I start each morning with devotionals and reading the Bible. And each day, God gives me new insight into His Word and tells me truths that He wants me to learn from it. Today, He spoke to me about being encouraged, strengthened by His Word.

Grace and peace only come from God and His Son. We can pretend to find peace in other things, activities or people that distract us from the challenges of life. But the real peace and the real grace come only from God and those are what we need to face whatever happens each day.

Jesus’s death on the cross was not an accident or a coincidental happenstance. It was planned by God from the beginning, because our Father knew that we would need a rescuer from this evil world. We live in times that are exceedingly evil, but I am sure that the Roman Christians, the Greek Christians, and Daniel and his friends in Babylon felt the same way. We can only be rescued from the evil around us if we keep our eyes fixed on our Savior. Looking at all of the evil around us only has a tendency to discourage us from moving forward, but when we call on Jesus, then our focus is right where it should be, on the narrow path to salvation instead of the wide road to hell.

No matter what is going on around us, we can still offer praise to God. He has not and will not change and He is fulfilling His purpose for us.

God is our strength each day and our salvation at all times, even when we are facing troubles. I know with every part of me that nothing will happen to me today that God and I cannot handle together. He is as close to me as my next prayer, and He is close to you, too, if you want Him to be.