t mean like the health wealth and prosperity teachers talk about believing Him.  I mean believing Him and His calling in our lives.  I mean believing that life is best for us when we put Him, His call, His worship, and our service to Him first.  I mean when we believe that there is nothing in this world that can compare to following His will.  What would happen if we all believed that?  Oh, I don’t know … maybe the world would start believing our testimony.
     I am sorry I missed you all yesterday, the blizzard knocked out our ISP and we could not access our site.
Blessings, and have a God glorifying day!
Tim