Tag Archives: encouragement

July 5, 2019 · 5:33 AM

Opened Eyes

In 2 Kings 6, Elisha and his servant are inside a house having just woken up. The servant goes outside for something and realizes they are surrounded by an army. He calls for Elisha out of fear. Elisha steps outside and the servant wants to know what are they going to do. Elisha calmly replies, “Don’t worry. There are more on our side than theirs.” I’m sure the servant looked confused until Elisha prayed in verse 17, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” (NLT) All of a sudden, the servant could see into the spiritual realm and saw that the army around them was surrounded by God’s army.

There’s more to this life than you and I can see. I like that prayer and often pray it for myself. I want my eyes opened to see the things God wants me to see. I want to see if there’s something in God’s Word I’m missing or if there’s a connection throughout Scripture that I haven’t seen. I also want to see if there’s someone in my path that needs me to speak to them. You never know what God might show you if you ask Him to open your eyes to the things He wants to show you. I don’t want to live my life with blinders on. I want my eyes opened to see everything God is desiring to show me.

Here are some Bible verses on wanting opened eyes.

1. Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.

Psalms 25:4 NLT

2. If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

Proverbs 29:18 MSG

3. Give me more revelation of your ways, for I see your love and tender care everywhere.

Psalms 119:64 TPT

4. Turn my eyes away from vanity [all those worldly, meaningless things that distract—let Your priorities be mine], And restore me [with renewed energy] in Your ways.

PSALMS 119:37 AMP

5. Open my eyes to see the miracle-wonders hidden in your word.

Psalms 119:18 TPT

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

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July 4, 2019 · 5:00 AM

Choosing Freedom

Freedom is not something that is uniquely American. It was instituted by a God Himself. His desire is that all of us live free lives. We are the ones who constantly put ourselves in bondage through our actions. We are the ones who put ourselves in position to let others bind us up. God has called us to live free lives according to Galatians 5:1. So why do we do the things that take us away from freedom? Why do we lament the past when we were slaves instead of celebrating the freedoms we currently enjoy?

It’s a problem that goes back as far as time. When the children of Israel were set free from the bondage of Egypt, they cried out, “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted.” In their freedom, they looked back on their time of slavery as a positive thing. They didn’t grasp what it meant to be free, so they would have rather gone back into slavery than to have lived in the freedom that God had granted them. It sounds absurd, but are we so different?

We let what other people have said or done to us imprison us in our minds and actions. We let the past dictate our present. God has set us free, but we allow unforgiveness to hold us down and rob us of freedom. We allow grudges and pain to keep us from trusting anyone. When that happens, we hold ourselves back from the future God has for us. We let what man has done to us rob us of the blessings of freedom. We hold ourselves back in that prison not wanting to get out because it’s safer to stay there. Freedom requires action on our part to move forward and to stay free.

Galatians 5:13-15 says, “Use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows… Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom” (MSG). Selfishness is the doorway to imprisonment. Serving others is the way to staying free. When we help others, despite how many times we’ve been taken advantage of, we walk in freedom. When we hold back because of things that have happened, we allow that freedom to slip away. Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” As Christians, we can’t sit around and do nothing and stay free.

Photo by J W on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing 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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July 3, 2019 · 5:00 AM

Sudden Storms

I love the story of Jesus in Mark 4. He had been teaching all day sharing spiritual insights through parables with crowds of people. When He was finished, He told the disciples to get in a boat and head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. After they had been going a ways, a sudden storm blew in and threatened to sink the boat. In the midst of the chaos and fear, someone realized they needed Jesus and He wasn’t on deck. Verse 38 says, “But Jesus was calmly sleeping in the stern, resting on a cushion” (TPT). In the middle of the storm, Jesus was able to rest because He trusted God.

Most of us aren’t that way. When things are going downhill quickly and everything we hold dear is being threatened to sink, we struggle to rest. Sleep eludes us as our minds think of everything bad that can happen and what we will do if everything heads south. Yet, in this story, we find that Jesus is able to rest. I believe that the rest He was given is a rest that belongs to us. We have to learn that our perception of things is not His reality. Where we look up at the storm in fear, He speaks to it in faith. When we let fear dictate our emotions and steal our rest, we lack the faith to trust His providence for our lives.

Psalm 116:7 says, “Now I can say to myself and to all, ‘Relax and rest, be confident and serene, for the Lord rewards fully those who simply trust in him.’” If you’re uncomfortable speaking to your storms, then speak to yourself. Worry robs us of the strength and rest that God wants us to have. Just because you’re surrounded by turmoil, it doesn’t mean you have to live in it. God gives His children rest and peace, but many times, we have to take hold of it and tell ourselves to take it. Sudden storms that pop up are not a surprise to God. If you will simply trust in Him, He will guide you safely to shore.

Photo by Michael Dam on Unsplash

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July 2, 2019 · 5:34 AM

Words And Actions

We all know that person who is all talk and no action. Years ago I was in a meeting with my peers presenting our quarterly numbers to the higher ups. We then had to project our numbers for the next quarter. One person in there projected a big bump in their numbers for the next quarter. The highest ranking person in the room asked them, “What are you doing to get that bump?” They said, “Well, what were going to do is…” The boss interrupted, “I didn’t ask what you were going to do. I want to know what you’re doing now to get those results. If you were able to change your numbers that much, you would be going to do It.you’d be doing it right now.” They didn’t have an answer because they were all talk and got called out on it.

Many of us, myself included, have learned how to talk a good game. We know Christianese and speak church lingo quite well. The problem is that Christianity is more than words. It’s actions. It’s not about what we are going to do, but about what we are doing now. We’ve learned to put on the church mask and say the words that others want to hear on Sunday’s, but are we living it Monday through Saturday? Our coworkers, neighbors and children are like that boss I had. They can see through the words to the lifestyle because actions will always speak louder than words.

Proverbs 12:14 reminds us, “Your reward depends on what you say and what you do; you will get what you deserve” (GNT). It’s important that our lives reflect what we say. We need to quit worrying what others think of us. God sees beyond our words and facades. He looks into our heart to see our intent and our actions. If you can recognize those who are all talk and no action, so can others. Proverbs also says that a good reputation is more desirable than great riches. It’s time we quit acknowledging Jesus with our words and denying Him with our life. Our reward in Heaven is based on words and actions.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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July 1, 2019 · 5:50 AM

Predetermined Praise

One of the things I believe each of us must do daily is to choose our attitude. If you don’t choose it, your day will choose it for you. I’ve lived on an emotional roller coaster before, and it’s not very fun. My mood, my happiness and my attitude all depended on how things were going in my life. Unfortunately, my relationship with God was also dependent on that too. If things were going well, then it was easy to praise Him. If things were going poorly, then I didn’t feel I had a reason to bless Him. In fact, many times I ended up mad at Him and making threats if He didn’t make things better.

At one point in my life, I felt like I was going through hardships that were as difficult as Job’s. I was losing everything that I cared about and I was powerless to stop it. I prayed and prayed, but things kept getting worse. I got angry at God and started to blame Him for everything that was wrong in my life. I remember reading Job looking for insight and help. In the first chapter, after he had lost everything, instead of being mad at God, the Bible says he fell to the ground and worshipped God. How could he worship at a time of such loss? I believe it’s because He had chosen his attitude before everything went down.

Psalm 104:33 says, “I will sing my song to the Lord as long as I live! Every day I will sing my praises to God” (TPT). This is a great example of choosing your attitude. The writer committed to sing praise to God every day as long as he lived. I know there are days when you don’t feel like praising, but praise anyway. No matter how bad life gets, God has done enough for you already to deserve praise every day of your life. When you think that way, it’s a lot easier to worship in the middle of a storm. Our gratitude, our attitude and our relationship with God should all be predetermined before bad things happen. We have to remember that no matter what is going on, God can work it out for your good.

Photo by Geetanjal Khanna on Unsplash

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June 28, 2019 · 5:37 AM

Distressed

I can’t think of a single person in the Bible who didn’t go through distressful times. Adam and Eve went through the distress of sinning and hid from God. Moses went through it as he led the children of Israel through the desert. David spent years on the run. All the prophets I can think of had problems. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. On and on it goes. If you’re feeling distressed today, it’s ok. You’re not alone even though it feels like it when we’re going through those times. While your circumstances may be unique, the feelings you’re having have been felt by every person who has lived.

I’ve found that times of distress drive me to my knees. They cause me to cry out to God more than ever. In turn, they push me into a closer relationship with Him. I find that when we blame God for our problems, it has the opposite effect. I like to think of being distressed as having sandpaper smoothing out my rough edges. Yes it hurts while I’m going through it, but i know that in the end I’m going to be changed for the better through the process. God’s desire is to make you more and more into His image, but in order to do that, you must be shaped. Sometimes He uses distress to do that. If you’re distressed now, hold on. Things will get better and you will be better for it.

Here are some Bible verses about distress.

1. When the righteous cry [for help], the LORD hears And rescues them from all their distress and troubles.

PSALMS 34:17 AMP

2. Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

2 Corinthians 7:10 MSG

3. Are there any believers in your fellowship suffering great hardship and distress? Encourage them to pray! Are there happy, cheerful ones among you? Encourage them to sing out their praises!

James (Jacob) 5:13 TPT

4. Set me free from my distress; then in the assembly of your people I will praise you because of your goodness to me.

Psalm 142:7 GNT

5. But God teaches people through suffering and uses distress to open their eyes.

Job 36:15 GNT

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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June 24, 2019 · 5:52 AM

Calming Anxious Thoughts

Have you ever seen a giant Sequoia tree? They are some of the tallest trees in the world. They’re also some of the fastest growing trees, especially when they’re young. They can grow up to six feet per year. Not only do they grow tall, they also grow wide. These are the trees that you’ve seen pictures of cars driving through them. Their root system is shallow though. It grows out instead of down. They don’t have a tap root. Instead they have thousands of tiny roots that multiply, grow out and around the tree and can cover up to an acre of land.

If you think about it, they’re a lot like our anxious thoughts. Those type of thoughts grow quickly in our mind, they take up a lot of space and infect almost every part of our life. The more we entertain those thoughts, the more they grow. Before you know it, you’ve given up a huge portion of your mind and your life to worrying about things that may or may not happen. Because these thoughts take up so much space, they require a lot to feed them. That’s why they infect every area of your mind as they multiply and grow. The good news is that their root systems are shallow and they can be uprooted.

Psalm 94:19 says, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comforts delight me” (AMP). Spending time in God’s Word, resting in His presence and worshiping Him are all ways you can uproot those anxious thoughts. Colossians 2:7 tell us to let our roots grow down deeply into God. When we do that, our lives won’t be uprooted by anxious thoughts because there is no room for them. When I start to get anxious about things, I have to remember to quit comparing things against my abilities. Instead, I feed myself on God’s Word and compare those same problems to God. I then realize He is greater than whatever I’m facing.

Photo by Vitto Sommella on Unsplash

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June 21, 2019 · 5:45 AM

The Promise Of Restoration

In the history of the world, there has only been one nation that has been forced out of their land, spread all over the world and then returned to being a nation again. On May 14, 1948, after nearly being exiled for 2,000 years, Israel became a nation once again returning to their land. Somehow they were able to maintain their culture and language throughout that long period. Upon returning, they began agricultural work. The people who were living in the land laughed at them. A hundred years earlier, Mark Twain passed through the land and described it as am uninhabitable, desolate wasteland. Today, it is an agricultural wonderland.

The prophesies of the Old Testament are being fulfilled to this day and are obvious as you drive through the country. The biggest has to be the return of the exiles. No matter how far you feel from God’s promises being fulfilled in your life, He can still make them happen. No matter how desolate your life appears at the moment, God can still create new growth in you. He specializes in doing the impossible and proves it every day. Though you may be separated from where you want to be, living in exile from your dreams, God can still bring you back into your Promised Land.

Here are some Bible verses about God’s promises of Israel being returned from exile.

1. If you and your descendants will turn back to the Lord and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today, then the Lord your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again. Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together and bring you back, so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were.

Deuteronomy 30:2-5 GNT

2. The exiles of Israel will return to their land and occupy the Phoenician coast as far north as Zarephath. The captives from Jerusalem exiled in the north will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev.

Obadiah 1:20 NLT

3. So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant. Don’t despair, Israel. Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places, I’ll bring your children back from exile. Jacob will come back and find life good, safe and secure. I’ll be with you. I’ll save you.

Jeremiah 30:10 MSG

4. The Lord is restoring Jerusalem; he is bringing back the exiles.

Psalm 147:2 GNT

5. Also I shall bring back the exiles of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the deserted and ruined cities and inhabit them: They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit.

AMOS 9:14 AMP

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June 20, 2019 · 5:00 AM

The Stone Carpenter

One of the things I learned in Nazareth, was that a carpenter in Jesus day meant more than someone who worked with wood. It was a person who worked with stone also. There wasn’t a different word for the two. It’s interesting to me because it changes how I think about Jesus versus how I thought of Him as just a woodworker. Knowing that Jesus could have been a stone worker as well, brings other verses to life that didn’t quite make as much sense before.

One of the first scriptures I thought of when I heard that was I Peter 2:5. It says, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God” (NLT). You and I are living stones that Jesus, the stone carpenter, shapes, molds, and builds with. No matter how hard our hearts might be, He can use His divine chisel to form us into who He needs us to be.

Another one I thought of was Matthew 16:18 that says, “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” I’ve always thought of this verse as just Peter being the Rock, but when we think of what Peter said above, each one of us are the Rock with which Jesus builds His church. We are the ones also who the powers of hell will not conquer. We are stronger than we think and we have the power of God in us causing us to be able to withstand anything the enemy brings.

Go one more step with me. Mark 15:46 says, “Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance.” I don’t think it was coincidental that Jesus was buried in a rock. When we become Christians, we accept Jesus into our hearts. He fills the void inside of us just like He did that tomb.

The list could go on and on throughout the Bible. These are just a few examples I’ve thought of while sitting in Nazareth. Jesus was more than a wood carpenter, He was a stone carpenter. He’s a builder who uses what is available. No matter how little or much we think we have to offer, He can use it to build His Church because we carry His spirit inside of us. We are living stones because the One who lives forever, lives in us. We are His workmanship created to do good works, as Paul put it in Ephesians 2:10.

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June 18, 2019 · 5:00 AM

Being Visible

One of the consistent things I’ve heard in recent years is how many Muslims are having dreams of Jesus. An Arab pastor in Israel was telling us that he went to a conference in the Middle East and people were given the opportunity to share their testimony. One after one stood up and shared the same thing. They were each visited in a dream by Jesus and gave their heart to Him. He said after several of the same testimonies, he prayed and said, “Why are you visiting them in their dreams?” He heard God say, “Because the Church has disappeared.” He knew then that he needed to do something to be visible in the Middle East.

One of the things I talk to leaders about is the importance of visibility. When leaders are not visible, people don’t know who to follow or start following someone who is. When the Church quits being visible in the market place, in the arts, in public, in communities or wherever, people lose the ability to follow Christ. The Early Church was great at being visible, and they knew the price of that visibility. It’s time now more than ever for us to be visible once again. Without our light, it’s the blind leading the blind. We are to be the light of the world so that the invisible God will be made visible for people to come to.

Colossians 1:15 says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (NLT). You and I bear His image and are even named for having that image as Christians. When we hide our relationship with Him from others or pull out of the market place, we hide Christ, the visible image of God, from them. It’s time for us to let our light shine so bright that others may see the visible image of Christ in us. We can no longer afford to be invisible in the world. We know the Way, it’s time for us to show the Way. Seek God today and ask Him to show you where and to whom you need to be more visible to. You may be the only Jesus someone sees. Make sure He’s visible in your life, in your actions and your words.

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