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DEVOTION

No Camping

By Cathy Irvin
Staff Writer

CBN.com -- In a few weeks my four-year-old great-granddaughter, Destiny and I will go on our first camping trip together to Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

At the Gardens, there is a specified area where families can stay overnight called the “Enchanted Forest."

I would like to go to the Rose Garden to camp out, but that location is prohibited. If I were to go there, I would probably get in trouble. Secondly, it is wrong to disobey, and I wouldn't want to be a poor example to my little Destiny. Thirdly, we would be unprotected. Plus, if we stayed in the Rose Garden, we could risk rolling over on a few thorns, and that is not good!

These are enough reasons to pitch our tents in the right place. When you go camping it is always in a designated area. You can't go off and do your own thing.

The point I am making is if we obey the rules and get our minds settled on the fact that we have to follow instructions, it is then that we will have success in whatever we do or wherever life takes us.

Recently my pastor preached a message about not ignoring the road signs in life because they are there for a purpose. If we heed the warnings then we will avoid defeat, destruction, and failure. I have been mediating on his message and considering how it applies to our thought life.

The most important thing is that we must refuse to dwell on negative thoughts. I gave myself a pep talk and said, “Hey girl, you can’t camp here on this thought because it will propel you to failure."

It's similar to a coach who tells his team of players: “We are going to succeed because we are winners, not losers.”

Here is a verse from the Word of God that can replace a negative thought:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phillippians 4:13, KJV)

It is a fact that we all want to succeed. No one sets themself up to fail. Time and time again I have thought that I could not do something, and when I have asked the Lord for His help, He has always been there.

Someone recently quoted a Scripture that I found to be helpful in understanding how to have those positive thoughts.

Psalm 138:8a says,

"The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever." (NKJV)

God has great plans for our lives, and we need to remember that we are not destined to be quitters, no matter how difficult the task might be that is set before us. God will not forsake us. If everything in life were easy then we would not see the importance of being stretched. We need to see that when difficulties arise, we must rely on God and not ourselves.

If you’re like me, and you get a negative thought about not being able to do something that you want to do, you must remember the sign. It says “No Camping." We are not intended to stay in a place of defeat.

It’s time to move to a new place and acquire a new way of thinking. The Lord is making a way in your situation and it is on your behalf. He is perfecting everything that concerns you. Let your mind camp out in God’s word, and put on the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:16 says,