Encouraging Words Devotional

Where Is God When We Pray?

Sometimes when we pray, we sense the presence of God in the room with us. Other times God seems so very far away. Somebody quipped, "If God seems far away from you, guess who moved!" But I don't think that is necessarily true. That would be tantamount to asserting that if you can't "feel" God's presence, then He must not be there.

Start To Understand Your Heart

One of the reasons the book of Psalms in the Bible appeals to us is that the writings touch on experiences common to all of us. In the Psalms you find the entire range of human emotion--thankfulness, anger, love, hatred, joy, and more.

Find The Treasure In Your Trial’s

The prayer of a person going through very difficult times has been turned into a song by Margaret Becker and Keith Getty. Here are the words:

Jesus, draw me ever nearer

As I labor through the storm;

You have called me to this passage,

And I'll follow, though I'm worn.

Does God Really Care?

Two times someone asked Jesus the question, "Don't you care?"

            The first took place on the Sea of Galilee when an angry squall came up. Waves began to break over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. During all of this Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the back of the boat. The disciples woke

Him. "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Jesus "got up…and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' …and it was completely calm" (Mark 4:38-39).

Finding God In The Midst Of Cancer

A plaque hanging on hospital wall puts it well.

Cancer is so limited…

It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith [or]…destroy peace [or]…kill friendships.
It cannot suppress memories…silence courage [or]…invade the soul.
It cannot steal eternal life.
It cannot conquer the Spirit.

Tell How Much God Has Done For You

When Jesus stepped on shore after crossing the Sea of Galilee, he was immediately confronted by a man possessed by demons. The Bible tells us the details: "For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs" (Luke 8:27). The local people had tried to chain him and keep him under guard, but he always broke the chains and escaped.

How To Know If What Jesus Said Is True

The first four books of the New Testament in your Bible contain pages and pages of the teachings of Jesus. Do you want to know if what Jesus said here on earth is true?  Jesus Himself told us how to find out.  He said, "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." You find that claim in the fourth book of the New Testament—the book of John, chapter seven (John 7:17).

Stop And See God’s Beauty

Missionary doctor Margaret Brand wrote of the time that her young son, Christopher, was outside playing in the hill country of India toward sunset time. "Suddenly he rushed in excitedly. [He] seized my hand," she related, "and tried to drag me outside as he almost shouted, 'Come see the sky. It's unnecessarily beautiful!'

This Is Why God Wants The Best For Us

Some people see the Bible as just a book of rules and regulations that God has given to keep us in line. They perceive God as a bully looking down from heaven with a big stick ready to punish anyone who disobeys. How mistaken they are!

What Does The Heart Have To Do With Giving?

The ministry is called Jackets for Jesus, and it's a very practical one.  Every Sunday night Pastor Eric Denton takes a team of people more than 50 miles from Riverside, California to the streets of Los Angeles to feed the street people a hot meal and share the love of Jesus with them—people for whom this may be the only gift of love they ever receive.  Oh, and yes, if they're cold, they get a good, previously-owned jacket as well.