Practice His Presence

Frequently remind yourself that God is with you, that He will never fail you, that you can count upon Him. Say these words, "God is with me, helping me." –Norman Vincent Peale

Never quit trying to reach your goal. The journey may be hard, but the result will be worth it.

Live Your Life In God’s Light

How are you? It’s a question you hear a dozen times a day. Mostly you mumble a “fine” or “okay” and don’t give it much thought. But maybe you should.

How are you? Are you excited about life? Are you eager to see what God has in store for you each day? Or are you lethargic and downcast? In Malachi 4:2, God promises that to those who honor and revere him, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.” Picture it—frolicking with the pure joy of being alive!

When you are sick physically, you take medicine to make you better. And how do you take that medicine? Ordinarily you take it by mouth in the form of a liquid or a pill, or you take it by injection into the bloodstream. When your sickness is that of your heart and your mind, how can you take a dose of faith, the medicine you need?

You can take it either through the eye or through the ear. For example, suppose you read the Bible. The printed words are reflected as an image on the retina of the eye. This is transmitted to the mind where it conveys an idea and the idea affects the diseased area of the mind with its healing potency. That is why you should read the Bible.

The other way you can take faith is through the ear. Suppose you come to church. You hear the reading of the Bible, you hear the great music, you hear the sermon, you hear the prayers. All these make impacts on the eardrum. And these travel to the mind by a process that I do not pretend to understand, and reach the diseased area where the fears are. And if you do this sufficiently and earnestly, you can be healed of your fears, your apprehensions and your anxieties by the strong message of faith.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus went about “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Every disease—physical, emotional, spiritual. Jesus has promised that, “Whoever follows me will…have the light of life” (John 8:12). Can you think of a healthier, happier condition that being filled with God-given light?

God wants to make you whole. How are you?

Norman Vincent Peale

Never Accept Defeat

You don’t need to be defeated by anything! Why? Because the enormous power of God and the strength-giving power of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can enable you to avoid any defeat.

This isn’t to minimize circumstances. Life can be overwhelming. And if you are in the midst of troubles and woes just now, it may seem incredible that anyone would say, “Never accept defeat.” But God wants us to be victorious! He built us to be overcomers!

So how do you go about never accepting defeat? Use these three principles:

1. Never think defeat.
If you feel defeated and you think, I’m tired and weary and I’ve had it that is exactly how it will be. But if, when the going gets rough, you think, I won’t accept this. I will continue to think victory and not defeat, then all the resources of your nature flow toward achieving victory. One way to cancel out thoughts of defeat is simply to repeat that text from Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It will knock any defeatism right out of you!

2. Stick it out and never stop trying.
How many times have you failed at something because you simply didn’t try hard enough or long enough? The test of an individual’s character is how determined he is. You must get hold of an idea and never let go. If you have an objective, and a roadblock gets in the way, you must get around, or underneath, or over or through the barrier. No roadblock should stop you. You must keep on keeping on. “Let us not become weary…we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

3. Keep God in it.
Nobody can be as strong, vital and heroic as I have suggested without the presence of God. This is an overwhelming world, and we are very small. It is like the prayer the Normandy fishermen offer when they go out on the deep to fish. Before they cast off their tiny boats, they pray: “O Lord, take care of us. The sea is so vast. We are so small.” God does and will take care of you. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The secret of meeting life victoriously is how close you are to God, how deeply and sincerely you receive Jesus Christ into your life. If you give your life to God, if you commit your life to Christ, if this becomes your consuming passion, you will have immunity—not from difficulty, but from defeat. And that is all we can ask.

Norman Vincent Peale