Naaman was an army commander; a capable and composed man. But then he got sick, and didn't feel either of those (read 2 Kings 5). And he was told that the way he'd get healed was by jumping in a muddy river! This made him very angry. No matter how desperate he was for healing, Naaman was too proud to do something he felt was beneath him. He could see the easy way (having someone lay their hands on him and pray), and couldn't accept that his healing was through a mucky, more difficult route.

Sometimes God does what he does, in exactly the way that he does, on purpose. Actually, scratch that. God always does what he does for a reason. Ecclesiastes 3:1, right: 'There is a right time for everything'? God has a solid plan. Even when the plan doesn't look like we expect it to, it's solid. Going back to Naaman: when he got back from his ego trip and did what God instructed, he got to progress to what he'd been promised - he was healed. That's a lesson we can all do with learning.

Do we find ourselves getting annoyed when progress doesn't go the way we planned? Especially if it means we have to make more of an effort? Despite our complaining and indignation, this is the reality: 'Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding' (Proverbs 3:5 GWT).

So what now? Pray: ask God to build trust, grace and obedience in you, even in the muddy times.

We're stranded on an island with a friend. We are, literally, starving. So we pray. And ta-da! A fresh loaf of bread appears in front of us. But then our friend turns round and says, 'Um, great work on the bread, but why couldn't God send us a roast?' To most of us, that seems really ungrateful. We can get the same feeling reading the Israelites' reaction to their daily God-provided manna (read the story in Numbers 11).

The thing is, though, we all do it. When we complain about what we have, even when it seems reasonable to moan, we're bringing God's capability, and his decisions, into question. We're telling him that what he's given to us isn't enough. When we tell him that the beat-up-but-reliable car he gave us isn't a new Holden, or that the grade he gave us the knowledge to attain wasn't quite a merit one, we're not trusting his plan. In short, we're saying that the pain, humiliation and death that our God suffered for us wasn't sufficient. We're ignoring grace.

Tough talk, we know. But it's important for us to realise that, even when things feel really rough, we've been given everything we need, because we have God. Despite the fact that we've messed up, he chose to give himself to us.

So what now? Think about the person who disappointed you last (for whatever reason, big or small). Go out of your way for that person today, even if it's just a friendly text or surprise chocolate bar.

Do all things without complaining. All things? Yes, it's a huge challenge. Let's see what Paul meant when he wrote that, and why it's actually very solid advice. Before he tells the people at the church in Philippi not to complain, Paul shares how God is working through them to bring about the things that please him. Then, right after this, Paul talks about how the society around the Philippian Christians is 'crooked and perverse' (Philippians 2:15 NKJV). He tells those early Christians that they can be the light in that far-from-God society. We don't think it's an accident that, in the middle of him telling them that God is using them for good, to shine his good light into a dark world, Paul warns against moaning and griping. Let's face it - we're all human; we're prone to snapping at each other and complaining about the things we don't enjoy. And we don't often stop to think the impact of our negative words.

But grumbling and bickering have direct consequences. When we moan, we're damaging our own mood, we're questioning God's know-how (more explanation on that in tomorrow's reading...), and we're dragging down those who have to listen to us. General dark-cloud sitting over us all.

But. We can choose not to moan. We can choose to allow God to fill us with his brightness, whatever the situation. When we choose positivity, we shine out with that Jesus-joy.

So what now? Today, do a chore you normally don't enjoy at all, and sing a cheerful song whilst you do it.

Jesus wasn't afraid of risk. Anyone who picks inexperienced, very human, people as world-changing disciples is taking a pretty great risk, right? Especially when the task at hand is so huge for humanity. In fairness though, Jesus tends to know what he's doing. When it comes to taking risk in our own life, we can speak to as many people, read as many inspirational quotes online, and attend as many Bible studies as possible, but there comes a time to make a decision to step out.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable of workers who were entrusted with money. The ones who went out and invested the money to gain a profit for their master were rewarded with a slice of their earnings. But the guy who chose to leave it in the ground because he was too afraid to step out and take a risk, didn't receive a reward from his master (Matthew 25:28).

Now, sometimes life is just about going through our everyday lives (which does have its purpose). But when a God-opportunity comes along to step out and invest our time/energy/money into something we can't have complete control over, what do we do? Back in Ecclesiastes it says, 'If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done' (Ecclesiastes 11:4 TLB). Would we rather serve a God of comfortable non-action, or one of risk who gets results?

So what now? Pray for something inconvenient to come along, perhaps something that messes with your schedule. Ask God for the willingness to take the risk and do it.

When negativity gets the first word in, what we think about ourselves or about what we're doing isn't likely to be altogether positive. Hmm, no surprises there. Here's a good acid-test: what do we spend most of our time talking about? Is it uplifting or downgrading? We all need reminding that God sees us as a new creation, bought back from darkness because of Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). He wants us to know how loved we are in his sight.

How do we share this loving perspective? Too often we're only looking through our short-sighted view of life. But God sees our future. What does he say about that? He's a God who wants to give us 'a future and a hope' (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT). He sees our past, too. What does he say about that? Like the apostle Paul (who had a pretty grim past), he wants us to make a habit of 'forgetting what is behind' (Philippians 3:13 NIV).

So, for a fresh perspective we need to, 'set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things' (Colossians 3:2 NIV). God's ways are so much higher than ours, meaning that the chance of him having the right perspective on life is about 100%. Checking in with him safeguards us from the lies that Satan tries to implant in our mind, and shows us how much we can actually do with God.

So what now? Pray to see your life more and more through God's perspective.

Yesterday we discovered this news: that as followers of Jesus, we've been given the job of priest (long robe optional :)) - which means to serve others. To be able to do this job, we need to first seek God's presence and understand that he's always with us and always on our side. We need to listen for his voice.

In Exodus 3, Moses had run away from trouble in Egypt and settled down doing quiet work. So what did God do? He 'called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses"' (Exodus 3:4 NIV)! When we need to get our spiritual life back on track, God sometimes chooses to speak in a way we can't ignore. Later, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for a people who desperately needed guidance, he used trumpets, smoke and thunder (Exodus 20:18)! Scary stuff, but it got the importance of Moses' God-conversation across to God's people.

But, as well as in the big, un-ignorable moments, God wants to meet with us as friend: 'The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, just like a friend' (Exodus 33:11 CEV). It's one-on-one time with God that really sets us on a good foundation. Without it, Moses would have been a completely different leader. With it, not only was Moses guided well, but people around him saw God (literally) shining from his face.

So what now? You are a priest in God's Kingdom. Make time to hear his voice and experience his real, life-changing presence. Then ask him how you can serve those around you.