Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Importance of Thinking.”Thinking is important as we live our lives. Thinking not only affects our bodies and hearts, but also greatly affects our entire life. Blaise Pascal said, “Your thoughts of yesterday make your today, and your thoughts of today make your tomorrow.” Our lives will be different tomorrow depending on what kind of thoughts we have today. We can see the path when we change our thought. Many people live their lives filled with anxiety and fear in their hearts by being pessimistic about today, dwelling on the past or being afraid of the future. However, the past is gone now and the future does not come yet. It is the present that we should do our best. Compared to money, the past is what we spent already while the future is an uncertain promissory note and the present is the only available cash. If we are still preoccupied with the past failure or anxiety and worries with the fear of the coming future, we can’t live the hopeful present enough. We should change our thought to make the hope of tomorrow. Luke 12:25-26 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” Even if we may be in difficult situations, we can see the path if we change our thoughts. We should not give up saying, “I can’t make it. It is impossible.” If we think, “I can’t do it but I believe in the Lord and I can do it as He is with me now,” our thoughts will be changed. In the Bible, Some men brought to Jesus a paralytic, lying on a mat. Since they could not get him to Jesus to receive His laying on hands because of the crowd. If they had thought it impossible, they would have taken the paralytic on a mat away from there. However, they thought that Jesus could not get out of the house, but that there would be some way out so they sought it and found out that they could make an opening in the roof. So they went up to the roof and made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw him, He laid His hands on him and healed him right away. If his friends had thought that they could not make it, he would have died as a paralytic. As they thought it possible, they could have thought that they made an opening in the roof. In the Bible, those who thought that they could not make it always lived a defeated life. Don’t look at the wind but focus on the Lord. We must not take our eyes away from Jesus in any circumstances. When Jesus’ disciples were buffeted by the waves at sea, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." Then Jesus stopped and said "Come." Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when a strong gust hit his face, he stopped to look at Jesus, but saw the waves and the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. Jesus rebuked him and said, “Why did you look at those waves?" When Peter looked at Jesus only, he could have walked on the water. However, when he turned his eyes from Jesus to the waves and the wind, his heart was full of dread so he began to sink. There are always storms in our lives. Is there anyone of you who lives without any storm in your life? A big storm or a little storm always comes to us. In whatever situation we may be in, we should not focus on our circumstances but on Jesus. If we look to the cross, there will a path of life widely opened for us. Don’t ever think it a dead end when you have to face any problem. Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” If we boldly move forward by believing in God who is with us even when we are in a place like the desert, God will make a path in the desert where there is no path and make a river in the desert where there is no water. In order to change our thoughts, we must look to the cross of Jesus. If we look to the cross no matter what kind of situations we face, we will not give up on hope and dream about the future. When sinners look to the cross and expect the forgiveness and the gift of righteousness, they can receive forgiveness and righteousness. Look to the cross and expect for our filth to be washed away and become holy, we will get that grace from the Lord. Even when it seems to be impossible, if we have thoughts like “I can make it. It will be done. Let us do it now!” and look to the Lord, we can experience miracles of God. When we look to the cross, we will receive life from Jesus and can move the steps of faith. When we are in difficulties and hardship, as we look to the cross, it will bring us hope. No matter what suffering may come to us, if we come before the cross, God will give us hope through the cross. Therefore, we know that the Fivefold Gospel includes the whole plan of God’s salvation from Genesis to Revelation. Through the cross any sinner can be forgiven and saved. Any filthy man with a bad habit can be cleansed and holy. Any dying person with a disease can have hope through the cross because by His stripes we are healed and He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases. As we look to the cross, we can be delivered from curses and get out of nakedness and hunger to live well. When we look to the cross, we can receive God’s grace that we will be resurrected from the dead and enter heaven. We can have hope by God’s covenant and promises. When we lose hope, we lose life itself.As we have hope through the cross, we must not be in despair no matter what situation we may be in. John 5:24 says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” Therefore, we must control and train our thoughts so we can change our negative thoughts into positive thoughts. If we want to meet Jesus in our hearts and minds we must live with the thought of the cross. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." If she had not thought like that, she would not have forced her way through the crowd and come up behind Jesus and touched his robe. However, she was preoccupied with the thought. When Jesus was passing through the road just in front of her house, she followed her thought and ran out to the crowd and touched the robe of Jesus and was healed then and there! Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” The thought “I can do” makes us move the steps of faith and accomplish things. When people fall into a dilemma and crisis, they think, “There is no way out. This is a dead end.” However, believers always have a way out. How can there be a way out for Christians in a confined situation? There is a way out in heaven. Even if everywhere is enclosed, we still have a way out in heaven. There is a path of heaven for Christians and what is it?It is our prayer. Even if everywhere is confined, the way to God is still open through prayer. Jesus said in Luke 11:9, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Therefore, Christians always have a way and hope. If we ask, seek, and knock at it, God will open the way in front of us. Mark 9:23 says, " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." What a bold declaration it is! “‘If you can?’ Why did you say that? Everything is possible for him who believes.” Even if we have nothing, as long as we have faith, it can be our capital. We Christians may not have any gold or silver, but empty-handed; we have more capital than those things; it is capital of faith. Our faith is our precious capital. With that capital we can pray to God and He will open a new way for us. E.M. Bounds, a man of prayer, said about the power of prayer as follows, “Prayer is a marvelous power God gives to the hands of His believers. Prayer is the strongest line that connects God with humans. Through prayer humans can participate in the work of God. Prayer is the greatest thing we can do.” Our prayers have enormous power in them. It is because when we pray, God works. Therefore, our prayer moves the hands of God. When we face problems, we need to clearly know who we can ask for help. When we face trials, we need to go before God and ask for His help. It is so foolish if we rely on any helpless person for help. In difficulty and hardship, so many people seek human help instead of God’s help. Psalm 146:3-5 says, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” When we face trials, we must come before God and ask His help. Elijah prayed earnestly that it would rain, and the heavens gave rain. When drought drove people to starve to death, Elijah came before God and prayed for rain. But there was no response from God. Once he prayed and prayed twice and went up to the mountain, but there was still no sign of rain. He prayed three times, four times, and five times, but it had no effect. His sixth prayer had no effect, too. After He prayed seven times and went up and looked. A cloud as small as a man's hand was rising from the sea. So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on!If Elijah had despaired and drown back after once or twice prayers, he could not have had that miracle at all. Once we start to pray, we must stick to it to the end. One widow kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” Even though she kept bothering him, for some time he refused. But as she persistently kept coming to him, finally he said to himself, “Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” I can’t bear it anymore.” So he made her get justice. Miracles will come along with our persistence. Hebrews 10:38 says, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." If God is not pleased with us, what can happen to us? Jeremiah 33:2-3 says, “"This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'” The devil blocks our prayer, but he can’t do it to the end. We must look to the Lord and move forward with faith no matter what kind of situations we face. If we go before God and ask for things with prayers during every moment in life, God will become our strength and open paths for us. Jesus says, “Pray in My name, for I will take full responsibility of it. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”