Gift of Faith book 4: Firm Faith 
Received by: CQ and DE
Jesus knows where you are and what you are doing, right now! If you are on the highest mountain, or in the middle of an ocean, Jesus can see you and take care of you. Why not say a little prayer right now and talk to Him? Jesus is listening, and He will help you.
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God always speaks the truth. We can trust what He says to be right. No matter what is happening around us, or what others are saying, we know that God’s Word can be trusted. He never tells untruths. God loves us and we can depend on His Word.
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If nothing was ever hard for you, and everything was always easy, you wouldn’t get to know what it is like to have help from Heaven. The Lord is close to those whose hearts are sad. He heals those who are sick. He comforts those who are hurting. He helps those who are having difficulties.
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You are special to Jesus, He will keep you close to Him and as you talk with Him and spend time hearing from Him. No matter what happens, He can help you, so that things won’t be too difficult for you. Jesus is in charge of you, and He knows what is best. 
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When you pray and listen to Jesus He can direct you and tell you the best things to do—things that will help to keep you safe and protected. If you find yourself in a dangerous or difficult situation, call on Him first of all. Jesus will help you and send His angels to your side.
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Did you get hurt? Jesus knows and will heal you when you pray. Are you sick and not feeling well? It’s not so easy when you feel uncomfortable. Ask Jesus to help you to get healed, and to learn what you can while you are sick—making you a wiser, kinder, more loving and helpful person—someone who is a bit more like Him.
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Are you sad because what you had hoped for didn’t work out as you planned? Remember that Jesus is in charge of your life. He has good things planned for you because He loves you. You can trust that as you love and follow Him that things will work out for the best in the end—even things that seem to be hard right now.
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Why do houses have walls? They can keep you warm or cool, and dry, safe and sheltered. Calling on Jesus to help you, is like putting a wall of protection and safekeeping around you. When you pray for His help and care, and you do what He says to do, He can surround you and keep you safe.
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Change can sometimes make you feel uncertain, but think of it as jumping the waves at the beach. You see the wave coming and you wonder if it’ll knock you over. Then just as it gets close you jump, and the wave lifts you high and then sets you gently down again. 
“Hey!”  You think, “That was easy!”
That’s how change is with Jesus. He can help you make the jump, and land you safely back on your feet each time!
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With God’s Spirit in you and His arms upholding you, you can do anything! When something seems too hard for you, remember that nothing is too hard for Jesus. Bring Him all your worries and concerns, and He’ll replace them with His comfort and encouragement. His loving care is always there for you! 
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Is your family moving to someplace new? Or are you facing some other big change? Whatever kind of change it is, you can face it bravely, knowing that Jesus will be right there with you and He will help you through it. 

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We’re all as little children before God. We all need His loving care and helping hand. He’s our Heavenly Father and will make everything work out well for us, as we call on Him to help us and we trust that He will do what is best. Jesus wants to give us all the help and comfort we need. Just ask Him for it!

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Jesus is always there to comfort you. He knows exactly what you’re going through and wants to help you. He’ll wipe away the tears and bring the sunshine and laughter back into your life.  Faith in God and in His love for you chases all the shadows away. The light of His love will help your heart and mind to overflow with sunshine and happiness! 
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Jesus is like our big Shepherd and we’re all like His little sheep. He’ll always protect and take care of us as we stay close to Him! There's nothing Jesus won’t do that’s good for us because He loves us. We love Him too and try to obey Him. Believe God’s Word when He says He will answer prayer and give you what you need—He will always supply!

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Sometimes the biggest test is waiting to see what the Lord will do. But if we’ve decided to trust Jesus in everything, He’s bound to answer every need and solve every problem! Are you asking God for something and you haven’t seen it answered yet? Keep claiming God’s promises, as many as you need. The answers will soon blossom from these seeds of faith!
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Have you ever seen people bungee jumping?  Faith in God and His Word is like the rubber rope that holds the jumper secure.  Things may sometimes seem a little scary or unsettling, but as you hold on to the Word of God you’ll enjoy the most thrilling times of your life! 
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Praise is more powerful than electricity! Praise can turn the light on in your heart and make your outlook on things even brighter than a flood light. Just try it in any situation that seems dark or gloomy and see how all the shadows vanish away! Praise makes everything better!
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We have nothing to fear because we have King Jesus and His wonderful love!  Jesus defeated the devil a long time ago when He came to Earth to bring us salvation, love, forgiveness and freedom. All we have to do is remember Jesus’ victory, call out to Him, and think about Him to make the darkness of the Enemy and the bad feelings and fears flee. Jesus is the winner and we are on His team. He is stronger and more powerful than anything or anyone else on Earth! 
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When the future comes, Jesus will already be there. He has prepared the way for us, before we even get there, so we don’t have anything to worry about! The future only comes one day at a time. Jesus gives us His love and the grace to live each day for Him. Each day brings His Kingdom of Heaven that much closer to earth. 
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Jesus healed many people when He was on Earth, and His power is still the same today. Ask Him for whatever healing you need, and expect Him to do it! He made you and He knows how to keep your body working well. He can create and recreate anything in your body that you need Him to. If you are unwell in any way just pray in faith and Jesus will begin to restore and to heal you.

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Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and with Him in your heart you never need to worry or fear! Just take time with Jesus, resting in His presence and filling up on His Word and His thoughts, His love and all He wants to tell you. That is how He can give you His peace that passes all understanding, and make everything much easier to bear. 

Some things seem easy to do at first, but then when you actually begin to work on them, you realise that they are harder to do than you expected. When that happens it’s easy to get discouraged and to think that you’ll never be able to do it. Things may take longer than you thought they would or should, but with Jesus helping you, eventually you will be able to say, “I did it!—With Jesus’ help!”

 Jesus knows what you can and can’t do. He doesn’t expect you to do things all on your own without His help. If there is something that is too hard, but that you must do or would really like to do, ask Him and others for help, and then don’t give up. All things are possible with God’s help. When it’s something that is good for you to do, He can help you see it through until it’s completed.

Have you ever felt really alone and like you just wanted to cry? Jesus doesn’t want you to feel that you are all by yourself. He said in the Bible that He would always be with you, and that He would also send His angels to be with you. They are with you in all that you do, are always watching over you, and are caring for you. You are never alone. 

Did you know that Jesus can see just through the darkness as clearly as you can see in the light? There is absolutely nothing that He can’t see. Nothing is hidden from Him. He can see through any wall or door—and even into people’s hearts and minds. He knows everyone’s thoughts and feelings. He sees you clearly also, and knows all that you are feeling.

When we bonk ourselves or get hurt in some way it can be hard, especially when we don’t understand why something happened. A good thing to remember is that God sees and knows about every single thing that comes into our lives, and in His love He will make things work out for the best in the end. 

Even an accident can bring good things our way—eventually. One day you may be talking with someone and find that because you had a certain difficult experience, it helps you to understand what they are going through.  Then you are able to encourage and help them, because it also happened to you. At that moment you will feel glad that you had that difficult time.

It’s wonderful to find out that you can be a help to someone because of your experiences and the hard times you’ve been through. It makes your heart feel very happy. When you can help others find a solution, or help them to smile again because you understand what they are feeling, and have wise advice to offer, it makes you feel real good.

It’s never pleasant when those around you are feeling worried, upset, tense or angry. It’s easy to get swept away and mixed up in those feelings too, and to react in an unpleasant way. The Bible says that God is not the creator of confusion but of peace. If you pray for His peace to come to your spirit, you can stay calm and have a good effect on those around you. 

When others seem to be better at doing something, and you wish you could do as well as them, it’s easy to feel bad about it. But remember that not everyone can do everything just the same. When Jesus made you He gave you special abilities to do things in ways that only you can. Try to think about the ways that He can make you great, and focus your positive thoughts on the things that you can do well—things that others might wish they could do! 

Sometimes we feel like there isn’t anyone around who can really understand what we are feeling and experiencing. Yet, Jesus is always with us, and His strong and caring angels protect, surround, and help us. They are always with us! Isn’t that wonderful? They know what we are feeling and can help us! Jesus wants each of us to have all the Heavenly help that we need.

It’s hard to lose things, or have things get broken or taken away. When you have that feeling of missing things, it can make you sad. But did you know that one day you won’t even care about what seems so important to you now? The joy Jesus will give you in Heaven—or even later on in your earthly life—will wipe away all the sadness and feelings of loss. Jesus will give you better things than you’ve ever imagined, as you love Him and live your life with Him.

There are so many things that we don’t know, or we have forgotten. We can feel so incomplete at times. But with Jesus in our hearts and close to us, He can be for us all that we need, and help us to make it through our lives. He can tell us the answers to our problems. He can remind us of important things we need to remember. He can help us, through His Holy Spirit, to learn anything we need to, no matter how complicated it seems. 

We are like one piece of a puzzle. Then Jesus, His Word and His will for our lives, are like the rest of the puzzle. He fills in all the parts to the puzzle of our lives. We don’t have to know how to be and do everything. We just team up with Him and He makes our lives complete, and makes things beautiful—like the lovely picture that a puzzle creates.

Have you ever tried to tie a shoe with one hand? It’s difficult to do. Some things you need to do in life will seem even harder than that. But with prayer for God’s help, and working together with others who love Him, it can be like two hands that work together. That makes things so much easier. 

A small candle can do something that a fancy big light or even the most colourful fireworks can’t do. –It can light thousands of candles with its little flame without it making it burn less bright, or grow smaller, or go out! God’s love in your heart can bring love and light to countless others, even if you feel like you are small, or not as famous or fancy as someone else. Shine for Jesus by showing His love, and then others will find joy in their hearts too.

Just like you need food and water and air to survive, your heart needs the food of God’s Word, the refreshing of His love, and the breath of His Spirit. Every time you stop to talk to Jesus, and you read His Word or you listen to what He wants to tell you, it’s like having a good snack, or a nice drink—for your heart and mind and spirit. It gives you energy, faith and inspiration.

Every bone in your body works together to make you able to do so many things. That’s like each experience or thing that you learn in your life—they all can work together to enable you to do new things. You can be glad when you learn something new—even if you learn it because of a mistake that was made. Learning what you did will help you to be able to do new things. Mistakes that teach us things are like tools that can help us in our lives. 

Think of your best friend, or someone that you would really like to see. Think of how much you love them, and how nice they are to be around. Jesus loves you and likes to be around you much more than you have ever loved anyone. He is so happy when you take time to talk with Him. 

Jesus is very much looking forward to having you join Him in Heaven, when the time is right! He can hardly wait to show you all that He is preparing for you, because you love Him and are doing your best to please Him. One day you will get to enjoy all that He has in store for you and your loved ones. If you are faithful to do what He wants you to do while on Earth, you will be very happy to see all the fun things He has prepared for you in Heaven!

There are not enough words in any language to express all the love that God has for you—yes, you! If all the books in the world were filled with words that told of how much God cares about you, that still wouldn’t be enough to say all that He would like to tell you! His love is so great and never-ending.

The faith Jesus puts in your heart will grow as you read and believe God’s Word. It’s like a seed that you plant in the ground that grows with proper care. Just like a seed grows and matures and can bear fruit, your faith grows through the watering of God’s Word, and it will give you the confidence to ask the Lord for what you need. Prayers of faith make Jesus happy, and He loves to answer them! When you need Jesus to give you something, you don’t have it already, but faith believes that He will answer in the best way. So pray in faith, and strengthen your faith through remembering God’s promises to you, and you will get the answer to your prayers. 

Jesus is like a big older brother who loves you very much. He makes sure that you have what you need and are safe. Your big brother Jesus can help you as you learn new things. He can give you tips and clues to make things easier. While on Earth He experienced many of the things you do. He knows how it feels to grow up and to have to learn so many things, and to sometimes be sick. He’s a brother that will make sure you get the best things, because you are special to Him.

It might seem like there are sure a lot of people on the Earth, and sometimes you might wonder how God can be aware of each one and know everything there is to know about everyone. Well, do you know that there are many more bugs and creatures on Earth than there are people? And still God knows about the little creatures! So for sure He knows about you! People are far more important to Him than any other creature on Earth. 

Clap your hands. Count to ten. Run around. Sit down and breathe in deeply. Sing a song. Give a hug. And laugh! There are so many lively things you can do. God is the creator of life, and fun, and movement! Every time you can do something it is because God made you able to do it. When you do these fun and active things it can remind you how amazing God is—able to make something so wonderful like your lively body!

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.” Jesus said this to his disciples long ago, and today He promises the same to us. When can Jesus bring peace to you? When you are feeling upset, or angry, He can calm you down and help you to react wisely. When others are acting a bit too wild, and speaking loudly or causing confusion, He can help you to find a place for quietness and peace. When you are worried about something that could happen, Jesus can relax your nerves and give you faith to trust in His care. 

The safest place in the world—the only completely safe place from all harm and danger—is in the hands of the God of love. He can shelter you, protect you, provide all that you need, and chase all trouble away. How do you get to this special place? Be ready and willing to do what He says to do, and go wherever He tells you to go, and then ask Him to place His loving care and protection around you; and He will. 

Just like electricity works when you plug something into a good circuit and turn it on, God’s power to answer your prayers works, when you reach out to Him in faith and ask for his help. He hears you the instant you call on Him, and He knows exactly what to do in order for things to work out in the best way for you. Things might not happen just as you expect, but they’ll always get better in some way for you and others. The moment you plug into prayer and turn on the switch of God’s power through your faith in His ability to do anything for you, He begins to go to work for you, and make wonderful things happen.

Have you ever seen a little baby holding onto their daddy’s finger? Daddy’s finger seems so big as they wrap their tiny little hand around it. They squeeze tightly with a smile, as they feel secure holding on. That’s what Jesus wants us to be like. We are safe with Him, and He’s like a Daddy to us. We can hold on in faith. We can hold on as we trust Him. We can hold on through patience as we wait for the needs that He’s going to give us. Just like a baby who smiles at their daddy and trusts in His care, Jesus can do anything and is so big compared to us.

If all of a sudden you lost everything that you now have, and all you had in the world was Jesus, you’d still be okay. Jesus would be enough to make you happy, because He knows your heart well, and He knows how to give you all that you need. He’s the source and the supplier of joy, energy, good health, and of all that your heart wishes for. Why not take a moment to think about all that He can do, and let His love fill your heart with joy. With Him you’ll always have what you need, because He can give anything to you. He can supply your every need, and He knows just what to do to make you happy.