Do you ever wonder if God really cares about you? Is God too busy to really take time to listen to the little things that bug you each day? Does God care that you struggle in match or wish you made friends easier?

It can be easy to think that with all the problems in the world, God doesn't have time or energy to care for you. However, that's not the truth. even the smallest things that concern you are big things to God. 

TODAY'S TRUTH: YOUR SMALL THINGS ARE BIG THINGS TO GOD

So if you've begun to question whether God really cares about you, decide to get into God's word. find verses to help you realize His deep love for you. Choose to believe that love, regardless of how you feel. The truth is God does really love you, deeper than you can even comprehend. 

It's really easy to doubt your worth. Heck, if you spend 20 minutes on any social media you realize that maybe you're not as funny as those people, or not as good at something as they are, or even not as good-looking. 

It's so easy to see all the ways you don't measure up and begin to believe the lie that you don't matter.

TODAY'S TRUTH: YOU MATTER!

Sometimes, one of the hardest things to do is to believe that you matter. To realize that your life is important. Why does your life matter?

It's because of the One who says you matter. If you had something you thought was really valuable, you'd take it to an expert and have them tell you it's worth. And when you found out the item's worth you wouldn't question it, because you had taken it to someone who knew it's value. In the same way, we have an expert (God) who tells us in the Bible of our worth (Psalm 139:14)

But often we question what God says. We doubt that we are really worth what He says we are worth. The truth is, we matter because we are made in the image of God. God loves us and created us with and for a purpose.

This year, decide to believe what God says about you. Then make changes in your life to walk in that truth. Speak good things in God's word over you. remind yourself daily of your worth. You'll be amazed at what will happen if you simply trust God and being to believe what He says you're worth.

Life brings challenges. Circumstances may overwhelm us, and the enemy may try to discourage us or cause doubt about God's goodness and faithfulness. Out of anyone in the Bible nobody knew this better than David.  David was a fugitive for a long while and yet he found a strength that carried him through to his promised kingship. In 1 Samuel 30:6 it says that even though David was greatly stressed, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.  But what does that mean?

The answer to that question can be found in Psalms. Here we see David cry out tearfully to God but consistently return to reminders of His faithfulness. In the midst of his greatest trial, David consistently wrote verses such as these: "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you" (Psalm 63:3) and "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22)

God's word is true. When the enemy comes against us, it is important to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness in our own lives and in His word. Here are a few reminders I go to consistently:

• God will finish the good work He began in me - He won't leave me where I am. (Philippians 1:6)
• I am going from glory to glory and strength to strength; God will never move me backward, only forward. (2 Corinthians 3:18; Psalm 84:7)
• When I delight myself in Him, He satisfies my deepest desires. (Psalm 37:4)
• He is a good Father who loves to give good gifts to me when I ask. (Matthew 7:11)

Seek His Word for His promises for you, and when the enemy comes against you, stand on these reminders of His faithfulness. He always comes through!

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

We can all agree 2020 has been a year of trial. The isolation and unprecedented downtime we have faced have given opportunities for discouragement, depression, anxiety, and a host of other challenges to come into our minds and hearts. However, I want to encourage you; you are not alone and this is not the end, because when Jesus died for you, He died for your complete freedom - not just your salvation, but freedom in every area of your life. 

1 Peter 2:24 shares that, when Jesus died, "by His stripes we were healed." The world "healed" here means salvation, physical healing, and deliverance from all oppression of the enemy; He paid for it all! Though we must learn to walk out our freedom, this walking - out starts with knowing the high price of what He purchased for us. Because of His blood, sin (and all its curses that came when man feel in the Garden of Eden) has no hold on us anymore. (Romans 6:14) He has also given us the authority to tread over ALL the power of the enemy. (Luke 10:19)​

TODAY'S TRUTH: GOD HAS COMPLETE FREEDOM FOR YOU!

Though so much more could be said here, I simply want to encourage you in this? If you are walking through mental health challenges right now, God has complete freedom for you. It is His promised portion for your life. Stand on these promises; don't give up. Press into Him, and refuse to settle for anything less than what He paid for. This is another promise: seek, and you will find - along with the freedom He has for you.

Do you ever wonder if your deepest desires and dreams matter to God? This is something I was challenged with for the LONGEST time. Why would the God of the universe care about my longings - my desire to be relevant, to go to college?

The truth is, God put those desires in you and they are a good thing. Even better, God promises in His Word that He will fulfill every one of these desires as we grow closer to Him. He says that when we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:4.) He also says He will withhold no good thing form those who do what is right. (Psalm 84:11.)

TODAY'S TRUTH: GOD WANTS TO FULFILL YOUR HEARTS' DESIRES

God is a good father and gives good gifts to His children. He also gives us the key to seeing these desires fulfilled: a relationship with Him. When we love with all our hearts, seeking to follow Him, His desires become our desires, and He wants to see them fulfilled just as much as we do.

This can sound a little unfair at first; I used to think, "Well, that's not right - He's basically wanting me to give up everything I am so I can want what He wants." Well, yes and no. In this process, I learned that God cared for these desires and never asked me to give them up; in fact, HE PUT THEM THERE!

However, He did often ask me to change my expectations of what their fulfillment would look like. And I found that, when I allowed God to satisfy them in His way, He brought a deeper, more powerful, and awe-inspiring satisfaction to these desires that was so much bigger than I had originally planned. So, yes, we do have surrender, but God doesn't call us to surrender something for which He doesn't have a much better exchange. 

So, are you willing to trust him with the deepest desires of your heart? It will turn out so much better than you could ever ask or think!

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

God has made so many promises to us in His Word, and all of them are "yes!" He is a good Father who loves to give good gifts to His children, and He does not exclude any of us from HIs goodness. You are not excluded from His love. However, there is a catch. If someone stops by and puts a gift on my doorstep, I cannot possess the gift if I never discover it is there by opening the door. Similarly, there are many promises we may be missing out on in His Word simply because we don't know they are available to us to receive. For example:

•  God is our healer (Exodus 12:26-27)
• We never to make decisions alone, because He will instruct us and teach us in the way we should go (Psalm 32:8)
• He will keep us in perfect peace - we do not have to be anxious, ever again (Isaiah 26:3)
• To those who delight in Him, He will give them the desires of their heart (Psalm 37:4); and
• For those who abide in Him and His will, we can request anything, and He will do it (John 15:7)

Friends, these are big promises! We serve a crazy good God who gives "abundantly above all that ewe ask or think," but we cannot ask for what we do not know is available to us. 

Today, choose to discover these promises He has for you, and lay hold of the abundant goodness He longs to pour into your life - you may just be surprised by all that is available to you. 

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God is a good God, and can stand on His own Word - all the way through. It often strikes me as funny how easy it is to have faith for the most profound, and most miraculous, promise in history - the promise of salvation - and yet we struggle to trust Him with our more basic needs. 

Did you know that God promises us that He will take care of all of our needs and that He will do so abundantly and according to His riches? (Ephesians 3:20; Philippians 4:19) Or that He will take care of all our enemies for us? (Deuteronomy 28:7) Or that He will make us the head and not the tail, and the lender who never has to borrow? (Deuteronomy 28:12-13) Or that He will never leave us or forsake us? (Hebrews 13:5)

TODAY'S TRUTH: TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD

All of these are promises (and so many more) God has made to us, and they are available to us in the same way salvation is available - by faith! (Romans 4:13) God cannot go back on His promises, and so we only need to do our part - to follow Him and simply take Him at His Word. If we can trust God with something so fundamental and big as the salvation of our souls, how much more can we trust Him in these other areas of promise? They're almost incomprehensibly good; what a loving Father we serve!

The Bible is big. It's thick and overwhelming. Not to mention that it's hard to know where to start reading it. 

We get it. But here's the thing. The Bible is so powerful. It has the ability to change your life. The Bible will take the fearful person and make them free. It can take the ashamed and give them worth.

Reading the Bible is really important as a Christian. And it's something we should be reading on a regular basis.

So as you're looking to 2021, choose to make reading the Bible an important part of your routine each day. Find scriptures that speak to you and put them in your room, or on your mirror. Get into God's word and let it become alive and real to you.

Tips for reading the Bible:
1. Pray. Make prayer a part of your habit when it comes to Bible reading. There might be times when you really need guidance. Pray that God will provide it through his word.

2. Read. When we read the Bible, we need to read it for all it's worth. Some people think that reading a verse or two is enough, or that just opening the Bible and starting to read is a good way to study. It maybe better than nothing, but it's not the best way to study. I encourage you to read what you read a few times. Sometimes when we read something we don't quite understand it the first time. If you are going to read a chapter, read it twice before moving on. Especially pay attention to things that don't quite make sense, and then go back and read those again. 

3. Ask. When reading the Bible, you need to ask some questions of yourself. Here are two you should always ask as you're reading. 

• What does this passage mean? Always keep in mind context.
• What does this passage mean to me?

When you come across something you don't understand, ask!

When we talk about prayer, it can be easy to want to ignore the fact that we should be praying as Christians. We'd rather do the fun stuff. Prayer takes work and it's a lot easier to sit and watch Netflix.

However, praying is an important part of our spiritual life as Christians. Kind of like brushing our teeth in the natural. It would be easier an d probably more fun to skip brushing your teeth , but personal hygiene like this is important to staying healthy.

Prayer is the same of us. It's an important part of our spiritual lives. 

The great thing about prayer is that according to the Bible it's powerful and effective. So while you think you might not be making a huge impact, your prayers do work and they are effective. 

So challenge yourself as we go into 2021 to begin praying if you haven't already. Prayer is powerful and it's effective. It's a great thing to develop and grow into. 

P - Praise for who is and what he has done. 
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

R - Repent of sins I have committed. Of commands I have neglected.
And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

A - Ask for the needs of others and needs for yourself.
Give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Y - Yield my will to God's will. My agenda to God's agenda for me
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
For thine is kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever, amen. 

Jesus came to the earth and did so many great things for us. It can be hard sometimes to really take time to appreciate them. So today, we're to look at one of the things Jesus brought to us which is life. 

TODAY'S TURTH: JESUS BRINGS LIFE

​Jesus gave us life. And not just any old life, but He came to give us abundant life. A good life. Not a life free from problems, but al life full of hope and joy in Him.