​Outlook determines outcome.
I assume, like me, during this Coronavirus downtime, you have been thinking a lot about what’s next. It is natural and normal for us human beings to ponder the future after the pandemic dust settles.
It is also normal for us to listen to all the “noise” clamoring for our attention. Expert panels. Self-proclaimed prognosticators. Speculators think that they know what is going to happen. It seems that everybody and anybody with a camera and microphone wants to tell you how things will turn out.
If you listen to the world, at best, you will be confused, at the worst, you will be seriously concerned. The world has no definitive answers because it leaves God out of the equation.
The outlook of a worldly person who does not know God is negative, pessimistic and woe is us. The outcome of a negative outlook is worry, anxiety, fear, despondency, depression, and despair. Many, many Americans are feeling this way as uncertainty hangs over our heads and hearts.
Sadly, even some professing Christians are speaking pessimistically about the future. Their outlook is not much different than the world. No wonder they have a frown on their face and wrinkled foreheads instead of a peaceful heart and joyful countenance that trusts the Lord to take care of business.
What if God’s people’s outlook was positive? What if Christ’s followers believed the best, not the worst? Believed that the Lord would turn this crisis into opportunities to share the Gospel with fearful folks? What if Christians hoped for, even expected, that God would bring awesome things out of this uncertain season? What if we believed the sun would shine after the storm?
This past week , as I was spending time in prayer, informing the Lord of the world’s situation, (which I am pretty sure He really knew about), the Holy Spirit challenged me to start thinking about the good things God is going to bring out of this crisis.  
It was a revelation, a lightning bolt reminder, that our God is not pessimistic. Not negative. The God of the Bible is optimistic. Positive. Jeremiah 29: 11 states “For I now the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”
No bad news there!
I have decided to deal with the reality confronting me with an attitude that is looking forward with faith and confident expectation of what the Lord is going to do in the near future.
I encourage you to read Isaiah 64:1-5. In summary, when God’s people were in a national crisis, the Word says God came down to His people and did awesome things they did not expect.
I love that. God was present. He surprised His people with awesome things.
 My heart is excited. My spirit is expectant. My mind is full of peace. My renewed outlook is going to see an awesome outcome from the hand of the Lord in the days ahead!
A Christians’ outlook should come from an up-look to the Lord.
How To Keep A Positive Outlook

• Tune out the world’s negativity. Doom and gloom do not make for a good day!
• Reject Satan’s lies. Rebuke the devil. Remind him of his final destination in the lake of fire.
• Tune in to God’s positive Word. Confess God’s Word over your situation. Speak His truth over your life. Then walk in it.
• Believe, without doubting, that God always keep His promises. He is a promise keeper, never a promise breaker.
• Surround yourself with positive, likeminded, faith-filled followers of Jesus who expect the best is yet to come. Be very wise and discerning concerning who you invite into your innermost circle.
• Share your Christian optimism with those who are bewildered, confused, overwhelmed, discouraged, anxious and fearful. Encourage them in the Lord.
• Thank the Lord ahead of time for what is coming. Rejoice in Him. Sing His praises for awesome days ahead.

God’s outlook and outcome is always good for His followers.
Let’s get real. How are you handling this COVID-19 crisis? Be honest with yourself. Check your attitude. How’s your outlook looking? What kind of outcome is your current outlook going to produce in the days ahead?
 Maybe you need an outlook adjustment in order to have a positive outcome, which I believe is God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for His followers.
Keep a lookout to keep your outlook positive, trusting the Lord do direct your steps and bless your life according to His promises in the Bible.
 “As a man thinks within himself, so is he.” Proverbs 23:6
A Word For Your Week: What you see is what will be.

​Coronavirus. Economic downturn. Financial pressures. Unemployment. Uncertainty about the immediate future.
Unsteady times.
From 1973-77, I proudly served our country in the U.S Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Two years of my four-year tour of duty, I served with the 3rd Marine Division. My role was to provide medical care and support for sailors and Marines.
My claim to fame as a “sailor” is that I spent a total of seven days aboard ship! (I guess I was a land-lubing sailor). My shipboard experience consisted of being assigned to the sick bay aboard an LST (Landing Ship Troops) which was transporting 1,000 Marines and their equipment to Japan for military exercises.
On my maiden Navy voyage, our ship got caught on the tail end of a typhoon. A typhoon is a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean. One hundred plus mile-an-hour winds, with 25 foot waves, battered the bow of our boat for twenty-four hours. At the height of the storm, the Captain ordered personnel to tie themselves into their bunk in the berthing quarters, anticipating a rough night.
Roped in my bunk, feeling very seasick, I anxiously and prayerfully rode out the storm as it tossed our ship up, down, and sideways like a cork. In the morning, our Commanding Officer announced to the troops that the ship had almost rolled over during the night. Comforting thought when you are still plowing holes in an ocean that could turn into a raging sea of destruction on a moment’s notice.
I was thankful to God for sparing our ship and lives. I was also very grateful that our Captain manned his post on the bridge, steering us to safety. When the life-threatening storm looked like it would swamp the ship, sending it down to Davey Jones locker, I have a hunch the Captain uttered the words “steady as she goes”. Probably more than once, you think?
I believe “steady” at the helm got us through to the other side of nature’s unbridled, ferocious fury that literally threatened our lives.
 
My friend, ff you are only half-awake, you know how unsteady, insecure and unstable our culture and world is. Terribly troubling, manmade typhoons are tearing away at the very foundations of our Judeo- Christian country. Unsteady as she goes seems to be the mindless, heartless, senseless direction we are heading as a nation. Many have lost their way, doing what is wrong when they should be doing what is right. (See Isaiah 5:20-24).   
Unsteady times like ours call for steadiness.
I greatly admire and respect people who are steady, stable and secure when life’s storms roll across the horizon.
“Steady as she goes” folks have a way of bringing peace in chaos, order in disorder, clarity in confusion, comfort in discomfort, hope in dark times, and triumph in tragedy. I thank God for people He has used throughout my life that brought steadiness when I was unsteady, unstable and insecure.
I desire to be a steadfast Christian who is steady at the helm when all “hell” seems to break loose in life.
Seven Steps to Steady As She Goes

1. Keep your heart riveted on and rejoicing in the resurrection power of Christ.
2. Keep your eyes fixed on the reward of Jesus’ approval and eternal awards.
3. Stand firm and steady when the ground under you feels like a slippery slope.
4. Resolve to be immovable when life is trying to move you around.
5. Run your faith race with a joyful band of stable, secure, steady people.
6. Refuse to falter or fail when unsteady, insecure people fall by the wayside. 
7. Always remember that your ultimate reward is not on earth, but in heaven!
8. Be a “steady as she goes” Christian who brings glory to God!

“Steady as she goes” keeps us pursuing and fulfilling the will of God. Unsteady as she goes takes us to somewhere we really don’t want to go.  
Feeling unsteady? Insecure? Uncertain? Maybe unstable? Focus your faith on the Lord. Look to Him. He alone is our Rock, our Fortress, our Shelter, our Shield, our Stronghold, and our  Deliverer. (Psalm 18:1-3).  
During a very turbulent, trying, tough time in his life, King David, a man after God’s own heart, cried out to the Lord “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. David asked the Lord to steady his heart in a life storm.
Jesus is the Captain of our salvation who knows how to take us safely through life’s storms.
Steadfast. Steady or unsteady: My choice. Your choice. Which will you and I choose?
“He will not fear evil tidings, His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” Psalm 112:7
“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing Your praises.” Psalm 57:7
A Word For Your Week: Steadfast faith in Jesus Christ keeps us steady in an unsteady world.

Adverse circumstances have descended upon multitudes of people around the world because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
 
You and I are feeling anxious, wondering what is going to happen next. We feel stuck or stalled in life while we wait out this deadly disease that is stalking the earth.
 
Without question, you and I are certainly facing significantly adversity.  
 
But imagine a day like this.  
 
You get up, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, drive to work and do your job. Then people you care about mercilessly pummel you with rocks. Then they drag your severely battered, bruised and bloodied body into a ditch outside of the city.
 
Abused. Abandoned. Alone. Left to die.    
 
Most likely you and I will never experience a day like the one just described. But the apostle Paul of the Bible did. Our scripture passage for this week reveals a serious, adverse scenario that became life-threatening for God’s chosen servant.
 
“…. they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he arose and entered the city.”  Acts 14:19-20
 

• Paul was stoned with rocks (not with wacky weed!). Big rocks. Hard rocks. Jagged rocks. Rocks that hurt. Why? Simply for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 
I am certain a physical beat-down with stones was not scheduled in the Apostles’ day-timer for that morning! So how did Paul respond to a stoning? Verse 20 states “he arose and entered the city”. Which city? The one where he had just been stoned!
 
Are you kidding me? Did you get hit with one rock too many brother Paul? Did you lose some of your marbles during the stoning? How in the world could you walk back into your adversary’s backyard? What in the world were you thinking?
 

• Left for dead, Paul plowed ahead with God’s purpose in His life.

 
Paul turned a stoning into a ministry opportunity. By the grace of God, he marched right back in to share the Rock of salvation with those who threw rocks and tossed him out of town.  
 

• Smack dab in the middle of serious personal adversity, Paul advanced.

 
 Persecution propelled him forward. Difficulty moved him to greater determination and diligence in his ministry of declaring and sharing the Good News!
 
Contrast the disciple’s response with Paul’s. They stood around. Hung out, probably sucking their thumbs and whining about their situation! Paralyzed by fear, troubled by the tribulation they had encountered, they retreated while Paul advanced. The disciples were more near death then Paul. Paul was wounded and traumatized in his body. But his ministry colleagues were troubled in their spirit.
 

• The disciples froze in adversity while Paul rose in adversity to bring glory to God

 
As Christians you and I must come to grips with verse 22, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”  Note “many tribulations”. You and I must pass through them to enter God’s kingdom. This being true, we need to learn how to advance through adversity if we are to be victorious overcomers like Paul and our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  
 
I believe it is entirely possible that Paul successfully endured a stoning because he personally witnessed Stephen’s stoning in Acts 8.  Stephen’s courageous testimony of faith and subsequent martyrdom touched Paul’s heart. The apostle was inspired witnessing Stephen advance through adversity. In Acts 9, on the road to Damascus, Paul received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. The same spirit of Jesus that was in Stephen also resided in Paul.
 

• When times are tough, you and I can stand around like the disciples and do nothing, Or we can rise up, take a faith stand, and do something positive and productive like Paul.

 
Advice For Advancing Through Adversity.
 

• Commit yourself completely to your calling.
• Take your eyes off your problems. Focus them on your purpose. 
• Remember that God, the Rock of salvation, is bigger than any rock-throwing adversary. 
• Resolve to move forward by faith when circumstances are pushing you backwards. 
• While others may retreat in the face of adversity, you choose to run to, not away, from the battle.
• Trust the Lord to turn a bad experience into a good one. He is an expert at that!
• Ask yourself: How can I make lemonade out of these lemons?

 
Adversity is part of life. Christians are not exempt from tough times. So when trials, tribulation, testing, challenges, difficult seasons and opposition raise their ugly heads, will you retreat or advance?
 
The current Coronavirus crisis is a test of our fortitude, our determination, our commitment to advance during this time of uncertainty, confusion and concern.  
 
Faith in Christ stands firm in the face of adversity.
 
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.”                                         I Peter 4:12-13
 
“Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”                                            Ephesians 6:13
 
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”  I Corinthians 15:5
 
A Word For Your Week: When the going gets tough, the tough advance through adversity to fulfill God’s will.

​Setbacks.
 
They happen. Seasons of setbacks, short or long, are an inevitable fact of life. Setbacks hurt because setbacks set us back.
 
Currently, our world, nation, families and friends are struggling with setbacks caused by the coronavirus. Health issues, finances, “normal” America routines and lifestyle are under assault. Every day “Breaking News” announces some setback somewhere.
 
I don’t know about you, but setbacks are not one of my favorite things. I prefer the idea of coming back from setbacks. The Lord, who Christians love and serve,  knows this and has put within our hearts a comeback spirit.  
 
Facts About Setbacks And Comebacks
 

• Satan specializes in setbacks. God specializes in comebacks.
• Setbacks set us back. Comebacks bring us back and propel us forward.
• Setbacks are a bend in the road, not the end of the road.
• Setbacks contain the seeds of a comeback.
• Comebacks break the power of setbacks.
• BIGGER the setback, BIGGER the comeback!

 
The Lord Jesus Christ experienced setbacks.
 
 In the last twenty-four hours of His earthly life He was betrayed by Judas’ kiss, publicly denied three times by Peter, falsely accused and beaten by the religious leaders, spit upon, scourged and tortured beyond recognition by Roman soldiers, nailed to a wooden cross, taunted as He bled to death and died. Serious setbacks resulting in DEATH.
 
But there was a comeback in Christ.
 
On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:1-8). Death gave way to RESURRECTION! God’s Son came back from a setback…and promises to come back for all who believe in Him. JESUS IS THE COMEBACK KING! Glory to God!
 
What does Jesus’ comeback mean for you and me? It means we can be comeback kids for Christ. Why? Because the same spirit that raised Jesus from dead resides in us. Christians bear in their body the life of Christ. We have power over setbacks because we are resurrection people.
 
In II Corinthians 4:7-10 the apostle Paul declares that Christ’s followers are comeback kids.
 
  “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and nor from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
                                                                                                          
Coming back from setbacks was personal to Paul. Study Paul’s list of personal setbacks in II Corinthians 11:22-30. Remember what Paul endured when you are thinking you are having a bad day.
 
Paul always came back from setbacks. He knew he could do all things through Christ’s strength and power in Him. Paul was knocked down, but never stayed down. Setbacks gave way to comebacks in Paul’s Christian life.         
 
                                    COME BACK FROM YOUR SETBACK
(Take the five following steps to turn your setback into a comeback.)
 
            1. Slam the door on self-pity. Stop sucking your spiritual thumb and throwing pity-poor-me parties. You suffered a setback. So what? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Climb out of the pit of depression and isolation and come back to life.
 
            2. Be strong and courageous. It takes guts to leave the ruts of a setback. Setbacks force us to choose to be courageous or cowardly. Summon strength from the Lord and courageously turn your back on your setback and head down the comeback trail.
 
            3. Report for duty. Step off the setback sideline and step back on to the comeback field. Love and obey your God, serve your family and friends, minister to lost and hurting people. Choose to overcome a setback and make your life count again.  
 
            4. Encourage others. Everyone loves a comeback story.  You are being watched by family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and church members. Will they be encouraged because you came back from your setback? Are you going to be one of God’s comeback kids who inspire other people to comeback from their setbacks?  
 
            5. Fight to the finish. Come back for the rest of your life. The Christian faith is a lifetime commitment. Setbacks will come and go. Choose to keep coming back after every setback. Keep going forward in faith to finish your race victoriously (see II Timothy 4:5-8).
 
 If you are currently experiencing a setback, this question is for you: Is your setback a tombstone or a stepping stone? Has your setback buried you in discouragement and depression? Or do you see God’s comeback light at the end of the setback tunnel? Don’t stay stuck in your setback. Don’t die before you are dead. Sit up, stand up and comeback in the name of the Lord.
           
You, yes you, can be a comeback kid for Christ!
 
“I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
 
A Word For Your Week: Choose to comeback from your setback.