Did you know that there are people who make a living at predicting the odds of something happening? For example, life insurance agents, actuaries, or stockbrokers make a living forecasting and figuring out mathematical probabilities. They can tell you what the odds are for living to 90 or 95 or the odds of being in an accident or getting injured from riding a bicycle rather than riding in a car.

Yet who would have ever figured the odds that our World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon would be attacked on the same day with four hijacked planes killing nearly 6,000 innocent people. But what really defied the odds was the explosive display of patriotism, the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to help those hurting, and the number of unprecedented people turning to God essentially overnight.

The "odd makers", those hiding in the Afghanistan Hills, forecasting and figuring out the probabilities were wrong. Like the odds makers in Jesusí day, those who rejected Him, put Him on a cross to quell His ideas -- they did not count on hundreds of millions of peopleís lives being utterly transformed by the grace and the power of Jesus Christ.

If the truth were known, thereís a lot of us who every day feel like the odds are stacked against us. Some may feel they have nothing left to contribute due to a financial setback or they may have lost their job recently, or they feel devalued or broken by events and mistakes in their past. So now, half way through life their spirit slumps and they feel it is too late. If you find yourself in one of these scenarios, the Lord will say to you against all odds ó DONíT GIVE UP!

God gives us His instructions and beckons us to do something with it, to develop a deeper faith. Let me give you some basic instructions in beating the odds that the enemy would try to stack up against you and me.

1. RAISE YOUR VALUE TO MATCH GODíS VALUE OF YOU.

Heís saying, "Would you raise your sights and start to match your value with my value for you even though there may be so many odds stacked against you?"

Question 1: What have you experienced in your life that makes you feel valuable? Devalued? Explain.

In the old days they would mint the image of an emperor or Caesar onto the coin currency and it was valued by the amount of gold or silver used in it. However, the image was worn down by use and eventually was worth less than when it was originally minted. Daniel paints a picture of satanís ploy to wear down the image of your creator that was stamped on you and make you feel unworthy to go to Church, to be a father, a mother or a Christian. You feel "worth-less": you feel like dropping out. But

I have one piece of advice: Donít do it! Instead, come to His throne often regardless of what odds are stacked up against you.

How can a process of re-minting happen? Just Behold Him. Come into His presence; gather together with the saints in the midst of worship and just Behold Him. It so pleases God and He can start restoring you.

Thatís why worship is so incredibly important. Donít skimp on worship or stay away because you feel worthless or not worthy enough. Let God begin restoring you

2. RAISE THE TIDE OF YOUR SPIRIT.

When the odds are stacked against you ñ GUARD YOUR SPIRIT!

"The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but a broken spirit who can bear?" (Proverbs 18:14)

"Öa broken spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)

Some time ago I took my longboard out at Ala Moana beach. After passing over the deep channel I hit the reef with only four inches of water over it. I could almost grab the coral and pull myself along. However, because the tide was low, my board kept scraping on the coral. Then some months ago a pastor I was talking with commented about a similar kind of reef. Instead of coral, the reef he scraped against was people. People within his church community who were probably scraped and hurt as well, people who looked for the evidences of Godís absences in their gatherings rather than Godís presence. As he talked about how difficult it was to deal with these people. It reminded me of this passage:

"These men are those who are hidden reefsÖcaring for themselvesÖtrees without fruit". (Jude 1:12)

We will have these kinds of people in our life, people who rub you raw. They are like reefs, like little walls under the water. The pastor wished those reefs would leave. I said to him that if the tide of your spirit, your attitude is at the same level as theirs, you will crash into them, lock horns, and hope one day you will be able to collapse that wall. You will begin to harbor deep resentment against these people which may not be evident at first, but it will eventually show up.

But you can navigate those reefs and raise the tide of your spirit by spending time daily with the Lord. It will give you hope and He will reveal stories of real people who against all odds won.

Question 3: What kinds of reefs do you have in your life and how can you apply these principles to raising your tide of your spirit?

3. RAISE YOUR SIGHTS.

Look at how bad things are, youíll see it. Look at how terrible life has been, youíll confirm that. Look at problems all the time, look at everybodyís faults, youíll become just like that. If the devil can get you to look at what he wants you to look at, to grant an audience to what he wants to tell you, he can pretty much do whatever he wants to with your mind.

Summarized by: Rhonda Pang