The key to abundant life is found in one seemingly insignificant and confusing verse. “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25, NKJV).

This is God’s challenge to our small world! Understanding what he means here is the door to a life-giving revelation. Jesus also said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

I take great comfort in knowing that my Savior understands my feelings. He relates to all I am experiencing. He truly understands every feeling and never condemns me for suffering attacks from the enemy. Instead, he tells me to hold on and not to be afraid. He lets me know he too is familiar with this kind of struggle, then he offers me a gracious audience at his throne with a promise of mercy and grace in my hour of need. Whether my negative feelings have been a result of a physical or spiritual battle, our Lord offers comfort and help when most needed.

God has not forgotten you! He knows exactly where you are and what you are going through right now. He is monitoring every step along your path, but we are just like the children of Israel who doubted God’s daily care for them, even though prophets were sent to deliver wonderful promises from heaven. We forget in our hour of need that God has us in the palm of his hand. Instead, like the children of Israel, we are afraid we are going to blow it all and be destroyed by the enemy.

Paul exhorted the people of God, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5, NKJV). The apostle was saying, “Let the mind that is in Christ — the very thinking of Jesus — be your thinking also. His mindset is the one we all are to seek.”

What does it all mean when prayers go unanswered? When hurts linger and God seems to be doing nothing in response to our faith? Often God is loving us more supremely at that time than ever before. The Word says, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:6, NKJV). A chastening of love takes precedence over every act of faith, prayer or promise. What I see as hurting me could be his loving me. It could be his gentle hand spanking me out of my stubbornness and pride.

Have you noticed there is very little talk nowadays about heaven or about leaving this old world behind? Instead, we are bombarded with messages on how to use our faith to acquire more things. “The next revival,” said one well-known teacher, “will be a financial revival. God is going to pour out financial blessing on all believers.”

Any message about death bothers us. We try to ignore even thinking about it and think that those who discuss it are morbid. Occasionally, we will talk about what heaven must be like, but most of the time the subject of death is taboo.

These mortal bodies of ours are but mere shells. The shell is not for keeping but a temporary confine that enshrouds an ever-growing, ever-maturing life force. The body is a shell that acts as a transient guardian of the life inside. The shell is synthetic in comparison to the eternal life it clothes.

This is how Paul could say, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, NKJV). Was Paul morbid? Did he have an unhealthy fixation on death? Did Paul show a lack of respect for the life God had blessed him with? Absolutely not!

Faith is something you do based on what you know. Knowledge means nothing unless it is acted upon. Consider this example. The children of Israel received the good word that God had given them Canaan for a homeland. That information would have meant nothing at all to them, though, if they had remained in Egypt as slaves. The Bible says, “By faith [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. …By faith [Israel] passed through the Red Sea as by dry land…” (Hebrews 11:27, 29, NKJV).

Many Christians read the Bible regularly, believing it is God’s revealed Word for their lives. Over and over in the pages of scripture, they read about generations who heard the voice of God. They read of God speaking to his people with this phrase repeated time after time: “And God said…” However, many of these same Christians live as though God doesn’t speak to his people today.

No matter how unsettled the world becomes, God's people can relax and keep their joy flowing because our Lord has promised special protection when it is most needed.

Didn't God have an emergency plan for the children of Israel during the worldwide famine? He sent Joseph ahead to Egypt, promoted him to prime minister and filled the warehouses with enough grain to last out the famine. He then transported his people within walking distance of those storehouses and fed them to the full through the raging famine.