Tag Archives: encouragement

November 20, 2025 · 5:30 AM

A Challenge To Love

Who do you know that challenges you to do more for God? There are certain people I look at that cause me to want to do more for God’s Kingdom. One sees a need and immediately jumps in and starts a ministry filling the need. When others jump in and run along side him, he hands off the ministry to one of them and looks for another need. It’s such a stark contrast to how so many people do ministry. I asked him about it once. He said, “All ministry belongs to God so I keep an open hand with it. When people come along side who are more passionate and gifted than I am in it, I give it to them and ask God what’s next.” Something like that causes me to look around with different eyes looking to see what God wants to do around me and through me to do good.

In the Bible, Solomon realized he couldn’t be as good of a king to the people as his father David was. He prayed for wisdom to help him be a good king. Peter and John challenged the early Church to look for opportunities everywhere. The healing of the beggar they were passing by at the Gate Beautiful in Acts 3:6 is a great example. Paul and Barnabas set off on long journeys going where God told them to go in order to spread the Gospel throughput the known world. Each of these people drew their inspiration from someone and also inspired others to lead more productive lives that touched the lives of others. I believe that’s what God is calling us to do even today.

Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good” (GNT). As believers, we must be concerned for someone other than ourselves. We need to be looking to the fields with eyes that are open and hearts that ask, “Who can I show your love to today, Father?” We need to be encouraging other believers, especially in the times we live in. Send a text today to someone who needs it. Make a meal for a family in need. Show love to someone who clearly has been overlooked by society. There is opportunity everywhere for you to show love and do good, but you must quit looking to your own needs and desires long enough to see it. God has given us as believers a great opportunity in the world today to rise up and show concern and His love. What will you do?

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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November 13, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Leaving Stress Behind

Steven Covey taught that many of us aren’t as productive as we could be because of how we spend our time and how we manage the tasks we face. He divided up tasks into four areas. There’s urgent and non urgent, and important and not important. One of the problems many of us face is that we live in the quadrant that is urgent and important. It sounds good on the surface, but the truth is that all we’re doing is putting out fires constantly. We’re doing a lot, but we’re going nowhere. We need to be spending our time focusing on the important, but not urgent quadrant. That one will help us plan for the future and prevent many of the fire drills we face.

In Luke 10, Jesus was visiting the house of Martha and Mary. Martha was in the quadrant of urgent and important. She was busy trying to clean, cook and serve. Mary was in the quadrant of important and not urgent. She sat at Jesus’ feet to listen and learn. Martha got upset at Mary, just like people who live in that quadrant do, and told Jesus to have her help. Jesus replied, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (NLT). Jesus understood how tiring it gets living that way being distracted and constantly worrying. Martha wasn’t stressed out or distracted. She was calm because she focused on the right things.

Psalm 37:5 says, “Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way, you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly!” (TPT) God knows what is best for you. Cast your cares, your schedule and whatever else is distracting you on Him. Give Him to right to guide your life. He knows what’s best for you mentally, physically and spiritually. Refocus your heart on Him, spend time daily sitting at His feet listening. You’ll find your life will be the way He intended it. Commit all your ways to Him and trust Him in every area of your life. You’ll find peace and rest for your mind, body and soul. He knows what’s best for you and will lead you beside the still waters.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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October 23, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Insurmountable Odds

2 Kings 18 tells the story of King Hezekiah. He was a good king who was compared to David in his zeal for the Lord. Verse 5 says he trusted in the Lord like no other king in Judah. In his fourteenth year as king, the Assyrian army came to attack. They were the world’s most dominant army at the time. No one could stand against them. They were undefeated, and Jerusalem had a small army at the time. The king of Assyria took control of the city’s aqueduct and then sent people to try to get Israel to surrender. They started off in verse 19, “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?” (NLT) Hezekiah had confidence in God while he was facing insurmountable odds in the face of defeat.

In chapter 19, King Hezekiah did what we need to do when we’re facing insurmountable odds. He went to the Lord in desperate prayer. He then sought a word from the Lord from Isaiah. God said he would send him back to Assyria where he would be killed. However, the stand off continued. The king of Assyria taunted more. He said, “You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?” He reminded them of all the other people they destroyed, but Hezekiah still went to God for help even when it looked like God wasn’t answering like he said. Then God moved against Assyria killing 185,000 of them in one night. The king broke camp, went home and was killed.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (GNT). You can have confidence in God even though you’re facing an insurmountable odd today. Whenever you’re feeling like the situation is taunting you and it looks like you can’t win, turn to God. When you look at what it has done to others and the thought comes that says, “Why should you get a different outcome,” turn to God in faith. There is nothing God cannot do. There are no insurmountable odds that He can’t overcome. Faith is to be sure of what He can do in the face of what you can’t overcome. Don’t listen to the voices of doubt or the words that tell you there’s no hope. Trust in God no matter what insurmountable odds you face.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word. G

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August 12, 2025 · 5:30 AM

The Hope Of Restoration

Isaiah 35 is such a hopeful chapter in the Bible that’s full of Gods promise to us. It starts out saying, “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God” hNLT). This reminds us that God will cause the barren season and places in our life will become places of beauty. I believe God uses the wilderness to reveal Himself to us more clearly.

The next verse says, “With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees.” When we’re in a wilderness season, we need this declaration of hope to keep us going. We must remember that the place we’re in is not permanent and that God will bring beauty from the ashes of the place we’re in. He wants us to keep digging into His Word no matter how down trodden we feel, and to keep praying on our knees no matter how weak they feel. Your prayers are being heard in Heaven and a fruitful season of restoration is on the way.

This part of the beautiful promise wraps up in verse 4 by saying, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.’” Divine intervention is on its way. God is going to move to set things right. It may not be today, or as soon as you would like, but it is coming. He is not distant from you, nor is He unaware of this place you’re in. The wilderness will bloom. The dry places will flow with water. There will be growth and beauty again. Take strength and encouragement from these verses today. You have the promise and hope of restoration coming.

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July 8, 2025 · 5:33 AM

Hope Beyond The Moment

Hope is fuel for an aching soul. I’ve been in some hopeless situations where daily I was looking for the smallest glimmer of hope. Just a little bit would give me energy and increase my faith. It’s in times like those that I also learned my hope lies beyond my current circumstances look like. My true hope comes from the Lord. His report is greater than anything I can see with my physical eyes. It’s in those hopeless situations that I have to activate my faith in God and lean into Him because He is the ultimate authority.

In Romans 4, Paul is using Abraham as an example of someone who had hope in a hopeless situation. Verse 18 says, “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, ‘That’s how many descendants you will have!’” (NLT) He trusted God over his circumstances and held onto hope when everything else told him that God’s promise was an impossibility. The next verse said his faith didn’t weaken as he waited for God to fulfill what He said. His example to us is something we can emulate and strive for as we face situations where there is no reason to hope.

Paul goes in In Romans 5:5 to say, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Just like Abraham’s faith grew stronger, ours can to in whatever we face. In Christ, there is always hope. When we face the toughest of circumstances, our faith has the greatest opportunity to grow. God uses situations to produce in us character traits, faith and hope. The hope we have in Him is the hope that will not disappoint even when whatever we’re facing doesn’t go according to our plan or desires. Our hope in Him can still remain strong because it goes beyond the moment. Our hope and faith are eternal.

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June 3, 2025 · 6:00 AM

God Of Breakthroughs

In 2023 there was a young lady in Ohio who got accepted into the school of her choice. The problem was that she couldn’t afford to go there. She tried, but was unable to secure any scholarships to help pay for it. She prayed all summer about it. As the deadline was approaching, she was preparing herself to reject the offer. That’s when she got a letter stating that she got a full ride scholarship from a Christian organization she had never heard of. A month or two before she had mentioned it at youth camp. Someone heard and submitted her for the scholarship. God made a way just as she was about to give up.

In 2 Samuel 5, David had just become king when the Philistines came to challenge him. They spread out around the city he was in and surrounded it. David went into the stronghold and began to pray. He asked God if he went out to fight, would He give him victory. God told him yes, so he and his men went to fight the army that was surrounding them. They won a swift victory. Verse 20 says, “So David came to Baal-perazim, and he defeated them there, and said, ‘The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.’ So he named that place Baal-perazim (master of breakthroughs)” (AMP). Just like water breaking through a dam, God showed up and gave them victory at the right moment.

Isaiah 43:19 says, “Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” I’ve learned that God answers on His time and not mine. I’ve also learned that His breakthroughs come swiftly and decisively. You may be standing in a desert right now wondering where God is as the time runs out on your situation, but keep standing and believing. He will burst through and give you rivers in that desert. He is the God of breakthroughs and breakthroughs start with surrender to His will, His timing and His way.

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May 1, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Quit Panicking

One of the most common Christian myths many of us believe is that when I do what God asks me to, there won’t be any issues and things will go smoothly. For me, it seems like when I step out in faith and do what God asks, things often start going wrong. There are times it feels like I’ve jumped out of an airplane, but I’m not the one who gets to pull the cord on the parachute. The ground starts getting closer and I start to panic. I cry out, “God, where are you? Did you tell me to do this? Why haven’t you worked on my behalf yet? Don’t you care about my reputation? My family? I thought you were going to work out everything for my good.” At that point, it’s easy to start questioning if I really heard God or if I’m really in His will because I’m looking at external factors and I’m believing the myth that everything should be smooth sailing when I’m in His will through obedience.

In Mark 4, after a long day of teaching, night was falling and Jesus said, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake” (TPT). They all piled in a boat, and several people from the crowd got in boats to follow them across the lake. Being tired from teaching, Jesus decided to call it a night. He laid down and fell asleep. That’s when a ferocious storm came rolling in with violent winds that were rocking the boat and causing it to take on so much water that they were afraid of sinking. In verse 39, they had a similar prayer to mine. They woke Jesus up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re all about to die?” Jesus, once He was fully awake, steps out, rebukes the wind and calms the sea. I’m sure He gave them a disappointed look as He said, “Why are you so afraid? Haven’t you learned to trust yet?”

Those words are ringing in my ears today as I shift my focus from my circumstances to who He is. When things don’t go the way we thought they should after our obedience, fear creeps in. Fear of failure. Fear of being embarrassed. Fear of going broke. Fear of our own ship going down. The storm you’re in may be great, but He is greater. It may feel like He’s asleep, but He knows what you’re going through. Push through the fear and panic, and trust that if He’s called you to it, He’ll get you through it. A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, and easy times never stretch our faith. Yes, it might have been a big leap you took, but your faith has so much more room to grow. Now is not the time for panic. It’s the time for prayer and faith. He hasn’t ever failed you, and He won’t start failing you today.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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April 10, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Learning Through Pain

One of the mantras that I’ve heard for a while is, “Change before you have to.” I wasn’t always sure what that meant, but I’ve found out a few times in my life and wished I had. Many times the Holy Spirit has sounded the warning alarms in my life, and many of those times I’ve hit the snooze button. His warnings are letting us know that if we continue on the path we’re on, we’re headed for trouble. When I’ve disregarded them, I’ve fallen flat on my face and gone through some painful times as a result of my sin. Sometimes I’m so hard headed and want to do things my own way that the only way I’ll listen or make the necessary changes in my life are to go through a painful time so that next time I’ll listen. God is more concerned with our holiness than our comfort.

It’s hard to put some things in perspective as you read the Bible. In some books, you may cover hundreds of years of history. I keep thinking, “How did they mess up again so quickly? Why won’t they learn?” Yet, their track record is better than mine a lot of the times. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God said He sets before us life and death, blessings and cursing, and that the choice is ours. He wants us to choose life, but when we don’t, their are painful consequences to help us to turn back to Him and to remind us not to go down that path again. It works for a while, but our brains are bent toward trying to do things our way instead of His. Pain is often one of the best motivators for our brain, and it can condition it to not repeat mistakes.

God knows you and I aren’t perfect. He knows we’re going to mess up. Thankfully He doesn’t wipe His hands clean of us and give up. His grace is greater than our biggest mistakes and His offer of forgiveness is open to us. God will do whatever it takes to bring us back, even if it means pain, discomfort or embarrassment. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (GNT). He knows there are a lot of stubborn people like myself who need those painful reminders to come back home. The Prodigal Son lasted in his painful experience as long as he could before he finally decided to go back home. You and I have the same opportunity to return to a waiting Father who will run to us, love us and put the family robe and ring back on our finger if only we will return.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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October 4, 2024 · 5:28 AM

Encourage One Another

Are you a natural encourager? Chances are, you aren’t. Most of us don’t naturally walk around encouraging people, yet it’s something we all need and want. When you encourage someone, you infuse courage into their situation. You add confidence into their equation. When you do those two things, it inspires people to action and action is what changes outcomes. Acts 11 talks about a man named Barnabas, known os the son of encouragement, in the Early Church. They sent him to Antioch where the believers were needing encouragement. He then went to find Paul (Saul) and they ministered there. It was at that place that people were first called “Christians.” Barnabas brought courage and confidence to believers, they changed the city and people called them “like Christ.” Whose life and outcome will you change by being Christ like through encouragement?

Here are some Bible verses reminding us to encourage one another:

1. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

Romans 1:12 NLT

2. And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them.

Ephesians 4:29 TPT

3. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

4. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT

5. Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good (encouraging) word makes it glad.

Proverbs 12:25 AMP

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April 1, 2024 · 5:43 AM

Overcoming Discouragement

Has anyone ever tried to discourage you from doing something before? It makes it worse when it’s an authority figure and it is something you feel God has put on your heart to do. I’ve had that happen. I allowed those words of discouragement to hold me back for years. I’ve ignored the discouragement from others. I went with the conviction in my gut to not allow anyone to stand in my way when I’ve felt called to do something. In both cases I had to manufacture the encouragement I needed to move forward or receive encouragement from another person. It’s crazy how words can stop all of our momentum or push us full speed ahead. It’s also important to think about how we respond to others when they’re trying to move forward with something they feel called to do. Are our words encouraging or discouraging?

In Mark 10 Jesus went to Jericho. On His way out of the city, a large crowd was following Him. There was a blind man who had begged there for years who heard the commotion. When he asked what was going on, they told him Jesus was passing by. He began to call out and try to get Jesus’ attention, but the people around him began to discourage him. They told him to be quiet. Maybe they told him Jesus didn’t have time for him or didn’t care about him. Either way, he yelled louder until Jesus heard him and called for him. The people told him to take courage. He threw off his beggars coat and made his way to Jesus who healed him by giving him his sight back. If he had let the crowd discourage him, he may have missed his opportunity for healing.

Psalm 43:5 says, “Then I will say to my soul, ‘Don’t be discouraged; don’t be disturbed, for I fully expect my Savior-God to break through for me. Then I’ll have plenty of reasons to praise him all over again’” (TPT). Sometimes you have to speak to your own soul above the discouragement from others. Sometimes you have to remind yourself to keep the faith when all other reports and words are discouraging. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s greatest tools to keep us inactive, to prevent us from praying or from seeking a breakthrough. He also knows that the power of life and death are in the tongue. We must combat discouragement with the encouraging truth from God’s Word. We must combat it with words of life. If you don’t have the strength or are too beat down by discouragement, then find someone who will speak life and encouragement to you until you can. I believe your breakthrough is coming.

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